Now this is the Summer of '66 that I remember ...
"Hanky Panky" and "Wild Thing," both being played constantly and still never being able to get enough of these two great tracks.
(Growing up in Chicago with TWO major Top 40 stations was living the dream for a 12 year old kid who loved popular music ... as soon as one station would play one of these, you knew you could switch over to the OTHER station ... and still probably hear it again within the next 20 minutes!!!)
"Dirty Water," "The Pied Piper," "Along Comes Mary," "Li'l Red Riding Hood," "Hungry," "I Saw Her Again," "Sweet Pea" ...
These were all Top 20 Tunes that we just couldn't get enough of!
And climbing the ranks you had Elvis and The Rolling Stones ... Bob Dylan, The Yardbirds and Dionne Warwick ...
Bobby Hebb's "Sunny" was all over the airwaves (and up 22 places on this week's Super Chart) ...
And The Lovin' Spoonful had the top debut with EVERYBODY'S all-time favorite summer song ... "Summer In The City!" (It's new at #46!)
And how about The Happenings' treatment of "See You In September," up 38 notches to #48! (And look ... there's Manfred Mann's "Pretty Flamingo" right behind it at #50!)
And Chicago's very own Ides Of March are making strides up the national chart, too! (And these guys are still in High School!!!)
"You Wouldn't Listen" (one of my all-time faves) climbs from #63 to #53 in its fifth week on the chart.
I always liked Tommy McLain's version of "Sweet Dreams," too. It moves from #69 to #55. (Tommy was one of the very first interviews I ever did for Forgotten Hits some 25 years ago!)
And lastly, a nod to our FH Buddy Brian Hyland, who is back on the chart with "The Joker Went Wild." It debuts at #78 this week.
60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
The Newlywed Game (with host Bob Eubanks) premiers on ABC
