The week of May 17, 1966, found a quartet of classic songs I’ve already posted atop the Billboard Hot 100. They were, in order: The Mamas and the Papas’ ‘Monday Monday,’ Bob Dylan’s ‘Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,’ The Young Rascals’ ‘Good Lovin’,’ and Percy Sledge’s ‘When a Man Loves a Woman.’
That #2 position was the closest Dylan ever got to a chart-topping hit, and it was his second song to hit #2 following ‘Like a Rolling Stone.’
The Mamas and the Papas held the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 the week of May 3, 1966, with ‘Monday, Monday,’ a song I featured on the blog during a post about my favorite movies of the 2010s (it appeared in the great documentary Tower).
At #2 that week, dropping from its chart-topping position a week prior, was The Young Rascals’ ‘Good Lovin’.’ This was the second single from the band’s eponymous debut album and their first of three #1 hits (1967’s ‘Groovin” and 1968’s ‘People Got to Be Free’ would follow).
The Righteous Brothers stayed at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of April 19, 1966, with ‘(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration.’ That song would surrender its perch the following week.
At #2 was Cher’s ‘Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),’ a track written by Sonny Bono and released on her sophomore solo album, The Sonny Side of Chér. This was the highest-charting song of Cher’s solo career until her trio of #1 hits in the 70s with the increasingly problematic titles ‘Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves,’ ‘Half-Breed,’ and ‘Dark Lady.’
The week of April 5, 1966, found The Righteous Brothers enjoying their second (and last) #1 hit, ‘(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration.’ Two years earlier, the duo reached the top spot with ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling.’
You might have guessed the other #1 was 1965’s ‘Unchained Melody,’ but that classic peaked at #4. The Righteous Brothers’ other two top ten hits were ‘Just Once in My Life’ and ‘Ebb Tide,’ both also released in 1965.
The week of March 22, 1966, found the Vietnam era hit ‘The Ballad of the Green Berets‘ hanging on the #1 spot of the Billboard Hot 100. The British Invasion was hot on its heels, with the next two slots going to The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.
The Stones’ ’19th Nervous Breakdown’ sat at #2, where it would peak, held out of the top spot by the Green Berets. This was the band’s third top five single on the U.S. chart in nine months, after ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction‘ and ‘Get Off of My Cloud‘ became their first #1 hits in the States the previous summer.
