Top 5: Unchain Your Mynd

It has not been all that long since we looked back at a 1969 record chart, but we’re doing it again today because the one from WOLF in Syracuse, New York, dated April 23, 1969, contains some fascinating tunes.

3. “Playgirl”/Thee Prophets. You’d think that extra “e” in their name (“thee,” not “the”) would make this band easier to track down, but you would be wrong. One source I found on the web says Thee Prophets were from Seattle, but Joel Whitburn says Milwaukee. I’d bet on the latter, not merely because Whitburn is one of the gods I worship, but for the following additional reason: “Playgirl” sounds an awful lot like the Buckinghams. One web source says the two groups had the same manager, and the Buckinghams were based in Chicago.

4. “In the Bad, Bad Old Days”/The Foundations. How this missed the Top 40 (getting only to Number 51 nationally), I can’t quite figure. Strictly as a song, I suppose it’s not as memorable as either “Baby Now That I’ve Found You” or “Build Me Up Buttercup” (the Foundations release that immediately preceded it, which went to Number Three), but the record’s got the same glorious pop feel.

12. “I’m Free”/Wilmer and the Dukes. From the 50s to the 70s, Wilmer and the Dukes were legendary among college students and bar patrons in upstate New York, and are believed to have inspired the Animal House band Otis Day and the Knights. They released but one album, on the splendidly named Aphrodisiac label from Buffalo. YouTube DJ Music Mike has more, along with the band’s biggest national hit, “Give Me One More Chance,” here.

14. “We Can’t Go on This Way”/Unchained Mynds. I’d never heard this until I found it on YouTube, but 10 seconds in I was sitting here with a big stupid smile on my face. “We Can’t Go on This Way” crosses pure bubblegum awesomeness with an organ drone that gives it a garage-band feel.

The Unchained Mynds were from LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and their record went to Number One in Milwaukee and, for some reason, Springfield, Massachusetts, without making the Hot 100 at all. There’s a little more about the band here.

22. “Sorry Suzanne”/The Hollies. Gather ’round, children, and let me tell you of a time when you heard stuff like this whenever you turned on the radio. “Sorry Suzanne” is a relatively minor hit in the Hollies’ catalog (only Number 56 in Billboard), but according to ARSA, it went Top 20 in Louisville, Calgary, Pittsburgh, New Haven, Milwaukee, and Madison, and rose to Number 4 at WOLF, its best number anywhere in the country. And even if you’d never heard it before, you’d know it was the Hollies.

(New at WNEW.com: a birthday salute to one of rock’s founding fathers, born this past week in 1936.)

“Sorry Suzanne”/The Hollies (buy it here) (Note also that the ID tags are messed up on this mp3. I usually fix bad tags, but this time you’ll have to fix ‘em yourself.)