I’m not necessarily a fan of Hair, the American tribal-love-rock musical that debuted in October of 1967, ironically at the end of the Summer of Love. I guess that’s because I didn’t need to experience the counter-culture on a stage when I could traverse the intersection of Haight-Ashbury and rub shoulders with all the hippies I cared to meet.
But I did like some of the music produced by the authors of the play, which, compared with other musicals, offered an overabundance of tunes. Six of them made the pop charts by various groups and artists, all within less than a year’s time, from October 1968 to August 1969. This used to be a great trivia question before the arrival of the Internet, by the way.
Here are the charted songs listed in order of release, along with the top spot they achieved (there are six tunes, but one hit the charts twice):
- Where Do I Go, Carla Thomas,10/19/1968, #86
- Ain’t Got No, Nina Simone, 1/4/1969, #94
- Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, The 5th Dimension, 3/8/1969, #1
- Hair, The Cowsills, 3/15/1969, #2
- Good Morning Starshine, Oliver, 5/24/1969, #3
- Where Do I Go, The Happenings, 7/12/1969, #66
- Easy to be Hard, Three Dog Night, 8/9/1969, #4
You may not recall off the top of your head the tunes performed by Stax R&B soul singer Carla Thomas, or jazz songstress Nina Simone, or the version of Where Do I Go by the vocal group The Happenings, but the remaining four turned out to be classics, especially the #2 song of the year 1969: Aquarius. (Sugar Sugar by the Archies holds the distinction of topping Billboard’s Year-End Hot 100 singles that year).
Of course, there were many other Hair songs recorded by many other artists, but these seven are the hits.
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