August 7th

The Beatles take over the top spot on the Top 100 Singles Chart (as we always knew they would) with their summer anthem "All You Need Is Love".  (Could there be a better Summer Of Love anthem than this?)  It made its way to #1 in just four weeks (#76 to #32 to #6 to #1).  Most of the rest of this week's Top Ten held steady or slowly declined from the week before with the exceptions of "Pleasant Valley Sunday" by The Monkees (which climbed from #9 to #4), "Mercy Mercy Mercy" by The Buckinghams (up one spot from #7 to #6) and "A Girl Like You" by The Young Rascals (which advanced three places from #10 to #7).  

Top 20 movers include "Baby I Love You" by Aretha Franklin (#18 to #12), "Silence Is Golden" by The Tremeloes (#15 to #13), "My Mammy" by The Happenings (#17 to #14), "Soul Finger" by The Bar-Kays (#21 to #17), "Words" by The Monkees (#30 to #18), "Cold Sweat" by James Brown (#38 to #19) and "Thank The Lord For The Night Time" by Neil Diamond (#31 to #20).  

The Beatles top the LP Chart again this week with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".  It will remain in the #1 position for the entire month of August.

The Top Five Albums in America show a definite shift toward rock music becoming the mainstream as far as album sales go anyway.  Behind "Sgt. Pepper" at #2 is "Headquarters" by The Monkees, followed by "Flowers" (The Rolling Stones, #3), "Surrealistic Pillow" (#4, by The Jefferson Airplane), and "The Doors", their self-titled debut album, at #5.  (Notice a trend toward heavier rock, too, as, thanks to "Sgt. Pepper," albums are being taken a little bit more seriously these days.) 

The rest of The Top Ten features a little bit of everything … Aretha Franklin, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, The Fifth Dimension, Bill Cosby and Andy Williams!  

In one of those special "side deals" we mentioned awhile back, Elvis Presley and Colonel Tom Parker receive $25,000 from RCA for the "Clambake" LP and $35,000 for The Colonel's new promotional idea for Elvis' 1957 Christmas Album.  (The promotion includes a special Christmas radio program that will be broadcast on over 2400 radio stations around the country … it aired here on WLS.)  Elvis and The Colonel equally split the $60 grand.

The Peoples Republic of China agree to give North Viet Nam an undisclosed amount of money in the way of a grant.  The Viet Nam War will not be ending any time soon.

August 6th

The Cryan' Shames begin their four week run at the top of the Chicagoland Charts this week with "It Could Be We're In Love", a record that never even broke The Top 50 nationally.  

Now that's a cryan' shame ... because this is a GREAT record!  (These guys were denied their rightful spot on the national scene ... there wasn't anybody out there making records better than this one.)  In all, The Cryan' Shames scored seven hits in the Chicagoland Top 20 between 1966 and 1968 ... and they were one of the most respected groups about town.

Local acts The Flock, The Mauds, The Buckinghams and The New Colony Six also hold down spots on this week's WLS Super Summer Survey.

"Take Me Back" by The Flock is another one of those records that should have been a HUGE national hit ... instead "bubbled under" at #131 in Cash Box ... and didn't even do that in the other trades.

Another one of my all-time favorites films (from this year and any other) tops the Box Office this week as "In The Heat Of The Night" (starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger) becomes the #1 movie in America.

August 5th

Herman's Hermits perform at Chicago's International Amphitheater.

Pink Floyd releases their first album, "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn". It was an auspicious debut, only reaching #131 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums Chart.  (It peaked at #6 back home in England.)  Not a huge seller, it would take the record 27 years to be certified gold.  (Of course eventually one of their LPs would go on to stay on the charts for 27+ years!!!)

Barbara Walters and Hugh Downs make the cover of this week's TV Guide for their work on "The Today Show".  Walters would stay in our lives for the next 50 years … a great career in broadcasting.  

ABC's Wide World Of Sports hosts a boxing doubleheader from The Houston Astrodome as boxing seeks to determine the new Heavyweight Champion of the World now that Muhammad Ali has been stripped of his title due to draft evasion.  Ultimately Jimmy Ellis will be declared the new champ but not until he defeats Jerry Quarry in April of '68.  He won't hold the title long, however … Joe Frazier is waiting for him just around the corner.  (Or would that be IN the other corner???)

August 4th

Climbing up their way toward The Top 40 we find "Out And About" by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart (#56 to #41), "The River Is Wide" by The Forum (#50 to #42), "Glory Of Love" by Otis Redding (#57 to #44), "I Take What I Want" by James and Bobby Purify (#60 to #45), "The Sweetest Thing This Side Of Heaven" by Chris Bartley (#66 to #48), "You're My Everything" by The Temptations (a 40 point leap from #90 to #50!), "Fakin' It" by Simon and Garfunkel (#84 to #56), "Baby You're A Rich Man" by The Beatles (#80 to #57), "Come Back When You Grow Up" by Bobby Vee (#77 to #59), "Cry Softly Lonely One" by Roy Orbison (#79 to #68), "The Windows Of The World" by Dionne Warwick (#96 to #72) and "Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie" by Jay and the Techniques (#88 to #74).  

The Monkees perform a sold-out show at The St. Paul Auditorium Arena in Minneapolis.  After the show, a 16-year-old female fan stows away on the group's private plane. Her father threatens pressing criminal charges against the group, claiming that they have committed a felony by transporting a minor across state lines.

