"The Sounds Of Silence" overtakes The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" to give Simon and Garfunkel their first #1 Record. Three more national #1's will follow over the next four years.
The Top Ten is still heavy with bulleted hits ...
"As Tears Go By," "A Must To Avoid," "The Men In My Little Girl's Life" and "No Matter What Shape Your Stomach's In" all move up to positions 5, 6, 7 and 8 ...
And "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice" by The Lovin' Spoonful is right behind them, sliding into the #10 spot.
The Miracles are hot with their latest ... "Going To A Go-Go" climbs 24 spots to #24. And The Supremes are up 33 notches with their latest, "My World Is Empty Without You."
David and Jonathan's cover of The Beatles' "Rubber Soul" tune "Michelle" makes a big leap from #81 to #54, a move of 27 places. (Another version by Billy Vaughan sits at #72 this week.)
And, speaking of The Beatles, this week's top debut belongs to The Ramsey Lewis Trio with their take on "A Hard Day's Night." It premiers at #71. (That means five of this week's Top 100 songs are credited to the songwriting team of Lennon and McCartney ... two years after they first burst on to the American charts. I guess their fifteen minutes of fame has lasted a little bit longer than the critics first said they would. (Looking at that sentence with the benefit of 60 years hindsight ... and knowing that in the year 2025 The Beatles just won another Grammy Award ... I'd have to say the critics REALLY missed their mark on these guys!!!)
60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
1/17/66 – NBC “green lights” the new television series “The
Monkees.”Soon, the Pre-Fab Four … Micky
Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork … would be outselling The
Beatles!(See what I mean about the
whole Bowie name-change thing from earlier this week?)
1/16/66 – Bobby Hull of The Chicago Black Hawks scores four
goals (in what is his 17th career hat trick), only to lose 6-5 to The New York
Rangers.In the process, however, he
becomes the first player in team history to score 300 goals
Also on 1/16,
in what can only be considered a big sports day in Chicago, The Windy City is
granted an NBA franchise to be called the Bulls.(The Bulls will become the third NBA
franchise to grace the city … and BY FAR, the winningest!)
John Mellencamp has found a clever way to announce his upcoming Greatest Hits Tour ...
What better than to film a promo video with his buddy Sean Penn, hotter than ever right now thanks to the award winning film "One Battle After Another."
It's been a while since Mellencamp performed some of these hits ... in his own words, some as many as seventeen years. He almost seems embarrassed by his success. (Hey, he told us all along time ago that he "don't wanna be no pop singer" ... I just don't know if any of us expected him to go to such great lengths to prove his point!
This could be the tour of the summer ... it's not likely he'll do this again ... and honestly, if he can just keep his political preaching out of the act, this could make for an amazing set of music.
Check out the cool video ...
And then John Mellencamp's Hit List at the end of today's posting ...
It's really QUITE amazing ... and who doesn't love these songs?!?! (kk)
Wild radio station promotions and wacky dj stunts were all
the rage back in the early days of rock and roll … so Timmy’s piece on Stay
Awake-A-Thons seemed like perfect fodder for those of us who grew up listening
to the radio under our pillow when we were supposed to be sleeping back in the
day.
We asked our readers to send in any special memories they may have of this time … whether
it be as a radio station promoter, a disc jockey or a listener enjoying it all
… and we got a few responses (but not many.) Just drop me a line at kk@forgottenhits.com … and if we get a few more, we'll continue to share them with our readers. (We’d love to hear
from you!) kk
Chuck Buell checks in about our story in FH about
Radio's "Sleepless in 'Town!'"
>>>In San Bernardino, we put a sleeping pill in
the coffee of the jock across town who was doing a marathon in a store
window!(Don Elliot)
I've also heard stories
about putting laxatives in cookies "delivered from a listener"
during those events.
Today, I would think those
actions might result in the filing of criminal charges!
As for me, besides a half dozen
times remaining awake for a little over 24 hours straight being a main co-host
for the March of Dimes and Easter Seals TV marathons, there were a couple of
instances, I did stay awake for an entire Program Director's Jock Meeting.
CB ( which stands for
"Catnap Boy!" )
An ENTIRE Program Director's
Jock Meeting? Maybe twice? Stamina for sure! (I can keep my eyes open while I
dream at a workshop that does not relate to what I do)
Shelley
The DJ contests / longevity
stuff was part of Chuck Buell's story. Below, 104 discs in 4 hours?
Lotsa DC5 in there, I’m betting?
