American Bandstand 1967 -#1 Song of ’67- Light My Fire, The Doors

As voted on by the Bandstand dancers for this special End of the Year show, “Light My Fire” is the #1 song of 1967. Based on The Billboard Year End Hot 100, it was #7, with “To Sir With Love” by Lulu being #1 and based on The Cash Box Year End Charts, it was #2, with “The Letter” by The Box Tops being #1 for the year. “Light My Fire” was #3 for 3 weeks in late July and early August on the Billboard Hot 100. Cash Box was a weekly magazine that was published from 1942 until 1996. It ranked songs based only on record sales while Billboard ranked songs by sales as well as radio airplay (and now by online sales and streaming as well). Many DJ’s (and others like American Bandstand) in the 60’s felt that Cash Box was a more accurate list. Dancers: Here are the AB regulars rockin’ out to the Doors hit: 2:08 Don Sanuskar and Robin Morris (in the very front doing a 2-step) 2:16 Roberta Simon, 2:29 Famous Hooks with Jenny Nichols, 2:50 Eddie Sanchez (light jacket) with Ruby Dake, 3:25 Jeff Stein, 4:30 Patrick Ing (back to us, light jacket), On the riser (Left to right): Patty Boyer with Mark Santos and Sondra Gomez with Rick McNay. The couple spinning out at the very end is Tom Johnson and Cathy Schuster. …..And “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” (an actual ad on this episode with future Laugh-In announcer Gary Owens) was finishing up its 4th and final season on ABC. It was the longest running Science Fiction show in the 60’s (sorry Star Trek) and it was the first of Irwin Allen’s 4 Sci-Fi shows from the decade. The other 3 were “Lost In Space” (65-68), “The Time Tunnel” (66-67) and “Land of the Giants” (68-70). Allen would go on to make the hit disaster films “The Poseidon Adventure” in 1972 and “The Towering Inferno” in 1974. Tomorrow night’s episode of “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”, titled “The Return of Blackbeard” guest stars Malachi Throne (It Takes A Thief). Malachi narrated the original 1976 teaser trailer for “Star Wars”. (check that out on YT…it’s awful!). John Williams composed the music for “Star Wars” as well as the theme music to all of Irwin Allen’s Sci-Fi TV shows except…..”Voyage To The Bottom Of the Sea”…..and we’ve come full circle (lol) Airdate: December 30, 1967