1968: A horrid year with great music!

[NightTrain]

What a bad year 1968 was! How else to describe a year whose biggest events included the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, the violence at the Chicago DNC, and the election of Richard Nixon? Glad I was only two years old!

Perhaps it was because there was so much misery in '68 that the musically creative pumped out such a high volume of quality product. Whatever the case, here are my 100 favorite songs of 1968:


1. THINK – Aretha Franklin
2. REVOLUTION – The Beatles
3. DANCE TO THE MUSIC – Sly & The Family Stone
4. I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE – Marvin Gaye
5. THERE IS - The Dells
6. NEVER GIVE YOU UP – Jerry Butler
7. CHAIN OF FOOLS – Aretha Franklin
8. PEOPLE GOT TO BE FREE – The Rascals
9. WHO’S MAKING LOVE – Johnnie Taylor
10. SLIP AWAY – Clarence Carter

11. STREET FIGHTING MAN – The Rolling Stones
12. TIME HAS COME TODAY – The Chambers Brothers
13. I THANK YOU – Sam & Dave
14. (SWEET SWEET BABY) SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE – Aretha Franklin
15. YOU LEFT THE WATER RUNNING – Maurice & Mac
16. ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
17. CLOUD NINE – The Temptations
18. THE MIGHTY QUINN – Manfred Mann
19. I GOT THE FEELIN’ – James Brown
20. TIGHTEN UP (PART 1) – Archie Bell & The Drells

21. (SITTIN’ ON THE) DOCK OF THE BAY – Otis Redding
22. SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE - Cream
23. COWBOYS TO GIRLS – The Intruders
24. STAY IN MY CORNER (Radio Edit) – The Dells
25. AIN’T NO WAY – Aretha Franklin
26. 2+2=? – The Bob Seger System
27. JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH – The Rolling Stones
28. BIG BIRD – Eddie Floyd
29. HOLD ON – The Radiants
30. NOBODY BUT ME – The Human Beinz

31. WRAP IT UP – Sam & Dave
32. SWEET INSPIRATION – The Sweet Inspirations
33. HELLO, I LOVE YOU – The Doors
34. I WISH IT WOULD RAIN – The Temptations
35. THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT – Aretha Franklin
36. PICTURES OF MATCHSTICK MEN – The Status Quo
37. WHEN I’M IN YOUR ARMS – The Dells
38. DO IT AGAIN – The Beach Boys
39. THE SNAKE – Al Wilson
40. STOP – Howard Tate

41. SING A SIMPLE SONG – Sly & The Family Stone
42. I’M A MIDNIGHT MOVER – Wilson Pickett
43. RAMBLIN’ GAMBLIN’ MAN – The Bob Seger System
44. I’VE GOT DREAMS TO REMEMBER – Otis Redding
45. BACK IN THE U.S.S.R. – The Beatles
46. LOVE IS SO SIMPLE – The Dells
47. IF I COULD BUILD MY WHOLE WORLD AROUND YOU – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
48. BORN TO BE WILD - Steppenwolf
49. HIP CITY – PART 2 – Junior Walker & The All-Stars
50. BEHIND A PAINTED SMILE – The Isley Brothers

51. CRY LIKE A BABY – The Box Tops
52. MAGIC BUS – The Who
53. WE’RE A WINNER – The Impressions
54. NOT ON THE OUTSIDE – The Moments
55. LA-LA MEANS I LOVE YOU – The Delfonics
56. SON OF A PREACHER MAN – Dusty Springfield
57. LOVE CHILD – The Supremes
58. ALMOST PERSUADED – Etta James
59. LOVE MAKES A WOMAN – Barbara Acklin
60. A MAN AND A HALF – Wilson Pickett

61. FOREVER CAME TODAY – The Supremes
62. HEY WESTERN UNION MAN – Jerry Butler
63. WEAR IT ON OUR FACE – The Dells
64. WHATEVER HURTS YOU – The Mad Lads
65. MIRROR OF YOUR MIND – Joe South
66. FREEDOM TRAIN – James Carr
67. MR. STARLIGHT – Johnny Barfield
68. COVER ME – Percy Sledge
69. THERE WAS A TIME – James Brown
70. ALL MY HARD TIMES – Joe South

71. BIRTHDAY – The Beatles
72. WHAT IS THIS? – Bobby Womack
73. I’VE NEVER FOUND A GIRL (TO LOVE ME LIKE YOU) – Eddie Floyd
74. U.S. MALE – Elvis Presley
75. FIRE – The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
76. LOVER’S HOLIDAY – Peggy Scott & Jo-Jo Benson
77. TAKE TIME TO KNOW HER – Percy Sledge
78. WHITE ROOM – Cream
79. IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR – The Mirettes
80. OPEN MY EYES – Nazz

81. AIN’T NOTHING LIKE THE REAL THING – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
82. GUITAR MAN – Elvis Presley
83. THE WEIGHT – The Band
84. FUNKY MISSISSIPPI – Rufus Thomas
85. PAYING THE COST TO BE THE BOSS – B.B. King
86. SAY IT LOUD—I’M BLACK AND I’M PROUD – James Brown
87. SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME – Max Frost & The Troopers
88. HUSH – Deep Purple
89. LOST – Jerry Butler
90. THE HORSE – Cliff Nobles & Co.

