January 4 – The Who drummer Keith Moon fatally runs over his chauffeur with his Bentley trying to escape a mob outside a pub. The death is later ruled an accident.
January 26 – Simon & Garfunkel release their final album together, Bridge Over Troubled Water. The title track and album stay #1 on the Billboard charts for six weeks and go on to win a record six Grammys at the 13th Grammy Awards, including "Record of the Year", "Song of the Year", and "Album of the Year." In Britain it tops the album chart at regular intervals over the next two years, and becomes the best-selling album in Britain during the 1970s.
January 28 – The newly formed Band of Gypsies breaks up when guitarist Jimi Hendrix walks out after playing just two songs, telling the audience "I'm sorry we just can't get it together".
February 17 – Joni Mitchell announces that she is retiring from live performances, following her show at London's Royal Albert Hall. She would be back performing concerts within a year.
February 28 – Elvis Presley performed at the Houston Astrodome. The King of Rock and Roll broke previous attendance records with a crowd of 36,299 - which was 10,000 more than the previous record.
March 15 – West German pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka features 5½ hours' daily live performances of the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen (to September 13).
April 2 – The London Magistrate's Court hears arguments on John Lennon's indecency summons for his exhibition of erotic lithographs during his art exhibit on January 16.
April 10 – Paul McCartney publicly announces that he has left The Beatles in a press release, written in mock-interview style, that is included in promotional copies of his first solo album and headlined in the Daily Mirror newspaper in the United Kingdom.
April 24 – Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane is invited to a tea party at the White House by Tricia Nixon, daughter of U.S. President Richard Nixon. Slick arrives at the party with Abbie Hoffman, who is on trial for conspiring to riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The pair planned to spike Nixon's tea cup with a heavy dose of LSD. Slick is recognized (although Hoffman is not) and told to leave because she is on the FBI list.
The Who release Live at Leeds which is their first live album. Since its initial reception, Live at Leeds has been cited by several music critics as the best live rock recording of all time.
May 20 – The Beatles' film Let It Be premières in London and Liverpool. None of the four band members are present at either screening.
May 23–24 – Grateful Dead make their first British appearance at Hollywood Festival, Newcastle-under-Lyme, on a bill also featuring Black Sabbath, Free, and José Feliciano. Everyone is completely upstaged by the previously unknown Mungo Jerry, whose debut single "In the Summertime" becomes the best-selling hit of the year.
June 3 – The Kinks singer Ray Davies makes a 6000-mile round trip from New York to London and back- interrupting the band's American tour- to re-record one word on their latest single "Lola". In order to get any airplay in Great Britain he has to change the word "Coca-Cola" to a more subtle "cherry cola".
July 26 – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix plays at his hometown of Seattle at Sicks Stadium where, under the influence of drugs, he starts verbally abusing members of the audience.
September 6 – During his final European tour, guitarist Jimi Hendrix is greeted by booing and jeering by German fans as a result of his late appearance on stage and incoherent stage performance. Bassist Billy Cox quits the tour and returns to the United States.
October 30 – Jim Morrison of The Doors, found guilty of indecent exposure and profanity because of his behavior during a March 1, 1969, concert, is sentenced to eight months of hard labor and a $500 fine.[7]
November 12 – After Yehudi Menuhin accepts honorary citizenship from Switzerland, he receives a letter from the United States State Department telling him that both he and his son will lose their US citizenship as a result.[8]
November 20 – The Kinks singer Ray Davies flies to a London studio to re-record one word in a new Kinks single for the second time in 1970. This time, he has to change a line in "Apeman"- "The air pollution is a-foggin' up my eyes" which sounds too much like "a-fuckin'".
December 8 – John Lennon conducts a lengthy and intensely candid interview with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine. He discusses his new solo album and the influence of primal therapy on its creation, as well as his personal traumas dating back to childhood. He also makes many revelations about his time in The Beatles, including his account of the group's breakup.
December 12 – The Doors play their final concert with singer Jim Morrison at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana. After the concert The Doors decide that they will not play live anymore due to Morrison's unpredictable live persona.
Simon & Garfunkel – both members of the duo go on to solo careers, although they have reunited and performed together numerous times since breaking up.
In 1970, 4,000 albums and 5,700 singles were released in the US.[11]
January
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December
Release date unknown
Billboard Top popular records of 1970
from Billboard December 26, 1970 - Record Talent Edition pg TA-30
"Top Records OF 1970 (Based on Billboard's Charts)
The information compiled for the Top Records of 1970 is based on the weekly chart positioning and length of time records were on the respective charts from the
Billboard issue dates of January 3 through November 28, 1970. These recaps, as well as the weekly charts, do not reflect actual sales figures. The ratings take into
account the number of weeks the disk was on the chart, plus the weekly positions it held during its chart life. Each disk was given points accordingly for its respective
chart, and in addition, the No. 1 disk each week was assigned bonus points equal to the total number of positions on its respective chart.
