July 22nd

The Doors perform "Light My Fire" and "Crystal Ship" on American Bandstand.

(Wow, not the kind of thing you'd expect to hear on "Rate A Record" is it???)

"Before you slip into unconsciousness ..."

It's got a good beat and you can dance to it ... not!

Author, poet, historian Carl Sandburg dies at the age of 89 in North Carolina.

From Jeff March and Marti Smiley Child:  Eight years after first hitting the chart, singer Bobby Vee struck gold. His 31st chart record, "Come Back When You Grow Up," made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on July 22, 1967. The song was written by Martha Sharp, whose composing credits include two tunes for Sandy Posey: "Born a Woman" and "Single Girl." Sharp eventually became vice president of artists and repertoire for Warners Bros., and signed country music superstars Randy Travis and Faith Hill to the label. William Hood arranged the music for Vee's "Come Back When You Grow Up" session, which Dallas Smith produced. The Liberty Records hit peaked at No. 3, remained on the chart for 16 weeks, and earned RIAA gold record certification.

July 21st

Jimi Hendrix begins a three-night stand at Café Au Go-Go in Greenwich Village, performing two shows per night.  

The Turtles perform on The Mike Douglas Show.  

Rick Nelson's new television series, "Malibu U" premiers on ABC.  A variety show, guests on the first episode included Frankie Valli, Annette Funicello and Don Ho.  The show only lasts seven episodes … but take a look at the guests who appeared on this program over this short period of time:  Lou Christie, Lesley Gore, The Fifth Dimension, The Turtles, The Doors, Buffalo Springfield, Dionne Warwick, Marvin Gaye and Harpers Bizarre.  (I dunno ... sounds like a hit to me!)  

Baseball Hall Of Famer Jimmie Foxx chokes to death on a piece of meat … he was 59.  (Ironically, his wife had died the year before, also choking on a piece of food.)  Foxx was the second major league player to hit 500 career home runs (Babe Ruth was the first) and hit 30 or more per season for twelve straight years.  

Actor Basil Rathbone (he did FOURTEEN movies playing the role of Sherlock Holmes!) dies at the age of 75 of a heart attack.  Rathbone also appeared in "The Mark Of Zorro", "Son Of Frankenstein", "Captain Blood", "The Adventures of Robin Hood", "The Adventures of Marco Polo", "A Tale Of Two Cities" and many others.  

ANC president Albert Lutuli died after being hit by a train in South Africa in what many believed was an assassination operation. Lutuli received the 1960 Nobel prize for his role in the struggle against whites-only rule, becoming the first African to win a Nobel Prize.

Here in Chicago, Simon and Garfunkel begin a two-night stand at The Civic Opera House.

And THESE were the most popular tunes in Chi-Town for this week in 1967 ...  

July 20th

Bulleted tracks climbing The Top 100 Singles Chart this week include "Let The Good Times Roll" and "Feel So Good" by Bunny Sigler (#56 to #43), "To Love Somebody" by The Bee Gees (#71 to #46), "I Wanna Testify" by The Parliaments (#58 to #47), "Take Me Just As I Am" by Solomon Burke (#59 to #49), "You Were On My Mind" by Crispian St. Peters (#66 to #51), "Thank The Lord For The Night TIme" by Neil Diamond  (#77 to #54), "The River Is Wide" by The Forum (#70 to #59), Out And About" by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart (#84 to #63), "Cold Sweat" by James Brown (which jumps 36 places from #100 to #64!), "Blues' Theme" by Davie Allan and the Arrows (#79 to #66), "Washed Ashore" by The Platters (#83 to #67), "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by Vanilla Fudge (#81 to #69), "Gentle On My Mind" by Glen Campbell (#90 to #77), "Omaha" by Moby Grape (#91 to #78) and "Come Back When You Grow Up" by Bobby Vee (#88 from #98).  

Race riots break out in Memphis, Tennessee.  

The Monkees perform their first post-Jimi Hendrix show at Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, NY.

July 19th

The Monkees' single (released in the UK) "Alternate Title" peaks at #2 on the British Chart.  (It's actually "Randy Scouse Git" from The Monkees' new "Headquarters" album.)  No singles from this LP were released here in the States … but this was quite a popular track in England.  (The title was changed so as not to offend their audience … it actually charted AS "Alternate Title", "Randy Scouse Git" loosely translated to mean "Horny Liverpudlian Lad".)  Dolenz heard the phrase uttered on the hit British television series "Till Death Do Us Part". 



The Monkees debut on this week's chart here in America, too, with their latest, "Pleasant Valley Sunday" which ranks as the week's highest debut at #50.  The flipside (which, as I recall, was the intended A-Side), "Words" premiers at #79.



