FROM MY MEMORY, I listened to the WLS year end party on December 31, 1966. I swear it SOUNDED like they were having a year end party and artists like the Cryan' Shames came in and visited. I think Gene Taylor once told me they did not do anything like that, but maybe the talking with artists was taped and I thought it was live? Anyway, 1966 was the last year BEFORE they started their year end Big 89 countdowns and I am pretty sure between records, they came on chatting as if a big party was going on with loud noise in background and partiers.
Anyone remember this besides me?? Probably Bill Hengels would have, rest his Big 89 soul.
WLS Clark
I remember listening to The Big 89 Countdown every New
Year's Eve starting in 1967. (You'll find THAT chart coming up in our brand new
series, too ... you'll just have to wait till the end of the year to see it!)
In fact, even in high school I remember making the rounds, stopping by four or
five different New Year's Eve parties, and finding this on everywhere we went
(listening in between in the car!) But I don't recall anything from '66,
although I know WLS played random tracks from their Top 20 Year-End Charts in
both 1965 and 1966 throughout those last ten days of each year as I remember
it. Anybody else know anything about the party Clark may be referring to?
BTW, the GREATEST thing I ever heard on one of these
year-end dealios was the INCREDIBLE time-warp medley that Tommy Edwards put
together, taking the listener through the history of the station. I think it
ran around 18 minutes or so (?) but it was a very meticulously produced medley
(often just a second or two) of the hits we all grew up with. I know for years
it was also one of the most listened to tracks on Reel Radio's site, too.
(kk)
Speaking of that 1967 Year End Chart, here's Chet Coppock's commentary on that ...
Kent,
December 30, 1966 ... the Silver Dollar Survey ... rock 'n roll is in a rut.
Oozing boredom as opposed to funk.
Where is the fire of Chuck, Jerry Lee and Bo or the doo wop vibes of Dion, The Five Satins and the Capris?
Where is the "Phillies" sound? Give me a slice of Del Shannon.
Winchester Cathedral? Snoooy vs. The Red Baron?
I know its only rock 'n roll ... but it never had less meaning.
Best song of '68?
Hendrix: Are You Experienced? (Have you ever been experienced ... not just stone but beautiful).
Happy New Year, kid!
Chet Coppock
The Godfather of Sports Talk Radio
And, speaking of Chet Coppock ... (you know they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!) ...
If these last three days are any indication of what is to come, your 1967 series is going to be amazing. At the risk of sounding too much like Chet Coppock, this is absolutely another grand slam for Forgotten Hits.
Rick
Hi Kent -
Please add me to The 67 List.
Great start today, bringing back the memory that I got the Blues Magoos album, Psychedelic Lollipop, for my 17th birthday, January 6, 1967!
Thanks, and Happy New Year!!
Rick Vittenson
Well ... I DO remember ...
I'm reminded of the radical revolution in style and substance that began within the Beatles and spread across the entire Global Creative Community in that year.
Change was literally in the air. There was an almost obscene amount of money floating in the economy, and the world was bracing for the 'Coming Of Age' of the impossibly huge demographic that was the 'Baby Boomers'.
When Dad came home from the war, he and Mom wanted one thing more than anything else: 'normal'. They settled into a house, said 'what war?', and "made normal": Ozzie and Harriet ... but Ricky, like the rest of us, was a Rock and Roller. We had to ... the world was just so ... 'Normal'! (funny that).
There were no foreign interests ... they were all healing or developing.
It was just us, and these amazing kindred spirits from England. Just different enough! And talented??? Woah, yeah.
And if you just twitched your finger on the radio dial you picked up outrageously cool tracks, songs and players from Motown, Chicago ... you name it. All in the mix.
Brian Wilson was lost in his head, and the results were stunning. The Beatles got it as well, and they both got it before the rest of us.
But I was lost in my head as well, and they seemed like distant but kindred spirits. I started a journey that continues to this day.
In the words of Tiny Tim: "God Bless Us One and All".
If that spirit is at the heart of this re-living of this time, I'll be so pleased. I'll eagerly assist in offering content, photos, memories, time, and music.
I've always noted that your interest in this period is authentic ... and I always wish you well.
All the best,
James (Fairs)
Well, thank you, James, that means a lot .
And we appreciate your input and memories.
(You'll find ALL kinds of Cryan' Shames bits and pieces in the weeks to come ... a VERY big year for you guys!) Thanks again. (kk)
Speaking of that 1967 Year End Chart, here's Chet Coppock's commentary on that ...
Kent,
December 30, 1966 ... the Silver Dollar Survey ... rock 'n roll is in a rut.
