Customer Reviews

Chicago Top 40 Charts 1960-1969

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a broadcaster for the past 30 years, I know that a set of Joel Whitburn's Billboard chart books are indispensible. But often, it was the local and regional hits that drove popular music. For example, twenty times in the 60's, a song reached the top ten on WLS in Chicago without ever appearing on the Billboard Hot 100. In Chicago Top 40 Charts 1960-1969, I identify every tune to reach the WLS Silver Dollar Survey by title and artist, along with their debut and peak dates, highest position reached and weeks on the survey. I've attempted to bring to a local music chart, the professional research Joel brings to his Billboard books. In the early sixties, WLS in Chicago called itself 'One of America's two great radio stations'. Though they never identified, the other, there's little doubt this was true. For record collectors or radio enthusiasts, this book should bring back incredible music memories.

I've given this must-have book four stars for one striking omission. Smith does identify every tune to reach Chicago's WLS weekly music survey by title and artist, along with the debut and peak dates, highest position reached and weeks on the survey, along with the top songs of each year and the entire decade. There is also a section collecting the data from the WLS R&B chart that ran for a few months in late 1964. What is missing is a listing of the number ones week-by-week or at the very least some indication of how many weeks a given number one hit spent at the top. Still, this is an essential reference for those whose interest in the charts extends beyond merely the national Hot 100. I hope Mr. Smith puts out a 1980s volume to go along with this volume and the companion 1970s volume, and that some other people with access to source material get the same idea and do similar works on some of the other regional markets.

A masterful, visually beautiful, and astonishingly thorough music reference for Chicago's Top 40 charts in the 1960s. I look forward to the author's '70s companion book.

This is a "Gotta Get It!!". Every once in awhile a book comes along for the music fan or record/music collector that's a "Gotta Get It". This is certainly one of them. Did you love WLS in the 1960's? Are you a music/record collector? Are you a music survey enthusiast? If you answered "yes" to any one of those questions, then this book is a "Gotta Get It"!! It's very easy to use and very concise. I'm a record/music collector (and have been for many many years) and I always want to grab a book and find the precise information that I need very quickly. This will give you precise WLS chart information from the 1960 through 1969. In short, it's a "Gotta Get It" and Gotta Get It NOW!!!

Mr. Smith has done a great job with this book. It's a must-read for any Chicagoan who appreciates our diverse local music tastes and longs for the nostalgia of what is one of the great radio markets in the U.S. WLS-AM in Chicago was indeed 'One of America's two great radio stations'. And Ron Smith is one of America's great music resources.

If 60's rock & roll was the soundtrack of your life, then Ron Smith can take you back to the days when a new Beatles or Beach Boys release was anticipated like the Super Bowl. His book of lists allows you to look for the groups or the songs or the times that bring back good memories. No stories; just lists - but a reference guide that gives a slice of growing-up-Chicago history. Fun to follow how a single did in Chitown and remember life at Foreman high school or Northeastern Illinois ...

I listened to WLS from 1960 through 1965 when my family left the Chicago area. This compilation brings back very fond memories; so many of these songs were only played in a limited area (Hey Lover - Debbie Dovale) but were really good AM songs. If you were a WLS fan, listening to Dex Card and the gang, you will enjoy this book.

The book was something I was looking for. It gives you all the songs from the 60's which I have been looking for.

This book would have been a lot more interesting if it included reproductions of every survey from the decade.
A monkey could have compiled these lists.