Still seen constantly on TV for
the Children's Hospital ads, "That Girl" with Chuck!
And SPEEDWAY driver Chuck in
station racing battles: "SUNDAY! At ... raceway!"
Clark Besch
Speaking of Chuck Buell, who (as I'm sure you already know) just happens to be ourOfficial Egyptologist, he just sent us another exciting Ancient Historical Forgotten Hits Discovery that he recently uncovered ...
(He asked me what I thought and I told him to take two tablets and call me in the morning.) kk
Kent,
Speaking of those
stay-awake-record broadcasts as you were in Friday's FH, the only time I
remember that happening here in OKC was back in 1960. One of the local DJ's,
and I believe it was Chuck Dunaway on WKY, one weekend from Friday night 6 PM
until 12 midnight Sunday, stayed awake at one of our department store windows
in downtown OKC. And not only staying awake for the entire time, but he also
had to listen to Bobby Hendrick's record PSYCHO over and over again. Now that
would drive anyone batty.
Larry Neal
We had the chance to talk to Carol Connors many years ago in Forgotten Hits ... what an incredible story she has to tell. (Talk about being in the right place at the right time!)
Now, Harvey Kubernik tells us that that story has been captured on film ... something we can all look forward to seeing this year!
Davy
Jones was a child stage performer in England well before he was in The
Monkees. I believe he even appeared in stage productions here. Davy
was, in fact, the chosen member of The Monkees before auditions were held
to select the other members.
Bob Verbos
All true ... in fact, Davy landed the role of The Artful Dodger on Broadway ... and appeared on the same Ed Sullivan episode that The Beatles did back on February 9th, 1964. As we showed in the past few weeks, he had also already made guest appearances on "Ben Casey" and "The Farmer's Daughter" ... and was already being covered by all of the teen magazines of the day ... so maybe David Bowie didn't want to be confused with the teeny-bopper pop star ... but it wasn't because of The Monkees because they didn't EXIST yet ... yet this is the excuse we've all been given for the past sixty years. ("The Monkees" was supposed to be built around Davy's character ... but as it turned out, Micky Dolenz had the better voice and ended up singing more of the hit singles than Davy did, even 'tho he was the series heartthrob. But please keep in mind ... "The Monkees" hadn't been picked up as a series yet ... although if you follow forward in our 60 YEARS AGO TODAY feature, you'll see that the series WAS greenlit 60 YEARS AGO on Saturday (1/17)
Still, most people wouldn't know who Monkee Davy Jones was until eight months from now ... so I think it was just more of a convenient excuse to pin things on. (kk)
Chuck Buell observes ...
Looks like everybody was "Jonesing for the Jones Name!"
>>>Singer
David Jones legally ch-ch-ch-changes his name to David Bowie to avoid
being confused with new teen pop star Davy Jones of The Monkees. I never quite got this one … and have done a bit of research on it … In January of 1966, nobody in the entire world knew who Davy Jones OR The Monkees were. (kk)
Well
then, it seems to me that perhaps before you invest any more of
your time researching this name game story, you just stuff it in "Davy
Jones Locker" and toss it overboard! {:~}
CB!
Probably a good idea. (Don'tcha just hate how the littlest things seem to bug me the most?!?!) kk
By the way, Best Classic Bands sent out their newsletter later in the day and described the name change thusly ... which I think sums things up in the proper light ... without all the heavy emphasis on the Monkees connection ...
As a teenager named David Robert Jones was breaking into
showbiz, he recognized that his timing was just a bit off. Seems there
was a fellow Brit by the name of Davy Jones who had already achieved a
breakthrough on his path to stardom. So he changed his name and
January 14th marks the anniversary of the first single release in 1966 by
the artist who switched from David Jones to David Bowie.
Bowie’s first releases used variations on his birth name. His 1964
debut, “Liza Jane,” was credited to Davie Jones and the King Bees. In 1965, he went by Davy Jones and the Lower Third.
Problem was that by 1966 the “other” Davy Jones was already developing a
significant resume. He had starred for years in the role of the Artful
Dodger in the London and Broadway productions of the hit musical Oliver!
for which he had received a Tony nomination. (His performance featured
the show stopper “Consider Yourself.”) By 1965, the shorter Davy Jones
had also been selected as a member of The Monkees.
The taller Jones changed his name to David Bowie and On This Day
issued a song in the U.K. credited to David Bowie and the Lower Third
called “Can’t Help Thinking About Me.” (The single was released in the
U.S. that May.) The voice from the teenager is unmistakable.
