Welcome to your memories! We’re rambling through 1967 talkin’ ‘bout radio, music, mayhem, and life that colored our minds, in an era of great stress and great strides. The 1960s: a decade of contradictions.
Somber & Silly December ‘67!
Normally
a happy time on the radio, we begin December 50 Years Ago this Month with the worst music news since the 1959
airplane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. Think “That’ll Be the Day,” “La Bamba,” and “Chantilly Lace.” Iconic songs of
early Rock & Roll.
On
December 10th, Otis Redding and four of his six backup artists (Bar-Kays) perished in yet another devastating R&R airplane
accident. This time, in Lake Monona (Madison, Wisconsin), after a performance
in Cleveland.
Redding
just had had two Top Ten tunes in July, “Tramp” & “Shake” (XERB 07/16/67 chart). But they were
dwarfed by one of his iconic songs that captured our hearts, as described by History.com. “‛Sittin’ On The Dock Of the Bay’ would be released in its ‛unfinished’ form several weeks later, with
Redding’s whistled verse a seemingly indispensable part of the now-classic
record. It would soon become history’s first posthumous #1 hit and the biggest
pop hit of Redding’s career.”
Later
in the month, as The Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye” begins its farewell tour down
the chart in many cities, McCartney is upset about the showing of Magical Mystery Tour, by BBC1 on December 26th.
Here
we are in the early stages of psychedelia, with a movie personifying its vivid,
swirling colors, and BBC1 chooses to show it in black-and-white. Hello 1930s!
Mr. McCartney was less than pleased. BBC2 picked it up and ran it in all its
glorious color, to welcome the new year, January 5, 1968.
Featured Radio Survey: The Beatles’ “Hello,
Goodbye” is still at the top of KHJ/Los
Angeles’s Boss 30 Records—50 Years Ago
for December 13, 1967. Two weeks later, it had managed to hang in at #2, but
Itchycoo Park (Small Faces) muscled in and claimed the top spot into the New
Year, on KHJ’s December 27th chart. Recall that awesome day when …
Celebrate DECEMBER 1967: 50 Years Ago and … Rock On!
Don’t Say Goodbye! I Say Helloooo … to the Holidays!
Time
to roam around those memory banks and spin your radio dial to Chicago, November 1967. Were you a WLS fan, listening to the friendly jokes
and antics of Ron Riley? Or did Jim Stagg’s high energy music
knowledge and celeb-artist friends hold your radio dial at WCFL? 
Jim’s knack
for selecting winning artists and songs to break out on WCFL, made its mark in
Chicagoland; but The Beatles weren’t
even in the top ten when WLS debuted their “Hello, Goodbye” at #22, November
24th. By December 15th it topped WLS’ Silver Dollar
Survey.
Although
WCFL awarded the “Mystery Tour” album a showing on their “Chicago Premier” list
in mid-November, fans didn’t send it to the top of their Sound Ten Survey until
Christmas week. “You say why, and I say, I don’t knowwww …” ♪
“Hello,
Goodbye” joined other soon-to-be iconic songs like “Strawberry Fields Forever,”
“All You Need is Love,”
and “Penny Lane,” to
round out the truly Magical Mystery Tour
album (officially released November 27th). 
Featured Radio
Survey: Want to see more from these two powerhouse ‘60s stations? This
month we feature TWO 50 Years Ago surveys!
Check out WLS and WCFL’s full charts for mid-month,
November 1967, and recall that awesome day when …
Celebrate NOVEMBER 1967: 50 Years Ago and … Rock On!
Bubbly
Brew of Love Songs & Inner Demons
While
this month’s Featured
Survey design fits right in with the spooky Halloween month, its list of
hit songs was less than ghostly or ghastly for October 1967.
KACY/Santa Barbara, California’s October 6, 1967
top ten gives us frothy love song, “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie,”
by Jay & the Techniques at #6, and somehow The Box Tops bounced “The Letter” all the way up
to #1. ♪ Well, she wrote me a letter
| Said she couldn't live without me no
more ♪ … Uh-huh.
