• August 3- Janis Joplin makes her final TV appearance on the Dick Cavett Show.
   
• August 26-August 30 - The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 takes place on East Afton Farm off the coast of England. Some 600,000 people attend the largest rock festival of all time. Artists include Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Doors, Chicago, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Joan Baez, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Jethro Tull.

•  August 30 - The Rolling Stones open their European tour in Malmö, Sweden.
  
• September 6 - During his final European tour, guitarist Jimi Hendrix is greeted by booing and jeering by German fans at his late appearance on stage and incoherent stage performance. Bassist Billy Cox quits the tour and returns to the United States.
   
• September 18 - Jimi Hendrix dies from a barbiturate overdose at his London hotel at the age of 27. His last appearance was on September 17 with Eric Burdon & War jamming at Ronnie Scotts Club in London.
   
• October 4 - Janis Joplin dies from a heroin overdose at her Los Angeles hotel at the age of 27.
   
• October 10 - Newly-independent Fiji adopts God Bless Fiji as its national anthem.
   
• October 30 - Jim Morrison of The Doors, found guilty of indecent exposure and profanity because of his behavior during a March 1, 1969 concert, is sentenced to eight months of hard labor and a $500 fine.
   
• November 23 - The Electric Factory concert venue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania closes its doors.
   
• December 8 - John Lennon conducts a lengthy and intensely candid interview with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine. He discusses his new solo album and the influence of primal therapy on its creation, as well as his personal traumas dating back to childhood. He also makes many revelations about his time in The Beatles, including his account of the group's breakup.
  
  
  • Jimmy Buffett begins recording.
     
  • Dalida, still unable to cut a UK record deal, leaves Barclay Records for Orlando Records.
     
  • Derek Bailey and Evan Parker found Incus Records, specializing in releasing free improvised music and said to be the first independent artist-owned record label.
     
  • Miles Davis' Bitches Brew is widely considered the first successful full-fledged fusion of rock and roll and jazz, as well as being one Davis's best-known albums.
    
• January 25 - Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane gives birth to a daughter. The baby is named China and not "god", as urban legend would have it.
  
• February 1 - after months of feuding in the press, Ginger Baker and Elvin Jones hold a "drum battle" at The Lyceum.
  
• February 5 - Eric Burdon & War disband.
  
• February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour-long documentary film, Eat the Document, is premièred at New York's Academy of Music. The film includes footage from Dylan's 1966 UK tour.
  
• February 16 - Alan Passaro of the Hells Angels, who was acquitted on January 19 of the stabbing death of Meredith Hunter at the Altamont Speedway in 1969, files a lawsuit against The Rolling Stones for invasion of privacy because the documentary film Gimme Shelter showed the stabbing.
   
• March 1 - The line-up for Queen is completed when bassist John Deacon joins the band.
   
• March 4 - The Rolling Stones open their UK tour in Newcastle, England. The tour was a "farewell" to the UK prior to the band's relocation to France as "tax exiles".
   
• March 5 - Ulster Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland, sees the first live performance of Led Zeppelin's iconic song "Stairway to Heaven".
   
• March 12-13 - The Allman Brothers Band records its live album, At Fillmore East.
   
• March 16 - The 13th Grammy Awards, honoring musical accomplishments of 1970, are presented. The ceremonies are broadcast on live television for the first time.
   
• April 3 - The 16th Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, is won by Monaco with the song "Un Banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue" sung by Séverine.
   
• April 6 - The Rolling Stones hold a party in Cannes to officially announce their new contract with Atlantic and the launch of Rolling Stones Records.
   
• May 12 - Mick Jagger marries Bianca de Macías in Saint-Tropez, France, in a Roman Catholic ceremony. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and their wives are among the wedding guests.
   
• June 6 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono join Frank Zappa on stage at the Fillmore East for an encore jam. The performance would be released the following year on the Some Time in New York City album.
   
• June 20-24 - the first Glastonbury Festival to take place at the summer solstice is held in South West England. Perfomers include David Bowie, Traffic, Fairport Convention, Quintessence and Hawkwind.
   
• June 27 - Promoter Bill Graham closes the Fillmore East in New York City with a final concert featuring the The Allman Brothers Band, The Beach Boys and Mountain.
   
• July 3 - Jim Morrison is found dead in a bath tub in Paris, France aged 27.
  
• July 4 - The Fillmore West is closed in San Fransisco with a final show featuring Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Grateful Dead.
   
• July 6 - jazz giant Louis Armstrong passes away from a heart attack at the age of 69.
   
• July 9 - Grand Funk becomes only the second band, after The Beatles, to perform a sold-out concert at Shea Stadium.
   
• August 1
  • The Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden, New York, starring Ravi Shankar, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, and Leon Russell; also featuring Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Jesse Ed Davis, and Badfinger.
  • The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour premieres on CBS.

Bands disbanded

• The Beatles break up permanently.
• Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band split, with reunions in 1972, 1988, and 2006.
• Simon & Garfunkel - both members of the duo go on to solo careers, although they have reunited and performed together numerous times since breaking up.
• The Turtles (reform in 1983)
• Booker T. & the M.G.'s
• Derek & The Dominos
• The Monkees
• Gary Puckett & The Union Gap