December 23rd

The Monkees Christmas Episode airs in Great Britain, two days before it will be shown here in The States on Christmas Day.  

President Lyndon Johnson, on his way home from a visit to Southeast Asia, held an unprecedented meeting with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican.  

Jeremy Clyde (of Chad and Jeremy) appears on the hit television series "My Three Sons". 

December 22nd

The Beatles take a big tumble on the WLS Chart this week, falling from #1 all the way down to #9.  Meanwhile they still top the chart according to WCFL.

December 21st

This week's highest chart debut is all the way down at #82 where "Explosion In Your Soul" by The Soul Survivors premiers.  It's their follow up release to The Top Ten Single "Expressway To Your Heart".  Vikki Carr is following up HER recent Top Ten Hit, too, with "The Lesson," which premiers at #83.  You'll also find the latest from The Beach Boys at #84 ("Darlin'") and right behind it "Baby, Now That I've Found You" by The Foundations (#85) and another personal favorite, "Skip A Rope" by Henson Cargill (#87). 







Louis Washkansky died in South Africa today, 18 days after undergoing the world's first heart transplant.

December 20th

Jumping ten places or more we find "I Can't Stand Myself" by James Brown (#56 to #44), "Green Tambourine" by The Lemon Pipers (#75 to #45), "Dancing Bear" by The Mamas and the Papas (#62 to #49), "Watch Her Ride" by Jefferson Airplane (#67 to #50), "Who Will Answer" by Ed Ames (#82 to #53), "Best Of Both Worlds" by Lulu (#71 to #57), "Goin' Out Of My Head / Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by The Lettermen (#76 to #58), "Monterey" by Eric Burdon and the Animals (#80 to #61), "Everybody Knows" by The Dave Clark Five (#78 to #65), "My Baby Must Be A Magician" by The Marvelettes (#87 to #67), "Am I That Easy To Forget" by Engelbert Humperdinck (#100 to #72), "Two Little Kids" by Peaches and Herb (#85 to #73) and "Good Combination" by Sonny and Cher (#93 to #74).

Jethro Tull is formed when vocalist Ian Anderson and bassist Glenn Cornick leave John Evan's Blues Band.  (Ironically, John Evan himself will later join the group as their keyboard player!)  They name themselves after the 18th century agriculturist who also invented numerous farm implements including the seed drill. 

Cream perform live in Chicago. 

Christmas Spirit?  Elvis buys The Colonel an 18-karat gold watch for $595 and a new grand piano for Graceland.

December 19th

More images of the era ...

 

 

  

December 18th

The Monkees hold on to the #1 position for the fourth straight week with "Daydream Believer", keeping The Beatles at bay with "Hello Goodbye" at #2 and Gladys Knight and the Pips' "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" at #3.  

In that respect it looks like The Monkees are finishing up the year the same way they started it … with both the #1 Single AND the #1 Album in the country!

"Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd." is the #1 album for the fourth straight week as well.  "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" may have been the album that turned the world on its ear in 1967 … but there is absolutely NO way to discount the contribution of The Monkees … a hit television series, five Top Five Singles and FOUR #1 Albums, all within the past twelve months!  (The Monkees ended up topping Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart for 28 of the year's 52 weeks!)

For more on "The Year of The Monkees, be sure to read our Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart feature ... along with our exclusive interview with Bobby Hart:

http://forgottenhits.com/the_music_of_tommy_boyce_and_bobby_hart

http://forgottenhits.com/forgotten_hits_interviews_bobby_hart 

The rest of The Top Five  Singles Chart shows "I Second That Emotion" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and "The Rain, The Park And Other Things" by The Cowsills flip-flopping their #4 and #5 positions, with The Miracles coming out on top this week.  

Elsewhere in The Top Ten, "Woman Woman" by The Union Gap jumps from #14 to #6, "Boogaloo Down Broadway" by The Fantastic Johnny C is up from #12 to #7, "Chain Of Fools" by Aretha Franklin, The Queen Of Soul, enters the Top Ten at #9 (up 14 spots from #23 the week before) and The American Breed climb up ten spots from #20 to #10 with "Bend Me, Shape Me".  

Other bulleted Top 40 Hits include "Skinny Legs And All" by Joe South (#15 to #11), "Judy In Disguise" by John Fred and his Playboy Band (#24 to #13), the holiday novelty hit "Snoopy's Christmas" by The Royal Guardsmen (#44 to #20), "Different Drum" by The Stone Poneys (#29 to#23), "It's Wonderful" by The Young Rascals (#39 to #25), "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell (#34 to #26), "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" by Donovan (#37 to #29), "And Get Away" by The Esquires (#41 to #33), "Susan", another hit for The Buckinghams, their sixth record to make The Super Chart in 1967 (climbing from #49 to #36), "Love Me Two Times" by The Doors (#48 to #37) and "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener" by Petula Clark (#46 to #39)

December 17th

Spanky And Our Gang perform "Sunday Will Never Be The Same" and "Lazy Day" on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Mama Cass (performing a classic comedic sketch with Tommy Smothers to her recent hit "Dream A Little Dream Of Me") and The Temptations appear on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. 



Another one of my very favorite movies of all time tops the box office chart this week as "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner", starring  Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn takes over the top spot, with box office receipts of close to $3.7 million. 

John Lennon and George Harrison hosted a Christmas party for the secretaries of their British Fan Club, during which time their new television film "Magical Mystery Tour" was shown for the very first time.  

Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt plunged into the surf during a stroll along the beach at Victoria and vanished.  While it was never reported that his body had been found, a coroner in 2005 confirmed that Holt had drowned.