Oozing boredom as opposed to funk.
Where is the fire of Chuck, Jerry Lee and Bo or the doo wop vibes of Dion, The Five Satins and the Capris?
Where is the "Phillies" sound? Give me a slice of Del Shannon.
Winchester Cathedral? Snoooy vs. The Red Baron?
I know its only rock 'n roll ... but it never had less meaning.
Best song of '68?
Hendrix: Are You Experienced? (Have you ever been experienced ... not just stone but beautiful).
Happy New Year, kid!
Chet Coppock
The Godfather of Sports Talk Radio
And, speaking of Chet Coppock ... (you know they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!) ...
If these last three days are any indication of what is to come, your 1967 series is going to be amazing. At the risk of sounding too much like Chet Coppock, this is absolutely another grand slam for Forgotten Hits.
Rick
Hi Kent -
Please add me to The 67 List.
Great start today, bringing back the memory that I got the Blues Magoos album, Psychedelic Lollipop, for my 17th birthday, January 6, 1967!
Thanks, and Happy New Year!!
Rick Vittenson
Well ... I DO remember ...
I'm reminded of the radical revolution in style and substance that began within the Beatles and spread across the entire Global Creative Community in that year.
Change was literally in the air. There was an almost obscene amount of money floating in the economy, and the world was bracing for the 'Coming Of Age' of the impossibly huge demographic that was the 'Baby Boomers'.
When Dad came home from the war, he and Mom wanted one thing more than anything else: 'normal'. They settled into a house, said 'what war?', and "made normal": Ozzie and Harriet ... but Ricky, like the rest of us, was a Rock and Roller. We had to ... the world was just so ... 'Normal'! (funny that).
There were no foreign interests ... they were all healing or developing.
It was just us, and these amazing kindred spirits from England. Just different enough! And talented??? Woah, yeah.
And if you just twitched your finger on the radio dial you picked up outrageously cool tracks, songs and players from Motown, Chicago ... you name it. All in the mix.
Brian Wilson was lost in his head, and the results were stunning. The Beatles got it as well, and they both got it before the rest of us.
But I was lost in my head as well, and they seemed like distant but kindred spirits. I started a journey that continues to this day.
In the words of Tiny Tim: "God Bless Us One and All".
If that spirit is at the heart of this re-living of this time, I'll be so pleased. I'll eagerly assist in offering content, photos, memories, time, and music.
I've always noted that your interest in this period is authentic ... and I always wish you well.
All the best,
James (Fairs)
Well, thank you, James, that means a lot .
And we appreciate your input and memories.
(You'll find ALL kinds of Cryan' Shames bits and pieces in the weeks to come ... a VERY big year for you guys!) Thanks again. (kk)
What a great way to start off the year!
1967 was a big, big year for The Fifth Estate band. By 1966, we already had been touring the country and playing most major clubs in NYC a lot. We were then and always a Rock and Roll dance band. We loved that DANCE part of it. We had toured behind several semi-successful singles for a couple of years, but in the initial big wake of The Beatles and Stones, we were having trouble getting any of these up into the national charts. These were really good good records right then as many people know now.
See them: http://www.thefifthestateband.com/singles.html
Hear them: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thefifthestate3
Sooo, we were looking for an idea!!!
During the Christmas - New Year's week, 1966 - exactly 50 years ago from right now. Seems like yesterday to me - almost!!??
And Don Askew our lyricist then, who lived in Greenwich Village, was at a NYC PARTY!!! And apparently the ideas and a lot of things were flowing. In that state of mind, many people there were discussing The Fifth Estate and why they hadn't had a big national hit yet?? We were big enough at the time to be recognized by fans when out on the streets of NYC and many towns mostly in the East.
So Don says, "Ah, they are at the top of their game and can make a hit out of anything if they really wanted to." In an off handed way referring to the band's tendency then to prefer a more Greenwich Village underground approach.
One of the party goers throws back, "I'll bet you they can't make a hit out of the Wizard of Oz tune, Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead!!" The bet was on, and there you have it - a very successful record Nationally and Internationally for the band later that year, 1967.
We had incorporated a classical DANCE piece into it and that, plus my theft of Ringo's Nowhere Man drum part, sent it rocketing skyward a few months later that year. It seemed it was at least different enough that way to satisfy the band and it's underground tendencies, and the dance culture, and the pop culture all at the same time. Not an easy trick in any decade.
