60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
4/1/66 – The Troggs record “Wild Thing,” which goes on to become a HUGE worldwide hit. (We just ran a tribute to the song's writer, Chip Taylor, who passed away last week.)
Also on 4/1, John Lennon bought a copy of the book “The Psychedelic Experience and The Tibetan Book Of The Dead” by Timothy Leary.
A line in the book’s introduction, "When in doubt, relax, turn off your mind, float downstream" inspired him to write the song “Tomorrow Never Knows” (originally titled “The Void”) which The Beatles recorded five days later for their “Revolver” album.
John told producer George Martin that he wanted it to sound like a thousand Monks chanting in the background. I don’t know that they achieved that … but they certainly DID create a unique sound that makes the record.
Also on 4/1, the last original episode of "The Flintstones" aired on ABC.
The prime time animated series (the first in television history) launched in September of 1960 and aired 166 episodes during its six season run. It's a poorly kept secret that the series was originally inspired by "The Honeymooners."
The program was an immediate success, coming in at #18 in the annual ratings. It was even nominated for a Best Comedy Series Emmy, another first for an animated program.