So
were sappy (but sweet) love songs the only hits 50 Years Ago this Month? Nah. Bad-boy band, The Doors urged us to look
at the weirdos inside us, and our creepy neighbors, in “People Are Strange,” clawing
its way up the chart at lucky #13. It hit #4 the following week where it stayed
‘til the love songs kicked it down again, nearing Halloween. ♪ People are strange when you're a stranger
| Faces look ugly when you're alone ♪
… Just the right mood for Halloween.
With
1967 a pivotal year for innovative radio and the FM stations, on October 30th-31st
WNEW/New York raised the dead by
flipping to a progressive Rock format. Reportedly the first in the Metromedia
chain to listen to their listeners, that format held them at the top of the
ratings through the 1970s and beyond.
ROCK-tober is truly a unique month of the year, with Halloween as a most beloved “non” holiday. All the fun
without the stress! And like it or not, it signals the beginning of the Holiday
parties.
It’s
also the time each year when my vintage Rock & Roll mind rambles down
Memory Lane, to the Radio DJ who truly defines Halloween—the incomparable Wolfman Jack.
In October
1967, Wolfman Jack continued to nurture his werewolf within, growing an
enthusiastic audience who loved his salacious, hairy image. He blasted his
signature howl to “13 states and 2 Canadian provinces” at XERB/Hollywood (really coming from
Rosarito Beach, Mexico).
Though
billed as the “Soul Monster,” XERB’s
listeners jammed the pop-Top 40 hit “The Letter,” up to #1. But you can bet
Wolfie put his own spin on it. (Image: XERB
“Soul 30 in California” October 7, 1967. Thanks to Airheads Radio Survey Archive
and their collection of surveys for our viewing pleasure.)
Come
Halloween, think
ghosts, goblins, witches’ brew, seances, and weird, hairy creatures … like Wolfman Jack! We got a good thing goin’ on now! Aoooowwwooooo!
Have a
fun month … be safe. Yes, you can do both.
Featured Radio
Survey: KACY/Santa Barbara,
California “Psychic Seances” October 6, 1967, blended a Soul and Rock Pop witch’s
brew of hit songs. Do you have a special memory from this month, 50 Years Ago? Check out the full chart and
recall that awesome day when …
Celebrate OCTOBER 1967: 50 Years Ago and … Rock On!
Opening The Doors
As we headed back to school 50 Years Ago this Month, Ed Sullivan
likely sang “Come Back When You Grow Up” to bad-boy band, The Doors
(#1 song by Bobby Vee in Milwaukee*).
Jim Morrison lied—or conveniently forgot his agreement—to eliminate the
word “higher” in the line, “Girl we couldn’t get much higher.” (“Light My Fire”) Sounds a bit prudish these days, doesn’t it? It was
serious business to Mr. Sullivan.
Morrison
traded one night of self-satisfaction for a really pissed Sullivan, who banned
them from the nationally popular show and cancelled the remaining six that had
been scheduled.
As a California gal, I’d seen The Doors
in concert months before they appeared on Mr. Sullivan’s show, and knew they
were destined for stardom, without much help. But that show was a hallmark of
popularity for anyone fortunate to gain access to its stage.
Obviously, The
Doors did what they set out to do—garner national fans. With that performance,
there were many opportunities other than The Ed Sullivan Show.
Having
appeared already on American Bandstand (July 22, 1967), after
Sullivan, The Doors gave The Jonathan Winters Show a holiday
treat (December 24th) … but TV rather ignored them from that point.
Per Wiki: “Morrison
died at age 27 [July 3, 1971], the same age as several other famous rock stars
in the 27 Club. In 1974, Morrison's girlfriend Pamela
Courson also died at the age of 27.”
Radio didn’t
ignore The Doors! “Light My Fire” was still
in the top ten on a Midwest survey*, though it had waned on others. WABC/New York’s fans began pushing their new “People Are Strange” up the chart that week, mimicked by KFRC/San Francisco.
