🎙️ Show Topic: 1970, 55 Years On – Songs, Stories & the Year That Changed Rock

This Thursday, September 25th, 2025, we’re setting the dial to 1970, fifty-five years on, to relive a turning point when 60s ideals splashed into a new decade of sound and style. 🎶

Featuring: A whirlwind tour of what surrounded the music: marquee films, breakout TV moments, shifting fashion, and cultural milestones that colored the soundscape of 1970.

We’ll connect the dots between what you heard on the radio and what you saw on the screen, and why these songs still feel like the closing track of one era and the opening riff of the next.

Expect era-defining tracks and deep cuts from Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, The Guess Who, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Badfinger, Chicago, Three Dog Night, The Jackson 5, The Carpenters, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Neil Diamond, James Taylor, and more.

We’ll trace shimmering harmonies, Laurel Canyon acoustic glow, and radio-ready hooks that still hit like a first listen.

We’ll also rewind through the headlines, pop-culture moments, films and TV that framed the music, from theater marquees to living-room sets, and the world stage with President Richard Nixon in the White House.

It’s a mixtape of memory and melody from a single, seismic year.

🕰️ Tune in for a front-row walk through 1970 — part time capsule, part celebration, all heart.

📅 Mark your calendars: Thursday, September 25th, 2025 — cue the vinyl and join us live.

🎧 Don’t miss it! The stories, the music, the memories — stream the episode as soon as it drops.

Missed our latest show? No problems, you can listen to it here

Broadcasting: Thursday, September 25th, 2025

1970, 55 Years On – Songs, Stories & the Year That Changed Rock

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🎙️ Show Topic: Happy Together – Groovy 60s Pop & Rock Celebration

My latest podcast, recorded on Thursday, September 11th, 2025, celebrated Happy Together – Groovy 60s Pop & Rock, featured all 60s music with a special focus on The Turtles and remembering Mark Volman.

Expect sunshine pop, soulful harmony stacks, and dance-floor stompers from The Buckinghams, The Grass Roots, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Monkees, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, Badfinger, The Cyrkle, The Rascals, Three Dog Night, The Cowsills, and more.

We’ll also spotlight The Turtles — the L.A. hitmakers behind “It Ain’t Me Babe,” “You Baby,” “She’d Rather Be With Me,” “Elenore,” “You Showed Me,” and of course the #1 smash “Happy Together” (1967).

And we’ll remember the life, humor, and music of founding member Mark Volman, who passed away on September 5th, 2025, with stories from friends and bandmates who knew the joy behind the songs.

🕰️ Tune in for ringing Rickenbackers, stacked harmonies, and the feel-good soundtrack of the sixties.

📅 Mark your calendars: Thursday, September 11th, 2025 — put on your best paisley and sing along.

🎧 Don’t miss it! The stories, the music, the memories — stream the new episode as soon as it drops

Missed our latest show? No problems, you can listen to it here

Guest(s) for our show:

Date: Thursday, September 11th, 2025

1. 🎸 Godfrey Townsend

New York singer–guitarist and music director for the Happy Together Tour.

Godfrey has performed with Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, Joey Molland, Dave Mason, and other icons of the 60s and 70s.

He’ll share memories of Mark Volman and behind-the-scenes stories from the road.

2. 📚 Charles Rosenay & Mark Arnold

Charles produces Beatles and Monkees conventions and authored The Beatles Top 10 Lists and The Book of Top Ten Horror Lists.

Mark is a prolific historian of comics, animation, and music. Together they’ll dive into their book Not Just Happy Together: The Turtles A to Z (AM Radio to Zappa) – a lively, encyclopedic look at the band’s history and cultural impact.

3. 🎹 Andy Cahan

Keyboardist, singer, and author of The Most Famous Musician You’ve Never Heard Of.

A member of The Turtles, Andy has worked with Jimi Hendrix, Ringo Starr, The Monkees, and many others.

He’ll share personal recollections of Mark Volman and the joyous chaos of the 60s touring era.

Broadcasting: Thursday, September 11th, 2025

Happy Together – Groovy 60s Pop & Rock Celebration

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is an American rock band formed in 1976 in Los Angeles. The band’s current lineup consists of Joseph Williams (lead vocals), David Paich (keyboards, vocals), Steve Porcaro (keyboards), Steve Lukather (guitars, vocals), plus touring members Lenny Castro (percussion), Warren Ham (saxophone), Shem von Schroeck (bass) and Shannon Forrest (drums). Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard rock, R&B, blues, and jazz.