91. AIN’T NOTHIN’ BUT A HOUSE PARTY – The Show Stoppers
92. A QUESTION OF TEMPERATURE – The Balloon Farm
93. LADY MADONNA – The Beatles
94. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE MIND – The Amboy Dukes
95. ALWAYS TOGETHER – The Dells
96. STAND BY YOUR MAN – Tammy Wynette
97. GRAZING IN THE GRASS – Hugh Masekela
98. SHE’S A HEARTBREAKER – Gene Pitney
99. I CAN’T STOP DANCING – Archie Bell & The Drells
100. MONY MONY – Tommy James & The Shondells

Bubbling Under:

101. VALLERI – The Monkees
102. HARD TO HANDLE – Otis Redding
103. TE-NI-NE-NI-NU – Slim Harpo
104. FOOL FOR YOU – The Impressions
105. END OF OUR ROAD – Gladys Knight & The Pips
106. BOTTLE OF WINE – The Fireballs
107. RUN FOR COVER - The Dells
108. MAGIC CARPET RIDE – Steppenwolf
109. DOWN ON ME – Big Brother & The Holding Company

[Blue-Jay]

1. Having The Monkees on a list

automatically negates the entire list.

[hlthe2b]

2. I'm not so much the purest.... looks like a great list to me.

I'd take a mixed CD of these in a heartbeat!

[Blue-Jay]

3. Yeah, I know...

Every generation has more than their fill of "fluff" music. I just never like to pass up an opportunity to trash The Monkees. It's like laughing at people who admit "Ya know, I really liked that Milli Vanilli song".

[hlthe2b]

15. Ahh, please... Monkees' aren't THAT bad (re: Milli Vanilli)

LOL

I have good taste and I have bad taste-- just depends on the day and the mood!

[NightTrain]

16. Normally, I'd share Blue Jay's opinion of the Monkees. However...

...I happen to think that "Valleri" is a damned good record. I wish the Monkees had attempted garage rock more often, rather than foisting all that bubblegum crap on us. ("Pleasant Valley Sunday," anyone?)

[hlthe2b]

20. just part of the era.... Not really a big Monkees fan myself, but

they don't even approach my list of 50 worst bands of the past 3 1/2 decades.

1968 though had so much to offer.... Someone should do boxed sets by year, rather than just the 1 or 2 CD sets of "classic bests songs for any given year."

[69KV]

25. Boxed sets

I did do homemade boxed sets by year. That's the magic of CD-R :)

Here is the 1968 lineup:

I Second That Emotion - Miracles
Green Tambourine - Lemon Pipers
Love Is Blue - Paul Mauriat (guilty pleasure - don't laugh)
Woman, Woman - Gary Puckett & Union Gap
Some Velvet Morning - Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood
Spooky - Classics IV
Baby Now That I've Found You - Foundations
Sittin on the Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
Mighty Quinn - Manfred Mann
Lady Madonna - Beatles
Young Girl - Gary Puckett & Union Gap
Mrs. Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel
Beautiful Morning - Young Rascals
Reach Out of the Darkness - Friend & Lover
Grazing in the Grass - Hugh Masekela
MacArthur Park - Richard Harris (guilty pleasure - don't laugh)
Jumping Jack Flash - Rolling Stones
Lady Willpower - Gary Puckett & Union Gap
Sky Pilot - Animals
People Got To Be Free - Young Rascals
Hurdy Gurdy Man - Donovan
Eyes of a New York Woman - B.J. Thomas
Born to the Wild - Steppenwolf
Harper Valley PTA - Jeannie C. Riley
Hey Jude - Beatles
Hush - Deep Purple
Girl Watcher - O'Kaysions
Gentle On My Mind - Glen Campbell
Suzie Q - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Midnight Confessions - Grass Roots
Over You - Gary Puckett & Union Gap
White Room - Cream
I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
Promises, Promises - Dionne Warwick
Both Sides Now - Judy Collins
Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf
Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell
Stormy - Classic IV
For Once In My Life - Stevie Wonder
Love Child - Supremes
Abraham, Martin & John - Dion

Horribly incomplete, I know. But I had to stop somewhere.

[Blue-Jay]

33. Feh.

Their only good songs were written by the DemiGod known as Neil.

The rest was shit.