In BFYP Book 2 “The Swinging Sixties,” DJ William F. Williams talked about the merger of
Rock & Roll with FM radio, during the late ‘60s. Glad to find himself at KBLA/Los Angeles: “I was seeing an
awakening of what became known as ‘Sixties Music,’” William recalled. “Oh yeah,
I definitely want to be in on this! I want to play the long version of ‘The End’ by The Doors, which you’re not going to hear at KHJ, KFWB, or
KRLA.”
Featured Radio Survey: *A compilation survey reported song faves in Milwaukee and beyond in
“Hot Happenings,” No. 38, September 18, 1967. Do you have a special memory from
this month, 50 Years Ago? Perhaps
the full chart will help you recall that awesome day when …
Celebrate SEPTEMBER 1967: 50 Years Ago and … Rock On!
Share on
Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk
♪ ♪ ♪
Dog Days
of Summer Distraction
Today,
there are so many devices and distractions to help take your mind off the heat.
August 1967 … not so much. We did
have the radio, though. And this month, 50
Years Ago, we were properly distracted …
Dinner
table conversations, summer BBQs, and breaks in our cruisin’ the drag, always
included the questions, “What do you think Billie Joe McAllister and his
girlfriend threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge?” and, “Oh, why did Billie Joe jump off the bridge?”
Bobbie Gentry’s haunting
song, “Ode to Billie Joe,”
whispered across heatwaves and followed us into refreshing swimming pools. While
July radio listener surveys gave us a “Pleasant Valley Sunday” (Monkees), “Ode”
hit the top of the charts early August, for stations like KFRC/San Francisco; though KEXO/Grand
Junction, Colorado, took ‘til month’s end to run it up into the top twenty. (Featured Survey)
Throughout
August 1967, we all had our
suspicions. Just not all the same ones—flowers? engagement ring? drugs? even a
baby, were popular theories—and Gentry let us speculate wildly, without comment.
It
was a super-summer distraction though! Couple of fun facts:
♪
Says the storyline at PerformingSongwriter.com,
before Capitol Records cut it down for release, “Ode” rivaled “Light My Fire,” at seven
minutes long, and graced the flipside of “Mississippi Delta.” That
was also, “… the days when DJs still had minds of their own, and as in the
stories of so many classic hits, the B-side became the A-side.”
♪
The song’s title is spelled with “Billie” but the resulting movie in 1976,
switched it to “Billy.”
♪ The
old Tallahatchie
Bridge barely reached twenty feet above the water; hardly enough height to
cause death. But it kept local cops busy throughout the summer, plucking
wayward folks intent on death, from the river.
♪
Gentry didn’t want us to go off on a tangent about what was thrown off the bridge. Her point, was the narrating
family’s unfeeling, detached
chatter at the dinner table that reflected how she felt about society. "Well,
Billie Joe never had a lick of sense; pass the biscuits, please …”
♪
Rumor has it that Gentry wrote the song, loosely based on a local true story
from a decade-plus before. But there is no definitive proof, and the reclusive
lady’s not talkin’.
Do
we ever learn the answers to the questions? Uh … no. Like, “what
happened to Bobbie Gentry” after Billie Joe’s success … we may never know
what they tossed off the bridge, or why he jumped … or where the songwriter
retired to and why she left the music biz.
So
… what distractions kept you and your
radio station cool in August 1967?
Featured Radio
Survey: KEXO’s streetfront window
was pretty hip for a 1,000-watts-to-250-watts-at-sunset, station. It kept Grand Junction
hoppin’ in its early Rock & Roll days. Were you listening to KEXO, August 26, 1967? Who was your
fave jock? Cousin Phil, Ron Conley, or … there’s
more …
Celebrate AUGUST 1967: 50 Years Ago and … Rock On!
