Hair
The musical Hair is without a doubt a musical of the 1960s. The musical is one of the first that could be considered a Rock Musical. The book and lyrics are by James Rado and Gerome Ragni with music by Galt MacDermot.
One thing for sure this musical did help usher in the 1970s. Four of the songs of the musical were top 5 hits of 1969. And without it, I’m not sure that there could have been a Woodstock.
The title song was recorded by a most unlikely group, the Cowsills. It did become their biggest single reaching Number 2 on the Billboard charts in the summer of 1969.
The Cowsills is a family group made up of brothers and in the 1960′s early 70′s their mother and little sister was also a part of the group. If they look familiar to fans of the 70′s, the idea of the family group The Partridge Family is said to have come from their success.
Oliver was a little known singer before his recording of Good Morning Starshine
. The song would become a Number 3 song in the summer of 1969.
In the musical the song is generally sung by a girl.
Easy to be Hard was the first single from Three Dog Night’s second album Suitable for Framing. It was their 4th single and their 3rd to reach the Top 40. Reaching Number 4, it was their biggest song at the time. But they still had many more songs to record and were one of the big acts of the early 1970s
Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In is a medley of two songs from the musical, Aquarius and The Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In). The song was one of the biggest hits of 1969 reaching Number 1 on the charts for six weeks.
It was the only single, other than Hair by the Cowsills released by a group that at the time could be considered established. The 5th Dimension had already had number of chart singles, although this one would become their biggest.