Chicago Top 40 Charts 1960-1969

by Ronald P. Smith (Compiler)

Music charts have been around as long as recorded music and radio programs from Your Hit Parade to American Top 40 have capitalized on the idea of counting down the day's top hits. Chicago Top 40 Charts 1960-1969 documents those songs that dominated the Midwestern airwaves during that decade.

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Larry Dunlap · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Used it for reference in Things We Lost in the Night , due to be published later this year. I found out from his book that when our baby vocal group in Indianapolis, the Reflections, had a miraculous brush with rock n roll fame with our version of the Four Satins classic, In The Still of the Night, it hit the WLS charts alongside the Beatles first hit, I Want to Hold Your Hand. And we we were higher. We began around number 27, on January 10 of 1964, while they were at number 40. Unfortunately, though we didn't know it yet, our joyride was already over. Our home-town producer had somehow managed to lose our master tape, though our record was sold out, no more records beyond the first run could be manufactured. We topped out at number 16 after four weeks before we fell off into oblivion, the same week I Want to Hold Your Hand hit number one.

Ron Smith was extremely helpful in copying the original top 40 charts for each week on our stay on the big Chicago rocker's charts, and sending them to me for inclusion into my book. He's worked hard to maintain the archives of these musical stories. I know one of his big sources was Dick Biondi, program manager of the station, who I believe, though I can't prove it, was the reason why we got such a big push at the station when we were about to break out nationally. We later went on to a wonderful career in music on the west coast but it would have changed our lives dramatically if things had gone a bit differently in early 1964. :)