Share
on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk
♪
♪ ♪
Emulated, but Never Duplicated
July—every year since 1776 we’ve begun the month
with a bang! In radio, the big bang also pays tribute to the death of Wolfman Jack, July 1,
1995. He was the self-proclaimed “Original Rock & Roll Animal.”
I prefer celebrating births rather than deaths, and
while Wolfman is an integral part of my book series, July 1967 deserves to be
celebrated for other reasons in this era.
Certainly we honor the Wolfman,
who to this day is oft-imitated but remains one-of-a-kind.
And July is of course, a celebration of the US Declaration
of Independence’s final approval. Let’s light the fireworks for a couple
other reasons.
In music and radio, July ’67 was the middle month
in the Summer
of Love. The radio charts, scattered love songs amongst grooves of
Psychedelic Rock, which gained ground in part, through popularity with
returning Vietnam soldiers. Music
was essential to many soldiers, and Psychedelic Rock
embodied their extreme mix of swirling emotions.
Still in the clutches of the war, 50 years ago we
endured the most devastating single-day loss this month, by the Marines, in Operation
Buffalo.
And The
Beatles’ song, “All We
Need is Love,” became even more poignant at the top of the radio charts. A “love
song” for sure, but considered one of their most political tunes. (The boys even wore
flowers in their hair for the Our World
global premiere of the song, June 25, 1967.)
Listeners at KACY/Santa
Barbara applauded their local DJ, Steve Sands (Sandoval) on the cover of the July 28th
survey, as he soon enlisted in the US Army. At the same time, KACY fans
boosted “All You Need is Love” to #10 (up from #14 previous week), stabilizing
it at #3 in the next couple of weeks.
Where did the iconic Beatles song land on the
charts in your neck of the woods? Don’t recall? Bop on over to The Airheads Radio Survey Archive,
enter a radio station or city, and enjoy a leisurely stroll down Memory Lane!
Would you rather listen to than view memories of
the ‘60s? Strap on your headphones and head over to YouTube to download my audio interview
with DJ David
“Ghosty” Wills, reminiscing about pioneering DJs, and Book 2 in the Blast from Your Past! series – Rock
& Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties.
Wolfman Jack and The Beatles … emulated, imitated, but
never duplicated.
Featured
Radio Survey: DJ Steve Sands at KACY/Santa
Barbara was one of (I’m sure) many jocks who entered service 50 Years Ago this
Month. Check out KACY’s music survey for July 28, 1967. The top fifteen gave us love with “Can’t Take My
Eyes Off You” to following your fantasy in “White Rabbit,” at #1.
Celebrate JULY 1967: 50 Years Ago and … Rock On!
# # #
It’s
Officially the “Golden Summer of Love”
Unreal.
Groovy. Surrealistic. Here we are … we have arrived in the future, my fellow
Rockin’ Boomers! How did we get here?!
Fifty Years Ago this Month, we were part of an
authentic “happening” … an epiphany … a true phenomenon … the “Summer of Love.”
I
attended the KFRC/San Francisco Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival
the weekend of June 10-11. It transformed the serene top of Mount Tamalpais
into a swirling haze of musical mayhem and dancing Mary Janes. Breathe deep …
It
was not pure mountain air, m’dears!
But it was a celebration of young and old, hippies and button-downs, and a
whole lotta Rock & Roll. This was the weekend that slid us into the Summer
of Love.
KFRC may have been mostly
Top 40 fare the Summer of ‘67, but their innovative support broke the ceiling
for progressive Rock that weekend. The brainchild of Program Director, Tom
Rounds, its lineup included an eclectic spectrum of performers from Smokey Robinson, Dionne Warwick, and The 5th
Dimension, to Country Joe and the
Fish, The Steve Miller Band, and
fast-chart-climbers, The Doors.
The
Fantasy Fair, while grudgingly acknowledged as the first large scale outdoor Rock / Pop concert, was outstripped by a
bigger event a few weeks later. But the Monterey Pop Festival with nearly double
attendance, certainly didn’t dampen the Fair’s status for avid Rock fans. In
fact, MPF benefitted from the Fair’s success. More importantly, the Fair
operated as an altruistic charity benefit, without the MPF’s commercial
business vibe.
