July 15th

The Monkees (with The Jimi Hendrix Experience as their opening act) perform another concert at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in New York.  

The Doors and Jefferson Airplane perform both an afternoon and evening show at The Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.  

Tommy Roe and The Impressions are guests on today's edition of "American Bandstand".

July 14th

Big movers between the #41 and the #100 spot include "In The Chapel In The Moonlight" by Dean Martin (up 17 places from #58 to #41), "A Girl Like You" by The Young Rascals (up 34 places from #79 to #45), "Your Unchanging Love" by Marvin Gaye (up 22 spots from #69 to #47), "The Happening" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (up from #72 to #53), "My Mammy", another chestnut revived by The Happenings (which climbs from #97 to #55, a move of 42 places, which means there are TWO "happening" tunes happening on the chart this week!), "Take Me Just As I Am" by Solomon Burke (#75 to #59), "The River Is Wide" by The Forum (up 23 spots from #93 to #70), "To Love Somebody" by The Bee Gees (up 29 spots from #100 to #71), "My World Fell Down" (one of my all-time favorites), which climbs from #89 to #72), "Don't Let The Rain Fall Down On Me" by The Critters, up 24 places from #98 to #74, "Blues' Theme" by our buddy Davie Allan and the Arrows (#92 to #79, back on the chart again after its initial late April run, now that it is a success in a new wave of cities across the country) and "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by Vanilla Fudge (##96 to #81), a very heavy reworking of the #1 Supremes hit from the year before. 



The Recording Industry Association of America awarded gold record certification for the Association's single "Windy", only seven weeks after it premiered on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Although the Association interpreted the song's subject as a girl, composer Ruthann Friedman had a free-spirited guy in mind when she wrote the song. Bones Howe produced the Warner Bros. release, which included a recorder flute solo musical bridge. 

"Windy" became The Association's second No. 1 hit on July 1, five weeks after its premier on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and remained at the top of the chart for four consecutive weeks.  ("Cherish" topped the charts for the band the year before.)  The record, released on the Warner Bros. label, ousted the Young Rascals' "Groovin'" and held the top spot until making way for "Light My Fire," the scorching hit by the Doors. After dropping from the #1 position, "Windy" remained on the chart for five more weeks.

Before original member Russ Giguere retired, he always enjoyed performing these and other familiar hits while on tour with the Association. "We always have some surprises in the show. If you don't do the hits, though, they're gonna lynch ya. Some of the people in the audience are named Cherish and Windy. That's just the way it is," Russ told authors Marti Smiley Childs and Jeff March for their first book "Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? Volume 1."   

The WMCA Good Guys emcee The Monkees concert tonight at The Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in New York City.  It will be their first of three consecutive night appearances at this venue.  Jimi Hendrix is still onboard as their opening act.  

Here's how the charts shaped up here in Chicago on this date ...

Also in Chicago, The Lovin' Spoonful performed concerts at The Civic Opera House on both the 14th and the 15th of July.

Eddie Matthews of The Houston Astros becomes the seventh member of The 500 Home Run Club when he homers off of San Francisco Giants Pitcher Juan Marichal.  This is the first time in Major League Baseball History that a future Hall Of Fame Pitcher gave up somebody's 500th Home Run.

 

July 13th

Top debuts on this week's chart include "Thank The Lord For The Night-Time" by Neil Diamond, which premiers at #77, "Out And About" by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart (who decided that besides writing hits for The Monkees, they may as well write some for themselves, too!), which premiers at #84, "Bluebird", the latest from Buffalo Springfield, which debuts at #87 and "Gentle On My Mind" by Glen Campbell, which premiers at #90.  

The Who begin their first full-scale tour of the U.S. … as the opening act for Herman's Hermits!  

Tommy Simpson, a British cyclist, died while competing in the Tour de France. Traces of amphetamine and cognac were found in his blood.

July 12th

The biggest movers within The Top 40 this week include "Carrie Anne" by The Hollies (up ten places from #35 to #25), "Step Out Of Your Mind" by The American Breed (up eleven places from #38 to #27), "Silence Is Golden" by The Tremeloes (also up eleven spots from #43 to #32), "There Goes My Everything" by Engelbert Humperdinck (#47 to #35) and "I Like The Way" by Tommy James and the Shondells (up seventeen spots from #57 to #40).   

A less than sell-out crowd see The Monkees and Jimi Hendrix perform at The Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC tonight. 

Elvis announces Priscilla's pregnancy to the world, stating "This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me."  

Elvis' pride and joy, Lisa Marie, would be born on February 1st, 1968.

