1966 in music

See also:

Events

• January 3 - Hullabaloo shows promotional videos of The Beatles songs "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out".
• January 8 - Shindig! airs for the last time on ABC, with musical guests the Kinks and the Who
• January 14 - Young singer David Jones changes his last name to Bowie to avoid being confused with Davy Jones of the Monkees
• January 17 - Simon and Garfunkel release Sounds of Silence, which hits #21 on Billboard charts
• January 21 - Beatle George Harrison marries fashion model Pattie Boyd. The couple met on the set of the Beatles' first movie, A Hard Day's Night.
• February 19 - Jefferson Airplane and Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin perform at the Fillmore
• March 3 - Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay form Buffalo Springfield in Los Angeles, California.
• March 4 - The Beatles' John Lennon is quoted in the London newspaper, The Evening Standard as saying that the band was now more popular than Jesus. Beatles protests and record burnings follow in the Southern US's "Bible Belt".
• March 6 - In the UK, 5,000 fans of the Beatles sign a petition urging British Prime minister Harold Wilson to reopen Liverpool's legendary Cavern Club.
• April 12 - In Los Angeles, California, Jan Berry, of Jan and Dean, crashes his Corvette into a truck that is parked on Whittier Boulevard. Berry suffers total physical paralysis for over a year as well as extensive brain damage.
• May 1 - The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and the Who perform at the New Musical Express' poll winners' show in London. The show is televised, except for The Beatles' and The Stones' segments, thanks to union conflicts.
• June 6 ? At Gallatin, Tennessee, 25-year-old Claudette Frady-Orbison, while motorcycycle riding with her husband Roy Orbison, was killed when her motorcycle was struck by a pickup truck.
• July 2 - The Beatles become the first musical group to perform at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo. The performance ignited a lot of protest from local citizens who felt that it was inappropriate for a rock and roll band to play at Budokan.
• July 29 - Bob Dylan is involved in a motorcycle accident
• August 11 - John Lennon holds a press conference in Chicago, Illinois to apologize for his remarks the previous March. "I suppose if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I would have gotten away with it. I'm sorry I opened my mouth. I'm not anti-God, anti-Christ, or anti-religion. I was not knocking it. I was not saying we are greater or better."
• August 29 - The Beatles perform their last official concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California
• September - George Harrison travels to India for 6 weeks to study sitar with Ravi Shankar
• September 12 - First episode of The Monkees is broadcast on NBC Television
• October 10 - Simon and Garfunkel release Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, which hits #4 on Billboard charts
• Dalida receives for a second time the Music Hall Bravos.
• Gram Parsons' musical career begins
• Charley Pride's musical career begins
• Neil Young's musical career begins
• Robert Plant's musical career begins
• Wishbone Ash forms
• The Crystals break up
• Gerry & the Pacemakers break up