THIS WEEK IN 1967
1 I’m A Believer The Monkees
2 Matthew and Son Cat Stevens
3 Let’s Spend The Night Together The Rolling Stones
4 Night Of Fear The Move
5 I’ve Been A Bad Bad Boy Paul Jones
6 Hey Joe Jimi Hendrix
7 Green Green Grass of Home Tom Jones
8 This Is My Song Petula Clark
9 I’m A Man The Spencer Davis Group
10 Sugar Town Nancy Sinatra
Fewer than 40 songs in history have sold more than 10 million physical copies. This week’s number one, released more than five decades ago, is among that elite group, with sales matching those of such classic hits as Elvis Presley’s ‘Hound Dog’, Abba’s ‘Fernando’ and Britney Spears’ ‘...Baby One More Time’.
‘I’m A Believer’ was written by Neil Diamond before the Brooklyn star’s solo career took flight. Diamond also composed the Monkees’ hit ‘A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You’.
The Monkees were put together in 1965 specifically for the American TV sitcom of the same name which aired from 1966 to 1968. Davy Jones, who had starred as the Artful Dodger in the Broadway show ‘Oliver!’ was asked to join the band, with auditions to recruit his bandmates. Out of 437 applicants, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz were selected.
Thanks to the popularity of the TV series and the song-spotting skills of music publisher and producer Don Kirshner, the Monkees were quick to make an impact on the charts.
Their first single ‘Last Train To Clarksville’ was a US number one but ‘I’m A Believer’, the follow-up, was an even greater success, reaching the top of the charts in countries all around the world. The biggest selling record of 1967, it went gold within two days of release thanks to more than a million advance orders.
In an interview in 2008 Neil Diamond was asked if he resented the success the Monkees had with his songs at a time when his own recording career had not yet taken off. He replied: ‘I was thrilled, because at heart I was still a songwriter and I wanted my songs on the charts. He recalled that Kirshner had contaced his producers after hearing one of his songs on the radio, asking ‘hey, does this kid have any more?’.
‘They played him the things I had cut for the next album and he picked ‘I’m A Believer,’ ‘A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You’ and ‘Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow),’ and they had some huge hits.
‘But the head of my record company freaked. He went through the roof because he felt that I had given number one records away to another group. I couldn’t have cared less. I had to pay the rent and The Monkees were selling records.’