In June 1966, the Australian music scene had exploded especially in Melbourne, which now boasted two TV shows dedicated to popular music, The Go!! Show and Kommotion. The suburban dance scene was bursting at the seams and spread to the inner city.

Sydney still had its established adult nightclub scene and was holding its own and keeping the revolution at bay, but all roads led to Melbourne. As soon as they were able to, pop groups moved to the Victorian city.

From Adelaide came The Twilights and The Masters Apprentices and from Brisbane came The Purple Hearts. The Melbourne based pop magazine, Go-Set, was now national, which concentrated on the teens and 20s.

The success of The Seekers overseas prompted Australian artists to try their luck with Normie Rowe and also The Easybeats heading for the United Kingdom. The top selling record in Australia in 1966 was Bobby & Laurie’s ‘Hitch Hiker’, which was their only career number one. Bobby Bright (vocals and guitar) and Laurie Allen (vocals, guitar and keyboards) had been regulars on TV since 1965, and had several hits over the years: ‘I Belong With You’ and ‘Someone’ in 1965; ‘High Noon’ in 1966; ‘Carroll County Accident’ in 1969; and ‘Through The Eyes Of Love’ in 1970. The singing duo had toured Australia with top overseas acts such as The Dave Clark Five and P.J. Proby as well as local group, The Seekers.

It was reported that the official Cliff Richard fan club, which has been in existence for nine years and had 42,000 members, was to close in April 1967, when Richard ended his London Palladium season. It was expected that Richard would semi-retire and undertake a three-year College course in Divinity.

There was tragedy in the United States for Roy Orbison on June 7, 1966 when his wife Claudette was killed in a motorcycle accident near Nashville. Orbison had written the song ‘Claudette’, a big hit for The Everly Brothers.

On June 12, The Dave Clark Five appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show for the 12th time, more than any other UK act.

On June 20 there was drama at Radio City, Shivering Sands, Thames Estuary in the UK, when negotiations between the owner Reg Calvert and Major Oliver Smedley of Project Atlanta broke down. Following this, the Major along with a boarding party seized the Pirate Radio Ship and closed it down. The following day Calvert went to the Major’s home in Saffron, Essex to confront him and Major Smedley killed Reg Calvert with a shotgun. Four months later the jury took only 2 minutes to decide the major acted in self defence. Legislation was introduced in the House of Commons to eliminate Pirate Radio Stations.

The top 10 in Australia in June 1966

1. ‘Hitch Hiker’, Bobby & Laurie
2. ‘Paint It Black’, The Rolling Stones
3. ‘You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me’, Dusty Springfield
4. ‘Pretty Flamingo’, Manfred Mann
5. ‘Substitute’, The Who
6. ‘I’m the Pied Piper’, Crispin St. Peters
7. ‘Elusive Butterfly’, Bob Lind
8. ‘How Does That Grab You Darling’, Nancy Sinatra
9. ‘Come and See Her’, The Easybeats
10. ‘Strangers In The Night’, Frank Sinatra

The number ones in Australian for June 1966

4, 11: ‘Hitch Hiker’, Bobby & Laurie
18: ‘Paint It Black’, The Rolling Stones
25: ‘Strangers In The Night’, Frank Sinatra

The number ones in the UK for June 1966

4, 11, 18: ‘Strangers In The Night’, Frank Sinatra
25: ‘Paperback Writer’, The Beatles

The number ones in the US for June 1966

4: ‘When A Man Loves A Woman’, Percy Sledge
11, 18: ‘Paint It Black’, The Rolling Stones
25: ‘Paperback Writer’, The Beatles

Do you remember the great musical hits of 1966? Were any of these your favourite song?

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