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The Hag’s seventh No.1 featured such great players as James Burton and Jim Gordon.Merle Haggard’s reputation as the champion of the working class was further cemented on May 16, 1969. That day, he was at Capitol Records’ studios in Hollywood with an A-list of musicians that comprised the Strangers, recording the great “Workin’ Man Blues.” It went on to become the seventh in an incredible total of 24 country No.1s amassed by “The Hag” in just ten years. Haggard’s tough upbringing, including time in San Quentin for a robbery conviction, and his unshakeable principles as a man of the people,...

This BBC film examines the myth behind the sixties, which was itself created before the decade was even out but has since lingered in all of our minds. What we have lived with however is merely a mirage and this documentary sets about exposing the truth, suggesting that we are living on borrowed time as a result of those who indulged whilst an unchecked Britain experienced an industrial decline. Looking back on old archived footage and the political atmosphere of the time a case is built against the decade we all consider to be filled with dreams

Dusty Springfield made her way into the heart of 1960s swinging London with the British trio The Springfields. Her solo hits include "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (1966) and "Son of a Preacher Man" (1969). After a bout with drugs and alcohol, she saw her career resurrected with the 1987 Pet Shop Boys song "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" and the soundtrack to the 1988 film Scandal.

The quartet were missing the warmth of Los Angeles, but turned that into a gold-certified classic.By the spring of 1966, the Mamas and the Papas were big news in the United States. They’d gone Top 5 with “California Dreamin’’’, released the previous December 8, and were climbing fast with the follow-up, ‘Monday, Monday.’ That was on its way to a three-week stint at No.1 in the US when, on the chart for April 28, the vocal quartet appeared on a British chart for the first time. “California Dreamin’’’ made a tentative first showing in the Top 50 that week at...

In 1966, the remote Spanish village of Palomares found that the "nuclear age had fallen on them from a clear blue sky". Two years after the terrifying accident, BBC reporter Chris Brasher went to find what happened when the US lost a hydrogen bomb. On 7 April 1966, almost 60 years ago this week, a missing nuclear weapon for which the US military had been desperately searching for 80 days was finally found. The warhead, with an explosive power 100 times that of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, was carefully winched from a depth of 2,850ft (869m) out of the...

The Youngbloods reached widespread recognition in 1969 with the release of "Get Together."Jesse Colin Young, the co-founder and vocalist for ‘60s folk-rockers The Youngbloods, has passed away at the age of 83. Young’s passing was announced by his wife and manager, Connie Young, who confirmed that he died at his Aiken, South Carolina home on Sunday (March 16). No cause of death was given alongside the announcement. Born Perry Miller in New York City in 1941, Young grew up in a musical household and was encouraged by his parents to learn piano from a young age. Attending Massachusetts’ Phillips...

Peter Yarrow who was part of the legendary 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul, And Mary who are best known for iconic song Puff The Magic Dragon is dead at 86. The controversial musician passed away after battling bladder cancer for four years his publicist confirmed. He was the lead vocalist of the hit track Puff The Magic Dragon - which was released in 1960 - as he denied that the song was about drugs for years which is what many had believed. Yarrow staunchly denied that it was about drug taking and has maintained that the actual meaning of the...

Tony Soprano once famously said, “'Remember when' is the lowest form of conversation.” This never dawned on Kiss’ Gene Simmons, whose recent “rock is dead” rant amounted to little more than waxing nostalgic about the days when his band ruled the roost — and revealed his ignorance and disinterest in the current state of the genre. Simmons made his latest proclamation on an episode of The Zak Kuhn Show. When asked if he believed rock was still dead, Simmons replied: "It is. And people don't understand how I can say that when we all have our favorite songs and we...

Vic Flick, the famed British session guitarist who picked out the twangy riff for the James Bond theme song introduced to moviegoers on Dr. No, has died. He was 87. His death on Thursday after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease was announced by his family on Facebook. Flick also played on No. 1 hits for Peter and Gordon (“A World Without Love”) and Petula Clark (“Downtown”); performed on Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual” and “Ringo’s Theme” (This Boy) for A Hard Day’s Night (1964); and collaborated with the likes of Jimmy Page, George Martin, Herman’s Hermits, Cliff Richard, Eric Clapton,...

Late in 1969, CCR closed out the decade on brilliant form as they released their fourth album.Could you imagine a modern-day band releasing three studio albums in ten months and seeing each of them later be certified at least platinum? That was the incredible pace that Creedence Clearwater Revival were setting at the end of the 1960s. Late in 1969, they completed the sequence, and saw out the decade, as they released their fourth album Willy and the Poor Boys, issued on November 2, 1969. Produced by lead singer and writer John Fogerty, this was the record that featured...

Fuller and his group’s version of ‘I Fought The Law’ is a classic rock’n’roll record, but always risks being upstaged by the macabre circumstances of his death.No matter how memorable was Bobby Fuller’s signature hit – and his version of “I Fought The Law” is inarguably a classic rock’n’roll record of any era – it always risks being upstaged by the macabre and never-explained circumstances of his death. Born on October 22, 1942 in Baytown, Texas, Fuller became a noted performer in the El Paso, Texas area to which he and his family relocated. His first appeared on disc...

Screamin' Scott Simon of Sha Na Na has died at the age of 75, following a lengthy battle with sinus cancer. The news was confirmed by his daughter, Nina, in a social media post. "My dad was a rock star. Literally," she wrote, sharing a photo of her father and family. "A member of Sha Na Na for over 50 years. He loved early morning diners and late nights onstage. But he loved his girls most of all." Simon's Background Simon was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1948, later graduating from Columbia in New York City in 1970. That...

The FReeper Canteen Presents... ~ Tell Us Your Favorite... "60s" Tunes ~ Please remember that The Canteen is here to support and entertain our troops and veterans and their families, and is family friendly.

The beloved singer was 88 years old.‘Duke’ Fakir, the last original member of Motown greats The Four Tops, has passed away. The Four Tops were quintessential figureheads of the golden era of Motown’s first decade-plus, winning induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. They went on to record with distinction at ABC/Dunhill and Casablanca Records before returning to Motown in 1983, and then moving on to Arista. They epitomized the undervalued principle that the group was bigger than any individual member, never recording in their own names despite the Tops’ millions of record sales and singing...

This was written by the husband and wife songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Mann had just signed a record deal and recorded this song himself, but his version was pulled when The Animals released the song. Mann and Weil were very productive in the mid-'60s, as they made the transition from writing fluffy pop songs like "Blame It On The Bossa Nova" to songs with more of a message, which appealed to rock bands like The Animals. The Animals producer Mickie Most heard this song and had the band record it. He was looking for American material...

The myth that Cass Elliot died by choking on a ham sandwich in 1974 was invented by her manager in an attempt to protect her legacy, the singer’s daughter said. Owen Elliot-Kugell was 7 years old when Elliot passed away at 32 from a heart attack after 36 hours of performing and partying. The former The Mamas & the Papas vocalist had been developing her solo career in London, U.K,. and seemed to have a bright future ahead of her. “By the time she got back to her flat, it was evening the following day,” Elliot-Kugell told the BBC in...

It’s the sound of summer, it’s the sound of love, and many would say it’s also the sound of the greatest song ever written. The Beach Boys classic ‘God Only Knows’ is a watermark in pop music. There is a before ‘God Only Knows’ and there is an after ‘God Only Knows’ with the masterpiece representing the moment that pop went baroque and stood firmly on the shoulders of all that had gone before, gazing ahead and forecasting the beach-bright future. It would’ve had its own place in music history for its beauty alone, but beyond the majesty was the...

Nothing But Heartaches (Juke Box Single) · The Supremes

It's pretty much a miracle that any of us survived childhood in the 1960s! Parents exposed kids to secondhand smoke and let them run wild in the streets. Sugar was in everything and hazards lurked everywhere. Given today's hands-on style of parenting, it's hard to believe some of the things that were "normal" for kids in the '60s.