Paich and Jeff Porcaro had played together as session musicians on several albums and decided to form a band. David Hungate, Lukather, Steve Porcaro and Bobby Kimball were recruited before the first album release. The band enjoyed great commercial success in the late 1970s and 1980s, beginning with the band’s eponymous debut released in 1978. With the release of the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Toto IV (1982), Toto became one of the best-selling music groups of their era.

Widely known for the Top 5 hits “Hold the Line”, “Rosanna”, and “Africa”, the makeup of the group continues to evolve. Hungate left in 1982, followed by Kimball in 1984, but rejoined the band in 1998 until 2008. Jeff Porcaro died in 1992 of a heart attack. Hungate rejoined Toto as a touring musician and later a band member. In 2008, Lukather announced his departure from the band, and the remaining band members later went their separate ways. In the summer of 2010, Toto reformed and went on a short European tour, with a new lineup, to benefit Mike Porcaro, who had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and was no longer an active member of the band. He died in 2015.

The band has released 17 studio albums, and has sold over 40 million records worldwide. The group has been honored with several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009.

The Raspberries

were an American pop rock band formed in 1970 from Cleveland, Ohio. They had a run of success in the early 1970s music scene with their pop rock sound, which AllMusic later described as featuring “exquisitely crafted melodies and achingly gorgeous harmonies.” The members were known for their clean-cut public image, with short-hair and matching suits, which brought them teenybopper attention as well as scorn from some mainstream media outlets as “uncool”. The group drew influence from the British Invasion era—especially The Beatles, The Who, The Hollies, and Small Faces—and its mod sensibility. In both the U.S. and the UK, the Raspberries helped pioneer the power pop music style that took off after the group disbanded. They also have had a following among professional musicians such as Jack Bruce, Ringo Starr, and Courtney Love.

The group’s “classic” lineup consisted of Eric Carmen (vocalist/guitarist/bassist/pianist), Wally Bryson (guitarist), Jim Bonfanti (drummer), and Dave Smalley (guitarist/bassist). Their best known songs include “Go All the Way”, “Let’s Pretend”, “I Wanna Be with You”, “Tonight”, and “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)”. Producer Jimmy Ienner was responsible for all four of the Raspberries’ albums in the 1970s. The group broke up in 1975 after a five-year run, and Eric Carmen proceeded to a successful career as a solo artist. Bryson and Smalley resurrected the group’s name in 1999 for an album, which included singer/songwriter Scott McCarl working as the vocalist. In 2004 the original four-man lineup reunited and undertook a well-received reunion tour in 2005.

Eric Clapton

is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist and separately as a member of the Yardbirds and of Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” and fourth in Gibson’s “Top 50 Guitarists of All Time”. He was also named number five in Time magazine’s list of “The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players” in 2009.

In the mid-1960s Clapton left the Yardbirds to play with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Immediately after leaving Mayall, Clapton formed the power trio Cream with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce, in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and “arty, blues-based psychedelic pop”. After Cream broke up, he formed blues rock band Blind Faith with Baker, Steve Winwood, and Ric Grech. Clapton’s solo career began in the 1970s, where his work bore the influence of the mellow style of J. J. Cale and the reggae of Bob Marley. His version of Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff” helped reggae reach a mass market. Two of his most popular recordings were “Layla”, recorded with Derek and the Dominos; and Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads”, recorded with Cream. Following the death of his son Conor in 1991, Clapton’s grief was expressed in the song “Tears in Heaven”, which was featured on his Unplugged album.

Clapton has been the recipient of 18 Grammy Awards, and the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2004 he was awarded a CBE at Buckingham Palace for services to music. He has received four Ivor Novello Awards from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. In his solo career, Clapton has sold more than 130 million records worldwide.

Steve Winwood

is an English rock musician whose genres include progressive rock, blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, pop rock, and jazz. Though primarily a vocalist and keyboardist, Winwood also plays the Hammond organ, bass guitar, drums, acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, violin, and other strings.