August 3rd

Top debuts this week belong to The Beach Boys ("Heroes and Villains", #54), Frank Sinatra ("The World We Knew", #67) and "San Franciscan Nights" by Eric Burdon and the Animals (#77).  Also new on the chart this week are "Ode To Billie Joe" by Bobbie Gentry, "Run Run Run" by Third Rail (a BIG hit here in Chicago), "Groovin'" by Booker T. and the MG's, an instrumental version of The Young Rascals' recent #1 Hit and "Funky Broadway" by Wilson Pickett.  

Way down at #95 we find "It Could Be We're In Love" by The Cryan' Shames, a long-time Chicagoland favorite.  Although this record never made The Top 50 nationally, it topped the local chart here in Chicago for four straight weeks.  (That's right … "All You Need Is Love" by The Beatles and "Light My Fire" by The Doors never stood a chance against this regional monster!)   

We've introduced thousands and thousands of Forgotten Hits Readers to this tune over the past eighteen years, most of whom have gone out to pick up a copy of the record for themselves.  Most consider it to be an undiscovered gem that really slipped thru the cracks upon its original release.  Several have compared it to being every bit as good as what Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys were doing at the time … high praise indeed!  This one should have been a HUGE national hit.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience begin a five night stand at The Salvation Club in New York

August 2nd

Brand new to The Top 40 this week are "Words" by The Monkees (up 18 places from #48 to #30 … and the flipside of their now Top Ten Hit "Pleasant Valley Sunday"), "Thank The Lord For The Night Time" by Neil Diamond (#43 to #31) and "I Wanna Testify" by The Parliaments (#41 to #36).  Also on the move are "I Like The Way" by Tommy James and the Shondells (#29 to #24), "To Love Somebody" by The Bee Gees (#38 to #32) and "Cold Sweat" by James Brown (#49 to #8), all earning bullets this week.  

The Monkees film music video sequences here in Chicago with the colorful rainbow backdrop later seen in the song clips for "Daydream Believer", "Pleasant Valley Sunday", "Randy Scouse Git", "No Time", "Love Is Only Sleeping" and "She Hangs Out".  These became some of the best episode endings of the second season.  (See photos and clips below)

And still one of my favorites ...



The Association broke the attendance record for The Ravinia Festival held here in Highland Park, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, when they attracted 17,432 fans to their concert held on August 2, 1967. The band's attendance total broke a record, by a margin of 3,000 ticket-holders, that the Kingston Trio had set in 1958. The opening act that night was Chicago's own The Mob. The event was billed as "Mod Night".

Ravinia Festival has presented summer concert programs continually since 1904, always attracting some of the biggest names in music.  It's a beautiful outdoor venue that offers both pavilion and lawn seating and concert attendees go all out with some pretty high-end picnic practices.  (It has also been the summer performance venue for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since the mid-1930s.)

August 1st, 1967

The race riots continue into August, now hitting Washington, DC.  

Another Monkees concert is cancelled, this time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (scheduled for tomorrow night), again due to race rioting.  (It doesn't FEEL like The Summer Of Love, does it?)  As such, the group returns to Chicago and some more overdubbing sessions at RCA Studios.  (The Monkees would not return to Milwaukee until June of 1969, by which time Peter Tork had already left the band.)

This would prove to be an INCREDIBLE night of music, however, as The Monkees shared the stage that night with The Classics IV, Eddie Floyd and the Bar-Kays, The Bob Seger System, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, The Cryan' Shames, Tommy James and the Shondells, The New Colony Six, The Buckinghams, Andy Kim, The Royal Guardsmen and The Guess Who!  This would turn out to be the single largest audience of their entire career, a MAJOR event sponsored by WOKY and known as "M'Woky Fest".  Over 29,000 fans were on hand to witness this incredible event … and I swear it breaks my heart daily to not have been one of them!

July 31st

"Light My Fire" by The Doors holds at #1 for a second week while Stevie Wonder moves up a couple of notches into the #2 position with "I Was Made To Love Her".  The two biggest movers within The Top Ten this week are "All You Need Is Love" by The Beatles (up 26 places from #32 to #6) and "Pleasant Valley Sunday" by The Monkees (up 15 spots from #26 to #9).  Other Top Ten movers include "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum (#7 to #5), "Mercy Mercy Mercy" by The Buckinghams (#11 to #7), "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane (#10 to #8) and "A Girl Like You" by The Young Rascals (#18 to #10).  

Just outside The Top Ten, we find "Carrie Anne" by The Hollies up from #15 to #11, "Silence Is Golden" by The Tremeloes up to #15 from #20, "My Mammy" by The Happenings (#24 to #17) and "Baby I Love You" by Aretha Franklin (up 18 places from #36 to #18).  

The #1 Album again this week is "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles.  

The Monkees take advantage of their time in Chicago and record overdubs for a few tracks from their upcoming album.  (You can hear some of the Chicago chatter on "Don't Call On Me" from "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd.", which just may be Michael Nesmith's most beautiful song ever.)  

That evening the group trek on up to Big Top Historyland (an Indian Reservation) in Old Hayward, Wisconsin, to see The Buffalo Springfield perform.  Micky joins the band on stage toward the end of their set.  

The Rolling Stones appeal their drug possession conviction from June 29th … Keith Richards' conviction is overturned while Mick Jagger's three month jail sentence is reduced to a "conditional discharge".

July 30th

The Monkees perform at The Chicago Stadium to a capacity crowd.  

The Who perform at The Miami Beach Convention Hall.  

We've got Race Riots in Milwaukee this time where four are killed.  Riots will continue until August 2nd, at which point the city will be shut down for ten days.  

Fans are still going to see "The Dirty Dozen" in its seventh week of release … it tops the box office again for the fifth time!