Before the Christmas week and New Year's, 1967 was over 50 years ago, we had put together a basement demo which got the deal. Just Wayne Wadhams playing keys and singing, Doug Ferrara on bass, and me on drums, with some pretty fancy overdubbing for those early days, in a very Do It Yourself kind of way. It can be heard as tune # 2 on our Higher Density Album. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thefifthestate6
I still like it. Makes me smile - Crumhorns, Rackets and all!!!
One thing I would like to take the opportunity to clear up about that song and recording ...
We were kids when we did it - late teens / early 20s. It came off more like Yellow Submarine then, and had much of the same instrumentation being used and to be used on Sergeant Pepper a couple of months later. But it now seems to have taken on other meanings - some political which we never intended or even thought about at the time. We really dislike it used in that sort of mean spirited way and we have stopped several uses of it in that sense. We were all about love and peace as most were at the time. But even more so we were about changing to a better day, as that scene in the movie REALLY was about. We felt when we did the song that what we hoped for - was not anyone dying or having a terrible time - but just for a better day for all!
So again, a BETTER DAY to all and a very Happy, Crazy New Year - from The Fifth Estate!
Luv,
Furvus - the 5E drummer!!!
Hi Kent -
I will be adding a brand new feature to each of my "Randy on the Radio" Top Shelf Oldies shows next year which will be a 1967 Double Play, plugging the Forgotten Hits 1967 series during each of those segments. (By the way, my next show is Wednesday, January 11th, at 8:00 p.m. ET).
– Randy Price
Thanks, Randy ... and play up those Super Charts ... I think once people see them, they're going to want them!!!
The Top Shelf Oldies website is here: http://www.topshelfoldies.org
Near the top of the home page is a "Listen" link as well as a "Chat" link, for those who would like to join us in the chat room. "Randy on the Radio" is on the second Wednesday of every month at 8:00 p.m. ET (kk)
Hi Kent -
Just discovered the site, and it’s sure bringing back a lot of memories! Keep it up!
Best for 2017 to you.
Keith Hopwood
Herman’s Hermits
Despite the Monkees' debut LP at #1 on the LP charts and their 2nd single, "I'm a Believer" at #1 on singles chart, the WLS phone lines were making an LP cut the #1 request much as a year earlier. Who knew back then that the LP cut was actually moving us towards albums actually being something to listen to in their entirety?
January 1, 1965, saw "Michelle" at #1 much of the time on WLS' Art Roberts' "Top 3 most requested" at 10 PM nightly at the turn of 1966, while a year later, the Monkees' "She" was often topping the request line there.
Somethings never change? Alabama routs (MY) Nebraska in Sugar Bowl 34-7.
Clark Besch
The Monkees' second LP, "More Of The Monkees", was still a few weeks away from release at this point ... but you're right, "She" (the lead-off track) was the most-requested songs for WEEKS on both Art Roberts' 10:00 countdown AND Jim Stagg's afternoon most-requested show over at WCFL, too.
Meanwhile, the first album also featured the Boyce and Hart track "I Wanna Be Free", a Davy Jones ballad that absolutely would have topped the charts had it been released as a single ... but Colgems deliberately held it back so that fans would buy the album, too. ("She", another Boyce and Hart composition, could have enjoyed the same fate had it been released as a single ... and I couldn't get enough of it back in '67 ... but this one hasn't aged very well for me. My preferred tracks from The Monkees' second album now include "Mary Mary" (a Mike Nesmith composition), "When Love Comes Knocking At Your Door", written by Neil Sedaka at a time when he couldn't get his own music played on the radio and the beautiful Micky Dolenz rendering of Carole King's "Sometime In The Morning".
As for "Michelle" by The Beatles, you're right ... it must have taken all of the restraint in the world for Capitol not to release this track as a single, especially after the success of "Yesterday" and so many other tracks they used to cash in on The Beatles' sudden US success. (Ironically, "Michelle" WAS issued as a single in other countries ... here in The States and back home in Great Britain, "Rubber Soul" was allowed to stand on its own without ANY single releases ... which, of course, is the way The Beatles preferred it. They always looked as singles and albums as two totally separate things, giving their fans "more for their money" by not duplicating their efforts.) kk
Hi Kent,
Happy New Year! Hope it's a great year for you and yours as well, Kent!
I am really looking forward to the '67 series ... I know that it will be fascinating. That's a touchstone year for me as well as that was the year that I started buying LPs in earnest and really learning about the artists that I favored. So you will, no doubt, be evoking many favorite as well as long-lost memories.
Great kick-off, Kent. Brief as it was, I picked up more unique info from that interview than any other with Gary Lewis that I've read. I always wondered why his career at Liberty came to such an abrupt end circa '69. Snuff Garrett deemed it was over.
