House Party 1968

This is my first posting of an actual mix of 60 songs to this blog. This is a throwback mix to my very early days spinning records as a high school kid in Philadelphia. I was an obsessive collector starting in the mid 60s. I visited record stores and read everything I could find on new music. I had my first job in 1968 making decent money back then working in a machine shop shoveling the hot chips flying off the lathes. Most of my pay went for buying records and going to shows. During that summer I was checking out the West Coast bands playing at the original Electric Factory down on Arch Street, hanging out downtown at the head shops on Samson Street and groovin' at the Be-Ins in Fairmount Park. There were also many house parties in the neighborhood and I was the guy with the music so I got invited along with my box of 45s.


I had playlist of stuff that worked good at these parties but this was not some DJ setup that would evolve later on. There would just be a record player with a changer that would play a stack of singles in the order they were placed on the spindle.

So long before mixes were created on mp3 playlist, burned CDs and cassettes there was the carefully selected stack of 7" 45 rpm singles sitting on a record changer. The mix listed here is taken from my collection of 45s from 1968 which I still have. In fact I probably still have every single, album, tape and CD that I have be accumulating for about 46 years now. I've never sold or gotten rid of anything from my collection much to my wife's chagrin.

This mix here is a sample of our neighborhood party music. Lots of soul music and especially Motown. We also played lots of what would later be called Nuggets. People loved to dance so everything here had the house shaking. Not all the parties were non stop dancing and more and more albums of head music were getting played but that is another post and another mix.

So here it is. House party music from my stack of 45s in 1968.

1. Sweet Soul Music - Arthur Conley
2. Ain't Too Proud To Beg - The Temptations
3. You Can't Hurry Love - The Supremes
4. Too Many Fish In The Sea - The Marvelettes
5. I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Gladys Knight & The Pips
6. I'll Be Doggone - Marvin Gaye
7. This Old Heart Of Mine - The Isley Brothers
8. There Is - The Dells
9. Knock On Wood - Eddie Floyd
10. I Thank You - Sam & Dave
11. Land Of A Thousand Dances - Wilson Pickett
12. Funky Broadway Pt. 1 - Dyke & The Blazers
13. Boogaloo Down Broadway - The Fantastic Johnny C
14. Ain't Nothin' But A House Party - The Showstoppers
15. Mickey's Monkey - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
16. (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave - Martha & The Vandallas
17. Jenny Take A Ride - Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
18. I Saw Her Standing There - The Beatles
19. Twist and Shout - The Beatles
20. Peppermint Twist - Joey Dee & The Starlighters
21. You Can't Sit Down - The Dovells
22. South Street - The Orlons
23. Keep On Dancing - The Gentrys
24. Dance Dance Dance - The Beach Boys
25. Barbara Ann - The Beach Boys
26. Shake A Tail Feather - Five Du-Tones
27. The 81 - Candy & The Kisses
28. Get On Up - The Esquires
29. Cool Jerk - The Capitols
30. Some Kind Of Wonderful - Soul Brothers Six
31. Gimme Some Lovin' - The Spencer Davis Group
32. Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
33. Fire - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
34. I Got The Feelin' - James Brown
35. Think - Aretha Franklin
36. Reach Out I'll Be There - The Four Tops
37. Needle In A Haystack - The Velvelettes
38. Just A Little Misunderstanding - The Contours
39. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
40. Uptight (Everything's Alright) - Stevie Wonder
41. Shake and Fingerpop - Jr. Walker & The All Stars
42. Expressway To Your Heart - The Soul Survivors
43. I'm A Man - The Spencer Davis Group
44. (We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet - The Blues Magoos
45. Mony Mony - Tommy James & The Shondells
46. Nobody But Me - The Human Beinz
47. Over Under Sideways Down - The Yardbirds
48. Little Girl - Syndicate of Sound
49. 96 Tears - ? & The Mysterians
50. Suzie Q - Creedence Clearwater Revival
51. Little Bit O' Soul - The Music Explosion
52. Going To A Go-Go - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
53. Dance To The Music - Sly & The Family Stone
54. Devil With The Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly - Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
55. Louie Louie - The Kingsmen
56. Gloria - The Shadows of Knight
57. I Can't Help Myself - The Four Tops
58. Nowhere To Run - Martha & The Vandallas
59. I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
60. Ooo Baby Baby - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles