Post by erik on Jun 10, 2023 19:20:29 GMT -5
The title track of what remains arguably the most provocative and controversial Broadway musical of all time is in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight, in the hit version done by The Cowsills.
HAIR (The Cowsills; MGM; 1969)—Throughout the 1960’s, there was perhaps no more radical, subversive, or controversial Broadway musical than Hair. Premiering in late 1967 on Broadway, the musical told of a tribe of young people in the Age of Aquarius, railing agsinst The System, including conscription into what was by that time a hugely unpopular war in Vietnam; the methods used to rebel include more than a hint of nudity, and members of the tribe growing their hair to shoulder length, if not indeed even longer than that. Much as West Side Story had been the first Broadway musical to be for and about young people, Hair reflected the turbulence of its era; and following its Broadway premiere, it was to spawn several big pop hits which would remain standards long after flower power had become history. One of those was the title song itself,, “Hair”. The song got recorded by the Cleveland-based pop/folk group The Cowsills in October 1968, although one lyric (“long as God can grow it”) was changed to “long as I can grow it” during the group’s recording sessions. Paul, Susan, and Bob Cowsill has collectively already had a big hit in late 1967 with the quasi-psychedelic pop hit “The Rain, The Park, And Other Things”; but their recording of “Hair” would turn out to be their biggest hit. By the winter of 1969, the original Broadway cast recording of Hair was already one of the biggest selling Broadway recordings of all time; and the Cowsills’ own independent recording of “Hair” was a monumental hit. Peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 3, 1969, “Hair” was kept out of the #1 slot only by a medley of two songs from the same musical, “Aquarius” and “Let The Sunshine In”, that had been recorded by The Fifth Dimension. Two more songs originating from Hair would become big hits during the summer and fall of 1969, Three Dog Night’s “Easy To Be Hard”, and Oliver’s “Good Morning Starshine”. As for The Cowsills themselves, although they disbanded as a recording act in 1972, they would have periodic reunions over the next several decades.
HAIR (The Cowsills; MGM; 1969)—Throughout the 1960’s, there was perhaps no more radical, subversive, or controversial Broadway musical than Hair. Premiering in late 1967 on Broadway, the musical told of a tribe of young people in the Age of Aquarius, railing agsinst The System, including conscription into what was by that time a hugely unpopular war in Vietnam; the methods used to rebel include more than a hint of nudity, and members of the tribe growing their hair to shoulder length, if not indeed even longer than that. Much as West Side Story had been the first Broadway musical to be for and about young people, Hair reflected the turbulence of its era; and following its Broadway premiere, it was to spawn several big pop hits which would remain standards long after flower power had become history. One of those was the title song itself,, “Hair”. The song got recorded by the Cleveland-based pop/folk group The Cowsills in October 1968, although one lyric (“long as God can grow it”) was changed to “long as I can grow it” during the group’s recording sessions. Paul, Susan, and Bob Cowsill has collectively already had a big hit in late 1967 with the quasi-psychedelic pop hit “The Rain, The Park, And Other Things”; but their recording of “Hair” would turn out to be their biggest hit. By the winter of 1969, the original Broadway cast recording of Hair was already one of the biggest selling Broadway recordings of all time; and the Cowsills’ own independent recording of “Hair” was a monumental hit. Peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 3, 1969, “Hair” was kept out of the #1 slot only by a medley of two songs from the same musical, “Aquarius” and “Let The Sunshine In”, that had been recorded by The Fifth Dimension. Two more songs originating from Hair would become big hits during the summer and fall of 1969, Three Dog Night’s “Easy To Be Hard”, and Oliver’s “Good Morning Starshine”. As for The Cowsills themselves, although they disbanded as a recording act in 1972, they would have periodic reunions over the next several decades.