THE 100 BEST SONGS OF 1969

Woodstock. The Manson Family murders. The Apollo 11 moon landing. The Stonewall riots. These were just some of the life-changing, mind-altering and Earth-shaking events that occurred fifty years ago this year. And this was the year when we began to see a shift in popular music. The era of factory-written, easy-listening expressions of life and love was being pushed away by singer/songwriters who were pushing the envelope to fuse together musical genres and communicate with unconventional ideas.

The staff of Billboard magazine have put together a list of the best one hundred songs that were released and charted in the year of 1969. As I went through the list (and I was a seven year old during this year), I found many songs that I loved and some that I had never heard of before. But what they all have in common is that they are all inventive and creative songs that helped shape and define a generation.

Click below to read the article:

The 100 Best Songs of 1969

And here are a few songs from this list that are my all-time favorites:

99. Friends of Distinction - "Grazing in the Grass"



89. Cass Elliot - "Make Your Own Kind of Music"



67. Blood, Sweat & Tears - "Spinning Wheel"



56. Tommy James and the Shondells - "Crystal Blue Persuasion"



44. Laura Nyro - "Save the Country"



24. The Foundations - "Build Me Up Buttercup"



5. Isaac Hayes - "Walk on By"

THE 100 BEST ACTING PERFORMANCES BY MUSICIANS

While Lady Gaga has been receiving heaps of critical praise and audience love for her dramatic performance in the latest version of "A Star Is Born" which opened in theaters today, she is hardly the first pop singer to venture in to acting. It seems like a natural progression as singers express many complex emotions through song, so it would appear obvious that they should be able to do the same as an actor. And while some musicians have made an easy and impressive transition but for others, it is not necessarily a comfortable fit.

Billboard Magazine has decided to look back on one hundred different musicians throughout history who have moved from the concert stage to the silver screen and ranked them from the least successful to an outstanding achievement. The rules applied to compiling this list was that they had to begin their careers as a musician, they could not be playing themselves and only one performance per artist. This line-up is wide-ranging and features one-time acting appearances (Britney Spears, Erykah Badu, Eminem, Björk) to second careers (LL Cool J, Childish Gambino (a.k.a. Donald Glover), Mandy Moore, Kris Kristofferson) to Oscar winners (Frank Sinatra, Jennifer Hudson, Barbra Streisand, Cher).

Click below to read:

The 100 Best Acting Performances By Musicians