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Music

THE FIFTIES
# 1951 - "Rocket 88," considered the first Rock record, is released.
# 1952 - Little Richard's first records are released.
# 1953 - Elvis Presley makes his first (private) recordings.
# 1954 - Ray Charles forms his own band.
# 1955 - The movie Blackboard Jungle is released featuring Bill Haley & The Comets' "Rock Around The Clock." RCA signs Elvis Presley. The Everly Bros. make their first studio recordings.
# 1956 - Elvis' first film, Love Me Tender. An impromptu recording session at Sun Studios for Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, the million dollar quartet.
# 1957 - Chuck Berry releases the hits "School Day" and "Rock And Roll Music"
# 1958 - Elvis is drafted into the U.S. Army
# 1959 - Buddy Holly is killed in a plane crash.
THE SIXTIES
# 1960 - Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show following his Army stint.
# 1961 - Big soul hits for groups like The Shirelles, The Marvelettes. Dion splits from The Belmonts.
# 1962 - The Supremes have their first record released by Motown. The Twist takes off.
# 1963 - Surf music rules the airwaves.
# 1964 - The Beatles hit America leading the British Invasion.
# 1965 - Bob Dylan plugs in at the Newport Folk Festival spawning Folk-Rock.
# 1966 - The Monkees TV series begins. The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album arrives.
# 1967 - Monterey Pop Festival begins the open air Rock festival concept. The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper is unleashed. Cream issues their first two albums.
# 1968 - Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention release We're Only In It For The Money.
# 1969 - Woodstock Music & Arts Festival draws half a million fans to Max Yasgar's farm in New York. The Who's rock opera Tommy is introduced.
THE SEVENTIES
# 1970 - Deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin within a month of each other. The Grateful Dead release both Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. The Beatles break up.
# 1971 - Deaths of Jim Morrison (The Doors) and Duane Allman (Allman Bros. Band)....