The WLS Super Summer Survey Chart that came out on July 14, 1967, featured the presence of EIGHT of our Local Hero artists on the chart that week ... a full 20% of The Top 40!
Of course, this was back in the day when local radio stations could salute some of their own ... and artists like The Buckinghams, The Cryan' Shames, The New Colony Six, The American Breed, Spanky and Our Gang, The Mauds, The Flock and Milwaukee's Michael and the Messengers were charting right alongside some of the biggest hits by some of the biggest artists of the day ... artists like Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons ("C'mon Marianne" ... as well as Frankie's own solo chart-topper "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"), The Monkees ("Pleasant Valley Sunday"), Tommy James and the Shondells, Herman's Hermits, Herb Alpert ant the Tijuana Brass, The Association ("Windy"), The Grass Roots ("Let's Live For Today"), Jefferson Airplane ("White Rabbit"), Johnny Rivers, The Doors ("Light My Fire"), The Hollies ("Carrie Anne"), Stevie Wonder ("I Was Made To Love Her"), Ray Charles and more ... and nobody growing up and living here ever even gave it so much as a second thought! ALL of these songs and artists fit together in what would come to be known as The Summer Of Love ... and the fact that eight of these Top 40 Hits came from local artists didn't strike us as odd at all ... ALL of these songs belonged on the radio and were considered equally as good and deserving of success.
(Missing in action on this chart are two other local acts that had HUGE hits the year before ... The Shadows Of Knight, who hit #1 their smash "Gloria" ... and The Ides Of March, who also made The Top Ten in 1966 with their hit "You Wouldn't Listen" ... and four years later would score their own #1 Hit when they added horns to their line-up and recorded the rock classic "Vehicle.")
Today, we remember ALL of these great songs by all of these great artists, local or otherwise, who made listening to WLS Radio such a great joy and pleasure back in 1967.
I've said this MANY times over the years ...
And it bears repeating again today ...
We didn't like this music because it was made by Chicago artists ...
We liked this music because it was GREAT music ...
And absolutely held its own against all of the other hits of the day.
(The fact that it was all created right here in Chicago was just the cherry on top!)
That being said, The Cornerstones Of Rock show, featuring FIVE of Chicago's biggest artists ... The Buckinghams, The Ides Of March, The Cryan' Shames, The New Colony Six and Jimy Sohns of The Shadows of Knight ... have been playing to sold-out audiences for the past seven years now, proving that most of these songs have stood the test of time ...
Just like most of the tunes by these other artists featured on this week's chart have managed to do.
THIS is what Chicago Radio sounded like in The Summer of 1967. (kk)
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Last year, nationally known radio, television and pop culture news media journalist Bob Sirott (who made his name right here in Chicago back in the 1970's ... this guy just exudes personality, which made for the perfect fit when he joined the WLS on-air line-up) picked up on our spotlight coverage of this very special week in Chicago Music History and ran a feature on his WGN Morning Radio Program that included a medley of SEVEN of these tunes by our Chicagoland Local Heroes, put together by his engineer. (They left out Michael and the Messengers because they hailed from Milwaukee ... even 'tho they were very popular here and recorded their two biggest chart hits right here in Chicago.)
Listeners LOVED the way it took them back to that very special time when WLS and WCFL ruled the airwaves here in The Windy City ... and I do believe that HE had a great time, too ... which is why he's back onboard for our 55th Anniversary Salute as well!
(You can Listen Live this morning between 9:30 and 10 am Chicago time right here: https://wgnradio.com/on-air/)
In fact, I remember that after last year's piece ran on WGN Radio, he ran an encore presentation during which time Bob read a series of very positive texts, emails and tweets that he received from his listeners, telling him how much they enjoyed the segment ...
And from that batch, my absolute favorite email of all was the very last one he read … (‘cause you know there’s always one in every crowd!) …
“Jeez, Bob … if I wanted to listen to music, I’d listen to a different station!” (lol)
And for the record, this isn't the first time that Bob has pointed out the significance of this music performed by our local talent during this era.
Next time you have a half hour to spare, check out his WTTW / PBS special HOW CHICAGO ROCKED THE '60's ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3p-lqKYu2g&t=166s
It's an outstanding profile of the artists of this era.
Bob also covered a special Chicago Rock Bands reunion put together by Michael G. Bush for a Chicagoland Record Collector's Show back in 1983 that made the local news back when he worked for CBS Television ...
Chicago Bands of the 60's (Chicagoland Record Collector's Show, 1983)
Enjoy this little bit of Chicago Music History today as Forgotten Hits salutes our Local Heroes. (kk)
