Now we enter the penultimate year of the 60s, we have now seen most of the music styles the 60s are remembered for having some sort of presence on the charts. What strikes me about 1968 though is that although it still had that mixture of styles from the 60s like soul, folk and blues, it also seemed a year of transition as many of the acts that dominated the 60s charts were reaching the end but the 70s acts were not here yet, leaving a gap for a number of new and very short lived acts have their time in the charts.
One act that was very much still going strong though was the Beatles. Two singles on the charts this year with "Lady Madonna" and "Hey Jude" which both reached number one, meaning that they now equalled Elvis with 15 number ones. The Rolling Stones were also still going strong clocking up their 7th number one with "Jumpin Jack Flash" which was their only hit this year and consolidated their 4th place on the list. Third placed Cliff Richard also added another number one to his list with "Congratulations" bringing his total to 9.
Elvis Presley added 3 more to his total number of hits bringing him to 65 and maintaining his record of a hit every year since 1956. Second placed Cliff Richard added 4 bringing his total to 47. Lonnie Donegan remained third with 30, Nat 'King' Cole remained in fourth place with 29, but he was now joined by the Everly Brothers who added "It's My Time" to their total which was their final hit, and Frankie Vaughan who added "Nethertheless" to his total which would also be his final hit. It would however take Nat 'King' Cole another 23 years until he would add to his total, by which point several other acts would have overtaken him. Frank Sinatra remained in seventh place on 27 as he didn't have any hits this year.
The year saw the return of a 1952 chart debutant to give him his only number one single. This was Louis Armstrong who reached the top with "What A Wonderful World". The return would however be brief as it would be another 26 years until we see him in the charts again.
Besides the 50s acts already mentioned, the only other act from the 50s to have a chart hit this year was 1957 debutant Andy Williams with his cover of the Frankie Valli song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". There were three 1960 debutants who hits this year, Jim Reeves with "Pretty Brown Eyes", Roy Orbison with "Walk On" and Ray Charles with his cover of "Eleonor Rigby". It would be 22 years until we see Ray Charles return, whilst Jim Reeves and Roy Orbsison along with Elvis and Cliff would be the only acts to have had a hit every year in the 60s so far. There was also only one 1961 debutant in the charts this year which was Gene Pitney. His chart career in his native America was now over, but over here he had hits with "Somewhere In The Country" and "Yours Until Tomorrow".
One music type we saw the official beginning of this year was Bubblegum Pop. Although it could be argued that several older songs could be place under that banner, the song that is credited to mark the beginnings of this genre is "Green Tambourine" by the Lemon Pipers which charted this year. We also saw "Quick Joey Small (Run Joey Run)" by Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus, "Simon Says" by 1910 Fruitgum Company and "Yummy Yummy Yummy" by Ohio Express. Also on the novelty tip, the Christmas number one of the year was "Lily the Pink" by comedy group The Scaffold.
Probably the most significant debutant from a chart perspective this year was Status Quo who debuted with "Pictures of Matchstick Men". Back then Status Quo were not playing the 3 chord music they are well known for now, it was actually quite psychedelic sounding and I remember being surprised it was Status Quo when I first heard it. They followed this up with "Ice in the Sun" later on in the year.
Fleetwood Mac made their debut this year with "Black Magic Woman" and followed up by "Need Your Love So Bad". These were low down in the charts reaching 37 and 31. At the end of the year they released the single "Albatross" which would find itself in the top 10 by the end of the year. Like with Status Quo, Fleetwood Mac had a much different sound to what they would become known for later on in life after Peter Green left the band.
One indication of the 70s being here already is the debut of T-Rex. Known as Tyrannosaurus Rex at the time, they had two hits this year with "Debora" and "One Inch Rock". On listening to them though you will find the 70s are not here yet as they were playing folk music back then as opposed to the glam rock they would be known for in the 70s.
Although they had already been going for several years now, this year saw the debut of Motown act the Isley Brothers with "This Old Heart of Mine". Also from Motown we had R Dean Taylor have his debut hit with "Gotta See Jane" and Shorty Long have his only hit with "Here Comes the Judge". We also see Tammi Terrell join Marvin Gaye on "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need To Get By".
From the more psychedelic side of soul music we see the debut of Sly & the Family Stone who debut with "Dance to the Music" and follow up with "M'Lady".
Another debutant this year was The Band who debuted with "The Weight" and would only have one further hit on the charts a couple of years later.
We see the song "Light My Fire" in the charts for the first time, but not by the Doors but a cover by Peurto Rican singer Jose Feliciano. We do however see the debut of the Doors with "Hello I Love You". They would not return to the charts until after Jim Morrisons death in 1971 and they would not chart with "Light My Fire" until 1991 which would give them their only top 10 hit some 20 years after Jim Morrison died.
For the first time this decade, The Shadows didn't have any hits. We did however see the debut of another instrumental group this year with Booker T and the MGs debuting in December with "Soul Limbo", perhaps best known as the cricket music on the BBC.
Although we had no acts from Jamaica in the charts this year, we had a British group keeping Ska music going with Locomotive charting with "Rudi's In Love". We also see what had been credited as the first international Rocksteady hit "Hold Me Tight" by American singer Johnny Nash enter the charts.
There is a common misconception that the only musical act to come out of New Zealand is Crowded House. However long before this we had a New Zealand singer called John Rowles who had his two chart hits this year with "If I Only Had Time" and "Hush Not A Word To Mary".
So with only one year of the 60s to go, what else do the 60s charts have to offer us? We'll find out when I do 1969 in the not too distant future.
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