Sadly,
very few images and only a couple of truncated film clips
survived the decades. But as long as memory survives, the weekend that kicked
off the 1967 Summer of Love will
live again.
As
for today … look around you … young and old still love mind-altering drugs, we
still protest for love, not war, and this year has seen more society and
political upheaval than there has been since the Sixties. Put a flower in your
hair, “White Rabbit”* in your headphones,
and welcome the “2017 ‘Golden’ Summer of Love”!
Featured Radio Survey: While KFRC’s listeners
discovered new music and a new way to party at the Fantasy Fair, in Lexington,
Kentucky, WVLK fans stuck with the
Top 40. What the “Mighty 590” lacked in radio station polish they made up for
in advertising ingenuity. Check out the music
survey
that doubled as an ad agent’s promo, week of June 10-16, 1967 …
Celebrate JUNE 1967: 50 Years Ago
and … Rock On!
# # #
 |
| LIKE if you like! |
Groovin’ with
Respect, May 1967
Most
radio stations across the country charted “Groovin’” by The Young
Rascals in the top five, 50 Years Ago this Month. With a lot
of “Respect” from
Aretha Franklin, they leap-frogged each other up the charts to vie for the #1
and #2 golden spots for much of latter May. 
KXOA/Sacramento and WABC/New York were “Groovin’” at the
top of their surveys for the week of May 17th and 19th
(respectively). KFRC/San Francisco
gave their listeners “Respect” at the top, with Ed Mitchell spinning the tunes
for you from 9 a.m. ‘til noon, on the Big 610.
What
else happened in May 1967? Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll, baby!
-
The
“secret’s” out of the bag! Spunky head Beatle, Paul, admitted they’d all dropped acid at one time
or another.
-
Women
everywhere swooned with envy as Priscilla Beaulieu married hunky Elvis Presley at the Aladdin in Las Vegas. Viva Las Vegas!
-
Not
wanting The Beatles to hog all the limelight, Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger,
Keith Richards and Brian Jones did them one better (or worse)—and found
themselves in lock-up on drug charges.
-
Repercussions?
The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” suffered in the UK charts as BBC took their
drug admissions seriously, and banned it.
-
May 25:
-
Defiance?
Never let others dictate your personality, was John Lennon’s motto as he drove
off in his newly renovated Psychedelic Rolls Royce.
-
Does
it seem The Beatles dominated the late Sixties? Well, yes. But that doesn’t
mean other great music wasn’t happening.
Featured Radio Survey: KFRC/San
Francisco’s Big 30 for May 17, 1967,
gave Aretha and their listeners the “Respect” we deserved. Capturing the moment
in music, we heard Lou
Rawls lament a “Dead End Street” at #5, and a peek into the upcoming Summer of Love, with “The Flower Children” (Marcia Strassman) hugging the #9 spot. Here’s the full top ten …
Celebrate MAY 1967: 50 Years Ago
and … Rock On!
# # #
An Over-the-Shoulder Peek at April 1967
50 Years
Ago this Month
saw Psychedelic Rock
force its swirling climb up the charts, gaining heat as we moved closer to the
torrid Summer of Love.
We
began the month on a high note, at the top of WABC/NY’s All American Survey April 8, 1967, “Happy Together” with The Turtles.
Not
all DJs were happy together however, with radio broadcasting formats. FM
stations began playing follow-the-leader, finding their footing outside the
Jazz genre, in AOR and other diverse areas. Especially after DJ Tom Donahue
signed on at KMPX/San Francisco, Friday,
April 7, 1967. Always a rebel, Tom
began his push for Freeform Rock, combined with an all-female engineering
staff. It worked.
Need
more to celebrate April 1967? Party
on, for “Louie
Louie” Day, April 11th;
and have you hugged your vinyl record store owner lately? The tenth annual Record Store Day, spins off April 22nd. (Though you can
start as early as the 15th for some.)