Winwood was a key member of The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith and Go. He also had a successful solo career with hits including “While You See a Chance”, “Valerie”, “Back in the High Life Again” and two US Billboard Hot 100 number ones: “Higher Love” and “Roll with It”. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Traffic in 2004

Badfinger

were a Welsh rock band formed in Swansea that were active from the 1960s to the 1980s. Often called “Beatlesque”, their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham, Mike Gibbins, Tom Evans, and Joey Molland. They are recognized for their influence on the 1970s power pop genre.

The band evolved from an earlier group called the Iveys, formed in 1961, which became the first group signed by the Beatles’ Apple label in 1968. The band renamed themselves Badfinger, after the working title for the Beatles’ 1967 song “With a Little Help from My Friends” (“Bad Finger Boogie”). From 1968 to 1973, Badfinger recorded five albums for Apple and toured extensively, before they became embroiled in the chaos of Apple Records’ dissolution.

Badfinger had four consecutive worldwide hits from 1970 to 1972: “Come and Get It” (written and produced by Paul McCartney, 1970), “No Matter What” (1970), “Day After Day” (produced by George Harrison, 1971), and “Baby Blue” (produced by Todd Rundgren, 1972). Their song “Without You” (1970) has been recorded many times, including a US number-one hit for Harry Nilsson, and decades later, a UK number-one for Mariah Carey.

After Apple Records folded in 1973, Badfinger struggled with a host of legal, managerial and financial issues, leading Ham to commit suicide in 1975. Over the next three years, the surviving members struggled to rebuild their personal and professional lives against a backdrop of lawsuits, which tied up the songwriters’ royalty payments for years. Their subsequent albums floundered, as Molland and Evans see-sawed between cooperation and conflict in their attempts to revive and capitalize on the Badfinger legacy. In 1983, Evans also committed suicide.

The Doobie Brothers

are an American rock band from San Jose, California. The group has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. It has been active for five decades, with its greatest success in the 1970s.

The band’s history can be roughly divided into three eras. From 1970 to 1975 it featured lead vocalist Tom Johnston and a mainstream rock and roll sound with elements of folk, country and R&B. Johnston quit the group in 1975, and was replaced by Michael McDonald, whose interest in soul music changed the band’s sound until it broke up in 1982. The Doobie Brothers reformed in 1987 with Johnston back in the fold and are still active, with occasional contributions from McDonald. Every incarnation of the group emphasized vocal harmonies. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.

Chicago

is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois, calling themselves the Chicago Transit Authority in 1968 before shortening the name in 1969. The self-described “rock and roll band with horns” began writing politically charged rock music, and later moved to a softer sound, generating several hit ballads. The group had a steady stream of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Since at least 2008, Billboard has shown Chicago to be one of the “greatest of all time” American bands in singles chart success, and since 2015, the “greatest of all time” American band in album chart success as well. Chicago is one of the longest-running and most successful rock groups, and one of the world’s best-selling groups of all time, having sold more than 100 million records. In 1971, Chicago was the first rock act to sell out Carnegie Hall for a week.

To date, Chicago has sold over 40 million units in the U.S., with 23 gold, 18 platinum, and 8 multi-platinum albums. They have had five consecutive number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and 20 top-ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. In 2017, original band members Peter Cetera, Robert Lamm, and James Pankow were elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame for their songwriting efforts as members of the music group.

Gary Wright

is an American singer, songwriter, musician and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs “Dream Weaver” and “Love Is Alive”, and for his role in helping establish the synthesizer as a leading instrument in rock and pop music. Wright’s breakthrough album, The Dream Weaver (1975), came after he had spent seven years in London as, alternately, a member of the British heavy rock band Spooky Tooth and a solo artist on A&M Records. While in England, he played keyboards on former Beatle George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass triple album (1970), so beginning a friendship that inspired the Indian religious themes and spirituality inherent in Wright’s subsequent songwriting. His work since the late 1980s has embraced world music and the new age genre, although none of his post-1976 releases has matched the popularity of The Dream Weaver.

A former child actor, Wright performed on Broadway in the hit musical Fanny before studying medicine and then psychology in New York and Berlin. After meeting Chris Blackwell of Island Records in Europe, Wright moved to London, where he helped establish Spooky Tooth as a popular live act. He also served as the band’s principal songwriter on their recordings – among them, the well-regarded albums Spooky Two (1969) and You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw (1973). His solo album Footprint (1971), recorded with contributions from Harrison, coincided with the formation of Wright’s short-lived band Wonderwheel, which included guitarist Mick Jones. Also during the early 1970s, Wright played on notable recordings by B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson and Ronnie Spector, while his musical association with Harrison endured until shortly before the latter’s death in 2001.

