50 Year Flashback - November 23rd, 1965

WERX / Boss Radio must have had a crystal ball when it came time for them to finally issue their fist survey chart in November of 1965.  Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds Of Silence" was just premiering on the national charts this week across the country ... yet WERX already had it at #1, ahead of some of the biggest groups on the countdown like The Rolling Stones (#2 with "Get Off My Cloud"), The Byrds (#3 with "Turn Turn Turn"), The Supremes (#4 with "I Hear A Symphony") and The Four Seaons (at #6 with "Let's Hang On".  ALL of these records show up together as their first week on the chart this week in '65.

That's not to say that there aren't some great obscurities listed here ... "Cara Lin" by The Strangeloves sits at #5, the virtual non-hit "Ring Dang Do" by Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs is at #7 and "Run Baby Run" by The Newbeats (#9) all made the initial Top Ten.

Premiers like "Just Like Me" by Paul Revere and the Raiders,"Well Respected Man" by The Kinks and "My Generation" by The Who (which wouldn't debut in Billboard for another seven or eight weeks) all seemed to get a little jump on the national charts as well.  (Pretty remarkable for the "new kid on the block" to be that progressively ahead of the rest of the pack ... I would think they would have had a VERY unique sound in November of 1965 ... as every other radio station in town would now have to play catch-up just to compete.)

So who WERE these guys???

Not many clues here ... no radio station call letters anywhere on the chart.  It mentions "Hollon" and "The Grand Valley Armory" on 44th Street ... but even those clues didn't help us track them down. 

We finally found them in Wyoming, Michigan ... or, perhaps more accurately, out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, according to Clark Besch who sent us this list for our weekly feature.

As 2015 draws to a close we've only got a few of these 50 Year Old gems left to share ... so be sure to join us each Monday Morning for our 50 Year Flashback!