Led Zeppelin plays its first-ever live show
Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, billed as the New Yardbirds, played their first concert together in a converted school gymnasium in Gladsaxe, Denmark, opening with Train Kept A-Rollin' for 1,200 curious teenagers.
The set previewed early versions of songs headed for their debut album, including Communication Breakdown, and the response was strong enough to send the band straight into the studio once they got home to London.
King Crimson plays a legendary club show in Chesterfield
King Crimson performed at the Victoria Ballroom Jazz Club in Chesterfield, England, just weeks before releasing their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King, running through early versions of 21st Century Schizoid Man and Epitaph, per Discogs.
Tapes of the show survive as one of the most bootlegged documents of the band's earliest lineup, a snapshot of progressive rock arriving nearly fully formed.
Led Zeppelin plays its first-ever live show
Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, billed as the New Yardbirds, played their first concert together in a converted school gymnasium in Gladsaxe, Denmark, opening with Train Kept A-Rollin' for 1,200 curious teenagers, per Wikipedia.
The set previewed early versions of songs headed for their debut album, including Communication Breakdown, and the response was strong enough to send the band straight into the studio once they got home to London.
The Doors close out their first UK shows at the Roundhouse
The Doors played the second of two nights at London's Roundhouse, the climax of their first-ever concerts in the United Kingdom, with Granada Television cameras capturing the performances for the documentary The Doors Are Open.
Jim Morrison's theatrical intensity that night, on a bill built around Light My Fire, left a lasting impression on British fans who had only known the band from records until then, part of the era's wider psychedelic rock wave.
Jimi Hendrix plays a personal homecoming show in Vancouver
The Jimi Hendrix Experience played the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver with Vanilla Fudge and Soft Machine opening, a stop that carried extra weight because Hendrix's grandmother Nora lived in the city and he spent the afternoon with family before the show, per the official Jimi Hendrix site.
He tore through a set built around Purple Haze and other early hits, another stop on a 1968 tour that was cementing his psychedelic rock sound as the loudest thing in music.
Aretha Franklin releases (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Atlantic Records released Aretha Franklin's (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, a song Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote for her in a single evening after producer Jerry Wexler tossed off the title as a challenge, per Wikipedia.
The gospel-fueled performance climbed to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the defining vocal performances of 1960s soul music.
The Beatles finish vocals on Blue Jay Way
The Beatles returned to EMI Studios to finish George Harrison's Blue Jay Way, working through the night on overdubs and double-tracking Harrison's lead vocal through a Hammond organ's Leslie speaker for its eerie, swirling effect, per The Beatles Bible.
Built for the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack, the song became one of the era's clearest examples of the band chasing pure studio atmosphere over a conventional pop structure.
The Rolling Stones wrap a chaotic Satanic Majesties session block
The Rolling Stones closed out a haphazard run of sessions at Olympic Sound Studios that had stretched since August 10, piecing together the psychedelic tracks that would become Their Satanic Majesties Request.
Bassist Bill Wyman later described the sessions as a nightly lottery of who would even show up, a disorganized process that nonetheless produced 2000 Light Years from Home, the album's trippiest and most enduring track.
Bob Dylan releases Positively 4th Street
Columbia Records put out Bob Dylan's Positively 4th Street, a biting non-album single recorded during the Highway 61 Revisited sessions and built on Al Kooper's swirling organ, per Wikipedia.
Aimed squarely at the Greenwich Village folk scene that had turned on him for going electric, the song still climbed to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, proof that Dylan's sharpest writing could dominate the pop charts as easily as folk rock clubs.
Sump'n Else debuts on Dallas television
Radio personality Ron Chapman hosted the debut of Sump'n Else, a live teen dance show broadcasting from a storefront studio at Dallas's new NorthPark Shopping Center on WFAA-TV, per the Texas State Historical Association.
The after-school program ran for more than two years and gave national touring acts and Texas garage bands alike a rare local stage, including two of the only television appearances the psychedelic rock pioneers 13th Floor Elevators, heard here on their breakthrough single You're Gonna Miss Me, ever made.
