One of the best singles of the year never cracked the top 10. "I Got a Line on You" by Spirit (mostly forgotten) was the band's 1st of 4 singles to chart on the Hot 100, the other 3 not making much of a dent.
None of the singles debuting this week reached the top 10 but a few were in heavy rotation on most "top 40" radio stations from mid-January into February: "But I Know I Love You", "May I" (at least in Buffalo), "Will You Be Staying After Sunday" (a one-hit wonder regularly heard on oldies stations nowadays), and "Mendocino".
Related article:
Who Were Spirit , the Band from Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway' Trial? (Rolling Stone, 6/10/2016)
Spirit came together in 1967 in Los Angeles with an unconventional lineup. Drummer Ed Cassidy was 44, a veteran of World War II as well as the West Coast jazz scene – and his stepson Randy Wolfe, who took the name Randy California, became the singer/guitarist. California also had some experience under his belt as a former member of Jimi Hendrix’s short-lived group Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. With Spirit, Cassidy and California whipped up a heady, potent answer to San Francisco’s psychedelic scene via their 1968 self-titled debut, which featured a single called “Taurus.”
The instrumental, lush and symphonic, heralded the dawn of progressive rock just around the corner – and it also sported, among its many mini-movements, a descending guitar figure by California that the band later claimed was stolen by Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page.
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August 1968
"I Say a Little Prayer" by Aretha Franklin
"In-a-gadda-da-vida: by Iron Butterfly
"Piece of My Heart" by Brother and the Holding Company
September 1968
"Fire!" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
"Hey Jude" by the Beatles
"All Along the Watchtower" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience
"Bang-shang-a-lang" by the Archies
October 1968
"White Room" by Cream
"Ride My See-Saw" by the Moody Blues
"Love Child" by Diana Ross and the Supremes
"Abraham, Martin & John" by Dion
November 1968
"For Once in my Life" by Stevie Wonder
"Hang 'em High" by Booker T. & the MG's
"Hooked on a Feeling" by B. J. Thomas
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye
"Everyday People" by Sly and the Family Stone
December 1968
"Going Up The Country" by Canned Heat
"Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells
"Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" by Bob Seger
"Touch Me" by the Doors
January 1969
"Build Me Up Buttercup" by the Foundations
"Games People Play" by Joe South
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