"Crimson and Clover" entered the U.S. charts on December 14, where
it stayed for 16 weeks on Billboard Hot 100 and 15 weeks on Cash Box
Top 100. Following a performance of the song on The Ed Sullivan Show
on January 26, it became number one on February 1, 1969, a position
held for one week on Cash Box Top 100 and two weeks on both Billboard
Hot 100.

The single has sold 5 million copies, making it Tommy James and the
Shondells’ best selling song. In 2006, Pitchfork Media named it the 57th
best song of the 1960s.

Tommy James and the Shondells on the Ed Sullivan
Show in 1969.

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Tommy James (born Thomas Gregory Jackson) turned 69 in April.

Antoine "Fats" Domino, Jr. turned 88 in February.

Elvis Presley made his second appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and
sang, “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Love Me Tender.” After Señor Wences’s
ventriloquism act, Elvis returned to perform “Love Me.” During this song
the camera moved in for a close-up of Elvis’ face, and then, as if on cue,
he smiled and snarled his upper lip. The studio audience went wild. Elvis
closed with another performance of his hit, “Hound Dog.” Again viewers
were shown a head-to-toe Elvis.

Following the broadcast, which again enjoyed huge ratings, Elvis was
burned in effigy by angry crowds in Nashville and St. Louis. The popular
press was also critical of his style and movements. Rock and roll was
increasingly attacked and there was growing opposition to its supposedly
negative influence on America’s youth. The more the establishment
pushed back, the more Elvis’s support grew from millions of teenagers.

Chubby Checker appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show where he sang "The Twist"/
"Let’sTwist Again" medley (with the "Do-Re-Mi" dancers) and "The Fly."
 
The show and was one of the highest rated and most heavily watched episodes in
the entire series run!