Class of 1968

The Times

While “Summer of Love” flower wearing Hippies in 1967 were following Timothy Leary to “Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out,” the graduating class of 1968 was returning to campus to celebrate Cortland’s Centennial year and the #1 song on radio was “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles. It may have seemed like peace and love ruled the day, but a cultural and socio-economic hurricane was on the horizon.

The world was changing and not for the better. 1968 saw the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy Jr., and the US sustained heavy losses due to the Tet Offensive which drove home the idea that Vietnam was an unwinnable war. On top of that was the growing injustice of poverty, more than 150 race riots in cities around the country and the election of Richard Nixon. These dramatic events generated an explosive student movement producing campus takeovers and demonstrations across the nation. The 1968 song “Time Has Come Today” by The Chambers Brothers perfectly captured the angst and turmoil of these volatile times.

Ironically, one of the most tumultuous years of the 20th century also produced some of its greatest music. Free-Form Rock Radio which gave DJs total control of playlists, was born on May 21, 1968, by a local San Francisco classical radio station which switched their format to “rock out” as KSAN-FM. Soon other free-form radio stations launched…WNEW-FM in New York, WMMR-FM in Philly and WMMS-FM in Cleveland.

And what could be called the greatest year in new music, gave us The New Yardbirds who became Led Zeppelin and generation-defining bands formed such as Crosby, Stills and Nash, Chicago, Genesis, Deep Purple, Yes, Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull and King Crimson. And thanks to the NBA and the National Hockey League, Arena Rock was born. The first rock musical HAIR came to Broadway and the Beatles launched Apple Corps, a Beatle business that included a retail store, a recording studio and a record label.