Rock Radio SEPTEMBER 1969 Tie-Dye & Bells

Get Together … ♪ ☮ for September 1969 

Come on people now | smile on your brother | everybody get together | try to love one another right now. Is it too late? The Youngbloods (and songwriter Chet Powers) had the right idea 50 Years Ago this Month when “Get Together” hit radio’s top ten … we just didn’t listen to the words.

Bell bottom Jeans and tie-dye shirts flooded campuses and punctuated protests as schools opened across the country. A carefree flair that is still fringe fashion today, it belied our angst, as the style persisted throughout most of the 1970s. Musically speaking …

50 Years Ago this Month in Rockin’ News      

September 11^th: Janis Joplin (1943-1970) had a life … albeit short one … after leaving her trademark group, Big Brother and the Holding Company (1968) to strike out on her own. I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! released on this day in 1969.

            Janis performed the album at Woodstock and though never considered a knockout set, Kozmic Blues which she wrote, became a fan favorite from the album. ♪ I keep trying to make it right | Through another lonely day …♪ A melancholy apology to someone special?

Pete Townshend of the Who reportedly reminisced about Janis’ Woodstock performance in his memoir (Who I Am, 2012), “… even Janis on an off-night was incredible.” Absolutely.

September 19^th: You Midwest Rockin’ fans, put on your Memory caps and stroll down the lane to the “new” Jim Tarbell’s Ludlow Garage in Clifton/Cincinnati, Ohio, for a jolly 50^th Anniversary show! Do you recall the short-lived Rock venue’s first show on this date in 1969? Revel in memories of the Grand Funk Railroad, Lonnie Mack and Balderdash! Though a jive-Rockin’ with top of the line artists, its first run lasted only until 1970.

            This year’s anniversary tribute to the renovated and re-established music venue is sure to be just as invigorating as the first one, with headliner, Dweezil Zappa. (However, if you didn’t score tickets already to the sold-out event, you may need to stick with memories … or find a seat on the street? Details.)

September 20^th: The date on which On This Day pronounces “Sugar, Sugar,” virtual band the Archies’ popular pop-single, #1 on radio charts. It didn’t take some stations that long, however, to boost the sexy pseudo-sweet song to the top. (Which probably pissed off some "real" bands!)

            KFRC/San Francisco “Big 30 Hits” for August 30^th hoisted it to their top spot a full month earlier. And WCFL/Cleveland followed shortly with “Sugar, Sugar” sitting comfortably at the top of their “Big 10” by September 3^rd.

The Archies starred in a Saturday morning TV show based on the Archie comic book series, with a significant attachment to Pop radio. Former Boston DJ, Norm Prescott (and a BFYP pioneering Rock jock, 1950s & ‘60s), was one of three founding owners of Filmation Associates which produced the show for CBS. Not bad for an animated band!

Rockin’ Retro Radio

Our featured survey station this week is from WIFE in Indianapolis, Indiana. They did something at the time that would have been cool if they all did—tell us the most requested song of the week!

            September 1969 began with Indianapolis fans head-over-heels in love with Bobby Sherman’s “Little Women.*” It took a phenomenal leap from #46 to shake up their September 3^rd survey at #6! ♪ You've got to come into my world | Leave your world behind … ♪ Male-dominated society or drugs? Either/or.

By the following week it hit #3 and would take another week to push Three Dog Night’s “Easy to Be Hard” out of the #1 slot. (*Another radio chart misprint in “Little Woman.”) 

Featured Radio Survey: WIFE/Indianapolis, Indiana’s “Good Guy Survey for the Midwest” week of September 10-17, 1969, takes us into early Fall … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when …

Celebrate SEPTEMBER 1969 and … Rock On!

Blast from Your Past Gifts

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LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) 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. However, as with everything cyber-security, use at your own discretion. 

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