What a cool looking chart, showing the latest LP releases by Paul Revere and the Raiders, Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel ... with a dollar off all standard albums ... and only 87-cents for the latest hit singles. I Love It!!!
Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977 ... so I thought it might be nice to feature a couple of charts that included some of The King's biggest hits back in the day ...
This Fantastic 40 Survey from 1963 (Eau Claire Area's ONLY Accurate Record Popularity Survey) shows Elvis jumping up seven places to #17 with his latest, "Devil In Disguise" ... and then right below that you'll find a CKWX Chart from two years earlier where Elvis premiers on the chart with a two-sided hit, "His Latest Flame" / "Little Sister", at #13.
You'll find novelty king Ray Stevens on the CKWX chart above ... his latest piece of nonsense on the CKWX chart above ... "Jeremiah Peabody's Poly Unsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green And Purple Pills" ... premiers at #30.
And then, just seven years later WBBF was taking him seriously enough to rank his stab at mainstream pop (with even a little bit of social commentary), "Mr. Businessman" at #1.
That same week in 1968 KQEO's Million Dollar Survey seems to convey TOTAL heaviosity with Their Top 20 Chart ... "Sky Pilot" by Eric Burdon and the Animals is at #1, followed by Cream ("Sunshine Of Your Love", #2), The Doors ("Hello, I Love You", #3), "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (Vanilla Fudge, 36), The Rascals at #7 with "People Got To Be Free", the Jerry Jeff Walker version of "Mr. Bojangles" at #8, The Amboy Dukes at #10 with their heavy hit "Journey To The Center Of The Mind", Steppenwolf at #17 with "Born To Be Wild" and Donovan trippin' out at #18 with "Hurdy Gurdy Man". (So what the heck are Gary Lewis and the Playboys and Bobby Vinton doing in the Top Ten?!?!?)
This chart also features the original hit version of "Indian Reservation" by Don Fardon (done three years before Paul Revere and the Raiders took their version all the way to #1), some classic bubblegum by way of The 1910 Fruitgum Company ("1,2,3 Red Light) and pure schmaltz by the likes of Bobby Goldsboro ("Autumn Of My Life", #14) and Roger Williams ("The Impossible Dream", #16.
A mixed bag indeed!!!
