The Songs of Sixty-Eight

[billhammond]

I've been asked to play at my high school reunion this summer, and while pondering that, located this list to see how many I could play, was amazed by how many truly great (and godawful) tunes there are on it.



www.moline1968.com/scrapbook/billboard-hits.html

[Shannon]

Some good stuff there.

I turned 3-years-old in 1968, so don't really remember the debuts...

I'm gonna check out the chart for my graduation year. I bet there is precious little good music there.

[billhammond]

This could be a fun thread. Post the Billboard Top 100 from the year you granulated.

Let's make sure we use Billboard-based data, though. There are a lot of lists out there that just rate the creator's preferences, and half the fun is to see what sold the best and worst in any given year.

[Shannon]

A few decent tunes, but not too many.

www.bobborst.com/popculture/top-100-songs-of-the-year/?year=1983

[Cornflake]

Since I also graduated in '68, Bill has done my work for me. There were a lot of very good ones and a lot of very bad ones.

[billhammond]

The thing about the era, though, Don, that amazes me in looking back was how DIVERSE pop music was in those days just before FM Album Rock and the Singer/Songwriter era began. That meant when we were bopping around in our cheap-ass cars with the AM radio blaring, we were hearing R&B, surf music, Beatles, other British Invasion, sappy romantic songs, country, folk-rock, acid rock, Motown, Dylan .. plus all the typical romantic pop tripe that every generation seems to produce.

[Cornflake]

Yup. Hugh Masekela, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, the Beatles, Cream, Mason Williams, Bacharach and David....Pretty far ranging.

[Doug]

Well I was in the Corps by then.

I can remember wanting to smash a E Club jukebox with "those were the days" playing every other tune. A couple of those I remember as rock-n-rollers for the M60, Sly, Steppenwolf and the Stones all did stuff that rocked with an M60.


Here's mine

Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1967


This is a list of Billboard magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1967.[1]
№ Title Artist(s)
1 "To Sir, with Love" Lulu
2 "The Letter" The Box Tops
3 "Ode to Billie Joe" Bobbie Gentry
4 "Windy" The Association
5 "I'm a Believer" The Monkees
6 "Light My Fire" The Doors
7 "Somethin' Stupid" Frank & Nancy Sinatra
8 "Happy Together" The Turtles
9 "Groovin'" The Young Rascals
10 "Can't Take My Eyes off You" Frankie Valli
11 "Little Bit O' Soul" The Music Explosion
12 "I Think We're Alone Now" Tommy James and the Shondells
13 "Respect" Aretha Franklin
14 "I Was Made to Love Her" Stevie Wonder
15 "Come Back When You Grow Up" Bobby Vee
16 "Kind of a Drag" The Buckinghams
17 "Sweet Soul Music" Arthur Conley
18 "Expressway to Your Heart" The Soul Survivors
19 "Soul Man" Sam & Dave
20 "Never My Love" The Association
21 "Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie" Jay & the Techniques
22 "Come On Down To My Boat" Every Mother's Son
23 "Incense and Peppermints" Strawberry Alarm Clock
24 "Ruby Tuesday" The Rolling Stones
25 "It Must Be Him" Vikki Carr
26 "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" The Supremes
27 "For What It's Worth" Buffalo Springfield
28 "Gimme Little Sign" Brenton Wood
29 "The Happening" The Supremes
30 "All You Need Is Love" The Beatles
31 "Release Me" Engelbert Humperdinck
32 "Your Precious Love" Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
33 "Somebody to Love" Jefferson Airplane
34 "Get on Up" The Esquires
35 "Brown Eyed Girl" Van Morrison
36 "Jimmy Mack" Martha and the Vandellas
37 "I Got Rhythm" The Happenings
38 "A Whiter Shade of Pale" Procol Harum
39 "Don't You Care" The Buckinghams
40 "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" The Casinos
41 "Reflections" The Supremes
42 "On a Carousel" The Hollies
43 "Please Love Me Forever" Bobby Vinton
44 "Alfie" Dionne Warwick
45 "Silence Is Golden" The Tremeloes
46 "My Cup Runneth Over" Ed Ames
47 "Up, Up and Away" The 5th Dimension
48 "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" Scott McKenzie
49 "The Rain, The Park & Other Things" The Cowsills
50 "There's a Kind of Hush" Herman's Hermits
51 "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" The Buckinghams
52 "This Is My Song" Petula Clark
53 "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" Jackie Wilson
54 "I've Been Lonely Too Long" The Young Rascals
55 "Penny Lane" The Beatles
56 "You're My Everything" The Temptations
57 "Georgy Girl" The Seekers
58 "Western Union" Five Americans
59 "Baby I Love You" Aretha Franklin
60 "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You" The Monkees
61 "California Nights" Lesley Gore
62 "Dedicated to the One I Love" The Mamas & the Papas
63 "How Can I Be Sure" The Young Rascals
64 "Carrie Anne" The Hollies
65 "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet" Blues Magoos
66 "Friday on My Mind" The Easybeats
67 "Soul Finger" The Bar-Kays
68 "Gimme Some Lovin'" The Spencer Davis Group
69 "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)" The Hombres
70 "Let's Live for Today" The Grass Roots
71 "Close Your Eyes" Peaches & Herb
72 "Groovin'" Booker T & the M.G.'s
73 "Funky Broadway" Wilson Pickett
74 "Pleasant Valley Sunday" The Monkees
75 "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" Aretha Franklin
76 "Tell It Like It Is" Aaron Neville
77 "Cold Sweat" James Brown
78 "She'd Rather Be With Me" The Turtles
79 "98.6" Keith
80 "Here We Go Again" Ray Charles
81 "White Rabbit" Jefferson Airplane
82 "Bernadette" Four Tops
83 "The Beat Goes On" Sonny & Cher
84 "Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron" The Royal Guardsmen
85 "Society's Child" Janis Ian
86 "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" Neil Diamond
87 "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
88 "I Take It Back" Sandy Posey
89 "Here Comes My Baby" The Tremeloes
90 "Everlasting Love" Robert Knight
91 "I Dig Rock and Roll Music" Peter, Paul and Mary
92 "Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything's Alright)" Bill Cosby
93 "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" The Electric Prunes
94 "Daydream Believer" The Monkees
95 "Baby I Need Your Lovin'" Johnny Rivers
96 "Mirage" Tommy James and the Shondells
97 "Green, Green Grass of Home" Tom Jones
98 "I Can See for Miles" The Who
99 "Don't Sleep in the Subway" Petula Clark
100 "Thank The Lord For The Night Time" Neil Diamond