Edgar Winter Group

Edgar Winter is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for being a multi-instrumentalist — keyboardist, guitarist, saxophonist and percussionist — as well as a singer. His success peaked in the 1970s with his band, The Edgar Winter Group, and their popular songs “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride”.

Winter’s music encompasses many different genres, including rock, jazz, blues, and pop. From his critically acclaimed 1970 debut release, Entrance, he has demonstrated his unique style and ability to cross the genre lines and do the unexpected. His early recording of “Tobacco Road” propelled him into the national spotlight. Edgar followed Entrance with two hit albums backed by his group White Trash, a group originally composed of musicians from Texas and Louisiana. White Trash, with Winter and Jerry Lacroix both on lead vocals and sax, enjoyed huge success, with the 1971 release of the studio album Edgar Winter’s White Trash, and with 1972’s follow-up live gold album (partially recorded at New York’s famed Apollo Theater) Roadwork.

In late 1972, Winter brought together Dan Hartman, Ronnie Montrose and Chuck Ruff to form The Edgar Winter Group, who created such hits as the number one “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride” (with lead vocals by its writer Hartman). Released in November 1972, They Only Come Out at Night peaked at the number 3 position on the Billboard Hot 200 and stayed on the charts for an impressive 80 weeks. It was certified gold in April 1973 by the RIAA, and double platinum in November 1986.

Peter Frampton

is an English-American rock musician, singer, songwriter, producer, and guitarist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. After the end of his ‘group’ career, as a solo artist, Frampton released several albums including his international breakthrough album, the live release Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold more than 8 million copies in the United States and spawned several hit singles. Since then he has released several major albums. He has also worked with David Bowie and both Matt Cameron and Mike McCready from Pearl Jam, among others.

Frampton is best known for such hits as “Breaking All the Rules”, “Show Me the Way”, “Baby, I Love Your Way”, “Do You Feel Like We Do”, and “I’m in You”, which remain staples on classic rock radio. Frampton is known for his work as a guitar player and particularly with a talk box and his voice.

Paul Simon

is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Simon’s musical career has spanned seven decades, with his fame and commercial success beginning as half of the duo Simon & Garfunkel (originally known as Tom & Jerry), formed in 1956 with Art Garfunkel. Simon was responsible for writing nearly all of the pair’s songs, including three that reached number one on the U.S. singles charts: “The Sound of Silence”, “Mrs. Robinson”, and “Bridge over Troubled Water”.

The duo split up in 1970 at the height of their popularity and Simon began a successful solo career, recording three acclaimed albums over the next five years. In 1986, he released Graceland, an album inspired by South African township music, which sold 14 million copies worldwide on its release and remains his most popular solo work. Simon also wrote and starred in the film One-Trick Pony (1980) and co-wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman (1998) with the poet Derek Walcott. On June 3, 2016, Simon released his 13th solo album, Stranger to Stranger, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Album Chart and the UK charts.

Simon has earned sixteen Grammys for his solo and collaborative work, including three for Album of the Year (Bridge Over Troubled Water, Still Crazy After All These Years, Graceland), and a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Kansas

Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on album-oriented rock charts and later with hit singles such as “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind”.

The band has produced nine gold albums, three multi-platinum albums (Leftoverture 6x, Point of Know Return 4x, The Best of Kansas 4x), one other platinum studio album (Monolith), one platinum live double album (Two for the Show), and a million-selling single, “Dust in the Wind”. Kansas appeared on the Billboard charts for over 200 weeks throughout the 1970s and 1980s and played to sold-out arenas and stadiums throughout North America, Europe and Japan. “Carry On Wayward Son” was the second-most-played track on US classic rock radio in 1995 and No. 1 in 1997.

Three Dog Night

is an American rock band. They formed in 1967 with a line-up consisting of vocalists Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, and Chuck Negron. This lineup was soon augmented by Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards), Joe Schermie (bass), Michael Allsup (guitar), and Floyd Sneed (drums). The band registered 21 Billboard Top 40 hits (with three hitting number one) between 1969 and 1975. Because Three Dog Night recorded many songs written by outside songwriters, they helped introduce mainstream audiences to writers such as Paul Williams (“An Old Fashioned Love Song”) and Hoyt Axton (“Joy to the World”).

