We're back in my neck of the woods this week with this chart from Madison, Wisconsin.
You can see that The New Colony Six have the #2 Record, right behind the unstoppable "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro.
I also love the #3 song ... a long, forgotten Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart track that just happens to be one of my favorites by them "Goodbye Baby." (Rumor has it that Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys liked this recording so much he approached Boyce and Hart about possibly producing the next Beach Boys album ... since Brian Wilson just "wasn't himself" lately. Unfortunately, nothing ever came of these discussions ... as it would have been interesting to see what type of approach they would have taken with the band.)
Speaking of The Beach Boys, you'll find them listed in the Music Power / Coming Up portion of the chart with their latest, "Friends." (And I've got to admit that I'm just a LITTLE bit curious about the Speedy and the Alka-Seltzers' recording of "Cathy Lost Her Love Today"!!!) kk
4-27-68 - WISM - Madison, Wisconsin
A three hour drive got you from Madison to Chicago in 1968 and thus, lots of Chicago and Wisconsin bands got their records on Madison radio.
A three hour drive got you from Madison to Chicago in 1968 and thus, lots of Chicago and Wisconsin bands got their records on Madison radio.
Our famed NC6 were pushing hard on "Honey" to make #1, while obscure area bands got their chances among the 50 groovy songs listed here. Only the Madison Crucibles with their intriguing "Salem Witch Trial" 45 actually was one such in the top 30. Chicago's USA Records signed the Invaders for their new release "The Flower Song" which was this week's "Battle of Sounds Winner!" Likely, the idea was born with FH's 5th Estate ("Ding Dong the Witch is Dead") for the Invaders to do a version of a song from Walt Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" film. I think it came off pretty cool, but never charted nationally. Oddly enough, WISM FM was easy listening music and listed their featured albums and 45s on the survey back side.
-- Clark Besch
THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS:
Here are some of the musical events that took place this week in 1968 ...
4/22/68: The fifth album by The Monkees, The Birds, The Bees & the
Monkees, is released. This is their
first LP NOT to go to #1. Also released
today is a new album by a group called The City, “Now That Everything’s Been
Said,” which features songwriter Carole King.
(This one doesn’t come anywhere CLOSE to #1.)
That night Herb Alpert
performs “This Guy’s In Love With You” on his CBS Television Special “The Beat
Of The Brass,” singing it to his first wife.
The single release of that track, featuring Herb’s vocal, will race up
the charts to #1 a few months later, giving Herb his first Billboard #1 Record,
after years of success on the charts as an instrumental act, The Tijuana Brass
4/24/68: On the look-out for new talent to sign to
their brand new record label, today The Beatles’ Apple Records Company turns
down a young David Bowie.
4/28/68: The popular musical Hair moves to
Broadway and The Biltmore Theatre, where it will play to 1750 performances.
Richard Harris performs
“Didn’t We” and “Camelot” on The Ed Sullivan Show. Talk about your counter-culture … that same
night The Seeds make an appearance on the NBC television series “The
Mothers-In-Law”.
In something billed as
“The H. Andrew Williams Kaleidoscope Company,” Andy Williams welcomes Simon and
Garfunkel, Mama Cass Elliott, Ray Charles and Burt Bacharach to his program.
And The Smothers Brothers
welcome The Happenings to their program.
