We continue our journey through pop music in the year of the Beatles' last public performance, the Stonewall riots, the Apollo 11 moon landing, and Woodstock. That's right, for the fourth installment of this project, we're going back to 1969.
As the two most dominant musical acts of the 1960s began to split (The Beatles recorded their last album and The Supremes released their last single) and several of the 1970s most iconic acts started to emerge (notably Led Zeppelin, Sly & The Family Stone, and Chicago), 1969 marks one of the more significant shifts in music.
 |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival didn't top the charts in 1969, but they stayed on them all year long. (Charlie Gillett // Getty) |
This is a year chock full of songs that live on today among the most classic hits in the history of modern music. From Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Down On The Corner" at 98 to number two song "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In" by The 5th Dimension, 1969 contained many of the 20th century's most celebrated singles.
Standing above the crowd as the song of the year was "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies. Topping the Hot 100 for four weeks in September and October, "Sugar, Sugar" had a throwback feel even for the time; in my mind, the song sounds like it could have been released in 1964 just as easily as 1969.
The Archies cap a top ten that include "Honky Tonk Women" by The Rolling Stones (fresh after replacing Brian Jones with Mick Taylor) at four, "Everyday People" by Sly & The Family Stone at five, two Tommy James hits (including "Crimson and Clover," a personal favorite, at six), "Get Back" by the Beatles at eight and "Build Me Up Buttercup" by the Foundations - another song that could have been released five years earlier - at the 10 spot.
Despite being shut out of the top 10, and even the top 20, Creedence Clearwater Revival earned the Artist of the Year honors for 1969 with three top-30 songs and the aforementioned "Corner" sneaking in at 98. "Proud Mary" and "Bad Moon Rising" form a double-feature on the list at 23 and 24, respectively.
1969 features the final number one single released by Elvis, with "Suspicious Minds" coming in at 15th for the year. Among the countless hits on the list that I consider among my favorites are Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline," "These Eyes" by The Guess Who, "Soulful Strut" by Young-Holt Unlimited, and the Marvin Gaye classic "I Heard It Through The Grapevine."
As you can probably tell, 1969 is definitely one of my favorite years of music that I didn't live through (I'm beginning to make this distinction, as I am realizing that I appreciate songs from before I was born in a different way than I appreciate songs that have specific life memories attached to them). I truly appreciate the timelessness of many, many songs on this list.
Here's that important playlist:
No comments:
Post a Comment