Best 1968

Chick Corea's *Now He Sings, Now He Sobs* (1971) is a significant jazz album exploring complex harmonies and textures. Featuring Corea’s distinctive electric piano alongside a substantial ensemble, it demonstrates his evolving musical style blending hard bop with experimental elements. The record ap...

"Hair: The Original Broadway Cast Recording" is a 1968 album released by RCA Victor that documents the score of the musical "Hair." The music was composed by Galt MacDermot, with lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, and the album features the original cast performing songs like "Aquarius" and "Let...

The 1968 film *Bullitt* is renowned for its groundbreaking car chases filmed entirely on location in San Francisco. It established a benchmark for realistic and intense vehicular action sequences within cinema. The movie’s focus on a police investigation intertwined with a thrilling pursuit makes it...

The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge is a significant cantilever-truss bridge spanning the Yangtze River near Nanjing, China. Constructed in 1968, it represents an early achievement in Chinese engineering and demonstrates the nation’s growing industrial capabilities. This road-rail bridge facilitates bo...

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, established in 1968, is a landmark multilateral treaty designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. It obligates signatories to either not develop or acquire them or to pursue peaceful applications of nuclear technology. The UN initiated this agreement to...

Etta James’ “Tell Mama,” released in 1968, is a seminal blues-soul album recorded at Fame Studios. The track, and the entire record, showcases James' powerful vocals and distinctive style within the soul-blues genre. It remains notable for its raw energy and influence on subsequent generations of mu...

Buddy Guy’s “A Man and the Blues” showcases the Chicago blues legend at his peak. Released in 1968 on Vanguard Records, this album solidified Guy's position as a vital force within electric blues. Featuring tight instrumentation and intensely emotional performances, it remains a cornerstone of class...

Herbie Hancock’s *Speak Like a Child* is a seminal 1968 jazz album. It showcases his pioneering use of synthesizers and electric instruments to blend post-bop sensibilities with emerging funk and electronic music influences. The record's harmonic complexity and rhythmic innovation make it valuable f...

Miles Davis’ “Nefertiti,” released in 1968, is a landmark jazz album exploring modal improvisation. The recording utilizes scales as harmonic foundations, creating a distinctive meditative atmosphere through extended instrumental solos. It's notable for its influence on subsequent jazz development a...

"The Whole Earth Catalog" was an American counterculture magazine and catalog founded by Stewart Brand and first published in 1968. It provided reviews and resources for tools, books, and technologies that supported self-sufficiency, ecology, and alternative education. The publication was highly inf...

*Motown Chartbusters Vol. 2* is a compilation album released in the United Kingdom in 1968 by Tamla Motown. The album is the second installment in a popular series designed to showcase the Detroit label's most successful singles for the British market. It features a collection of prominent soul and...

George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) is a landmark horror film that established many conventions of the zombie subgenre. The movie portrays a group of strangers barricaded in a farmhouse facing relentless attacks by reanimated corpses. Its innovative use of black and white cinematograp...

USS Scorpion (SSN-589) was a Skipjack-class nuclear-powered attack submarine operated by the United States Navy. It disappeared in the North Atlantic in May 1968 while returning from a Mediterranean deployment, and all 99 people aboard were killed. Its wreck was located later that year southwest of...

Mike Bloomfield – Super Session is a 1968 Columbia Records album showcasing a collaborative effort by Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, and Stephen Stills. The project produced influential blues-rock tracks blending traditional blues forms with electric instrumentation. It gained attention for its innovat...

Oscar Peterson’s "Exclusively for My Friends" is a 1968 jazz album notable for its pristine recording and the pianist's exceptional technique. Peterson delivers a captivating performance primarily of his own compositions blended with familiar standards. This collection offers a valuable listening ex...

The Kerner Commission Report was a 1968 U.S. federal study of urban unrest, notable for warning that America was moving toward two unequal societies.

"Dragonflight" is a science fantasy novel by Anne McCaffrey published in 1968, establishing the expansive "Dragonriders of Pern" universe. The book compiles two previously serialized novellas, "Weyr Search," which won a Hugo Award, and "Dragonrider," which won a Nebula Award. Set on the feudal plane...

K-129 was a Soviet Project 629A, or Golf II-class, diesel-electric submarine equipped to carry ballistic missiles. It sank in the North Pacific in March 1968 with its entire crew, and the exact cause remains unresolved. After locating the wreck, the United States Central Intelligence Agency mounted...

The Original Affluent Society is Marshall Sahlins's 1966 essay arguing that hunter-gatherer societies could meet needs with relatively limited labor.

Francis Bacon created a diptych in 1968 depicting George Dyer, a figure central to his work. The two canvases present a highly stylized and unsettling portrait of Dyer’s face, characterized by distorted forms and intense color. Bacon frequently used this technique to explore themes of alienation and...

The Rescue Agreement, adopted by the United Nations in 1968, establishes a legal framework for international cooperation concerning spaceflight. It requires signatory nations to offer assistance to astronauts experiencing emergencies during missions. This treaty is significant for establishing early...

Oscar Peterson's “At The Montreux Jazz Festival” album from 1968 documents a legendary performance by the renowned Canadian pianist. Recorded at the festival’s peak, it showcases Peterson’s extraordinary technical skill and improvisational abilities alongside his trio. This recording remains notable...

Shampoo, released in 1975, is a comedy directed by Hal Ashby featuring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. Set during Election Day 1968 in Los Angeles, it portrays a hairdresser navigating multiple relationships amidst satirical commentary on sexual politics and the era’s social norms. The film includ...

Big Mama Thornton – Ball and Chain (1968) is an Arhoolie Records album by the Alabama-born singer who both wrote 'Ball and Chain' and first recorded 'Hound Dog' years before those songs made others famous.

“Soul – Oscar Peterson” is a 1962 album featuring the renowned Canadian pianist exploring blues and gospel influences within his established jazz style, showcasing arrangements with a horn section and notable guest vocalists.

Robin Morgan's 1968 protest text for New York Radical Women denounces the Miss America pageant as a symbol of commercialized beauty and women's subordination.

“Grass Roots,” featuring Andrew Hill’s quintet with Eric Dolphy and Kenny Dorham, presents a highly structured and rhythmically complex exploration of modal harmony and collective improvisation during the mid-1960s jazz landscape.

Released in 1963, *Underground* showcases Thelonious Monk’s distinctive harmonic language and rhythmic explorations through a quintet featuring Charlie Rouse, Wilbur Davis, Sam Gillman, and Ahmed Abduljalil, capturing a raw and inventive performance style.

Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starring Charlton Heston. It is an adaptation of the 1963 French novel by Pierre Boulle. The narrative follows an astronaut crew that crash-lands on a distant planet where intelligent, talking apes are t...