The Music of 1967

A weekly look at America's top singles in the year of 'The Summer of Love'

De: Ken F. Jarrell

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

The year 1967 has been considered to be one of the greatest years ever for pop music. The often-used descriptor for 1967 is that it was the year of ‘The Summer Of Love’. It was the year of the Monterey Pop Music Festival, LSD, Haight-Ashbury, Flower Power, psychedelia, hippies, Timothy Leary, ‘All You Need Is Love’ and the counterculture. While it may have been billed as the year of ‘The Summer Of Love’, Billboard’s top year-end singles of 1967 don’t show the list filled with psychedelic love anthems, especially among the the Top 10 singles of the year. The top single of the year was ‘To Sir With Love’. After that, the rest of the Top 10 year-end singles has ‘The Letter’, ‘Ode To Billie Joe’, ‘Windy’, ‘I’m A Believer’, ‘Light My Fire’, ‘Somethin’ Stupid’, ‘Happy Together’, ‘Groovin’’ and ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’. It’s unlikely that tripping hippies were crooning ‘Somethin’ Stupid’ or many of the other Top 10 singles of the year.
In 1967, 8 acts had their first #1 records. These were Lulu, The Buckinghams, The Strawberry Alarm Clock, Bobbie Gentry, The Turtles, The Doors, Aretha Franklin and The Box Tops. The Beatles had the most #1 hits with three while the act spending the most weeks at #1 were The Monkees. 1967 saw many formerly huge acts with their last big hits, notably The Dave Clark Five, Herman’s Hermits, Peter and Gordon, Lesley Gore, Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs, The Seekers, and The Lovin’ Spoonful. On the other hand, many successful acts place their initial entry on the Hot 100, including The Bee Gees, Jimi Hendrix, The Union Gap Featuring Gary Puckett, The Doors, The 5th Dimension, Buffalo Springfield, and The Classics IV.
In 1967, there were psychedelic and flower power hits like ‘White Rabbit’, ‘Incense And Peppermints’, ‘All You Need Is Love’, ‘I Can See For Miles’, ‘San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)’, and ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ as well as bubblegum hits like ‘Beg, Borrow And Steal’, ‘Little Bit O’ Soul’ and ‘Green Tambourine’. There were many novelty records like ‘Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron’, ‘Little Ole Man (Uptight-Everything’s Alright)’ and ‘An Open Letter To My Teenage Son’, which all made the Top 10.
Acts known only for one big hit were commonplace in 1967, perhaps none better known than The Strawberry Alarm Clock and their #1 hit, ‘Incense And Peppermints’. However, there were lots of others, including John Fred and His Playboy Band, The Stone Poneys Featuring Linda Ronstadt, The Casinos, The Five Americans, Scott McKenzie, Arthur Conley, The American Breed, Every Mothers’ Son, Bobbie Gentry and The Human Beinz.
So, there you have a short summary of what to expect on the singles charts of 1967; an eclectic mix of ground-breaking and rule-breaking recordings from a litany of musical acts, the continued genius of The Beatles, the very peak of The Monkees popularity, mindless bubblegum hits, psychedelic records, flower power anthems, one-hit wonders, novelty records, the disappearance of formerly big acts and the emergence of exciting new musical stars, big hits that only parents would be buying and, from it all, some of the best remembered and glorious songs of the entire decade.
In The Music of 1967: A weekly look at America’s Top singles in the year of ‘The Summer of Love’, I examine the Billboard Hot 100 singles for each week in 1967. In each of those weekly chapters, I look at the #1 song that week and the rest of the Top 10, the fast-rising songs and a selection of the songs debuting on the chart. Maybe somewhere on the chart listings you will find your favourite song. I then examine more closely a selection of the songs, artists, or songwriters of that week to reveal interesting stories and connections behind the hits. I hope that this book will remind readers of that year’s great songs and bring back memories of a time that may have been long ago but which left an indelible imprint on those who were fortunate enough to live through it.