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1968 Song of the year
With an album behind them and an almost hit with Down on Me, Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin made a big splash at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, and the next year came the hit album Cheap Thrills with the big hit single Piece of My Heart and of course the unforgettable album cover by Robert Crumb. Piece of my Heart was so big a hit that Joplin left Big Brother to go on her own before the year ended
Billboard Top 40
of 1968
1. Sittin On The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding
2. Dance To The Music - Sly and the Family Stone
3. Mony Mony - Tommy James & the Shondells
4. I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
5. Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf
6. La La Means I Love You - the Delphonics
7. Hey Jude - Beatles
8. Jumpin' Jack Flash - Rolling Stones
9. Nobody But Me - Human Beinz
10. Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf
11. Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
12. All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix Experience
13. Magic Bus - The Who
14. Love Me Two Times - Doors
15. Who's Makin Love - Johnny Taylor
16. Hello I Love You - Doors
17. Street Fighting Man - Rolling Stones
18. A Beautiful Morning - The Rascals
19. Lady Madonna - Beatles
20. White Cream - Cream
21. Susie-Q - Creedence Clearwarer Revival
22. Different Drum - Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt
23. Fire - The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown
24. Young Girl - Gary Puckett and Union gap
25. Tighten Up - Archie Bell and the Drells
26. The Impossible Dream - Roger Williams
27. Classical Gas - Mason Williams
28. Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream
29. Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
30. Both Sides Now - Judy Collins
31. Girl Watcher - O'Kaysions
32. Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Escimo) - Manfred Mann
33. Midnight Confessions - Grass Roots
34. Elenore - The Turtles
35. The Unicorn - Irish Rovers
36. I Thank You - Sam and Dave
37. Piece of my Heart - Big Brother and Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin
38. Turn Around, Look at Me - The Vogues
39. Chain Of Fools - Aretha Franklin
40. D-I-V-O-R-C-E - Tammy Wynette
41. White Room - Cream
42. Cry Like A Baby - Box Tops
43. Spooky - Classics IV
44. Love Is All Around - the Troggs
45. Think - Aretha Franklin
46. She's A Rainbow - Rolling Stones
47. Journey To The Center Of The Mind - Amboy Dukes
48. Pictures Of Matchstick Men - Staus Quo
49. Honey - Bobby Goldsboro
50. Foxey Lady - Jimi Hendrix Experience
Top Albums of 1968
1. ARE YOU EXPERIENCED Jimi Hendrix Experience
2. THE GRADUATE Soundtrack
3. DISRAELI GEARS Cream
4. MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR Beatles
5. DIANA ROSS & THE SUPREMES' GREATEST HITS Diana Ross & the Supremes
The Grammy's 1968
[I will be damned if I will put up a video of Little Green Apples as song of the year. As you may have noticed over the past few years how utterly out of touch the Grammy's were at the time, this year takes the cake.]
Record of the Year:
Mrs. Robinson, Simon & Garfunkel
Album of the Year:
By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Glen Campbell
Song of the Year:
Little Green Apples - Bobby Russell, songwriter
Best New Artist of 1968:
José Feliciano
Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Performance, Male:
Light My Fire - José Feliciano
Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Performance, Female:
Do You Know the Way to San Jose - Dionne Warwick
Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Performance, Duo or Group:
Mrs. Robinson - Simon and Garfunkel
Best Rhythm and Blues Song:
Sittin' On The Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
Best Rhythm and Blues Performance By a Duo or Group, Vocal or Instrumental:
Cloud Nine - The Temptations
Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Small Group or Soloist With Small Group:
Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival - Bill Evans Trio
Best Country Song:
Little Green Apples - Bobby Russell, songwriter
Best Country Vocal Performance, Male:
Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
Best Country Vocal Performance, Female:
Harper Valley P.T.A. - Jeannie C. Riley
Best Folk Performance:
Both Sides Now - Judy Collins
Best Album Cover:
Underground - John Berg and Richard Mantel, art directors (Columbia)
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Music News 1968
Jimi Hendrix releases his last studio album Electric Ladyland and LIFE magazine names "the most spectacular guitarist in the world".
Beatles George Harrison and John Lennon and wives fly to India for transcendental meditation study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Jane Asher breaks her engagement with Paul McCartney on live TV and Cynthia Lennon sues John Lennon for divorce on grounds of adultery as Yoko Ono announces she is having John Lennon's baby. John Lennon and Yoko Ono appear nude on cover of 2 Virgins album.
Ringo temporarily quits the Beatles over a studio disagreement. They release Hey Jude their first record under their new Apple label and after much work the boys finish and release their only double album, The White Album.
Leo Fender sells Fender Guitars for $13 million
Led Zeppelin's concert debut in Boston as opener for Vanilla Fudge
David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash premiere together in California
David Gilmour joins rock group Pink Floyd
Fillmore East opens
The Steve Miller Band releases two albums, Brave New World and Sailor.
Rock & Roll 1968
The Rolling Stones release the album Beggar's Banquet bringing them back to their R&B roots. To push the top song on the album Jumping Jack Flash they filmed a TV show called Rock 'n Roll Circus which never aired and was not seen until it was found in 1996. Conjecture was that guests Jethro Tull, John Lennon and The Who bested the Stones who put a lid on it. The piece by Jethro Tull is an example of what it means when music is cookin'.
Cream releases their last album Wheels of Fire. A double album by the three piece band made up of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker that is so successful that it becomes the first album that ever goes platinum.
Rhythm
& Blues 1968
 Otis Redding, his manager and four members of his band the Bar-Kays died on December 10, 1967 when his plane crashed into Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin. Reading was 26 years old and had recorded Sitting on the Dock of the Bay only 3 days earlier.
Jazz 1968
This version of the top instrumental of all time, Classical Gas, appeared on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1968. It disappeared that year and has not been seen again until it was remixed in 2008.
Country & Western
1968
though Johnny Cash recorded Folsom Prison Blues for Sun Records in 1956. In January of 1968 he made a live recording of the song at Folsom Prison which became a hit. From then on Johnny Cash began concerts with the upbeat song.
The Tony's
(Musicals) 1968
Musical: Hallelujah, Baby!
Actor—Musical: Robert Goulet, The Happy Time
Actresses—Musical: Patricia Routledge, Darling of the Day and Leslie Uggams, Hallelujah, Baby!
Supporting or Featured Actor—Musical: Hiram Sherman, How Now, Dow Jones
Supporting or Featured Actress—Musical: Lillian Hayman, Hallelujah, Baby!
Director—Musical: Gower Champion, The Happy Time |
