Here’s a trivia question: What 60s band had a lead singer that was born in Tennessee, yet while in Hawaii started this group, hit the charts over 25 times but is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has been described as a folk, rock, pop, and easy listening group?
The Association!
The Association kicked off the 1967 Monterey Festival with great surprise as there were many psychedelic bands on the bill; this clean cut college kids looked more like a chorale than a rock band. The Fifth Dimension had a hit with covering their song “Never My Love” and there Association sold over 30 million records during their career. “Cherish,” “Windy” and “Never My Love” were all certified Gold. One of their biggest hits was a smash called “Along Comes Mary,” which was a drug song! Mary was the street slang for weed – the band wanted to keep that fund fact on the down low as their bread and butter clean boy image got them on the “Mike Douglas Show,” “Hullabaloo” and “Where the Action Is,” powerful mass appeal TV shows at the time.
The Association is in the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, having sold over 30 million albums.