Don’s Top 10 From January 27, 1969

(#11 last week) The chart is stuffed with Motown this week, including this smash, which toughened up the record label's image, from escapist fluff to grittier soul.

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(#10 last week) Young & Holt were two-thirds of The Ramsey Lewis Trio, who hit big in the mid 60s with instrumentals like "The In Crowd".

(#19 last week) The last of the brothers Gibb's late 60s "twee-pop" hits.

(#9 last week) The hit that gave us the ubiquitous catch phrase "different strokes for different folks".

(#6 last week) The very first wave of "oldies nostalgia" was beginning in '69, with the first group of young people who grew up with late 50s/early 60s music hitting their 20s & starting to look back, which helped, no doubt, a star of that era like Maestro (The Crests) make a surprise comeback.

(#4 last week) One could take this huge hit two ways, as either a move by the Doors to be more "mainstream" (the use of the orchestra), or a sexually explicit song about, well...you know. Hey, it's both!

(#2 last week) This was a moderate local hit early in '68 by Madeline Bell, but the Sups & Tempts took this song to another level. The groups also starred together in the highly-rated NBC special "TCB".

(#1 last week) Gladys Knight & The Pips had a big hit with this song one year earlier, but actually, Marvin had recorded it first. Co-written by Barrett Strong, who had one big hit as an artist, 1960's "Money (That's What I Want)", but many more as a songwriter. This hit alone paid the bills very nicely!

(#3 last week) Strange how there is no vintage performance clip on youtube of this song. A hit 5 years later by Blue Swede.

(#3 last week; 1st week at #1) A MONSTER hit, even bigger locally than nationally. This spent SIX weeks at the top around here.