Celebrating 1969: See Pop Culture Events Turning 50 This Year

We’ll give you that every year represents an anniversary of something, but one of the standout aspects of 2019 is that it’s an opportunity to celebrate the fact that 1969 was 50 years ago. Now that was a year. It marked the end of a truly incredible decade that was all about change in America; where the Youth Culture founds its voice, the status quo was shaken up, the draft lottery was re-introduced for the first time since World War II and humanity would literally reach for and land on the moon. Virtually nothing would be the same again.

1969-woodstock — (Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

On the pop culture side of things, some highlights of 1969 include Led Zeppelin recording its first album (self-titled) and The Beatles recording their last (Abbey Road) — talk about passing the mantle! — while Elvis Presley recorded his landmark From Elvis in Memphis and Back in Memphis albums; George Lazenby took a one-shot as James Bond, replacing Sean Connery in the sixth 007 film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service; Mario Puzo‘s The Godfather was published, ultimately destined to spawn the Best Picture Academy Award winners for 1972 and 1974; and the first X-rated film from the Hollywood studios, Midnight Cowboy, was released (becoming an Oscar winner, including Best Picture, which certainly alters the initial perception of what an X-rated film was).

1969-abbey-road — (Photo Credit: Capitol Records)

Sadly, Judy Garland died of a drug overdose at the age of 47 in 1969, The Wizard of Oz among her other accomplishments immortalizing her; actress Sharon Tate (who was eight months pregnant with director Roman Polanski‘s baby) and her friends were brutally murdered by members of the Manson Family; from August 15-18, the Woodstock Festival was held on a dairy farm near White Lake, New York, bringing together a wide range of musicians and over 400,000 fans, proving itself to be an event like no other and one that certainly seemed like the perfect capper for the 1960s.

On television, we got the premiere of shows like Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Britain’s Monty Python’s Flying Circus and The Brady Bunch. Plus, the Frosty the Snowman animated special made its premiere. On the big screen, there were films like The Wild Bunch, Easy Rider, True Grit and Hello Dolly!

Among celebrities born in 1969 are singers Marilyn Manson, Bobby Brown, Mariah Carey, Brian Jones, founder of The Rollings Stones; and Jennifer Lopez; actors Jason Bateman, Verne Troyer (Mini-Me!), Dave Bautista, Jesse L. Martin, Patton Oswalt, Jennifer Aniston, Paget Brewster, Paul Rudd, Kim Fields, David Boreanaz (the vampire series Angel), Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Ken Jeong, Edward Norton, Matthew Perry, Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey and Wendy Wilson. Beyond Judy Garland, celebrity deaths included Boris Karloff, Gabby Hayes, Jeffrey Hunter (who played Jesus in King of Kings and Captain Pike in the first Star Trek pilot), and Bud Collyer, the first actor to “play” Superman, having voiced him in the 1941 Max Fleischer theatrical animated shorts.

For us, though, 1969 is just the beginning of what will be a series of journeys back through time, looking at significant historical events and providing a guide to the biggest pop culture achievements of that particular year, from film to television, music, Broadway and books.

For our first round-up of those subjects, just scroll down!

Top Movie: ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’

Inspired by the true story of a couple of Wild West outlaws who take on posses, rob banks and trains, and do their best to elude the authorities. It’s also, notes Google, “a character study of the remarkable friendship between Butch — possibly the most likable outlaw in frontier history — and his closest associate, the fabled, ever-dangerous Sundance Kid.” The first teaming of Paul Newman as Butch and Robert Redford as the Sundance Kid, the duo, unfortunately, only reteaming for The Sting. Pulling in over $100 million at the box office, adjusted for inflation this film would be the 34th biggest film of all time. It would go on to win four Academy Awards in the categories of Best Cinematography, Best Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical), Best Music, Song (Burt Bacharach and Hal David for “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”), Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Material Not Previously Published or Produced; and Best Actor (Robert Redford).

Top TV Show: ‘Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In’

As series creator George Schlatter explained to us in an exclusive interview, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In was designed to serve as an antidote to the typical variety show. It was designed to be a one-shot TV special that aired on September 9, 1967, and was pretty much unlike anything else on the air, consisting of a rapid-fire series of jokes and sketches — which were filled with political humor and sexual innuendo — but which was edited together so quickly that half the time you were left wondering, “Did they just say … ?” The special was cohosted by the comedy duo of Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, Dan as the straight man to Dick’s dumb guy routine — which they had made famous in their nightclub act. Performers in that special were Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Larry Hovis, Arte Johnson, Barbara Feldon (Agent 99 in Get Smart making a “guest” appearance) and Jo Anne Worley, with Gary Owens (hand famously cupped over his ear) as the announcer. Additional cast members coming later would include Lily Tomlin, Eileen Brennan, Teresa Graves, and Goldie Hawn.

“None of them were known and we just made it into a huge, semi-adult playpen,” says George. “We took my own minimal attention span, my own sense of having fun, and we collected creative people. We had this group of people that really didn’t have a home in the normal variety format. They weren’t sitcom people. They weren’t movie stars. They were young, attractive, outrageous character people that we put into one basket. And we just had a good time, without any rules except for the one that said, contractually, the network would not interfere with us. Nobody from the network was there when we taped the pilot. It was just us, at two o’clock in the morning.” Laugh-In would run from 1968 to 1973.

Top Album: Iron Butterfly’s ‘In-A-Gadda-DaVida’

This was the second studio album by Iron Butterfly, an American band described by Wikipedia as “providing a dramatic sound that led the way toward the development of hard rock and heavy metal music.” Side one consisted of five tracks, while side two only featured their popular 17:05 single (and the song they’re best known for), “In-A-Gadda-DaVida.”

Top Single: The Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar”

You would be hard-pressed to find a sound as diametrically opposed to Iron Butterfly as The Archies were. A “virtual band” created to handle the singing on the animated shows The Archies and Everything’s Archie TV shows, they ended up having some pretty big success, with bubblegum pop single “Sugar, Sugar” being the best-selling single of 1969.

Top Broadway Musical: ‘1776’

Based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this Broadway musical is composed with lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. It ran for 1,217 performances and went on to win three Tony Awards. In addition to Best Musical, it took home the prize for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Ron Holgate) and Best Director of a Musical (Peter Hunt). There was a 1972 film adaptation and a Broadway revival in 1997.

Top Broadway Play: ‘The Great White Hope’

The focus is on real-life boxing heavyweight champion Jack Jefferson (James Earl Jones) in the early 1910s, who has to not only deal with the racism surrounding the fact that he’s a black man as champ, but the fact that he’s romantically involved with a white woman. In response, fans and the press are searching for the “great white hope” who will take the title from him. In addition to winning the Tony Award for Best Play, Jones earned one for Best Actor in a Play while his costar, Jane Alexander, won for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Both would reprise their roles in the 1970 film version. Jones, needless to say, went on to voice Darth Vader in the Star Wars films and Mufasa in The Lion King.

Top Fiction: ‘Portnoy’s Complaint’ by Philip Roth

Written by Philip Roth, this was a pretty revolutionary piece of fiction in its time, creating controversy over its frank approach to sexuality, including in-depth descriptions of masturbation. The novel is essentially a monologue of a “lust-ridden, mother-addicted young Jewish bachelor” who starts confessing his inner feelings and what he’s been doing to a psychoanalyst. The 1972 film version stars Richard Benjamin.