#9: Give Peace A Chance by Plastic Ono Band

City: St. Thomas, ON
Radio Station: CHLO
Peak Month: August 1969
Peak Position in St. Thomas ~ #1
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube: “Give Peace A Chance”
Lyrics: “Give Peace A Chance”

The Plastic Ono Band was formed in 1968 by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. They met in 1966 while Lennon was a member of the Beatles, and Ono was an avant-garde artist and performer. By 1968, the two established a romantic relationship and they began collaborating on a number of musical projects. The Plastic Ono Band name, and the idea of an open-ended plastic band, was conceived of by Yoko Ono in 1967 as an idea for an art exhibition in Berlin. The Plastic Ono Band was realized in 1968 as a multi-media machine maquette by John Lennon, also called The Plastic Ono Band. Ono and Lennon collaborated on several art exhibitions, concerts, happenings and experimental noise music recording projects, before recording and releasing somewhat more standard rock-based albums that were still connected to the Plastic Ono Band concept.
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#7: Old Man by Neil Young

City: St. Thomas, ON
Radio Station: CHLO
Peak Month: May 1972
Peak Position in St. Thomas ~ #3
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #16
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #31
YouTube: “Old Man”
Lyrics: “Old Man”

Neil Young was born in Toronto in 1945. His family moved to Omemee, Ontario, and he contracted polio in 1951, two years before the polio vaccine was introduced. He learned guitar and dropped out of high school. He played in the Winnipeg based band called The Squires, who toured parts of Manitoba and northern Ontario. They played instrumental covers of Cliff Richard’s backup band, The Shadows. Young moved to California in 1966 where he was a founding member of the Buffalo Springfield. In 1968 he released his self-titled debut studio album. And in 1969 he became the fourth member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

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