David Bowie

David Bowie was an English singer, songwriter and actor. He was a leading figure in the music industry and is often considered to be one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, acclaimed by critics and fellow musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, with his music and stagecraft having a significant impact on popular music. During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million albums worldwide, made him one of the world’s best-selling music artists. In the UK, he was awarded ten platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight silver, releasing eleven number-one albums. In the US, he received five platinum and nine gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Born in Brixton, South London, Bowie developed an interest in music as a child, eventually studying art, music, and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 1963. “Space Oddity” became his first top-five entry on the UK Singles Chart after its release in July 1969. After a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with his flamboyant and androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The character was spearheaded by the success of his single “Starman” and album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which won him widespread popularity. In 1975, Bowie’s style shifted radically towards a sound he characterized as “plastic soul”, initially alienating many of his UK devotees but garnering him his first major US crossover success with the number-one single “Fame” and the album Young Americans. In 1976, Bowie starred in the cult film The Man Who Fell to Earth, directed by Nicolas Roeg, and released Station to Station. The following year, he further confounded musical expectations with the electronic-inflected album Low (1977), the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno that would come to be known as the “Berlin Trilogy”. “Heroes” (1977) and Lodger (1979) followed; each album reached the UK top five and received lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single “Ashes to Ashes”, its parent album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and “Under Pressure”, a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He then reached his commercial peak in 1983 with Let’s Dance, with its title track topping both UK and US charts. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including industrial and jungle. He also continued acting; his roles included Major Jack Celliers in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth (1986), Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (2006), among other film and television appearances and cameos. He stopped concert touring after 2004 and his last live performance was at a charity event in 2006. In 2013, Bowie returned from a decade-long recording hiatus with the release of The Next Day. He remained musically active until he died of liver cancer two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar (2016).

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Summer in the City by The Lovin’ Spoonful is a song recorded by The Lovin’ Spoonful, written by John Sebastian, Mark Sebastian, and Steve Booone.

It appeared on their album Hums of the Lovin’ Spoonful, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1966, for three consecutive weeks.

The song features a series of car horns during the instrumental bridge, starting with a Volkswagen Beetle horn, and ends up with a jackhammer sound, in order to give the impression of the sounds of the summer in the city.

The song became a gold record. It is ranked number 401 on Rolling Stone‘s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Good Vibrations: Beach Boys

Goof Vibrations by the Beach Boys is a song composed by Brian Wilson with words by Mike Love for the American rock band the Beach Boys, of which both were members. Released on October 10, 1966, the single was an immediate critical and commercial hit, topping record charts in several countries including the US and UK. Characterized by its complex soundscapes, episodic structure, and subversions of pop music formula, it was the costliest single ever recorded at the time of its release. “Good Vibrations” later became widely acclaimed as one of the greatest masterpieces of rock music.

Produced by Wilson, the recording was initiated during the sessions for the 1966 album Pet Sounds, and was not originally issued as a track from an album, but rather as a stand-alone single, with the Pet Sounds instrumental “Let’s Go Away for Awhile” as the B-side. “Good Vibrations” was envisioned for the unfinished album Smile, but instead appeared on the 1967 substitute LP Smiley Smile. Most of the song was developed as it was recorded. Its title derived from Wilson’s fascination with cosmic vibrations, after his mother once told him as a child that dogs sometimes bark at people in response to their “bad vibrations”. He used the concept to suggest extrasensory perception, while Love’s lyrics were inspired by the Flower Power movement burgeoning in Southern California.

The making of “Good Vibrations” was unprecedented for any kind of recording. Over 90 hours of tape was spent on its sessions with the total cost of production estimated between $50,000 and $75,000 (equivalent to $380,000 and $570,000 in 2017). Building upon the multi-layered approach he had formulated with Pet Sounds, Wilson recorded a surplus of short, interchangeable musical fragments with his bandmates and a host of session musicians at four different Hollywood studios from February to September 1966. Only six sections were ultimately culled from the dozen-plus session dates, which were assembled through tape splicing to create a composite backing track. Band publicist Derek Taylor dubbed the unusual work a “pocket symphony”. With the nature of its recording process partly reflected in the song’s several dramatic shifts in key, texture, instrumentation, and mood, it contained previously untried mixes of instruments, including jaw harp and Electro-Theremin, and was the first pop hit to have a cello playing juddering rhythms.