[dickt]

Another '68 here. By then one could avoid pop by listening to underground or AOR FM stations. That's album oriented rock. Archie Bell and the Drells played our prom with their hit Tighten Up. Nearby Yorktown High had the Left Banke who did Walk Away Renee--a great choice for Bill's set.

[factorychef]

Stop!!! I'm getting a contact High!! Oh Man

[Doc Rogers]

'All you need is love, wah, wah wadda duh' and 'C'mon baby light my fire.' Two songs that lit my senior year romance. Not necessarily Shakespeare.

[Dub]

1960

You can buy any or all of them here. $7.50 for the whole lot.

[drlj]

!968 Rocked. So did I. I had hair. I was skinny. I knew all the answers. Now I go to bed early, I don't understand the questions and my hip hurts.

[Cornflake]

Well, I was seventeen through 11/12ths of 1968. The music from that time has a special place in my heart, not primarily because of its intrinsic merit, but because of the time of my life when I heard it. The whole world was like a flower opening for someone who'd never seen a flower open before. I can still remember sitting in Sand Mountain coffee house one night with Marilyn Miller, with whom I was terminally infatuated. When the musicians took breaks, they played music on the stereo system. That night they played Judy Collins' Wildflowers. I heard "Priests" and "Sisters of Mercy" and decided that it would be a wonderful thing to write songs. There's no way that any music could have the same effect on the 62-year-old version of me.

[Doug]

Apr 2, 2013 18:18:20 GMT -5 drlj said:

!968 Rocked. So did I. I had hair. I was skinny. I knew all the answers. Now I go to bed early, I don't understand the questions and my hip hurts.

I rocked, I had no hair, left it on the floor at Paris Island. I was skinny. I had Sargents to tell me the answers. And all of my clothes were green.

[brucemacneill]

Apr 2, 2013 18:47:45 GMT -5 Doug said:

Apr 2, 2013 18:18:20 GMT -5 drlj said:

!968 Rocked. So did I. I had hair. I was skinny. I knew all the answers. Now I go to bed early, I don't understand the questions and my hip hurts.

I rocked, I had no hair, left it on the floor at Paris Island. I was skinny. I had Sargents to tell me the answers. And all of my clothes were green.

Same here except my chevrons were upside down from yours. AFVN radio wasn't exactly top-40. "Good Morning Vietnam".

[brucemacneill]

I'm surprised this isn't on that list :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Windmills_of_Your_Mind . Everyone did it. Keeping the lyrics straight is a trick. I'm just now getting around to learning it since the '68 version "Thomas Crown Affair" was on Showtime a couple of months ago and brought it back to memory.

[Rob Hanesworth]

1965

As Bill said, great variety. Those were the days of format-free radio.

