50 Years Ago this Month – Lazy Hazy Crazy Days

Want to celebrate the magic of 1967’s Summer of Love?

Break out your tie-dye Ts for 2017’s “Golden Summer of Love”!™ 

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer 1966! 

You haven’t lived until you’ve cruised the drag in a classic convertible, the hot summer sun baking your brain, while you bellow, “They’re Coming to Take Me Away”* (ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-ha!). Well, they probably should have … 50 Years Ago this Month!

The KRLA/Los Angeles radio chart, week of Aug 13, 1966, pushed this lazy, hazy, crazy days-of-summer song to #1, leading the way for other novelty songs to scramble up the Top 40 ladder. Was it the heat? The campy song sounds like a love lament on steroids – it was – for his dog.

Napoleon (producer/songwriter/engineer, Jerry Samuels) flipped again on the flip-side, with “They’re Coming to Take Me Away” written – and recorded – backwards. "!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT"  Hmmm, definitely the heat.

*Napoleon XIV was followed closely on the KRLA chart, by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs with “Li’l’ Red Riding Hood” at #5, and The Troggs filled our minds with “Wild Thing” (#18).

From silly to somber, it seemed someone was in a hurry to end the summer – or at least the weird songs – as “See You in September” (the Happenings) made the KHJ/Los Angeles survey’s “Hit Bound” list early in the month, crooned its way up to #9 by the end of August.

Since I don’t have an August 1966 survey in the BFYP collection to feature, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish Jack Vincent, longtime R&R Radio DJ for San Diego’s KCBQ (retired) a speedy recovery from recent illness. 

The nonagenarian was an Errol Flynn twin-looker “back in the day,” and one of KCBQ’s Good Guys in the 1960s. He was and is a role model for legendary DJs like Shotgun Tom Kelly, Neil Ross, Bill Gardner and so many awesome broadcasters over the years. Get well quick, Jack!

Featured Radio Survey: For your fun and enjoyment – a KCBQ/San Diego “Hit Parade” from the week of August 28, 1966 – accessed at ARSA Survey Search. The most comprehensive list (and many images) of radio charts/surveys, I’ve found on the ‘Net! KCBQ listeners still had “See You in September” as high as #6. Slap it on the turntable, Jack!

Celebrate AUGUST 50 years ago and … Rock On!

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50 Years Ago this Month – Radio Love, Not War

Fed Up with War – On Radio Charts We Were Makin’ Love! 

July starts out with a bang every year in grand celebration of our illustrious country. Sustaining the American patriotic enthusiasm is the challenge.

Listen! WOR-NYC news July 16, 1966

Especially when 50 Years Ago This Month our music of the moment emphasized our desire to make love, not war.

Though WMEX/Boston in July 1966 patriotically declared DJ Larry Justice’s “Music and Justice for All” on their “15 and Ten Survey,” the hits were enough to make you swoon.

As a July 4, 1966 KOWN survey attests for then, rural San Diego County, we were heating up our summer with anything but war songs. “Hanky Panky” by Tommy James and The Shondells held the #1 spot at KOWN/Escondido, California, on the Independence Day weekend.

Following close behind at #2 was “Searching for My Love,” by Bobby Moore & the Rhythm Aces. Mmmm, that smooth soulllllll sound. (See the rest of the survey’s love-song list on our Featured Radio Survey page.) 

BFYP DJ, Neale was a "fishbowl" DJ!

The locals-only 1,000-watt radio station was small, but proud with “It’s What’s Happening” as the “Only Official Music Survey for North San Diego County.”

How could it not be popular? Its prime location with fishbowl windows to watch the DJs in action, made it a fun and provocative, hot summer night teen hangout.

Where did you celebrate this month of 1966? Ahhh, go ahead – take a sparkly red, white & blue walk down Memory Lane. Enjoy the moment … again!

Featured Radio Survey: Of course, it’s the rare, KOWN/Escondido official survey for July 4, 1966! “145-KOWNighttime” was on-air 7:00p to midnight, with Mike Larsen spinning your fave vinyls …

Celebrate this month 50 years ago and … Rock On!

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50 Years Ago this Month – A to WXYZ

Fast Talkin’ Slow Walkin’ DJ Dude … It was June 1966 ...

WXYZ/Detroit – was BFYP DJ Joey Reynolds ahead of his time? This guy can TALK and that he did – fast – while grabbing records for the turntable and slapping down The Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.”

 

WXYZ was too proud to give up the music biz through the highs and lows of the charts, but finally opened the conversation for a talk format in 1984.

Back in 1966 the top 40 station followed the Rock & Roll crowd, beat for formatted beat. Think Joey looks bored in his jock picture on WXYZ’s music chart? He was.

My 2008 interview with Joey pinpointed when stringent station formatting became unbearable. “I quit [radio] — in 1967-68. I didn’t want any more of it, I hated it. I wasn’t going to be playing something that someone thought the audience wanted.” And there you have it! [Joey’s story and more in BFYP-Book 2, The Swinging Sixties, coming this fall.] Ah, but did he stay retired ... ?