Rock Music Timeline

1937 Aug 20 Sky Saxon is born
Sky "Sunlight" Saxon (August 20, 1937 – June 25, 2009) was an American rock and roll musician who was best known as the leader and singer of the 1960s Los Angeles garage rock band The Seeds.
1943 Jul 10 Jerry Miller is born
Jerry Miller (born July 10, 1943 in Tacoma, Washington) is an American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. He performs as a solo artist and as a member of the Jerry Miller Band. He is als...
1957 Jul 6 John Lennon meets Paul McCartney
In March 1957 John Lennon formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen. McCartney met Lennon on 6 July 1957, and agreed to join the group a few days later.
1957 Jul 9 The first official Quarry Men performance
The first "official" public, albeit unsuccessful, performance by The Quarry Men - they failed to impress when they auditioned before the promoter Carroll Levis who was looking for new tal...
1958 Feb 6 Paul McCartney invited George Harrison to watch the Quarrymen
According to George Harrison, the first time he saw the Quarry Men was at the Wilson Hall, opposite the bus depot in Garston, Liverpool. According to Beatles scholar Mark Lewisohn, the da...
1960 Mar 13 Adam Clayton born
Adam Clayton Born: March 13, 1960 Instrument: Bass Guitar Adam ClaytonBorn in Chinnor, Oxfordshire, England, Adam Clayton is the eldest son of Brian and Jo Clayton. The young Clayton...
1960 May 10 Bono (Paul David Hewson) born in Dublin, Ireland
Bono was born in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland, and was raised there with his brother, Norman Hewson, by their mother Iris (née Rankin), a Church of Ireland Anglican, and their father Brenda...
1960 May 10 The Quarry Men become The Silver Beats
The well-known British impresario Larry Parnes is looking for musicians and backing acts for his "stars", including, for example, Billy Fury, and others, whom they will accompany on a tou...
1960 Aug 12 Pete Best joins the Beatles
The group invited Pete Best to become their drummer on 12 August 1960. Four days after hiring Best, the group left for Hamburg. The Beatles began a 48-night residency in Hamburg at Bruno ...
1961 Apr The Beatles visit Hamburg for a second time
The Beatles returned to Hamburg in April 1961, performing at the Top Ten Club again. They were recruited by singer Tony Sheridan (who also had a residency at the club) to act as his backi...
1961 Aug 8 The Edge (David Howell Evans) born
David Howell Evans was born at the Barking Maternity Hospital, East London, England to Welsh parents Garvin and Gwenda Evans. When he was a year old, his family moved to Malahide in Count...
1961 Oct 31 Larry Mullen Jr. born
Mullen, the middle child and only son of Larry and Maureen Mullen, was born 31 October 1961, and raised in Artane, on the north side of Dublin, Ireland. Mullen began drumming in 1970, at ...
1962 Aug 18 Ringo Starr joins the Beatles
The Beatles asked Richard Starkey, known as Ringo Starr, to join the band; Starr was the drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and had performed occasionally with The Beatles in Hamb...
1963 Love (band) forms
Lee, who had lived in Los Angeles since the age of five, had been recording since 1963 with his bands, the LAG's and Lee's American Four. He'd also produced a single, "My Diary", for Rosa...
1963 Mar 22 The Beatles release Please Please Me
Please Please Me is the first album recorded by The Beatles, rush-released on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom to capitalise on the success of singles "Please Please Me" (#2) and "Love...
1963 Nov 22 The Beatles release With the Beatles
With The Beatles is The Beatles' second UK album, recorded four months after the band's first album and released on 22 November 1963, the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinat...
1964 Steven Tyler forms first serious band
Steven Tyler forms his first serious band, The Strangeurs, in Sunapee, NH, in which he is the drummer. He later changed the band's name to Chain Reaction. The band wrote originals and a...
1964 Jun 10 The Beatles release A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night is the third UK album by The Beatles, released on 10 July 1964 as the soundtrack to their first film of the same name on Parlophone in mono (catalogue number PMC 1230) ...
1964 Dec 4 The Beatles release Beatles for Sale
Beatles for Sale is The Beatles' fourth album, released in late 1964 and produced by George Martin for Parlophone, released on mono (catalogue number PMC 1240) and stereo (PCS 3062). The ...
1965 Electric Prunes are formed
Psychedelic garage rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. They reached their highest charting success in the USA in 1966 with I Had To Much to Dream Last Night (pea...
1965 Aug 6 The Beatles releases Help!
Help! is the fifth UK album and tenth US album by The Beatles, and the soundtrack album from their film of the same name. Produced by George Martin for EMI's Parlophone Records, the album...
1965 Dec 3 The Beatles release Rubber Soul
Rubber Soul is the sixth UK studio album and the eleventh US release by the British rock band The Beatles. Produced by George Martin and released in December 1965, Rubber Soul had been re...
1966 Electric Prunes release single "Ain't it Hard/Little Olive"
The group started in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, though during the group's long disbandment, rumors circulated that they were from Seattle. Their first hit was discovered by S...
1966 Moby Grape forms
Moby Grape is an American rock group from the 1960s, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting and that collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, co...
1966 Apr Love releases self-titled album
Love is the eponymous debut by the Los Angeles-based band Love. Twelve of the album's fourteen tracks were recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood on January 24-27, 1966. The rema...
1966 Aug 5 The Beatles release Revolver
Revolver is the seventh album by The Beatles, released on 5 August 1966. Many of the tracks on Revolver are marked by an electric guitar-rock sound, in contrast with their previous, folk ...
1966 Nov Electric Prunes release single "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)"
"I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" is a song written by Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz, which was recorded in late 1966 by The Electric Prunes. Released as the band's second single, ...
1967 Jan Love releases De Capo
Da Capo is the second album by the Los Angeles-based rock group Love. The bulk of Da Capo was recorded between September 27 and October 2, 1966. "7 and 7 Is" was recorded on June 20, a...
1967 Mar 17 The Grateful Dead Release Self-Titled Debut
The Grateful Dead is the debut album of the Grateful Dead. It was recorded by Warner Bros. Records, and was released in March 1967. According to bassist Phil Lesh in his autobiography Sea...
1967 Apr Electric Prunes release self-titled album
The Electric Prunes is the 1967 debut album by The Electric Prunes. The first track, "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)", was a hit and became the band's signature tune. It became the ...
1967 Jun 1 The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by British rock band The Beatles. Released 1 June 1967, it became a defining album in the emerging psychedelic rock style;...
1967 Aug Electric Prunes release Underground
Underground is a 1967 album by The Electric Prunes. The album contains some of the most classic dark psychedelia to ever have been recorded. "I" and "Antique Doll" stand out above the res...
1967 Nov Love releases Forever Changes
Forever Changes is the third album released by the Los Angeles-based band Love. The album was released by Elektra Records in November 1967. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Forever ...
1967 Nov 27 The Beatles release Magical Mystery Tour
Magical Mystery Tour is the name of the 11-song album and 6-song double EP by the English rock band The Beatles, first released as an LP on 27 November 1967 and on 8 December 1967 as a do...
1968 Jan Electric Prunes release "Mass in F Minor"
Mass in F Minor is a 1968 album by the The Electric Prunes, consisting of a musical setting of the mass sung in Latin and arranged in the psychedelic style of the band. At the time of its...
1968 Jul 18 Grateful Dead release Anthem of the Sun
Anthem of the Sun is the second studio album by the Grateful Dead, released in 1968. It is the first album to feature second drummer Mickey Hart, who joined the band in September 1967. In...
1968 Nov Electric Prunes release "Release of an Oath"
Release of An Oath is an album by the Electric Prunes. Following the musical pattern of their Mass in F Minor, it is a rock music setting of a service intended to release a penitent from ...
1968 Nov 22 The Beatles release the White Album
The Beatles is the ninth official British album and the fifteenth American album by The Beatles, a double album released in 1968. It is more commonly known as The White Album as it has no...
1969 Love releases Four Sail
By mid-1968, Arthur Lee was the only remaining member of the classic lineup of Love. But simply because Johnny Echols, Bryan Maclean, Ken Forssi and Michael Stuart had all departed the gr...
1969 Jan 17 The Beatles release Yellow Submarine
Yellow Submarine is a soundtrack album released by The Beatles corresponding with the film of the same name released on Apple Records (catalogue number PCS 7070 in the United Kingdom and ...
1969 Jun Electric Prunes release Just Good Old Rock and Roll
Just Good Old Rock and Roll is a record album attributed to the The Electric Prunes. It was recorded with a lineup put together by Wilson-Fisher management for David Hassinger, who owned ...
1969 Jun 20 Grateful Dead Release Aoxomoxoa
Aoxomoxoa is the third studio album by the Grateful Dead. It was originally titled Earthquake Country. Many Deadheads consider this era of the Dead to be the experimental apex of the band...
1969 Sep 26 The Beatles release Abbey Road
Abbey Road is the eleventh official U.K. album and seventeenth U.S. album released by The Beatles. Though work on Abbey Road began in April 1969, making it the final album recorded by the...
1969 Dec Love releases Out Here
Out Here is the fifth album by the American rock band Love, released in December 1969 on Blue Thumb Records in the United States, and Harvest in the United Kingdom.
1970 Aerosmith is formed
Aerosmith is an American hard rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard ...
1970 May 8 The Beatles release Let It Be
Let It Be is the twelfth and final studio album by the English rock band The Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970 by the band's Apple Records label shortly after the group's announced b...
1970 Nov 1 Grateful Dead Release American Beauty
American Beauty is the fifth album by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded between August and September 1970 and originally released in November 1970 by Warner Bros. Records. The album cont...
1970 Dec Love releases False Start
False Start is the sixth album by the American rock band Love, released in December 1970. The second and final Love album for Blue Thumb Records saw bandleader Arthur Lee heavily influ...
1971 Oct Grateful Dead Release Skull & Roses
Grateful Dead is an eponymous live double album by the Grateful Dead, released in 1971. Also known as Skull & Roses (due to its iconic cover art) and Skull Fuck (the name the band origina...
1972 Nov 5 Grateful Dead Release Europe '72
This was the third live double or triple album in the Dead's past five releases, revealing how the group's reputation rested on their live performances. Indeed, the liner notes simply sta...
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