Grammys flashback: How on Earth did Blood, Sweat and Tears beat The Beatles and other classic albums in 1970?

Grammy lineups are lucky if they include one bona fide classic. But it is the rarest of occasions when we get three nominated together. That was the case in 1970, where The Beatles’ “Abbey Road,” The 5th Dimension’s “The Age of Aquarius” and Crosby, Stills and Nash’s self-titled record were all up for Album of the Year. All three had strong narratives that could have led to possible wins … but they didn’t. Perhaps infamously, the Grammy went to jazz rock band Blood, Sweat and Tears for their successful self-titled album. While nowadays that could be dismissed as a bad win, the reality is that there were a lot of reasons why the band won and why their competitors didn’t. So let’s look more deeply into the race.

Late-1968 to mid-1969 was a great time for music, and that was reflected in the Album of the Year nominees. For The Beatles, “Abbey Road” continued their legacy of commercial success, topping the Billboard charts, as usual. The 5th Dimension were newer to fame, having just broken out a couple of years earlier, but at this time achieving their first number-one. “The Age of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In” ruled much of 1969, topping the Hot 100 for six weeks and eventually becoming the second biggest hit of that year. And then there’s Crosby, Stills and Nash, the supergroup made up of David Crosby, Ben Stills and Graham Nash. While they were successful before teaming up, CSN took them to a completely different level of success and acclaim, including two top-40 hit singles. Johnny Cash was also a significant artist that year, nominated for “At San Quentin,” his second live concert album recorded at a prison. But guess who had the biggest album of the lineup?

“Blood, Sweat and Tears” was a huge success, topping the Billboard 200 for seven weeks and ending up as the third bestselling album of 1969. Their previous album didn’t even come close to this level of commercial success, but this one produced multiple popular singles, like the number-two hits “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” “Spinning Wheel” and “And When I Die.” Believe it or not, it was bigger than all the other albums nominated. “Abbey Road” had only two top-10 hits (the joint “Come Together/Something” double single), “Age of Aquarius” had two hits as well (the aforementioned medley and “Wedding Song”). “At San Quentin” only had one hit (“A Boy Named Sue”). And while CSN had two hits, neither cracked the top-20. Of course, sales alone don’t win you Grammys (or shouldn’t, anyway), but going in, “Blood, Sweat and Tears” was arguably the biggest album, with the most hits, and an underdog narrative that established stars like The Beatles or previous hitmakers like Crosby, Stills and Nash didn’t have.

Meanwhile, though “Abbey Road” is retrospectively considered one of The Beatles’ best albums, it wasn’t as well received critically at the time, and given that the band had just won Album of the Year two years earlier for “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” there was likely no urgency to give them a second. Crosby, Stills and Nash might have split some votes with Cash, who was competing with a live album, and live albums have rarely won Album of the Year. The race was likely between The 5th Dimension, who took Record of the Year, and Blood, Sweat and Tears. Ultimately, I’d theorize that a deciding factor was spreading the wealth. “Age of Aquarius” the album was only number-26 on the year-end chart. But “The Age of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In” outperformed all of the Blood, Sweat and Tears singles, so it made sense to award them Record while rewarding the latter group in Album. One could also argue Blood, Sweat and Tears appealed more broadly to pop, jazz, and rock voters in the Recording Academy.

Has this Grammy result stood the test of time? Probably not. But hindsight is 20/20. At that specific moment in time, “Blood, Sweat and Tears” arguably made the greatest cultural impact as a jazz-rock fusion that captivated listeners and presented itself as something new and fresh while still maintaining its pop essence.

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