[NightTrain]

34. "The demigod known as Neil?"

You can't be referring to that hack, Neil Diamond. Say it isn't so, Blue Jay!

[Blue-Jay]

36. HACK?!?!

I hate it when a thread becomes a blood-feud.

78s at ten paces. The gauntlet has been thrown.

[LWolf]

44. I have to moderate, or be the moderate, here.

I was 8 years old in 1968, and remember many of your top 100 with great affection.

I've been a Neil Young fan for that long, too. In 1968 he left Buffalo Springfield to go solo and he's been doing pretty well ever since. I took my (then) 25 year-old son to see him do Greendale last summer. My son, a guitar/trumpet/drum player and songwriter in his spare time, grew up on an incredibly diverse, eclectic diet of music. He thought Young was "ok." Live, he turned to me, eyebrows rocketing up his forward, and said, "OMG....he rocks."

I might not include him on the best of 1968, since he was in transition that year, but I'd sure include him somewhere!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

40. Not so fast

Listen to their album "Head" first.

[salinen]

4. No Animals! No Donovan!

No Janice! Night Train!

[NightTrain]

9. Well, let me see....

The Animals did nothing in '68 that I particularly liked.

I can't fucking stand Donovan.

And Janis Joplin was a screeching rip-off artist.

Next critique, please? :evilgrin:

[salinen]

14. I'll bet you like it rough

[yardwork]

5. These are terrible times!

Where's our good music! Not on FM radio that's for sure.

They took our music away!

[MrScorpio]

6. I was seven and growing up in Detroit back in '68

The thing I remember most was the music.

WJLB, the station to listen to down in Black Bottom

[Kathy in Cambridge]

19. Damn, you look really good for your age!

;-)

[MrScorpio]

21. I get that all the time

I owe it to clean living and voting Democrat

[oldyellerdogdem]

7. NightTrain needlessly negated

IMHO, to negate an entire list which includes The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Cream, Dusty Springfield, James Carr, Etta James, and Hugh Masekela because of the inclusion of the Monkees is quite an act of absurdity. Perhaps it was meant so, in which case I've been had. If not, :evilgrin:
Walter

[NightTrain]

11. Be that as it may, welcome to DU!

We're a pretty fun-loving bunch here in the Lounge. Hope you enjoy yourself, Walter! :hi:

[klook]

8. Frank Zappa

and the Mothers released "We're Only In It for the Money" in 1968, featuring such classics as "Mom and Dad," "The Idiot Bastard Son," "Flower Punk," "Who Needs the Peace Corps?" and "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?"

OK, I know no normal person would put these on a Top 100 list that includes radio hits like "Cry Like a Baby" by the Box Tops, but I think these are just as good.

And being normal is such a drag.


Frank Zappa in the recording studio, 1968

[NightTrain]

10. I had a lot of respect for Zappa as a person...

...but honestly, I find most of his music self-indulgent and boring. Sorry 'bout that!

[bo44]

13. great list Night Train

And I agree with you about Zappa. BTW If these were the last recordings I could ever listened to I would be more than content.

[90-percent]

12. Frank Zappa

Was my hero and a major source of inspiration in my life since 1971. He was contemplating running for President in the early 90's, but became ill with prostate cancer.

He would have made a hell of a President!

-85% Jimmy

[Old and In the Way]

22. These were the popular tunes of '68, no question, but....

it's interesting that most of real musical revolutionaries that really had an impact on the generation were nowhere to be found in the list.

For reference, see the Monterray Pop Festival of 1968 (Buffulo Springfield, the Dead, Jefferson Airplane, the Byrds, The Who,Rdding, Hendrix, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Mamas and the Papas, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Simon and Garfunkel).

[NightTrain]

23. Quite frankly, most of the artists you mentioned just don't interest me.

Besides, my '68 list includes Hendrix, Redding, and The Who. And previous lists of mine have included Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane, and the Byrds.

I resent your implication that none of the artists on my list were musical revolutionaries. James Brown was ten years ahead of his time from the '50s - the '70s, Aretha Franklin redefined the role of women in popular music, Sly & The Family Stone were *the* pioneers of psychedelic soul, Marvin Gaye was an iconoclast in his own right, and I think it's safe to asssume that the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and the Doors influenced a musician or two!

[Old and In the Way]

26. Sorry, NightTrain, I thought this was a commercial Top 100 list of 1968

not your personal favorites. I did say most, as I did see Hendrix, Redding (missed the Who) on your list. And yes, the ones you point out were certainly well established and influential.

Didn't mean to disparage your list...we obviously have some divergent interests in music. :-)

[NightTrain]

27. Yep, just personal favorites.

While I like to think that my lists offer a broad cross-section of each year's best music, they first and foremost comprise my own favorites. Besides, my lists are in a constant state of flux as I continue to discover great music that I hadn't preivously known.