“Good Vibrations” is widely regarded as one of the most important compositions and recordings of the rock era, and it is regularly hailed as one of the finest pop productions of all time. It heralded a wave of pop experimentation and the onset of psychedelic and progressive rock, and helped develop the use of the recording studio as an instrument, revolutionizing rock music from live concert performances to studio productions which could only exist on record. Although it does not technically feature a theremin, it is frequently cited for having one, which revitalized interest and sales of theremins and synthesizers. The song’s success earned the Beach Boys a Grammy nomination for Best Vocal Group performance in 1966; the record was eventually inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994. “Good Vibrations” was voted number one in the Mojo‘s “Top 100 Records of All Time” and number six on Rolling Stone‘s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”, and it was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll”. In 1976, a cover version by Todd Rundgren was released as a single. It peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100.

I’m a Believer: The Monkees

I’m a Believer by The Monkeesa song composed by Neil Diamond and recorded by The Monkees in 1966 with the lead vocals by Micky Dolenz. The single, produced by Jeff Barry, hit the number one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending December 31, 1966 and remained there for seven weeks, becoming the last No. 1 hit of 1966 and the biggest-selling record for all of 1967. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 5 song for 1967.

Because of 1,051,280 advance orders, it went gold within two days of release. It is one of the fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide.

The song was No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in January and February 1967, as well as a Number 1 in numerous countries including Australia, Canada, and Ireland.^[3]

The song appears in four consecutive episodes of The Monkees’ TV show throughout December 1966.

Respect: Aretha Franklin

 Respect by Aretha Franklin is a song written and originally released by American recording artist Otis Redding in 1965. The song became a 1967 hit and signature song for R&B singer Aretha Franklin. The music in the two versions is significantly different, and through a few changes in the lyrics, the stories told by the songs have a different flavor. Redding’s version is a plea from a desperate man, who will give his woman anything she wants.

He won’t care if she does him wrong, as long as he gets his due respect when he brings money home. However, Franklin’s version is a declaration from a strong, confident woman, who knows that she has everything her man wants. She never does him wrong, and demands his “respect”.

Franklin’s version adds the “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” chorus and the backup singers’ refrain of “Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me…”

Franklin’s cover was a landmark for the feminist movement, and is often considered as one of the best songs of the R&B era, earning her two Grammy Awards in 1968 for “Best Rhythm & Blues Recording” and “Best Rhythm & Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female”, and was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1987.

In 2002, the Library of Congress honored Franklin’s version by adding it to the National Recording Registry. It was placed number five on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. Franklin included a live recording on the album Aretha in Paris (1968).

Windy: The Association

Windy by The Associationis a pop music song written by Ruthann Friedman and recorded by The Association. Released in 1967, the song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July of that year. Overseas, it went to #34 in Australia, and #3 in Yugoslavia.

Later in 1967 an instrumental version by jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery became his biggest Hot 100 hit when it peaked at #44. “Windy” was The Association’s second U.S. #1, following “Cherish” in 1966.

Billboard ranked the record as the No. 4 song for 1967.

The lead vocals were sung in unison by Russ Giguere and Larry Ramos. Ramos claimed that Ruthann Friedman had written the song about a man, and that The Association changed the lyrics to make it about a woman.

To Sir With Love: Lulu

To Sir With Love by Lulu is the theme from James Clavell’s 1967 film To Sir, with Love. The song was written by Don Black and Mark London (husband of Lulu’s longtime manager Marion Massey). Mickie Most produced the record, with Mike Leander arranging and conducting. In her recording, Lulu makes notable use of melisma.

“To Sir With Love” was initially recorded by Lulu (with The Mindbenders, who also acted in the film). It was released as a single in the United States in 1967 and in October reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for five weeks. The single ranked No. 1 in Billboard’s year-end chart, though the Monkees’ “I’m a Believer”, which debuted in December 1966 and spent most of its chart life in 1967, was the overall bigger hit. (“I’m a Believer” was ranked number five on the same year-end chart of the same year.) It became a gold record.

Canada’s RPM Magazine put the song at No. 2 for the year 1967.^[2] “To Sir with Love” has the distinction of being the only record by a British artist to reach No. 1 on the US charts while not charting in the UK, where it appeared only as a B-side to “Let’s Pretend” (released in the UK on 23 June 1967), which reached No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart.

