Rock Radio JUNE 1972 Summer Day Dreamin’

 We’re Summer Day Dreamin’  

Welcome to summer songs of 1972! 50 Years Ago this Month we blasted away with Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” still dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Rockin’ Robin,” and learned how life-reflective a “Taxi” ride could be, with Harry Chapin.

♪ Then & Now  Rockin’ News & Views   

Taking center stage this month, the sun seems intent on warping our minds, along with our vinyl. Soulful to sensitive love songs still held tight to radio surveys’ top five spots, but we see music changing as the charts become littered with more pessimistic life musings. 

Before all the fun goes out of the first month of summer, let’s see what’s stirring in the sand, surf and asphalt of music and the DJs who played it for us, June 1972 ...

> Rockin’ News Then …  

June 9^th: Bruce! Bruce! Bruuuuuuce! Fans still scream his name though it’s been 50 Years Ago that Bruce Springsteen signed his John Henry to a record deal with Columbia Records. Wow—how time flies when you’re listening to the radio. By January 1973, Springsteen debuted Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, which included “Blinded by the Light” and “Spirit in the Night”—neither of which were particularly popular at the time. Undeterred, Springsteen kept writing and awaaaay he went, never looking back, and still going strong. ♪ And they dance like spirits in the night (all night) in the night (all night) ... ♪   

June 10^th: So who out there was lucky enough to be at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on this night in 1972? If you were, you likely have fond memories of Elvis Presley’s opening night of a fourteen-date tour. All four of his shows were sold out but he recorded a live album, and it was available in a week! Keeping the fire burning after the tour, Elvis’s mighty single, “Burning Love” was released and would prove to be his final top ten hit on US charts. ♪ You light my morning sky | With burning love | I’m just a hunk-a hunk-a burnin’ love ... ♪ 

June 10^th: Busy day was June 10^th back in the day! Per WIKI, on this day while concert goers sang along with Elvis, radio listeners were belting out a duet with Sammy Davis Jr.’s “The Candy Man.” The tune first appeared in 1971’s fun film, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, before becoming Sammy’s biggest hit single. On this date, it reportedly hit #1 on the Billboard chart, but WABC/New York boosted it up to #1 even sooner, on its MusicRadio 77 chart for June 5^th. ♪ Talk about your childhood wishes | You can even eat the dishes ... ♪  

> Rockin’ News Now JUNE 2022 … 

Although June as International Surf Music Month wasn’t created until 2002, is sponsored on an unsecured website, and touts the prowess of East Coast Surf, of course, it had to be in the summer!
      Their link is respectfully attached to the title, but let’s face it, Surf Music belongs to Dick Dale, The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean (among many other surf-and-turf artists), from surf music’s heyday of the 1960s—on the West Coast. Grab your beach blanket, shades, and fave summer libation ... Let’s go surfin’ now | Everybody’s learnin’ how | Come on a safari with meeeeeee!

And, of course we must recognize National DJ Month! The Music Talkers ink is viable with current music news, but hasn’t posted anything new about DJ Month since 2018. It’s always disheartening to feel excitement when you come across a cause or holiday that fits you to the proverbial “T,” only to turn away, disappointed in the sponsor’s lack of enthusiasm past the first idea incarnation. I’m sure it originally launched with great fanfare ... but the thrill is gone. Never fear—BFYP is here! We’ll honor it anyway because ... well, we love pioneering Rock Radio DJs—our books prove it. 😊 

June 21^st: Grab your gui-tar, harp, horn, or sit down to the piano—today is Make Music Day! Of course, the sponsoring organization is talking about all genres of music and though we’re mostly Rock & Roll, we fully admit R&R is a melting pot of all music that went before ... so hum, strum, high, low, loud and proud ... enjoy making music today!

♪ On Your Tinny Transistor Radio   
JUNE 1972 ~ No DJs feel the love on this month’s two-fer San Diego Featured Radio Survey(s) but lots of curvy art, psychedelic style. Still, we wonder what DJs fueled their fans into a summer frenzy in other parts of the country ... who remembers Jay Reynolds spinning the platters in the WABC/New York City studios (anyone know if that was Joey Reynolds in early disguise)? If you were tapping your toes to Larry O’Brien’s picks at WCFL/Chicago, you may have helped Jackson Browne’s “Doctor My Eyes” grab #1. Or were you a little further west in Omaha, listening to KOIL with Joe Light and the Good Guys?

Monthly Song of Note  
Hooray! It’s finally summer ... we’re making time for backyard and balcony BBQs, concerts in the park, and hot love tunes on your transistor radio—well, that’s what we had in 1972. I’m swaying to Aretha Franklin’s “Day Dreaming.” Summer is perfect to dream about love—past, present, and future. After an earlier run up the KCBQ Q Hits chart to #5, by June 16, it had slipped to #11. ♪ Hey, baby, let's get away | Let's go some place, huh? | Where? I don't care. ♪  

Quirky Band Names  

Another robust rendition of “Amazing Grace” slowly made its way up the KCBQ June 16^th chart, this time by the staunch Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, arriving at #19, up four steps from previous week. If you’re into bagpipes, this expressive instrumental version is for you. Meanwhile, three soulful ladies of Love Unlimited were “Walkin’ in the Rain (with the One I Love),” about to drop off the chart at #25. But Griffin with “Music’s Calling Me” is the most baffling. It took a little digging just to find an image of the “DJ Copy Only” vinyl 45rpm record. Never did locate anything about the band—nor the Brady Brothers shown in parentheses on its label. The epitome of a one-hit-wonder-where-they-went tune.  

♪ BFYP Featured Radio Survey(s)  
JUNE 16 & 30, 1972 ~ a 2-fer from KCBQ/San Diego! This month we’re watching what songs have staying power through two fan-favorite cycles. Which tunes grabbed our top ten attention on their Q Hits for most of the month? Check out the groovy, kaleidoscopic art and hot summer tunes on two charts, with “I’ll Take You there” #1 for June 16^th and “Song Sung Blue” hitting the top by June 30^th … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when your radio played …  

Let’s Celebrate JUNE 1972 and … Rock On!  ♪  

BFYP Book 1 (1954-1959) on Amazon
BFYP Book 2 (Swinging ‘60s) on Amazon 
Blast from Your Past Gifts 
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Original LATE post ~ LR / BFYP NOTE ♪ 06/01/22: Try as I might, just couldn’t get the blogs up on time. I did it to myself—what was I thinking, writing three blogs, all to be posted on the same day? Sigh. Please come back later today (or tonight or tomorrow) for JUNE 1972’s funtastic time ... We’re Summer Day Dreamin’! Work in progress … and Rockin’ On ... don’t touch that dial!

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. Two books (of three) are published in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!

Note: FYI – All links in the BFYP site are personally visited, verified, and vetted. Most are linked to commonly accessed sites of reputable note. Occasionally, since I often feature real people and/or singular sources there may be an unsecured link. As with everything cyber-security, use at your own discretion and risk. No compensation is received for any mentions of businesses, products, or other commercial interests. *All holiday and special event days are found at Brownielocks.com’s calendar site. Enjoy! 

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