1 "Wooly Bully" Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
2 "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" Four Tops
3 "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" The Rolling Stones
4 "You Were on My Mind" We Five
5 "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" The Righteous Brothers
6 "Downtown" Petula Clark
7 "Help!" The Beatles
8 "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" Herman's Hermits
9 "Crying in the Chapel" Elvis Presley
10 "My Girl" The Temptations
11 "Help Me, Rhonda" The Beach Boys
12 "King of the Road" Roger Miller
13 "The Birds and the Bees" Jewel Akens
14 "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" Mel Carter
15 "Shotgun" Junior Walker & the All Stars
16 "I Got You Babe" Sonny & Cher
17 "This Diamond Ring" Gary Lewis & the Playboys
18 "The 'In' Crowd" Ramsey Lewis Trio
19 "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" Herman's Hermits
20 "Stop! In the Name of Love" The Supremes
21 "Unchained Melody" The Righteous Brothers
22 "Silhouettes" Herman's Hermits
23 "I'll Never Find Another You" The Seekers
24 "Cara Mia" Jay and the Americans
25 "Mr. Tambourine Man" The Byrds
26 "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" Sounds Orchestral
27 "Yes, I'm Ready" Barbara Mason
28 "What's New Pussycat?" Tom Jones
29 "Eve of Destruction" Barry McGuire
30 "Hang On Sloopy" The McCoys
31 "Ticket to Ride" The Beatles
32 "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" Bert Kaempfert
33 "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" James Brown
34 "Game of Love" Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders
35 "The Name Game" Shirley Ellis
36 "I Know a Place" Petula Clark
37 "Back in My Arms Again" The Supremes
38 "Baby I'm Yours" Barbara Lewis
39 "The Jolly Green Giant" The Kingsmen
40 "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte" Patti Page
41 "Like a Rolling Stone" Bob Dylan
42 "I'm Telling You Now" Freddie and the Dreamers
43 "Ferry Cross the Mersey" Gerry and the Pacemakers
44 "Just Once in My Life" The Righteous Brothers
45 "The Seventh Son" Johnny Rivers
46 "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am" Herman's Hermits
47 "A Walk in the Black Forest" Horst Jankowski
48 "For Your Love" The Yardbirds
49 "California Girls" The Beach Boys
50 "Go Now" The Moody Blues
51 "Goldfinger" Shirley Bassey
52 "Down in the Boondocks" Billy Joe Royal
53 "Baby the Rain Must Fall" Glenn Yarbrough
54 "Catch Us If You Can" The Dave Clark Five
55 "Eight Days a Week" The Beatles
56 "Just a Little" The Beau Brummels
57 "You Turn Me On" Ian Whitcomb
58 "I'll Be Doggone" Marvin Gaye
59 "Save Your Heart for Me" Gary Lewis & the Playboys
60 "Tired of Waiting for You" The Kinks
61 "Count Me In" Gary Lewis & the Playboys
62 "All Day and All of the Night" The Kinks
63 "What the World Needs Now Is Love" Jackie DeShannon
64 "It's Not Unusual" Tom Jones
65 "She's About a Mover" Sir Douglas Quintet
66 "Shake" Sam Cooke
67 "Wonderful World" Herman's Hermits
68 "Nowhere to Run" Martha and the Vandellas
69 "Heart Full of Soul" The Yardbirds
70 "Love Potion No. 9" The Searchers
71 "Laurie (Strange Things Happen)" Dickey Lee
72 "Baby Don't Go" Sonny & Cher
73 "It Ain't Me Babe" The Turtles
74 "Tell Her No" The Zombies
75 "I Go to Pieces" Peter and Gordon
76 "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" Vic Dana
77 "Don't Just Stand There" Patty Duke
78 "The Tracks of My Tears" The Miracles
79 "Too Many Rivers" Brenda Lee
80 "I Like It Like That" The Dave Clark Five
81 "Little Things" Bobby Goldsboro
82 "True Love Ways" Peter and Gordon
83 "It's the Same Old Song" Four Tops
84 "You've Got Your Troubles" The Fortunes
85 "Hold What You've Got" Joe Tex
86 "We Gotta Get out of This Place" The Animals
87 "Laugh, Laugh" The Beau Brummels
88 "The Last Time" The Rolling Stones
89 "Do You Believe in Magic" The Lovin' Spoonful
90 "All I Really Want to Do" Cher
91 "Take Me Back" Little Anthony and the Imperials
92 "I Want Candy" The Strangeloves
93 "Ooo Baby Baby" The Miracles
94 "Laugh at Me" Sonny Bono
95 "Treat Her Right" Roy Head
96 "The Race Is On" Jack Jones
97 "I'm a Fool" Dino, Desi & Billy
98 "The Boy from New York City" The Ad Libs
99 "Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow the Sun)" Del Shannon
100 "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" Marvin Gaye

[Deleted]

I'm startled at all the Herman's Hermits hits. I saw their singer, Peter Noone, playing Aladdin in a pantomime in 1973(ish). I left school in 1979 and didn't like the bestselling music of that time very much.

[billhammond]

Wow, I like Rob's year for songs a lot better than mine!