#1 at KTKT/Tucson: “Hey Jude” and “Revolution” by the Beatles, the group’s biggest single.
This was a tumultuous time in the United States. The mood of the country in 1968 was bleak following the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, setbacks in Vietnam, opposition to the war, and subsequent violent protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Political and generational conflict was becoming the norm.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Top 40 radio started playing darker sounding hits. The Beatles, as usual, reflected the times. The thunderous “Revolution” acknowledges the uncertainty of the moment and urges caution, while the soothing “Hey Jude” can be viewed as offering comfort (“take a sad song and make it better”).
Never before had so many “heavy” songs shared the airwaves with traditional pop hits. Many incorporated blues and distinctly psychedelic touches. Top 40 radio would soon return to more lightweight sounds and themes as FM progressive rock radio became the outlet for musically harder tunes. Though some overlap exists, that split is still reflected in today’s “classic hits” radio (“The Oasis” KOAI and “Oldies 92.7“ KAZG) vs. “classic rock” radio (KSLX).
Among the hard rock examples on this week’s survey:
- Creedence Clearwater Revival drops to #3 with their first hit, a cover of swamp king Dale Hawkins’ “Suzi Q” from the 1950s; the Creedence version runs nearly nine minutes and was split into part 1 and part 2 comprising both sides of the single;
- Deep Purple’s “Hush,” a cover of Billy Joe Royal’s 1965 hit, climbs from #10 to #6.
- “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” a condensed version of the 18-minute album track by Iron Butterfly, falls to #8;
- “Time Has Come Today” by the Chambers Brothers, a shortened version of their 11-minute album track, drops to #9;
- Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” climbs from #20 to #16;
- “On The Road Again,” first hit for blues-rock group Canned Heat, moves up from #26 to #19;
- “Fire,” the only big hit by England’s Crazy World of Arthur Brown, leaps from #34 to #25;
- Steppenwolf has two hits: “Born To Be Wild” (#11) – the song that some say gave “heavy metal” music its name – and “Magic Carpet Ride” (debuting at #39).
Also charting two hits are Big Brother & The Holding Company, featuring Janis Joplin: the group’s major label debut “Piece of My Heart” (#34) and its small label predecessor “Down On Me” (new at #38).
Other notables: “The Weight,” first hit for the Band, jumps from #19 to #7, and “Magic Bus” by the Who climbs to #20.
Beatles protégée Mary Hopkin skyrockets from #13 to #2 with “Those Were The Days,” a left-field hit produced by Paul McCartney that provided an out-of-sync nostalgic diversion from both the heavier hits and the slick pop sounds of the day.
As almost a bookend to “Those Were The Days” is “The Shape Of Things To Come” (#37), a look toward the future that echoed the turbulence of the times, by the fictional Max Frost & The Troopers. It’s the theme song from the movie Wild In The Streets — about a pop star who gets elected President of the United States and implements radical policies with disastrous results. It was a cautionary tale in 1968 that is eerily familiar in today’s political environment.