The Beatles play two sold-out shows at Maple Leaf Gardens
The Beatles performed back-to-back concerts at Toronto's 15,000-capacity Maple Leaf Gardens, selling more than 35,000 tickets combined and drawing fans who skipped school and slept on sidewalks to get in, per The Beatles Bible.
Screams drowned out most of the band's 12-song set, including She Loves You, the single that had turned Canadian teenagers into the same kind of Beatlemaniacs already sweeping Britain and the United States.
Quincy Jones records Soul Bossa Nova at A&R Studios
Arranger and bandleader Quincy Jones led his orchestra through a session at A&R Studios in New York for his album Big Band Bossa Nova, tracking the instrumental Soul Bossa Nova among sides blending American big-band swing with Brazilian rhythm, per Wikipedia.
The bouncy, flute-driven tune sat mostly unnoticed for three decades until it became the theme for Austin Powers, turning one 1962 studio afternoon into one of jazz's most unlikely pop-culture afterlives.
Elvis Presley keeps filming at the Seattle World's Fair
MGM crews kept Elvis Presley on location at the Century 21 Exposition grounds for It Happened at the World's Fair, working around dense crowds of fairgoers drawn by his presence just days into the shoot, per HistoryLink.org.
The film's soundtrack single One Broken Heart for Sale reached the Top 20 the following spring, one more sign of how thoroughly Presley's Hollywood years had folded 1960s pop stardom into mainstream moviegoing.
Lil Hardin Armstrong records Chicago: The Living Legends
Pianist, composer, and bandleader Lil Hardin Armstrong led her orchestra through a live recording session at the Birdhouse jazz club, cutting the album Chicago: The Living Legends for Riverside Records, including her original composition Clip Joint, per AllMusic.
The set captured one of early jazz's most important, and most overlooked, female architects still driving a band decades after she helped shape the sound of Louis Armstrong's own Hot Five.
Sonny Rollins turns 30 mid-sabbatical on the Williamsburg Bridge
Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins spent his 30th birthday deep into a self-imposed break from public performing, practicing alone for hours on the pedestrian walkway of Brooklyn's Williamsburg Bridge.
He had already found his signature voice years earlier on the calypso-inflected St. Thomas, and it was that reputation, and the fear of losing his edge, that drove him to disappear and rebuild his technique from scratch before returning to record in 1962.
Come September begins filming with Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee
Producer Robert Arthur and Universal-International started principal photography on the romantic comedy Come September, sending stars Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Bobby Darin, and Sandra Dee to Rome and the coastal town of Portofino, per Wikipedia.
Darin and Dee fell for each other on set and married within months, a real-life romance that made Darin's own instrumental theme from the film feel inseparable from the movie's sunny Riviera backdrop, part of the era's early 1960s pop crossover into Hollywood.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened in 1960s music on September 7?
September 7 saw 15 verified music events across the decade.
They're headlined by Led Zeppelin's first-ever live show in Denmark in 1968.
What is the biggest 1960s music event on September 7?
Led Zeppelin's live debut on September 7, 1968, stands as the day's biggest event.
Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham played their first show together in a school gymnasium in Gladsaxe, Denmark, billed as the New Yardbirds.
Did the Beatles do anything on September 7?
Yes, in two different years.
In 1964 they played two sold-out concerts at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, and in 1967 they finished vocals on George Harrison's Blue Jay Way at EMI Studios.
When did Led Zeppelin play their first concert?
Led Zeppelin played its first-ever concert on September 7, 1968, at a converted school gymnasium in Gladsaxe, Denmark, in front of about 1,200 teenagers.
They were billed at the time as the New Yardbirds.
What songs were released on September 7 in the 1960s?
Bob Dylan's Positively 4th Street was released on September 7, 1965.
Aretha Franklin's (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman was released on September 7, 1967.
Did Jimi Hendrix play a show on September 7?
Yes. The Jimi Hendrix Experience played the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver on September 7, 1968.
The show carried extra personal meaning since Hendrix's grandmother lived in the city.