[AngryOldDem]

17. Okay, I Was Only Eight...

...but one of my favorite songs from 1968 is "Like to Get to Know You" by Spanky and Our Gang.

Please be kind.

[NightTrain]

18. Since you're new, I'll cut you some slack.

Besides, when I was eight, one of my favorite songs was "The Streak!" :eyes:

[AngryOldDem]

24. Thanks...

...for showing respect for your elders.

:D

[Lydia Leftcoast]

28. Songs I remember from 1968 that aren't on your list

"Piece of My Heart"--Big Brother and the Holding Company

"Who Is Going to Love Me"--Dionne Warwick

"I Say a Little Prayer for You"--Aretha Franklin

"Little Arrows"--Leapy Lee

"Shoot 'em Up Baby"--Andy Kim

"Indian Reservation"-Don Fardon (the Paul Revere and the Raiders version was a cover of this)

"Harper Valley PTA"--Jeannie C. Riley

"Quick Joey Small"--Kassenetz Katz Singing Circus

"Cinnamon"--Derek

"Little Green Apples"--O.C. Smith

I'm not saying anything about the quality of these songs, just that I remember them from that period.

[NightTrain]

29. All big hits, to be sure.

And here's why they didn't end up on my list:

<<"Piece of My Heart"--Big Brother and the Holding Company>>

Erma Franklin did it first, and she did it much, much better!


<<"Who Is Going to Love Me"--Dionne Warwick>>

Hmm.... I don't think I know this one.


<<"I Say a Little Prayer for You"--Aretha Franklin>>

I prefer Dionne Warwick's original.


<<"Little Arrows"--Leapy Lee>>

:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:


<<"Shoot 'em Up Baby"--Andy Kim>>

Don't know that one, either. :shrug:


<<"Indian Reservation"-Don Fardon (the Paul Revere and the Raiders version was a cover of this)>>

There was an even earlier version: "Pale-Faced Indian" by Marvin Rainwater.


<<"Harper Valley PTA"--Jeannie C. Riley>>

Always liked this one: free spirit shoves it up freeper ass! For the record, "Harper Valley PTA" almost made my list; just didn't make the final cut.


<<"Quick Joey Small"--Kassenetz Katz Singing Circus>>

<<"Cinnamon"--Derek>>

I have a strong dislike of bubbegum music.


<<"Little Green Apples"--O.C. Smith>>

Sleepy, middle-of-the-road dreck.

[JanMichael]

30. Hey! I was born in 68'! It wasn't THAT bad.

OK, maybe it was, but there were a few good points...

[DivinBreuvage]

31. You freaking suck, NightTrain.

This thread pisses me off with your list of all those songs. I was born in 1968, and do you know what was the number one song on that day?

"Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro.

You suck, NightTrain!!!

[NightTrain]

35. Tha's OK. Know what was #1 the day I was born?

Barry Sadler's "Ballad of the Green Berets." Talk about a life sentence! :puke:

[DivinBreuvage]

LOL! Cheesy as it is, I sort of like it... my mother has the album

She's never been a right-winger a day in her life, she just liked the song. I played the album over and over again during a phase I went through in high school, but I've forgotten most of the other songs. There were a couple of humorous ones: "Bamiba", about a soldier getting in trouble because he was f**** up on some Vietnamese brew, and "Garret Trooper" about Bush-style soldiers who never get into combat but love to talk big (which they should actually start playing again). There was also a lullaby for a father going off to Vietnam to his little son. I cannot recall a word of any of the other songs on it.

[NightTrain]

38. Did the album include "The A-Team?"`

That was Sadler's follow-up to "Green Berets." It actually went Top 30, thus preventing Sadler from becoming a one-hit wonder.

[DivinBreuvage]

39. WHAT? He sang the A-Team theme?

I never watched the A Team, so I have no clue. I'm sure "The A-Team" wasn't on the album though. When I was in France my mom sent me a newspaper article on Sadler; someone had shot him in the head. He wasn't killed outright but I forget now if he ever recovered; he died a few years after the shooting. The article said that he had two sons, one of whom was named "Baron".

Did you know Ted Neeley from the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar wrote the theme for Highway to Heaven with Michael Landon? I never watched that, either, but I saw him reprise his roll in Cleveland about ten years ago and it was mentioned in his program bio.

[NightTrain]

43. No, no, no. Two entirely different pieces of music.

Sorry, should've clarified that in the first place.

[Aristus]

32. The year I was born.

Just one more reason it was such an awful year! :+

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Baja Margie]

41. Did someone list this

It's past my bedtime, just an old fart.

[Baja Margie]

42. Alvin Lee and Ten Years After, Goodnight Everybody out there....

Goin Home...
see my baby
Goin Home...
See my baby