Incense and Peppermints: Strawberry Alarm Clock

 Incense and Peppermints by Strawberry Alarm Clockis a song by the Los Angeles-based psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock.

The song is officially credited as having been written by John S. Carter and Tim Gilbert, although it was based on an instrumental idea by band members Mark Weitz and Ed King.

It was released as the A-side of a single in May 1967 by Uni Records and reached the #1 position on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for one week before beginning its fall down the charts.

Although the single was released in the United Kingdom it failed to break into the UK Singles Chart.

Prior to the release of “Incense and Peppermints”, the Strawberry Alarm Clock had already issued four singles (“Long Day’s Care” b/w “Can’t Explain”, “My Flash on You” b/w “Fortune Teller”, “In the Building” b/w “Hey Joe”, and “Heart Full of Rain” b/w “First Plane Home”) on All-American Records under the name Thee Sixpence.

During recording sessions for “Incense and Peppermints”, the band expressed a dislike for the song’s lyrics (written by John S. Carter), so the lead vocals were sung by a friend of the band, Greg Munford, who was attending the recording session as a visitor. The regular vocalists in the band were relegated to providing background and harmony vocals on the record. Band members Mark Weitz and Ed King were both denied songwriting credits by producer Frank Slay, despite the fact that the song was, at least partially, built on an instrumental idea of Weitz and King’s. King would go on to greater fame as a member of the 1970s Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.

“Incense and Peppermints” initially appeared on the B-side of Thee Sixpence’s fourth single, “The Birdman of Alkatrash”, released on All-American Records in April 1967. However, local radio stations began playing “Incense and Peppermints” instead of the A-side and the song began to gain in popularity in and around Los Angeles. Sensing the possibility of a national hit, Uni Records (a subsidiary of MCA) picked up the record for national distribution and the single was re-released in May 1967: this time with “Incense and Peppermints” on the A-side and “The Birdman of Alkatrash” as the B-side. By the time of this second pressing, the band had changed their name to “Strawberry Alarm Clock” due to the existence of a local group with a name somewhat similar to Thee Sixpence.

“Incense and Peppermints” spent 16 weeks on the Billboard chart, finally reaching the #1 spot for the week ending November 25, 1967. The single earned a gold disc from the RIAA on December 7, 1967 for sales of one million copies.

Mrs. Robinson: Simon and Garfunkel

Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkelis a song by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their fourth studio album, Bookends (1968). Produced by the duo and Roy Halee, it is famous for its inclusion in the 1967 film The Graduate.

The song was written by Paul Simon, who pitched it to director Mike Nichols alongside Art Garfunkel after Nichols rejected two other songs intended for the film. The song contains a famous reference to baseball star Joe DiMaggio.

“Mrs. Robinson” became the duo’s second chart-topper, hitting number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and peaking within the top 10 of multiple other countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain, among others.

In 1969, it became the first rock song to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. The song has been covered by a number of artists, including Frank Sinatra, the Lemonheads, and Bon Jovi. In 2004, it finished at No. 6 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In: The Fifth Dimension

Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In by The Fifth DimensionIs a medley of two songs written for the 1967 musical Hair by James Rado & Gerome Ragni (lyrics), and Galt MacDermot (music), released as a single by American R&B group The 5th Dimension. The song peaked at number one for six weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in the spring of 1969. The single topped the American pop charts and was eventually certified platinum in the US by the RIAA.

Instrumental backing was written by Bill Holman and provided by session musicians commonly known as the Wrecking Crew. The actual recording is something of a “rarity”; the song was recorded in two cities, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, then mixed together in the studio, afterwards.

his song was one of the most popular songs of 1969 worldwide, and in the United States it reached the number one position on both the Billboard Hot 100 (for six weeks in April and May) and the Billboard Adult Contemporaries Chart. It also reached the top of the sales charts in Canada and elsewhere. Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 record overall for 1969.

The recording won both the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group for the Grammy Awards of 1970, after being published on the album The Age of Aquarius by the 5th Dimension, and also being released as a seven-inch vinyl single record.

The lyrics of this song were based on the astrological belief that the world would soon be entering the “Age of Aquarius”, an age of love, light, and humanity, unlike the current “Age of Pisces”. The exact circumstances for the change are “When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars.”