Incidentally, Snuff had an office on the same floor as the company for which I worked in the early '80s (6255 Sunset Blvd. aka the Motown Building). I'd often ride the elevator with him and make small talk. That I never corralled him for an interview, of course, haunts me now. Among the many missed opportunities.
Thanks again for another great year of Forgotten Hits.
All my best,
Scott Paton
Hey kk,
Please make sure I'm signed up for this interesting series. 1967 was a very good year for the Shames and many our friends in the very young and fast growing Chicago music scene. I look forward to seeing your take on this time period. Feel free to use me as a 'fact checker' and commentator any time it's useful.
Best of luck,
Your friend,
Jimmy P. (Pilster) / The Cryan' Shames
This is EXACTLY the kind of stuff we're looking for to run throughout the series ... special events, concert dates, television appearances, tours, etc, etc, etc ... maybe a vintage photo or two from back in the day ... ANYTHING to share with the readers that lends some insight into this extremely exciting time in music. (Trust me ... The Cryan' Shames are WELL represented here!) Thanks, Jimmy! (kk)
THE BOX TOPS ...
Memphis blue eyed soul ...
celebrate our 50th anniversary, 1967 ...
and celebrate the 50th anniversary of THE LETTER ... the #2 SONG OF THE YEAR in Billboard ... it made #1 for 4 weeks!
One of the iconic songs of the decade.
THE BOX TOPS will be on the HAPPY TOGETHER tour all summer ...
And are AVAILABLE both before and after ...
BOOK the full BOX TOPS SHOW NOW!
Rick Levy ... manager / guitarist - 904 806 0817
TCI ... booking: mitchellkarduna@tciartists.com
Man, THIS is the year to catch The Happy Together Tour ... FOUR MAJOR ACTS from 1967 are on the bill this year (too bad they couldn't find a spot for The Buckinghams and/or The Grass Roots, too!!! Mark Lindsay would have also made for a great addition!)
But this year's line-up is nothing to sneeze at ...
In addition to THE TURTLES headlining the show, you can also see THE BOX TOPS, THE COWSILLS and THE ASSOCIATION ... along with CHUCK NEGRON, formerly of THREE DOG NIGHT and RON DANTE, who handled all the lead vocals for THE ARCHIES and THE CUFF LINKS.
THIS is going to be SOME show to see. (And we're hoping we'll have some tickets to give away along the way, too! So be sure to stay tuned for that!) kk
Got this from our FH Buddy Shelley Sweet-Tufano ...
Looks like a radio show devoted to "This Week In 1967" on OurGenerationRadio.com ...
I'm not familiar with this program but it also looks like our FH Buddy Mark Dawson's name is attached to this somehow.
Send me more details, guys, so I can help to spread the word ...
And hopefully YOU will, too ... tie this into our brand new series where we recap each week's events and charts EXACTLY as they happened fifty years ago. (kk)
Week One: 1967. Sounds like a musically wonderful place to land.
I'll see you 50 years ago on Thursday night at 9 PM eastern.
Only on OurGenerationRadio.com
Thursday, 9 PM · OurGenerationRadio.com
Mark Dawson shared this with you
Hey Mark -Let us know ...Maybe we can put together a couple of things in tandem if this is going to be an on-going feature for you! (We enjoyed some GREAT press this past weekend thanks to The True Oldies Channel, ME-TV-FM, Sirius / XM's Lou Simon and new plugs coming up everywhere from Dave The Rave's Relics And Rarities Show, as well as radio stations in Wisconsin and Nashville, TN! Sounds to me like the sights and sounds of 1967 are alive and well!) kk
I love your 1967 feature already ... and it's only January 1st!It was an amazing year for music, but it was also, as you know, a pivotal year for radio.A few FM stations (like WOR) were already on the air, but '67 was really the beginning of progressive (underground) FM. For us Baby Boomers, it was the first time the deejays bringing us our music were people our age. And they weren't playing off a list of songs put together by a survey or a program director ... they were bringing their own albums to the station and exposing us to a lot of great new music. Great to listen to ... to get stoned to ... but I digress.When I was shooting "Airplay" I heard stories from both sides ... the Top 40 guys and the "new kids" (at the time) I have a website, theairplaychannel.com. If you go to this link ... http://www.theairplaychannel.com/the-deejay-lounge ... you can check out the interviews.I've been looking through the surveys and airchecks for 1967 and I'll send them along to you, but in the meantime, here's one form the end of December '66.
By the way, I know a lot of your readers are from Chicago. I have some surveys from WLS and other stations. They're welcome to share them.Happy New Year!Carolyn Travis
