Moments

The events that made rock history: Monterey and Woodstock, the death of the '60s at Altamont, Live Aid, the launch of MTV and the festivals that defined generations.

Part of Rock

45 moments in this segment.

1. 1965-08-15 - The Beatles at Shea Stadium. The Beatles' 1965 Shea Stadium show pioneered the stadium rock concert.
2. 1967-06-16 - The Monterey Pop Festival. The 1967 festival launched Hendrix and Janis Joplin and inaugurated the rock-festival era.
3. 1967-06-18 - The Who destroy their gear at Monterey. The Who's instrument-smashing Monterey set announced rock's theatrical violence.
4. 1969-07-01 - The festival explosion of '69. After Monterey, festivals multiplied, Newport, Atlanta Pop and the road to Woodstock.
5. 1969-07-05 - The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park. The Stones' free 1969 Hyde Park concert drew a quarter-million mourners for Brian Jones.
6. 1969-08-15 - Woodstock. Half a million gathered on a New York farm in 1969 for the defining festival of the counterculture.
7. 1969-12-06 - Altamont. The Stones' free 1969 concert, marred by a killing, is often called the death of the '60s dream.
8. 1970-08-26 - The Isle of Wight Festival 1970. Six hundred thousand gathered for one of the largest gatherings in rock history.
9. 1971-08-01 - The Concert for Bangladesh. George Harrison's 1971 benefit invented the all-star charity rock concert.
10. 1975-01-01 - CBGB and the New York scene. The grimy Bowery club CBGB birthed punk and new wave, Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads.
11. 1976-11-25 - The Last Waltz. The Band's 1976 farewell, filmed by Scorsese, is one of rock's great concert films.
12. 1979-11-25 - Yellow Magic Orchestra. Japan's Yellow Magic Orchestra pioneered synth-rock and electronica in the late '70s.
13. 1980-01-01 - Australia conquers rock. From AC/DC to INXS and Midnight Oil, Australia became a rock superpower.
14. 1980-01-01 - The German rock underground. From the Scorpions to Rammstein, and krautrock's long shadow, Germany shaped world rock.
15. 1980-08-16 - Monsters of Rock at Donington. Britain's Donington became the spiritual home of the metal festival.
16. 1981-08-01 - MTV launches. MTV went on air in 1981 with 'Video Killed the Radio Star', changing how rock was made and sold.
17. 1983-05-28 - The US Festival. The 1983 US Festival, and the festival era it helped launch, from Glastonbury to Coachella, the festival became rock's cathedral.
18. 1984-11-25 - Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?. Bob Geldof's 1984 charity single set the stage for Live Aid.
19. 1985-01-11 - Rock in Rio. Brazil's Rock in Rio, first held in 1985, became one of the world's biggest festivals.
20. 1985-01-28 - We Are the World. The 1985 charity single gathered a generation of stars in one room.
21. 1985-07-13 - Live Aid. The 1985 global charity concert, and Queen's legendary set, was rock's biggest day.
22. 1986-01-01 - Soda Stereo and Latin rock. Argentina's Soda Stereo led a wave of rock en español across Latin America.
23. 1986-01-23 - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Founded in 1983 and first inducting in 1986, the Hall enshrined rock's canon.
24. 1986-07-12 - Queen at Wembley 1986. Queen's Magic Tour peak at Wembley is one of the great live rock documents.
25. 1989-01-01 - X Japan and visual kei. X Japan pioneered the flamboyant 'visual kei' movement and made Japan a metal power.
26. 1991-09-24 - Nevermind knocks off Michael Jackson. When Nirvana's Nevermind hit number one in 1992, the rock landscape changed overnight.
27. 1991-09-28 - Metallica at Monsters of Rock, Moscow. Over a million saw Metallica and others in post-Soviet Moscow in 1991.
28. 1992-04-20 - The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Wembley 1992 united rock's biggest names to honor Queen's late singer.
29. 1992-08-30 - Nirvana at Reading 1992. Nirvana's 1992 Reading headline set became instant legend.
30. 1993-11-18 - Nirvana MTV Unplugged. Nirvana's haunting 1993 acoustic set became one of rock's most beloved performances.
31. 1996-08-10 - Oasis at Knebworth. A quarter of a million saw Oasis at Knebworth in 1996, Britpop's zenith.
32. 1997-06-28 - Radiohead at Glastonbury 1997. Radiohead's 1997 headline set is often called the greatest festival performance ever.
33. 1997-07-26 - Fuji Rock Festival. Japan's Fuji Rock, launched in 1997, became Asia's premier rock festival.
34. 1999-07-23 - Woodstock '99. The 1999 revival descended into fire and chaos, a dark bookend to the festival dream.
35. 2000-06-25 - Bowie at Glastonbury 2000. David Bowie's 2000 Glastonbury headline set is remembered as one of the festival's greatest.
36. 2001-01-01 - Rock am Ring. Germany's Rock am Ring became one of Europe's biggest rock festivals.
37. 2003-05-31 - The Download Festival era. Donington reborn as Download in 2003 anchored the 2000s rock-festival circuit.
38. 2005-07-02 - Live 8. The 2005 global concerts, and Pink Floyd's reunion, revived Live Aid's spirit.
39. 2022-09-03 - Shane Hawkins plays My Hero for his father. At the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert at Wembley Stadium on 3 September 2022, Taylor's teenage son Shane took the drum stool with the Foo Fighters for My Hero. Hawkins had died that March.
40. 2022-09-27 - The second Taylor Hawkins tribute, in Los Angeles. The Foo Fighters playing Best of You at the Los Angeles Taylor Hawkins tribute concert on 27 September 2022, with Rufus Taylor behind the kit. It closed a pair of tribute shows held on two continents that month.
41. 2024-11-27 - Hardcore on American late-night television. Knocked Loose and Poppy performing Suffocate on Jimmy Kimmel Live in November 2024. A metallic hardcore band playing a full breakdown on US network television was a genuine marker of the style's reach.
42. 2025-06-28 - Linkin Park sell out Wembley Stadium. Linkin Park playing The Emptiness Machine to a sold-out Wembley Stadium on 28 June 2025, less than a year after returning with Emily Armstrong singing alongside Mike Shinoda.
43. 2025-07-04 - Oasis reunite in Cardiff. Liam and Noel Gallagher opened the Oasis Live '25 tour at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on 4 July 2025, the band's first show since the split in 2009. Bonehead was back on stage with them for the first time in decades.
44. 2025-07-05 - Yungblud sings Changes at Villa Park. At Back To The Beginning, the farewell concert for Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath at Villa Park on 5 July 2025, Yungblud led a version of Ozzy's Changes with an all-star band including Nuno Bettencourt, Frank Bello and Adam Wakeman. Ozzy died seventeen days later.
45. 2025-07-05 - Ozzy Osbourne's last performance. Ozzy Osbourne's final performance, sung from a throne at Villa Park in Birmingham on 5 July 2025, first solo and then with the original Black Sabbath line-up back together. He died on 22 July 2025.