Our survey now brings us to 1968, which in comparison to previous years is downright sleepy - only 16 songs made it to the top of the charts this year. Considering what a boom period rock & roll was going through at the time, there are surprisingly few rock songs at #1 - but we do have an interesting mix of R&B, country, and early funk mixed in with the pop and rock hits of the day. I have a feeling this poll is going to be a slam dunk - but truth be told, I didn’t vote for the song I expect most people to.
So, as usual, which song stands out the most for you?
Grapevine and Dock of the Bay are the standouts to me. I suspect Otis will win, but Marvin Gaye’s Grapevine is one of those songs and performances I judge most other music against. On my short list of all-time greats and still gives me chills.
“Heard It Through The Grapevine” in a walk. Yet another outstanding musical arrangement by The Funk Brothers. Unfortunately, “Fire”, by Arthur Brown only made it to #2 in the US (#1 in the UK), or it would have gotten my vote. It was my favorite song and album in Vietnam, with one side of the LP dedicated entirely to the descent into Hell. A very unusual treatment for the time, and the predecessor to groups like Ozzie and Kiss. Brown would do the number wearing a flaming helmet that burned his skull.
There ought to be a way to give negative votes to the likes of Bobby Goldsbro and Jeanne C. Riley.
I am not, generally, that huge of a Motown fan, but I went for Marvin this time, and Otis would have been my second choice. (By '68, though, most of the really good stuff was on albums, or lower down the singles chart.)
There is no way I could vote for anything but Grapevine. Probably the best song since this poll started.
But I will admit to a fondness for Green Tambourine. It just makes me feel good.
For such an amazing year in Pop/Rock Music, I’m surprised by how lackluster the #1’s seem to me. Even the Beatle tracks were kind of weak (for the Fabs), and I’m going to vote for Dock Of The Bay.
I have to vote for “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” but “Mrs. Robinson” is a helluva song.
1968 is the first year, I think, when we’re beginning to see that the best music is not wholly represented on the Billboard #1 ranks. This starts becoming apparent in the 1970s - it’s not universally true, but you begin to notice names missing, like Led Zeppelin and CCR - and gets worse. By the 1990s there is about a 75% disconnect between the Billboard #1 hits and the music you actually remember from that year; there are years in the 1990s when there are only eight or nine #1 hits the whole year and you barely remember five of them.
Otis Redding - “Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay” (my vote)
The Beatles - “Hey Jude”
Hugh Masekela - “Grazing in the Grass”
Simon & Garfunkel - “Mrs. Robinson”
Archie Bell and the Drells - “Tighten Up”
Marvin Gaye - “Heard It Through the Grapevine”
I went with Otis. Not that it means anything, but I guess I’m the only person ever who prefered Gladys Knight and Pips’ version of Grapevine to Marvin’s.
