Monday, January 2, 2012

The Countdown Continues: #130 - #121

#130 - MR. TAMBOURINE MAN by THE BYRDS
The folk / rock sound is born and personified with this BYRDS cover of a BOB DYLAN tune in 1965.  DYLAN liked it so much he even plugged in his own guitar later that same year!

#129 - SOMEDAY WE'LL BE TOGETHER by 
DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES
Their swan song single ... a great track that still sounds just as good today as it did back then.

#128 - GAME OF LOVE by WAYNE FONTANA AND THE MINDBENDERS
How many groups go to #1 with their first US Chart Hit ... then fire their lead singer ... and go to #1 AGAIN?!?!?  Well, THE MINDBENDERS did it ... with GAME OF LOVE (featuring the charismatically insane WAYNE FONTANA on lead vocals) and then again a year later with 
A GROOVY KIND OF LOVE.  In fact, by this point THE MINDBENDERS included ERIC STEWART and GRAHAM GOULDMAN, who would go on to further chart success together in the following decade ... first as HOTLEGS (with NEANDERTHAL MAN) and then as 10cc (who scored Top Five Hits with I'M NOT IN LOVE and THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE)

#127 - GOOD VIBRATIONS by THE BEACH BOYS
As big as the history surrounding this song is, GOOD VIBRATIONS only topped the charts for one week back in 1966.  But it topped all three charts for a week, earning it the #127 position on our special Beatles Years #1 Countdown.


#126 - THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKIN' by NANCY SINATRA
One of the few times we can view nepotism as good thing, NANCY had quite a career in the early '60's ... and she even topped the charts again singing a duet with her Old Man, Ol' Blue Eyes himself.  (Watch for SOMETHIN' STUPID coming up later in the countdown!)

#125 - 96 TEARS by ? AND THE MYSTERIANS
An all-time garage band classic, this one STILL sounds great coming out of our radios 46 years later! (I crank it up every time!!!)

#124 - REACH OUT, I'LL BE THERE by THE FOUR TOPS
This one, 96 TEARS, The Monkees' Hit LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE and the novelty smash WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL are responsible for holding The Beach Boys' GOOD VIBRATIONS to a single week in the #1 Spot.  How odd that three of these hits fall within a couple of positions of each other in our Top 200 Countdown!

#123 - EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL by RAY STEVENS
Ray playing it straight earned him his only #1 Record!  (Kinda like when HERB ALPERT decided to SING his new release rather than release another instrumental!!!)  Changing it up a bit provided BIG dividends to these two artists!

#122 - MY LOVE by PETULA CLARK
Her big #1 Hit, of course, was DOWNTOWN in 1965 ... most folks forget that PETULA topped the charts again the following year with this one!

#121 - KIND OF A DRAG by THE BUCKINGHAMS
Chicago's very own, making it six out of this batch of ten tunes that reached the #1 spot during 1966!