As we say goodbye to 2018, lets look back 50 years to see what Chicago’s WLS dubbed “The Top 89 Hits of 1968”.<\/p>\n
It was quite a year in Chicago. The Democratic Convention demonstrations gave the city and its long serving mayor, Richard Daily a black eye. Top-40 radio was at the zenith of its popularity across the country and the Windy City had two rockers that were constantly challenging one another for dominance: ABC owned WLS and WCFL, licensed to the Chicago Federation of Labor. Nothing like some hot competition to keep everyone at the top of their game.<\/p>\n
And so it was on the charts in 1968. The Beatles had, arguably, their biggest hit record, the double sided Hey Jude & Revolution. Motown was still churning out the hits and R&B had gone mainstream. The Brits were well represented with the Four Lads, the Stones and the Bee Gees leading the charge. And a new genre, “Bubble Gum”, was starting to pop into the pop charts.<\/p>\n
Here’s how WLS ranked the most popular tunes of the year as part of their final Hit Parade, published on December 23, 1968..<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0 HEY JUDE\/REVOLUTION-The Beatles
\n2.\u00a0 LOVE IS BLUE-Paul Mauriat
\n3.\u00a0 HONEY-Bobby Goldsboro
\n4.\u00a0 HARPER VALLEY PTA-Jeannie C. Riley
\n5.\u00a0 THIS GUY’S IN LOVE WITH YOU-Herb Alpert
\n6.\u00a0 YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY-Ohio Express
\n7.\u00a0 THOSE WERE THE DAYS-Mary Hopkin
\n8.\u00a0 HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE-Marvin Gaye
\n9.\u00a0 FIRE-Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
\n10. JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH-Rolling Stones
\n11. GRAZIN’ IN THE GRASS-Hugh Masakela
\n12. VALLERI-The Monkees
\n13. LOVE CHILD-Supremes
\n14. MONY MONY-Tommy James & The Shondells
\n15. BEND ME, SHAPE ME-American Breed
\n16. LADY MADONNA-The Beatles
\n17. MRS. ROBINSON-Simon & Garfunkel
\n18. PEOPLE GOT TO BE FREE-Rascals
\n19. GREEN TAMBOURINE-Lemon Pipers
\n20. JUDY IN DISGUISE-John Fred & The Playboy Band
\n21. VALLEY OF THE DOLLS-Dionne Warwick
\n22. LITTLE GREEN APLES-O.C. Smith
\n23. WOMAN WOMAN-Gary Puckett & Union Gap
\n24. HELLO, I LOVE YOU-Doors
\n25. YOUNG GIRL-Gary Puckett & Union Gap
\n26. ABRAHAM, MARTIN & JOHN-Dion
\n27. TURN AROUND, LOOK AT ME-Vogues
\n28. SLIP AWAY-Clarence Carter
\n29. TIGHTEN UP-Archie Bell & The Drells
\n30. THE HORSE-Cliff Nobles & Co.
\n31. I WILL ALWAYS THINKABOUT YOU-New Colony Six
\n32. THE DOCK OF THE BAY-Otis Redding
\n33. 1-2-3 RED LIGHT-1910 Fruitgum Company
\n34. A BEAUTIFUL MORNING-Rascals
\n35. BORN TO BE WILD-Steppenwolf
\n36. THE GOOD, BAD & THE UGLY-Hugh Montenegro
\n37. SPOOKY-Classics IV
\n38. DO IT AGAIN-Beach Boys
\n39. I WONDER WHAT SHE’S DOING TONIGHT-Boyce & Hart
\n40. STONED SOUL PICNIC-5th Dimension
\n41. SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE-Aretha Franklin
\n42. HOLD ME TIGHT-Johnny Nash
\n43. LIGHT MY FIRE-Doors
\n44. OVER YOU-Gary Puckett & Union Gap
\n45. CHEWY CHEWY-Ohio Express
\n46. SEALED WITH A KISS-Gary Lewis
\n47. MacARTHUR PARK-Richard Harris
\n48. PICTURES OF MATCHSTICK MEN-Status Quo
\n49. I GOTTA GET A MESSAGE TO YOU-Bee Gees
\n50. CHAIN OF FOOLS-Aretha Franklin
\n51. LADY WILL POWER-Gary Puckett & Union Gap
\n52. MIDNIGHT CONFESSIONS-Grass Roots
\n53. ANGEL OF THE MORNING-Merilee Rush
\n54. I LOVE YOU-People
\n55. SIMON SEZ-1910 Fruitgum Company
\n56. I WISH IT WOULD RAIN-Temptations
\n57. FOOL ON THE HILL-Sergio Mendez & Brazil 66
\n58. INDIAN LAKE-Cowsills
\n59. GOING OUT OF MY HEAD-Lettermen
\n60. THERE WAS A TIME-James Brown
\n61. ELEANOR-Turtles
\n62. I’M GONNA MAKE YOU LOVE ME-Supremes\/Temptations
\n63. WHITE ROOM-Cream
\n64. FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE-Stevie Wonder
\n65. DIFFERENT DRUM-Stone Poneys
\n66. BONNIE & CLYDE-Georgie Fame
\n67. I’M A GIRL WATCHER-The O’Kaysions
\n68. LA LA MEANS I LOVE YOU-Delphonics
\n69. SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE-Cream
\n70. THERE IS-The Dells
\n71. REACH OUT OF THE DARKNESS-Friends & Lovers
\n72. MAGIC CARPET RIDE-Steppenwolf
\n73. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE MIND-Amboy Dukes
\n74. I SAY A LITTLE PRAYER-Aretha Franklin
\n75. CLASSICAL GAS-Mason Williams
\n76. CINNAMON-Derek
\n77. I SECOND THAT EMOTION-Smokey Robinson\/Miracles
\n78. SPECIAL ANGEL-Vogues
\n79. DANCE TO THE MUSIC-Sly & The Family Stone
\n80. CRY LIKE A BABY-Box Tops
\n81. HOW DID WE EVER GET THIS WAY-Andy Kim
\n82. SUMMERTIME BLUES-Blue Cheer
\n83. YOU KEEP ME HANGIN’ ON-Vanilla Fudge
\n84. WHO’S MAKING LOVE-Johnny Taylor
\n85. JUST DROPPED IN (TO SEE…)-First Edition
\n86. THE UNICORN-Irish Rovers
\n87. DOWN AT LULU’S-Ohio Express
\n88. COWBOYS TO GIRLS-Intruders
\n89. I NEED LOVE-Third Booth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As we say goodbye to 2018, lets look back 50 years to see what Chicago’s WLS dubbed “The Top 89 Hits of 1968”. It was quite a year in Chicago. The Democratic Convention demonstrations gave the city and its long serving mayor, Richard Daily a black eye. Top-40 radio was at the zenith of its popularity across the country and the Windy City had two rockers that were constantly challenging one another for dominance: ABC owned WLS and WCFL, licensed to the Chicago Federation of Labor. Nothing like some hot competition to keep everyone at the top of their game….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keener13.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}