You’d be forgiven for missing the trend, but 1962 is the year when the notion of independent ‘groups’ began to take hold on the pop charts.

It came from a number of directions. There was the surf group craze on the west coast, studio groups releasing tracks on their own, girl groups and of course the vocal groups that never really went away.

The pop music of 1962 was so varied that it’s hard to imagine so many disparate sounds all comingling on pop radio, but that’s exactly what made this era so special.

Featured tracks include:

Any Day Now (My Wild Beautiful Bird) – Chuck Jackson

The Locomotion – Little Eva

Party Lights – Claudine Clark

Ahab the Arab – Ray Stevens

You Don’t Know Me – Ray Charles

Bring It on Home – Sam Cooke

Green Onions- Booker T and the MG’s

Do You Love Me – The Contours

Patches – Dickey Lee

I Left My Heart in San Francisco – Tony Bennett

Big Girls Don’t Cry – The Four Seasons

He’s a Rebel – The Crystals

Desafinado – Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd