Tony Orlando's "phantom group" Wind was doing VERY well on this WTRU Survey from 1969 ... you'll find "Make Believe" sitting at #3! (Nationally it never got any higher than #28!) Orlando had a couple of hits as a solo artist early in his career ... then took a number of odd jobs in the music business (including a short time as a record-plugger for Cameo / Parkway Records.) In 1969 he was lured back into the studio to lay down the lead vocals on this track ... and then a year later he was anonymously singing lead for a new group calling themselves Dawn. That only lasted a couple of records, however, and soon Orlando's name was billed up front. The group became a HUGE early '70's success, even hosting their own television variety series for a while.
Actually this is a pretty killer Top 10 ... although you rarely hear some of these tunes much anymore ... "Little Woman" by Bobby Sherman, "This Girl Is A Woman Now" by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, "Jean" by Oliver, "Tracy" by The Cuff Links, "I'm Gonna Make You Mine" by Lou Christie, "Easy To Be Hard" by Three Dog Night and "That's The Way Love Is" by Marvin Gaye all seem to have fallen by the wayside during this age of programming the same 200-300 songs over and over and over again. Too bad ... there's some damn good gold in those mines if you'll only open the door to the vault!
Moving down the chart a little bit we find a couple of Forgotten Hits favorites on the list ... "Sugar On Sunday" by The Clique sits at #12 and "When I Die" by Motherlode is right behind it at #16.
Here's an unusual chart from WROK from 1968 ...
Most of the obvious hits are here ... "Hey Jude" and "Revolution" by The Beatles, "Harper Valley PTA" by Jeannie C. Riley, "Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf (albeit misspelled on the survey) ... but look at some of the far lesser-known titles on this list.
I can only assume "Don't Take It Out On Me" by The Jacemen was a local hit of some sort ... this one never made Billboard's Chart at all ... yet here it sits at #2 on WROK!
And how about the Tiny Tim version of "Hello Hello"?!?!? The so-called "hit" version was done by Sopwith Camel ... hard to believe that a radio station would go with a novelty act doing what is essentially a novelty song ... but Tim was all the rage back in '68 so who knows. (He sits at #7 this week, first week on the chart.)
And, since we've been talking recently with Mark Weitz of The Strawberry Alarm Clock, I figured I'd feature their 1968 charter "Barefoot In Baltimore" ... another song that failed on Billboard (#67) but reached The Top 20 here in Rockford, Illinois.
Check out this Lincoln, Nebraska chart from 1972 ...
FH Reader Clark Besch tells us that KLMS went with an alphabetical chart listing for awhile so that they could feature more album tracks on the air. As such, this isn't so much of a "rankings" list ... as more of a playlist of what music the radio station was featuring at the time.
And what an eclectic list it is! Everything from Mott The Hoople to Elvis Presley to Cher to Rick Nelson, T-Rex and David Cassidy! You'll also find Wayne Newton, Leon Russell, Buddy Miles and Sha Na Na listed on the chart below!
That's OK ... I was still able to find a few Forgotten Hits favorites to feature today ... every one of which would STILL sound great coming out of your radio every once in a while!
Here's another WLS Silver Dollar Survey ... from 1963 this time ... which shows The Singing Nun on top of the charts with "Dominique".
Lots of favorites on this chart ... so let's feature a few of them, shall we?
First up, "Wonderful Summer" by Robin Ward, a record that would also reach the #1 Spot here in Chicago.
Then, how about "She's A Fool" by Lesley Gore, a GREAT overlooked track that was a bonafide hit.
And finally, keeping with the "fool" theme, how about Rick Nelson's take on "Fool's Rush In", one of my all-time favorite records by Ricky.