Aretha Franklin is back with her latest … "Baby I Love You" debuts at #57, one place ahead of her current hit working its way DOWN the chart, "Respect". 



The Beatles have a new one on the chart this week as well as "All You Need Is Love" premiers at #76 … and a '60's Classic, "Brown-Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison makes its chart debut at #82. 



Race riots erupt in Durham, NC.

July 18th

In New York City Tony Bennett records "For Once In My Life".



In October, it will peak at #91.

13 months later, Stevie Wonder will take his far more upbeat version all the way to #1 ... and be able to claim this as one of his signature tunes.  (That's OK ... Tony's already got a few signature tunes of his own!)

Vin Diesel is born.

July 17th

It took him eleven weeks to do so but Frankie Valli moves into the #1 Spot this week with his monster solo hit "Can't Take My Eyes Off You".  "Windy" by The Association creeps up a notch back into the #2 position while "Little Bit O'Soul" by The Music Explosion falls from #1 to #3.  

Meanwhile, "San Francisco" by Scott McKenzie holds at the #4 position for the third straight week.  The Doors are up four places (from #9 to #5) with their first big chart hit, "Light My Fire".  

Two records making The Top Ten for the first time this week are "I Was Made To Love Her" by Stevie Wonder (up from #11 to #8) and "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum, which climbs from #13 to #10.  "Up Up And Away" by The Fifth Dimension and "Come On Down To My Boat" by Every Mother's Son flip-flop positions at #6 and #7 respectively and "C'mon Marianne" rounds out The Top Ten at #9, up a spot from the week before, giving Frankie Valli TWO Top Ten vocals this week.  

Other Top 40 climbers include "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane (#14 to #11), "Society's Child" by Janis Ian (#15 to #13), "Mercy Mercy Mercy" by The Buckinghams (#16 to #14), "Here We Go Again" by Ray Charles (#17 to #15), "Jackson" by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood (#18 to #16) and "Don't Go Out Into The Rain" by Herman's Hermits (#19 to #17).  

"Carrie Anne" by The Hollies climbs six places from #25 to #19.  Other big movers include "For Your Love" by Peaches and Herb (#33 to #25), "Silence Is Golden" by The Tremeloes (#32 to #26), "A Girl Like You" by The Young Rascals (up 17 places from #45 to #28), "I Like The Way" by Tommy James and the Shondells (#40 to #31), "My Mammy" by The Happenings (#55 to #32, a jump of 23 spots), "Your Unchanging Love"  by Marvin Gaye (#47 to #36), "The Happening" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (#53 to #38) and "Joy" by Mitch Ryder, which climbs from #51 to #39.  

The #1 Album in America … again … is "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles.  This marks the album's fourth straight week on top of the charts.  Sitting at #2 is "Headquarters" by The Monkees.  After a week of its own in the top spot, "Headquarters" will occupy the #2 position for the entire fifteen weeks that "Sgt. Pepper" is #1.  

"All You Need Is Love" is released as a single here in The States (ten days after its British release).  It premiers at #76 but soon will top our domestic chart as well.  

Jimi Hendrix leaves The Monkees tour.  Several stories have circulated over the years as to how this all came to be … but the plain and simple truth is Hendrix didn't belong on the same stage as a group performing to a bunch of pre-teen and young teen-aged girls.  Mothers were outraged by his very sexual performance … and most of the crowd only wanted to see The Pre-Fab Four, who screamed throughout Jimi's set "We want Davy!!!  We want Davy!!!"  

Some say that thanks to all the recent exposure he was receiving from Monterey Pop, The Monkees tour and his first album climbing up the charts, Hendrix had the opportunity to headline on his own.  (He didn't even receive billing for The Monkees shows.)  

A story was circulated that The Daughters Of The American Revolution demanded he be replaced but there is no evidence of truth to that … it is believed, however, that Hendrix capitalized on the rumor and used it as an excuse to step down.  

A few weeks later, in an interview with The New Music Express, Hendrix said:  "First, they gave us the death spot on the show … right before The Monkees were due on.  The audience just screamed and yelled for The Monkees.  Finally, they agreed to let us go on first and things were much better.  We got screams and good reaction, and some kids even rushed the stage.  But we were not getting any billing … all the posters for the show just screamed out MONKEES!  Then, some parents who brought their young kids complained that our act was vulgar.  We decided it was just not the right audience.  I think they're replacing me with Mickey Mouse."  

You can read more of our coverage pertaining to this event here:  http://forgottenhits.com/jimi_hendrix   

Jazz great John Coltrane dies of liver cancer at the age of 40.

Race riots break out in Cairo, Illinois