# Every Baby Boomer Alive Remembers These 4 Incredible Hard Rock Hits From 1968

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/every-baby-boomer-alive-remembers-these-4-incredible-hard-rock-hits-from-1968/
- Published: 2026-10-25T09:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-25T09:38:03+00:00
- Original publisher: American Songwriter
- Original article: https://americansongwriter.com/every-baby-boomer-alive-remembers-these-4-incredible-hard-rock-hits-from-1968/
- Topics: Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- Four 1968 hits helped hard rock reach a wider audience.
- “Born to Be Wild” peaked at No. 2 in the US.
- Deep Purple’s “Hush” was a cover of a Joe South song.

## Summary

Four hard rock hits helped bring the emerging genre to a wider audience in 1968: the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild”, Cream’s “White Room” and Deep Purple’s “Hush”. Their chart success reflected growing interest among rock fans, including baby boomers, and showed hard rock drawing on blues and psychedelic sounds.

“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” topped the UK chart and reached No. 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100; “Born to Be Wild” peaked at No. 2 in the US and topped Canada’s chart. “White Room”, written by Pete Brown and Jack Bruce, reached No. 6 on the Hot 100, while Deep Purple’s version of Joe South’s “Hush” reached No. 4. South’s song had first been recorded by Billy Joe Royal in 1967.

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.