What the Carpenters Really Thought About Their Chart-Topping ‘Singles’

Forty-two years ago, the Carpenters scored their first No. 1 album with The Singles 1969-1973, a compilation album that ...

1969 Was the Greatest Year for the Western, and These 10 Movies Prove It

The Western genre had its last hurrah in 1969, producing classics like True Grit and The Wild Bunch, and cementing the year ...

The Rolling Stones Hit A Billboard Chart For The First Time With A Sudden Smash

Satisfaction Skank” by The Rolling Stones and Fatboy Slim debuts inside the top 10 on Billboard's Dance Digital Song Sales ...

Ring in 2026 with 'Tootsie Roll' and 69 Boyz at Montgomery NYE

When 2026 rolls in, it'll have been 32 years since 69 Boyz dropped the smash song and dance hit "Tootsie Roll," from the 1994 ...
American Songwriter

On This Day in 1969, Merle Haggard Reluctantly Recorded a No. 1 Single That Led to One of His Biggest Hit Albums

Fifty-six years ago today, Merle Haggard reluctantly recorded what would later become the cornerstone of a massively successful album.