The world was changing fast in 1968, from black-and-white to kaleidoscopic, and popular music was not just riding the wave, it was propelling it.

The Beatles had released their influential Sgt. Pepper’s album the year before. And as 1968 America exploded following the twin assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, Led Zeppelin was formed from the ashes of the Yardbirds and James Brown appeared on national television in his own concert special.

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