Unfortunately, Billboard's late December print deadline prevented approximately 60 records from completing their full chart runs, and their formula also included approximately 50 records from 1969, some of which had enough points to rank in the 1970 chart. Joel Whitburn's Records Research books, archived issues of Billboard for November-December 1969 and December 1970-March 1971, and Hot 100 Year-End formulas were used to complete the December 26 year-end chart reprinted here.
The completed chart is composed of records that entered the Billboard Hot 100 during November-December 1969 (only when the majority of chart weeks were in 1970), January to November-December 1970 (majority of chart weeks in 1970). Records with majority of chart weeks in 1969 or 1971 are included in the year-end charts for those years, respectively, and multiple appearances are not permitted. Each week fifteen points were awarded to the number one record, then nine points for number two, eight points for number three, and so on. The total points a record earned determined its year-end rank. The complete chart life of each record is represented, with number of points accrued. There are no ties, even when multiple records have the same number of points. The next ranking category is peak chart position, then weeks at peak chart position, weeks in top ten, weeks in top forty, and finally weeks on Hot 100 chart.
The chart can be sorted by Artist, Song title, Recording and Release dates, Cashbox year-end ranking (CB) or units sold (sales) by clicking on the column header. Additional details for each record can be accessed by clicking on the song title, and referring to the Infobox in the right column of the song page. Billboard also has chart summaries on its website. Cashbox rankings were derived by same process as the Billboard rankings. Sales information was derived from the RIAA's Gold and Platinum database, the BRIT Certified database and The Book of Golden Discs,[18] but numbers listed should be regarded as estimates. Grammy Hall of Fame and National Recording Registry information with sources can be found on Wikipedia.
December 9 – Kara DioGuardi, American singer-songwriter, producer, television judge, musician, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, composer and TV personality
^"Black Sabbath Biography". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on September 21, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
^The Long And Winding Road
^McLellan, Joseph (December 26, 1977). "It's a Whale of a Song". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
^Andersen, Kurt. "How Pop Music Helped Save the Whales". Studio 360. Archived from the original on January 10, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
^Rothenberg, David. "Nature's greatest hit: The old and new songs of the humpback whale". The Wire.
^Lewis, Tim (December 6, 2020). "'It always hits me hard': how a haunting album helped save the whales". The Observer. London – via www.theguardian.com.
^Jim Morrison bares all | Jim Morrison | Encore | Music | Entertainment Weekly
^"Citizenship in peril, US advises Menuhin", Milwaukee Journal, December 7, 1970. Accessed August 8, 2014
^"Paul McCartney files a lawsuit to dissolve The Beatles' partnership". The Beatles Bible. December 31, 1970. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
^"The Beatles – When Did They Split Up?". Newsround. BBC. November 30, 2001. Archived from the original on October 12, 2010. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
^Solid gold: the popular record industry | R. Serge Denisoff
^"Pink Floyd official site".
^"RIAA".
^Cash Box July 18, 1970, page 42
^"Great Rock discography". p. 802.
^Atomic Rooster - Death Walks Behind You Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic, retrieved August 18, 2022
^Williams, Richard (November 21, 1970). "Outside the Court of the Crimson King". Melody Maker. Archived from the original on November 4, 2022.
^Murrells, Joseph (1978). The book of golden discs. Internet Archive. London : Barrie & Jenkins. ISBN 978-0-214-20512-5.
^Inglis, Ian (2010). The Words and Music of George Harrison. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-313-37532-3.
^Morenz, Emily. "I'm Your Venus: Lyrics And Meaning Of The Shocking Blue/Bananarama #1". Groovy History. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
^"The Temptations". Billboard. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
^Our Lady Peace bandology Archived July 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine – Ourladypeace.cc. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
^"Happy Birthday John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers)". Magnet Magazine. March 5, 2021. Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
^Kaven, L., liner note, Eretics (Smalls, 2005).
^Caramanica, Jon (June 19, 2016). "Prince Be, Who Infused Rap With Mysticism, Dies at 46". The New York Times. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
^"Saxophonist Johnny Hodges Leaves $86,000 Estate To His Widow And Children". JET. December 28, 1972. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
^"Bernd Aloïs Zimmermann". Dictionnaire de la musique (in French). Larousse. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
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