Get Back: The Beatles

Get Back by The Beatles is a song recorded by the Beatles and written by Paul McCartney (though credited to Lennon-McCartney), originally released as a single on 11 April 1969 and credited to “The Beatles with Billy Preston.” A different mix of the song later became the closing track of Let It Be (1970), which was the Beatles’ last album released just after the group split. The single version was later issued on the compilation albums 1967–1970, 20 Greatest Hits, Past Masters, and 1.

The single reached number one in the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Australia, France, West Germany, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, and Belgium. It was the Beatles’ only single that credited another artist at their request. “Get Back” was the Beatles’ first single release in true stereo in the US. In the UK, the Beatles’ singles remained monaural until the following release, “The Ballad of John and Yoko”.

Suspicious Minds: Elvis Presley

Suspicious Minds by Elvis Presleyis a song written and first recorded by American songwriter Mark James. After James’ recording failed commercially, the song was handed to Elvis Presley by producer Chips Moman, becoming a number one song in 1969, and one of the most notable hits of Presley’s career.

“Suspicious Minds” was widely regarded as the single that returned Presley’s career success, following his ’68 Comeback Special. It was his eighteenth and last number-one single in the United States. Rolling Stone ranked it No. 91 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Session guitarist Reggie Young played on both the James and Presley versions.

Leaving on a Jet Plane: Peter, Paul, and Mary

Leaving on a Jet Plane by Peter, Paul, and Mary is a song written by John Denver in 1966 and most famously recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary.

The original title of the song was “Babe, I Hate to Go”, as featured on his 1966 studio album John Denver Sings, but Denver’s then producer Milt Okun convinced him to change the title. Peter, Paul and Mary recorded the song for their 1967 Album 1700 but only released it as a single in 1969.

It turned out to be Peter, Paul and Mary’s biggest (and final) hit, becoming their only No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. The song also spent three weeks atop the easy listening chart and was used in commercials for United Airlines in the late 1970s. The song also topped the charts in Canada, and reached No. 2 in both the UK Singles Chart and Irish Singles Chart in February 1970.

In 1969, John Denver recorded a version of the song for his debut solo album, Rhymes & Reasons, and re-recorded it in 1973 for John Denver’s Greatest Hits. His version was featured in the end credits of The Guard.

1970’s

Mama Told Me (Not to Come): Three Dog Night

Mama Told Me (Not to Come): Three Dog Nightis a song by American singer-songwriter Randy Newman written for Eric Burdon’s first solo album in 1966. Three Dog Night’s 1970 cover of the song topped the US pop singles chart.

Also in 1970, Three Dog Night released a longer, rock ‘n roll and funk-inspired version (titled “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)”) on It Ain’t Easy.

Three Dog Night’s version had the same 3/4 by 2/4 time change as Eric Burdon’s version and featured Cory Wells singing lead in an almost humorous vocal style, Jimmy Greenspoon playing a Wurlitzer electric piano, and Michael Allsup playing guitar.

One Bad Apple: The Osmonds

One Bad Apple by The Osmondswas a number-one hit single released by The Osmonds on November 14, 1970. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 2, 1971. It hit the top of the chart on February 13, 1971 and stayed there for five weeks. It also reached number six on the R&B chart.

Billboard ranked it as the No. 4 song for 1971. Both “One Bad Apple” and the Donny Osmond-credited single “Sweet and Innocent” are on the 1970 album Osmonds. It was certified Gold by the RIAA on February 4, 1971.

The song was written by George Jackson, who originally had the Jackson 5 in mind when he wrote it. According to Donny Osmond, Michael Jackson later told him that the Jackson 5 almost recorded this song first, but chose to record “ABC” instead.^[3]

“One Bad Apple” was also used as the theme to The Osmonds cartoon show on ABC-TV.

Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree: Tony Orlando and Dawn

Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree: Tony Orlando and Dawnis a song by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando. It was written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown and produced by Hank Medress and Dave Appell, with Motown/Stax backing vocalist Telma Hopkins, Joyce Vincent Wilson and her sister Pamela Vincent on backing vocals. It was a worldwide hit for the group in 1973.

The single reached the top 10 in ten countries, in eight of which it topped the charts. It reached number one on both the US and UK charts for four weeks in April 1973, number one on the Australian charts for seven weeks from May to July 1973 and number one on the New Zealand charts for ten weeks from June to August 1973. It was the top-selling single in 1973 in both the US and UK.

In 2008, Billboard ranked the song as the 37th biggest song of all time in its issue celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hot 100.

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