1969 - A Baaaad Moon Is Risin' Quiz

Answer: Bad Moon Rising

The second #2 hit for Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1969, the bleak lyrics were John Fogerty's view of an impending apocalypse of doom. The music, however, was real toe-tapping and energetic, totally incongruous to the message! It's speculated that Fogerty did this on purpose feeling that radio stations wouldn't play the song if the music was as sombre as the words.

The point may be moot but the fact is that the record sold over 2 million copies!

Answer: 2525

The song was #1 for six weeks and is another of those songs that is now widely regarded as one of the worst songs ever recorded despite its success. The artists were Zager and Evans and they are the true one hit wonders - they never had another song enter the Hot Hundred Billboard charts! Both were from Nebraska and originally played together in a shortlived band called The Eccentrics in the early 1960s. Reuniting as a duo in 1968, they decided to record this song which Rick Evans had written in 1963. Frustrated with their subsequent lack of success, they split up in 1974. Evans carried on as a song writer while Denny Zager retired from the industry and became a music teacher.

Answer: Hooked On A Feeling

Some will remember this hit more readily from the #1 Blue Swede cover in 1974 with the famous "Ooga chucka, ooga ooga ooga chucka" intro. B.J. forged a successful pop career over a ten year period starting in 1966. This million seller was his biggest hit to this point soon to be eclipsed by his mega-hit "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" in 1970. By 1973, he switched directions and re-established himself as a Country and Gospel artist and was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry in 1981.

He still tours and cuts records on an occasional basis.

Answer: Steam

Essentially, Steam didn't even exist when this song was recorded yet it shot right to the top of the charts. Paul Leka, a record producer, crafted the lyric and recorded it with a couple of studio musicians, Gary DeCarlo and Dale Frashuer. Leka really liked the flip side, "It's The Magic In You Girl" and only recorded this song because each 45 needs two sides.

He's admitted that the musicians purposely played the song sloppily to assure that DJ's would never play it! Moreover, the "Na na na na" lyrics were just thrown in because of time pressure - he didn't have time to complete the lyric properly prior to the recording session. Sure enough, the brass at the record company loved this song and insisted on making it the "A" side.

When it became a hit, Leko quickly assembled another group of musicians from Connecticut to present themselves as Steam and go on tour.

The new group would only have one more moderate hit that charted at #46 then the group quickly faded into obscurity.

Answer: I Can't Get Next To You

This Barrett Strong/Norm Whitfield composition became a #1 song for The Temptations for two weeks, their first since "My Girl" in 1965. It would also be rated as the biggest of their many hits, no small feat considering the group would have 55 songs chart over their 27 year recording career.

Answer: Good Morning Starshine

This was one of Oliver's two top ten songs, the other being "Jean" later in the year. It's interesting to note that music critics David Browne and David Hinckley of The New York Daily News published an article sometime during the 1990s listing their choices of the "worst songs" ever recorded over the past 25 years. Both of Oliver's top tens made the list!

Answer: Spinning Wheel

"Spinning Wheel" was the second of three consecutive #2 songs that Blood, Sweat and Tears would chart in 1969. Their brand of "jazz-rock fusion" was certainly unique to the era and their distinctive sound was immensely popular with the public. One of the problems of a nine man band is keeping everyone focused on a singular concept and this was the case with Blood, Sweat and Tears.

In 1972, the group was splintering: lead singer David Clayton Thomas wanted the group to pursue a Vegas show band motif; the horn section formed the jazz camp; the percussion players leaned toward a more rock oriented approach.

This led to some personnel defections and by 1975 most of the original group had left. With so many former members attempting to capitalize on the group name, legal hassles have resulted in no new recordings with the group name since the mid-1980s although touring versions with Thomas occasionally pop up as of 2004.

Answer: Cherry Hill Park

Mary Hill met a man with money and, much to the dismay of "the boys", he took her away and married her. Lyrics were certainly getting more and more suggestive in the late 1960s compared to earlier in the decade! Billy Joe Royal, whose biggest hit was his debut release "Down In The Boondocks" in 1965, bid farewell to the pop charts with this #15 song.

He was born in Georgia and grew up in the business with folks like Ray Stevens, Joe South and Jerry Reed in the early 1960s. He was another victim of the changing 1970s music scene and worked Vegas for several years before successfully turning to country music in the mid-1980s.

As of 2004, he continues to tour and record in that genre.

Answer: Suspicious Minds

From 1955 to 1962, Elvis piled up seventeen #1 hits; from 1962 until his death in 1977, a period during which he still recorded on a regular basis, he would have one - and this was it! Throughout the mid-1960s Elvis recorded a string of releases that made little chart impact, but he bounced back around this time with four top ten hits, all of which were Gold Records.

This song was the second of those four following "In The Ghetto". The streak would end with "The Wonder Of You" in 1970 after which he would only have one more top ten, "Burning Love" in 1972.

When he began in 1954, rockers were vying with crooners; a generation later, he was a rocking crooner vying with disco and heavy metal artists.

Answer: the son of a preacher man

Billy Ray was the preacher's son and in Dusty Springfield's words in the chorus, "The only one who could ever reach me was the son of a preacher man". Dusty was another whose chart successes were about to wane. She would have two more middling hits in 1969 but then would have to wait eighteen long years before hitting the top forty charts again with "What Have I Done To Deserve This?", a song she performed with The Pet Shop Boys.