MIX NO 27 // 1969
I must admit this is one of my favorite mixes I’ve ever made, and trust me I’ve made quite a few in my day. With Woodstock beginning 50 years ago today, why not share it?
There are a few reasons I really wanted to make this playlist. First, I’ve always had an interest in this decade of time. No one really knows why although there are family jokes and theories. Second, it seemed fitting since 1969 was 50 years ago and there were many significant events in history that occurred during this year. Lastly, it could have been seeing Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. Whatever the reason, I set out to make a playlist of songs from 1969 and here we are.
I have always found the music of this time had so much going on. There was great sound coming out from every genre. A few of my all time favorite songs are from this time in music. That said, I’m not sure this playlist is entirely reflective of the decade as a whole, but does paint a fairly decent picture of the year. I started with one solid criteria: it must have been released in 1969. I set out looking at lists of releases, people’s favorites, my basic knowledge, and, of course, the Billboard Hot 100 which actually held some purpose back in the day.
So whether you care about the music or not, let’s get in the way way back machine to visit 1969.
I would wear this in 2019…
1969 was a seminal year in US History. Of course, we had the moon landing, Woodstock, continued protests against Vietnam among other things, but did you know these other things about 1969?
Gas was 35 cents a gallon
A Lite Brite cost $5.66
A stamp cost $.06 and the average rent was just $135
The Beatles recorded and released their final album together, Abbey Road. They held their final public performance on the roof of Apple Records
The Air Force closed Project Blue Book denying the existence of UFOs
PBS was established with the help of Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street debuted
The Boeing 747 jumbo jet made it’s debut
The U.S. Military began using the internet
Cigarette advertising was banned from television and radio
Capri Suns hit the market!
The first ATM was installed in New York
Neiman Marcus listed a $10,000 kitchen computer in their catalog which included a cookbook, apron, and 2 week programming course. They didn’t sell any.
A modern portable home called “Futuro”
Woodstock
Some interesting tidbits just to set the scene. The 1969 playlist is sorted by release date. This is where things got a little tricky. NERD ALERT: When using the Billboard 100 songs from the year and other references, it became clear a few were released in 1968 but didn’t reach popularity until 1969. For example: Everybody’s Talkin’ was re-released because of the popularity of the song after Midnight Cowboy. So I decided to leave some of them in just because.
You can shuffle it to create your own algorithmic mixture or you can listen to it straight through to kind of hear the progression of music throughout the year. A fun choose your own adventure.