Race-related riots break out in Newark, NJ, and will last for four days.  When the dust settles, 27 will be dead, 1500 will be injured and over 1000 will be arrested. 

Billy Joe Royal records "Hush", a tune written by Joe South that will enjoy even greater success when revamped into a hard rock anthem by Deep Purple a year later.  (Royal's version will top out at #48 while Deep Purple will take their version to #4 in all three major trades.) 

Billy's version features future Atlanta Rhythm Section lead guitarist Barry Bailey.  Joe South not only wrote the song but was also the producer of the session held today in Nashville. 

"To me, Joe South was truly a genius -- a great writer," Billy Joe told authors Marti Smiley Childs and Jeff March for their "Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? Volume 3" 
(http://www.editpros.com/WHATPSG_Vol_3.html)  The musicians who backed him on his Columbia album "Billy Joe Royal, Featuring Hush" included John Mulkey playing rhythm guitar, Emory Gordy Jr. on bass, Tommy South (Joe's brother) on drums, and Joe's sister-in-law Barbara South playing organ and singing backup vocals.

July 11th

The Major League All-Star Game is held today pitting The American League vs. The National League in the annual summer classic.  It is the first time the game was broadcast during prime time TV.  (With the exception of a 1969 day game, The All Star Game has been played in the evening during prime time … and to large ratings … ever since.) 

I guess you could call this a major pitching duel.  The game went 15 innings with a record of 30 combined strikeouts split between twelve pitchers, each of whom had at least one, ultimately ending in a 2-1 victory for The National League when Tony Perez homered off of Catfish Hunter to win the ballgame.  

In another rarity, ALL of the game's scoring came via home runs … Richie (Dick) Allen homered in the second inning off Dean Chance to give The National League a 1-0 lead.  They were then shut out for the next 12 straight innings.  Brooks Robinson tied the game with a home run off Chicago Cubs Pitcher Ferguson Jenkins in the sixth inning for The American League, who were then shut out for the next nine innings. 

Check out the National League pitching used that day:  Juan Marichal, Fergie Jenkins, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson and Tom Seaver.  The impressive line-ups for both squads included Hank Aaron, Dick Allen, Ernie Banks, Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Tim McCarver, Pete Rose, Tony Perez, Joe Torre, Bill Mazeroski, Tommy Agee, Rod Carew, Tony Conigilaro, Jim Fregosi, Bill Freehan, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Mickey Mantle, Tony Oliva, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson and Carl Yaztremski … a virtual sea of future hall-of-famers (although, despite the power these line-ups would otherwise indicate, collectively they only managed three runs between them … and each of those came via a solo home run!)  

  

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

The Monkees (with Jimi Hendrix as their opening act) appear at The Coliseum in Charlotte, NC

July 10th

The Music Explosion knock The Association out of the top spot on the chart as "Little Bit O'Soul" climbs to #1 and "Windy" falls to #3.  Wedged in between them is Frankie Valli with his #2 Hit "Can't Take My Eyes Off You".  "San Francisco" by Scott McKenzie holds at #4.  "Don't Sleep In The Subway" by Petula Clark is up a notch to #5, "Come On Down To My Boat" by Every Mother's Son climbs two spots to #6, The Fifth Dimension continue their climb up the chart as "Up, Up And Away" moves from #10 to #7, and "Light My Fire" by The Doors and "C'mon Marianne" by The Four Seasons make their Top Ten debuts at #9 and #10 respectively.  

Climbing up The Top 20 we find "I Was Made To Love Her" by Stevie Wonder (up to #11 from #17), "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum (#19 to #13), "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane (#21 to #14), "Society's Child" by Janis Ian (#18 to #15) ... that's three "white" songs in a row ... (think about it) ... "Mercy Mercy Mercy" by The Buckinghams becomes their third straight Top 20 Hit, moving from #24 to #16, "Here We Go Again" by Ray Charles (#20 to #17), "Jackson" by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood (#29 to #18), "Don't Go Out Into The Rain" by Herman's Hermits (up fifteen places from #34 to #19) and "I Take It Back" by Sandy Posey (#30 to #20).  

#1 on the LP chart is "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles.  

Kenny Rogers, Mike Settle, Terry Williams and Thelma Camacho leave The New Christy Minstrels to form The First Edition (with drummer Mickey Jones).

July 9th

Jimi Hendrix makes his second appearance as The Monkees' opening act in Miami Beach, Florida.  

#1 at the box office for the third week in a row was "Dirty Dozen".