♫The Best of Times, The Worst of Times♫

 for who first recorded Hound Dog!

All through the decades, music soars to new heights with some groups experiencing hit after hit. Their names and songs find themselves repeated over and over without ever slowing down. Others make it with a one-hit wonder, while more keep on singing and keep on hoping for the big break. There are debuts which steal the show and music festivals that turn into mud. Then, a song comes along that is so bad it is dubbed the worse!

These are the best of times, the worst of times. Yet each holds a memory, a companion which sweetens even the sourest of days.


MORE Today in Music History: August 13

Enjoy the memories from the 60s to the 21st century...

1964 The Supremes recorded 'Baby Love', written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song went on to be the group's first UK No.1 and second US chart topper. It was also the second of five Supremes songs in a row to go to No.1 in the United States.

1965 Jefferson Airplane made their live debut at San Francisco's Matrix Club. The photograph of the members of Jefferson Airplane that was featured on the front cover of their best-known album, Surrealistic Pillow (1967), was taken inside the Matrix.

1966 Lovin Spoonful started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Summer In The City', it made No.8 in the UK. The song features a series of car horns during the instrumental bridge, starting with a Volkswagen Beetle horn, and ends up with a jackhammer sound, in order to give the impression of the sounds of the summer in the city.

1967 Fleetwood Mac made their live debut when they appeared at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor. Also on the bill Jeff Beck, Cream, Small Faces, The Move, The Pink Floyd, Donovan and Chicken Shack.

1983 KC and the Sunshine Band were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Give It Up'. The American disco group's only UK chart topper spent three weeks at No.1 

1994 Woodstock '94 was held in Saugerties, New York, attended by over 350,000 fans, the festival featured Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, Aerosmith and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Tickets cost $135.00, (£89.00).

The Worse No.1 Single of all Time

2004 'Angels' by Robbie Williams was voted the best single which should have been a number one but never was, in a poll for music channel VH1. The ballad, which reached No.4 in December 1997, beat Savage Garden's ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’ and Aerosmith's 'I Don't Want To Miss A Thing'. Other songs said to have deserved a number one included Madonna with ‘Ray of Light’, ‘Beautiful Stranger’, ‘Crazy For You’ and ‘Material Girl’, Bon Jovi with ‘Always’ and Oasis with ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Live Forever’. Sir Cliff Richard's hit 'Millennium Prayer' was voted the worst number one single of all time.

And the music goes on beating to the rhythm of the changing times...