Got a pleasant surprise in the mailbox yesterday. It's the Rolling Stone Fortieth Anniversary special double edition, with a cool metallic cover and everything.

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Man, do I feel old, although I was only about 12 when it launched. But I remember older kids who had copies. It was kind of a low-quality deal, like an underground paper or something. I believe we've been subscribers for about 30 years now. It may be our longest continuously running subscription.

The Fortieth Anniversary Edition has some awesome photos, stories, and interviews about the "Summer of Love", and a feature on the 40 Essential Albums of 1967. Go out and get your copy right away, it's bound to be a collector's item.

The music charts are a cool blast from the past.

The top ten singles were:

1. To Sir with Love (Lulu)
2. The Letter (The Box Tops)
3. Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry)
4. Windy (The Association)
5. I'm a Believer (The Monkees)
6. Light My Fire (The Doors)
7. Somethin' Stupid (Frank and Nancy Sinatra)
8. Happy Together (The Turtles)
9. Groovin' (The Young Rascals)
10. Can't Take My Eyes Off You (Frankie Valli)

Some other notables among the top 40 were Respect by Aretha at #13 and Soul Man by Sam and Dave at #19 (which were #1 and #2 on the R&B singles charts), Ruby Tuesday by the Rolling Stones at #24, For What it's Worth by Buffalo Springfield at #25, All You Need is Love by the Beatles at #30, and Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison at #35.

The Monkees occupied the top two spots on the top ten albums charts, with "The Monkees" at #2 and "More of the Monkees" at #1. It looks like our parents were buying albums, too, because Dr. Zhivago and The Sound of Music occupied the #3 and #4 spots. Sgt. Pepper clocked in at #10. Herb Alpert had three albums at #7, #8, and #9.

The top movie was The Graduate, followed by Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Bonnie and Clyde. The top TV show was The Andy Griffith Show, followed by The Lucy Show and Gomer Pyle.

Interesting how all of this music and entertainment holds up to this day. There's so much "product" out there now, it's hard to imagine ever having such a "golden age" again. But who knows which current artists will survive the test of time and be fondly remembered in Rolling Stone's 80th Anniversary edition.