By
month’s end in the Top 40, frustrated and disillusioned, we lamented toiling at
our jobs with The Easybeat’s
The
mood of the moment is capsulized in a nice long
excerpt from the newly released BFYP
(e)Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties! Like many of his listeners, DJ Neale Blase, objected to the Vietnam War.
Doing
so on the radio though, generally didn’t sit well with station management. One
night, as Neale broadcast live in a special airing with Armed Forces Radio on KOMA/Oklahoma City …
“Here’s a song for
Private Bob Smith from his wife in Montana … she’s hoping that you’ll be home
soon, safe and sound … and by the way, Bob, we all want you guys home soon, because you shouldn’t even be there. So
for all of you guys over there … listen very
closely to the lyrics of this song.” KOMA listeners heard Buffalo Springfield warn,
“There’s a man with a gun over there …” *
Aware of his
opportunity as a DJ to comment on news of the day, Neale said, “I can’t tell
you how many times we would talk over the intro of a song and express our views
in a very compatible tone of voice, with the tempo of the song. Never underestimate
the power of subtlety.” Read the rest of Neale’s Swinging Sixties story, here.
Featured Radio Survey: In
view of this lengthy post, and the lamentable fact I don’t have an April ’67 vintage
radio survey in the BFYP Collection, we’ll continue to enjoy the March KFRC/San Francisco survey, and bounce
back with more than enough May ’67 surveys next month. Top 30 station, KFRC, tipped the iceberg of our music
revolution. But the depth of its love came from the base of FM underground
music that would soon emanate from KMPX
and DJ Tom Donahue. Check out the
eclectic mix in the March 1, 1967 KFRC Big 30 chart.
Celebrate APRIL 1967: 50 Years Ago
… Rock On!
# # #
Happy Together Marching through 1967
March ’67 caught some of us watching
the boob tube as THRUSH in Man from U.N.C.L.E. rushed to convert sea water to gold.
Or were you day-trippin’ on the Electric
Prunes’ tune “I Had Too Much to Dream”? The Psychedelic song struggled for an audience from November
1966 until it finally broke through to the top ten of our handy-dandy
transistor radio stations this month, 50 years ago.
The Electric Prunes hit slipped a
notch to #6 on KFRC/San Francisco’s
March 1st Big 30 chart. But love cured the hangover with the
Turtles’ “Happy Together”
at #1.
The Five Americans (a BFYP Book 2
band) were ready to ride the airwaves to the top in KFRC’s Big Hit Bounds list, with “Western Union,” as we take
a Spring break before the now infamous Summer of Love. We’ll
bring you whatever 50th anniversary news we can rustle up starting
in June!
A year of magic and mayhem in radio
and life, we tried desperately to maintain our innocence while the Vietnam War
colored our vision as profoundly as John Lennon’s rose-colored spectacles.
In spite of, or maybe because of,
the country’s turmoil and turbulence, by June the radio charts' top tune was on its way to top record and top song in the 10th
Grammy Awards (1968). We were obviously looking for bright optimism in the 5th
Dimension’s “Up, Up and Away.” “… the world’s a nicer place
in my beautiful balloon …” ♪
Featured Radio Survey: In
1967 San Francisco channeled all the love it could muster into its music. Top
30 station, KFRC, tipped the iceberg
of our music revolution. But the depth of its love came from the base of FM
underground music that would soon emanate from KMPX and DJ Tom Donahue.
Check out the eclectic mix in the March 1, 1967 KFRC/San Francisco Big 30 chart.
Celebrate MARCH 1967: 50 Years Ago
… Rock On!
# # #
No
doubt, St. Valentine’s Day had something to do with “Dedicated to the One I Love”
scaling WABC/New York’s survey ladder in one GIANT leap, from an obscure #57 on February 25, 1967 to #15 the following week.
The Mamas & Papas’ favorite nearly wore out the station’s turntables as we
lingered in its lovelights for another month, propelling it all the way to #3
by April 8th.
Elsewhere
in the February 1967 Rock & Roll
Radio landscape, we have some fun listening to entertaining pioneering DJs’ airchecks
at ReelRadio.com! Join us as Jan Gabriel hams
it up at WJOB/Hammond,
Indiana;
The Real Don Steele keeps KHJ/Los Angeles
listeners on their toes; and our “fuddy duddy buddy,” Dr.Don Rose,* razzes his radio audience at WQXI/Atlanta, Georgia, in February 1967. (Far left, Feb 1968 survey,
but still … 😉 )
HUGE
aircheck announcement for you Radioheads! Uncle Ricky, who owns the ReelRadio.com non-profit vintage
airchecks site, is reconverting it to FREE access (like when it began in 1996)
toward the end of March.
But PLEASE support his herculean efforts any time with
a donation,* to thank him
and ensure ReelRadio remains an enduring and endearing go-to site. As he says, “a
‘free’ site will kill us, or make us grow.” Let’s help him grow! (*This is not
an ad, and Uncle Ricky didn’t ask me to post it. I just LOVE his site. It has
been invaluable to me for writing the
BFYP books.)
Featured Radio Survey: Since
I don’t have a February 1967 radio
survey in the BFYP Collection, I’ve
posted a KCBQ/San Diego tribute survey
featuring BFYP DJ Jack Vincent, for December 10, 1961. He began spinning vinyls in
Rock & Roll Radio Heaven on January 29th, escorted by East Coast
fave DJ, Herb Oscar Anderson, best known at WABC/New York. R.I.P. gentlemen.
Celebrate FEBRUARY 1967: 50 Years Ago
… Rock On!
# # #
1967 spun Rock & Roll music on its ear, as the new FM radio stations spun us on our ears. Far out, man.
Sonny and Cher assured us “The Beat Goes On” (up to #13 on the KFRC/San Francisco survey, January 18,
1967), but this year spearheaded the second phase of 1960’s Rock music battle
between love and war, with epic, intricate beats.
Not
just a little influenced by psychedelia, Rock music rose to new
heights—literally and figuratively.
By
the end of the month, West Coast counterculture bands had donated their time
and music to the first San Francisco Hare Krishna fundraising concert. Historic, not only
because of its mind-expanding highs but the incredible, mind-blowing music.
Headlining
the Avalon Ballroom for the Mantra-Rock Dance (January 29th)
were Psychedelic Rock innovators, Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, Moby Grape, and Big
Brother and the Holding Company. The event also featured LSD advocate, Timothy Leary. Go figure.
Live
music and AM radio’s tunes weren’t much in sync, though, as January radio
surveys still reflected soft love songs, albeit tinged with an edgier
electronic guitar. The Airplane’s “My Best Friend” hit #10 on KFRC’s Big 30 (January 28, 1967), but
it was just a hint of their more surrealistic sounds coming up.
Climbing
the chart to truly kick off the Psychedelic Rock year, we find The Electric Prunes at #26, admitting, “I Had too much to Dream Last Night.” Yeah, baby.
Thanks
to upstart FM stations like KMPX/San
Francisco and KPPX/Los Angeles
(think Tom and Raechel Donahue) along with live
performances, the month, ended turning guitar solos and love ballads into
mind-twisting musical experiences.
*And
into the night you'll fade, knowing you lost the game | And just how she got her name of | The Snow Queen … ♪
Welcome
to January 1967! Happy New Year 50 Years Ago this Month!
Featured Radio Survey: This
month I have to go outside the BFYP
vintage survey collection. Darn. Can’t believe I don’t have any January 1967 radio charts. However, one
of my fave research sites is the Airheads
Radio Survey Archives ... what I don’t have, they do …
and then some! Enjoy the KFRC/San
Francisco Big 30 chart list for January
28, 1967 here; but if you love retro Rock & Roll, you must visit
their searchable site. It’s awesome!
Celebrate JANUARY 1967: 50 Years Ago
… Rock On!
* “The Snow Queen” by Roger Nichols
& The Small Circle of Friends, #14, January 28, 1967, KFRC/San Francisco Big 30.
# # #