Remember jumping into your family’s car in the morning to head to school? If you were a 60s kid, you might just remember a lot of the music you got exposed to on the radio, and that music might have formed your tastes as an adult. Let’s take a look at some radio songs from 1969, specifically, that you might have heard early in the morning while heading to school!
“Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond from ‘Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show’
Neil Diamond had a big hit on his hands with “Sweet Caroline” in 1969. This soft rock jam has one of the most memorable choruses of any pop hit released that year. And it still gets people moving after all these years.
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“Sweet Caroline” reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and did similarly well in Canada.
“Medley: Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In” by The 5th Dimension from ‘The Age Of Aquarius’
Now this is a psychedelic soul song. In fact, “Medley: Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In” by The 5th Dimension might just be one of the greatest psychedelic songs of the 1960s. This tune is actually a mashup of two songs that were written for the musical Hair in 1967. The 5th Dimension put their own spin on those tunes, and the result was a No. 1 hit in the US and Canada.
“Hot Fun In The Summer” by Sly And The Family Stone from ‘Greatest Hits’
“Hot Fun In The Summer” by Sly And The Family Stone was inescapable during the summer of 1969, and its popularity carried over into the school year after summer came to an end. This psychedelic soul-funk jam was a No. 2 hit on the Hot 100, and I bet you remember it very well if you heard it as a child.
“Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival from ‘Bayou Country’
Creedence Clearwater Revival was enjoying quite the career renaissance in the late 1960s. And “Proud Mary” is one of many songs from 1969 that school children likely heard on the radio. Written by John Fogerty, this roots rock tune was so popular that Ike and Tina Turner would later cover it and earn a Grammy Award for it. CCR’s version, however, peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 chart. Both versions are killer, in my opinion.
(Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
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Left to right: Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael Jackson of American pop group The Jackson 5, at ABC-TV studios, California, 9th July 1971. The Jacksons are fiming their ABC TV special 'Goin' Back to Indiana'. They will also meet cast members of the TV show, 'The Brady Bunch', for a promotional special entitled 'The Brady Bunch Visits ABC'. (Photo by Laufer/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
George Harrison performs onstage circa 1982. (Photo by Lester Cohen) (Photo by Lester Cohen/Getty Images) -
CLARKSTON – JULY 14: Guitarist Porl Thompson, bass player Simon Gallup, musician, songwriter and lead singer Robert Smith, drummer Boris Williams and keyboard player Laurence 'Lol' Tolhurst, all members of the English rock band The Cure, pose for a portrait backstage at the Pine Knob Music Theatre on July 14, 1986, in Clarkston, Michigan. (Photo by Ross Marino/Getty Images) -
Rick Ocasek – The Cars in concert in Philadelphia in 1979 (Photo by MpiRock/MediaPunch via Getty Images) -
Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images -
IN CONCERT – From London – Shoot Date: June 13, 1974. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images) BLUE SWEDE -
Dolly Parton, who released one of the best country albums of the 1980s
