On December 28th, 1967, the “Bee Gees” topped the German singles chart with their song “Massachusetts.” The track had previously reached number 1 in the UK in October and marked the first of the group’s five UK number 1 hits. Notably, “Massachusetts” also served as the first single on which Robin Gibb sang the lead vocals.
In this poignant song, the singer expresses a longing to return to Massachusetts, a state located in the northeastern United States. Interestingly, the Bee Gees had never actually been to Massachusetts when they recorded the song; they were simply captivated by the sound of its name. Unfortunately, the memories associated with this time became bittersweet for Robin Gibb. On November 5th, while “Massachusetts” still held the number 1 spot, he was involved in a train crash that claimed the lives of 49 people, marking one of Britain’s most devastating rail disasters.
“Massachusetts” also reached the number 1 spot in numerous other countries. Notably, the Bee Gees became the first non-Japanese act to top the Japanese singles chart when “Massachusetts” spent a week at number one in April 1968.
Tag: Bee Gees
This week in 1978 the soundtrack album to the movie “Saturday Night Fever,” starring John Travolta, hit number 1 in the US. It is one of the best-selling albums in history, and remains in the top 10 biggest-selling soundtracks of all time. The album stayed at number 1 of the US album chart for 24 straight weeks from January to July 1978 while in the UK it spent 18 at the top.
Producer Robert Stigwood approached the Bee Gees to write songs for the movie after its filming had already taken place. At the time the Bee Gees were working on producing their next album but, not wanting to let the opportunity pass them by, wrote a few songs during a weekend and tweaked some songs they had already started working on, including “Stayin’ Alive.“