The 1960s were an exciting time for popular music, with new genres emerging and recording technology evolving constantly. I recently listed 10 awful 1960s songs, so it’s time to pick out some highlights. This list largely eschews the most acclaimed…
For some bands, it’s fun to argue what their best album is. Do you prefer Abbey Road, Revolver, or Sgt. Peppers? Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie? But other bands have a canonical best album that’s hard to debate against –…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 10 Chapel of Love by The Dixie Cups Topped the NZ chart for 2 weeks from 6 August 1964. The Dixie Cups The Dixie Cups are a trio from New Orleans. The classic lineup consisted…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 8 Have I The Right? by The Honeycombs Topped the NZ chart for 3 weeks from 1 October 1964 History remembers The Honeycombs for one song. ‘Have I The Right?’ was a worldwide hit, and…
Neil Leslie Diamond is adored by mature women and ironically enjoyed by sports crowds singing ‘Sweet Caroline’. Indoctrinated at an early age, however, I appreciate him as a fascinating character. Diamond is one part sequined stadium-filling entertainer and another part…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 8 I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles Topped the NZ chart for 4 weeks from 26 December 1963 The Beatles enjoyed 14 #1 singles in New Zealand between 1963 and 1970 –…
James Marshall Hendrix was born in Seattle. After his discharge from the army he became a musician, spending years gigging with acts like Little Richard, Sam Cooke, and Ike & Tina Turner. Despite his immense talent, it wasn’t until he…
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been covering The Beach Boys’ solo careers – albeit only two of them. Brian Wilson’s solo albums of new material, starting with 1988’s self-titled record, show flashes of brilliance, although they often suffer…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 5 The Twist by Chubby Checker Topped the NZ chart for 2 weeks from 25 January 1962 Chubby Checker was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, largely because of a handful…
Despite releasing their first album in 1968, Creedence Clearwater Revival weren’t hippies. Frontman John Fogerty represents blue-collar America, addressing working-class issues like the Vietnam War, while there’s a heartland warmth to their swampy rock. The band sounded like they came…
The Byrds were one of the most significant American bands of the 1960s. They emerged from the L.A. folk scene, featuring three singer-guitarists: James Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, and David Crosby. Their first single as The Byrds was their chart-topping…
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die describes Gram Parsons as “Keith Richards’ citrus-heir drug-buddy”. Parsons blended rock and country into “Cosmic American Music”. I was initially taken aback by Parsons’ music. It’s not the commercially oriented country offered by…
Miraculously, two of the most talented vocalists and songwriters in the history of popular music ended up in the same band. John Lennon and Paul McCartney met in 1957 when McCartney joined Lennon’s skiffle band The Quarrymen. They enlisted lead…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 9 Travelin’ Man by Ricky Nelson Topped the NZ chart: from 31 July 1961 for 2 weeks (non-consecutive) Ricky Nelson was born in the township of Teaneck, New Jersey. He started his entertainment career young.…
Before he became Patti Smith’s lead guitarist, Lenny Kaye compiled the double LP set, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. Released in 1972, the two-LP set covered American garage rock and psychedelia from 1965* to 1968. The collection of…
Welshman Richard Harris originally wanted to become a rugby player. But after a bout of tuberculosis, he became an actor. He’s known for roles in films like The Field (1990), The Guns of Navarone (1961), This Sporting Life (1963), and…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 10 A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum Topped the NZ chart: for 1 week from 11 August 1967. Gary Brooker sang with The Paramounts, who enjoyed the UK top 40 hit ‘Poison Ivy’…
Creedence Clearwater Revival released their first album in 1968. They seemingly emerged from a Florida swamp but actually came from El Cerrito in California. Rebelling against the psychedelic rock of the late 1960s, Creedence began their career playing stripped-down and…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 9 Blue Velvet by Bobby Vinton Topped the NZ chart: for 3 weeks from 17 October 1963. Bobby Vinton was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, the son of a bandleader. He learned the clarinet and studied…
English folk singer-songwriter Nick Drake barely sold a record during his lifetime. But since his premature passing in 1974, at the age of 26, his acclaim and legend have grown. His gentle delivery, virtuoso fingerpicking, poetic lyrics, and sophisticated lyrics…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 9 Where Did Our Love Go Topped the NZ chart: for 1 week from 17 September 1964. The Supremes were massively successful in the 1960s. They scored twelve #1s on the Billboard charts, the most…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 6 The Last Waltz Topped the NZ chart: from 10 November 2015 for 2 weeks. I’ve covered Mr Humperdinck on this site before. His 1967 b-side ‘Ten Guitars‘ became an unexpected staple in New Zealand.…
Every New Zealand #1 single… Lovesick Blues by Frank Ifield Topped the NZ chart: 10 January 1963 for 1 week. 3 The early 1960s are notable for a power vacuum in rock and roll. Many stars of the 1950s saw…
Despite writing hit songs in the late 1960s and her induction into the rock and roll hall of fame, Laura Nyro is a niche figure compared to contemporaries like Joni Mitchell and Carole King. But the piano playing singer-songwriter from the Bronx made some…
Van Morrison’s enjoyed a long and prolific career. Like Neil Young, he’s continued to released a new studio album almost every year, even long past retirement age. Such is the breadth of Morrison’s discography, the two albums he made with…
Californian folk-rock band Buffalo Springfield were short-lived but signicant. They recorded one of the defining protest songs of the 1960s, ‘For What It’s Worth’, and launched the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay of Poco, and Jim Messina of Loggins and…
The late Scott Walker was one of the most fascinating artists of the rock era, successful as both a crooner and as an avant-garde composer. Accordingly, this list of Walker favourites is scattershot, ranging from easy listening covers to his…
Scott Walker was born Noel Scott Engel, in Hamilton, Ohio. A former child actor, he left his career as a singer to become a session bassist. In 1965, Walker moved to London with his band The Walker Brothers. Scott became…
The Velvet Underground began as a collaboration between frustrated songwriter Lou Reed and classically trained John Cale. Cale had worked with experimental composers John Cage and LaMonte Young, and Reed’s interest in alternative guitar tunings and drone notes provided common ground. The…
With the recent passing of Judith Durham, it’s fitting to look back on the ten best songs from Australian folk band The Seekers. The Melbourne quartet sold more than 50 million records with 1960s hits like ‘I’ll Never Find Another…
Bassist Ashley Hutchings and rhythm guitarist Simon Nicol formed Fairport Convention in 1967. They named the band after Nicol’s father’s medical practice, above which they rehearsed, on the same Muswell street as the Davies brothers of The Kinks grew up. They recruited…
Given his blatant talents, it’s amazing how long it took James Marshall Hendrix to make an album. Seattle-born Hendrix was caught twice as a youth riding in stolen cars, and given the choice between the army and jail, trained as…
As a casual music listener, it’s easy to hear The Beach Boys’ sun-drenched hits and conclude that the group were all beaches, girls and cars, and no substance. But the group was led by Brian Wilson, one of the most…
The Band started their career backing blues belter Ronnie Hawkins, where they were known as The Hawks. They then supported Bob Dylan on his controversial 1966 tour. Recording The Basement Tapes with Dylan at Woodstock, The Band started writing their…
Hertfordshire band The Zombies endured a somewhat erratic career in the 1960s. They enjoyed early hits with ‘She’s Not There’ and ‘Tell Her No’. It took, however, three years to record another album after 1965’s debut Begin Here. Discouraged by…
David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash were all members of famous 1960s bands before linking up as a trio. Crosby was a member of The Byrds, fired when his countercultural songs like ‘Triad’ were rejected by the group. Nash…
Famously, The Monkees started as a band created for a TV show – they were sometimes referred to as the Prefab Four. But as their career progressed, they asserted more influence over their career. On their third album, Headquarters, The…
Before she released her record-breaking solo album Tapestry in 1971, Carole King had already enjoyed a prolific musical career. She’d inspired Neil Sedaka’s ‘Oh! Carol’ and written a hit song for her daughters’ babysitter (Little Eva’s ‘Loco-motion’). The 1960s hits…
The Zombies get lost in the shuffle of British invasion bands. But despite their small catalogue, they’re one of the most accomplished bands to emerge from the scene. They’re mostly remembered for the album Odessey and Oracle and the singles…
1960s New York band The Velvet Underground have been cited as an influence by a legion of followers. Even if the ground rules of the rock album as an art form had been largely written by the time the Velvets’ debut…
Birmingham band The Moody Blues have one of the most misleading names in popular music. It fit to start with – their early repertoire was based on American blues, and their cover of Bessie Banks’ ‘Go Now’ topped the UK…
Congratulations to Rich “Taxman” Kamerman, who squeaked out the fastest time in last weeks 1960s quiz. There were lots of contestants who were very close on his tail. With apologies to younger readers, we’re staying in the 1960s for another…
Los Angeles teenagers Randy Wolfe, bassist Mark Andes, and vocalist Jay Ferguson formed The Red Roosters in the mid-1960s. The band was put on hiatus when Wolfe’s step-father Ed Cassidy moved the family to New York in search of work.…
We had another tie last week with the quickfire Tic-Tac-Toe quiz. Tony and Geoff both solved the puzzle with 2:13 remaining. This week you need to complete the 1960s song title with a picture. It’s fun and creative. I…
Simon and Garfunkel met as teenagers in a school play, where Simon played the White Rabbit and Garfunkel the Cheshire Cat. The pair initially tried to break into the music industry as Tom and Jerry, playing Everly Brothers inspired teeny…
It’s widely acknowledged that The Rolling Stones hit their peak between 1968 and 1972 – right now I’m covering those albums, and a few later highlights, as my Top Rated Albums list feels incomplete without them. I’ll come back and…
New York’s Laura Nyro wrote a batch of hit songs in the late 1960s, and is an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her confessional songs foreshadowed the singer-songwriter movement of the early 1970s. Prestigious artists like…
Aretha Franklin was the Queen of Soul and, according to Barack Obama, “helped define the American experience”. Success, however, didn’t happen overnight – when she delighted the mainstream in 1967 with her cover of Otis Redding’s ‘Respect’, she’d already recorded…
Fairport Convention are the focal point for British folk-rock of their generation. While they started their career as a sixties folk-rock band, like a London equivalent to Jefferson Airplane, they started wading through the archives of British folk songs and…
Robert Zimmerman was born in Minnesota in 1941, renaming himself Bob Dylan after Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Dylan started his musical career dabbling in rock and roll, and saw Buddy Holly perform three days before Holly’s death. He shifted his…
I was a teenager during the 1990s but I never went through a rebellious phase. While my cooler peers listened to Nirvana and Green Day, I was absorbed in retro mainstream artists like Paul Simon, Billy Joel, and Neil Diamond.…
1969 and 1970 were flagship years for rock music, with most major 1960s acts still releasing albums, and exciting new acts that would dominate the 1970s emerging. But perhaps the best performing band in this micro-era was a four-piece band from…
Gene Clark achieved fame and success as an early member of The Byrds. As a solo artist, however, he only achieved cult status. Hampered by anxiety, a fear of flying, and alcohol and drug abuse, he received critical acclaim but…
The Byrds started as a folk band, but their cover of Bob Dylan‘s ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ crystallised their distinctive sound, with Roger McGuinn’s ringing twelve-string guitar and the group’s gorgeous harmonies. The ornate yet organic sound with Dylan’s intricate lyrics proved…
From very early in their career and probably until the demise of Western civilization, Liverpool’s The Beatles will stand unchallenged as the world’s greatest rock and roll band. They emerged after a lull in rock music; Buddy Holly died in…
The 1960s were a great time for popular music. The development of recording technology allowed new sounds, and the decade saw the rise of Motown, the British Invasion, and psychedelia. Major artists like Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and The Rolling…
The Beach Boys emerged from Hawthorne California, with Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, along with their cousin Mike Love. Their first top ten hit was ‘Surfin’ USA’, derived from Chuck Berry’s ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’, but the group’s ornate harmonies oozed…
The Band started as The Hawks, backing blues belter Ronnie Hawkins before supporting Bob Dylan on his controversial 1966 electric tour. After the tour, The Band went to earth with Dylan and recorded the Basement Tapes. There they developed their…
Congratulations to Rich Kamerman, on the moon this week with a high score of 17/20 in the Today I Learned quiz. This week you need to follow the lyrics in iconic 1960s songs. It should be pretty easy for most…
The Beach Boys spent the first half of the 1960s becoming more sophisticated. Under the leadership of Brian Wilson, they grew from emulating Chuck Berry on ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.’ to creating masterpieces like Pet Sounds. When Brian Wilson’s mental health suffered…
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel met in 1953 when they appeared in their school’s production of Alice in Wonderland – Simon played the White Rabbit and Garfunkel the Cheshire Cat. Learning to harmonise together, they released their first single, ‘Hey…
Before he became Patti Smith’s lead guitarist, Lenny Kaye compiled the 2 album set, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. Released in 1972, the two-LP set covered American garage rock and psychedelia from the years from 1965-1968, and…
Before he became Patti Smith’s lead guitarist, Lenny Kaye compiled the 2 album set, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. Released in 1972, the two-LP set covered American garage rock and psychedelia from the years from 1965-1968, and…
By the time Jimi Hendrix released debut album Are You Experienced?, he certainly was experienced. After a stint in the army, training as a paratrooper, he played with the Isley Brothers, Little Richard, and his own band Jimmy James and…
Last week’s debut quiz was pretty straightforward, and no-one got more than one question wrong. Bruce from Vinyl Connection powered through the quiz the fastest – comfortable in the 1970s (and with compatriot Olivia Newton-John included), Bruce completed the quiz…
Emerging in the late 1960s from Los Angeles, Spirit were an odd band even by the standards of an era when rock was in its infancy and genre rules hadn’t yet ossified. Spirit’s members ranged in age from 16 to…
Aretha Franklin was the Queen of Soul, a powerhouse vocalist and a talented pianist. Growing up in the Church, her music was always steeped in gospel. She delivered hits for a long period of time; her first R&B chart topper…
Scott Walker is one long-time favourite artist who I’ve barely mentioned on this site (edit – I have now). Born Noel Scott Engel, in Ohio, he moved to London and fronted vocal heartthrob group The Walker Brothers. When the trio…
There was a lot of great pop music in the 1960s, and Birmingham psychedelic rock band The Move are overlooked among the rush. They never made an impression in the US where the band they morphed into, Electric Light Orchestra,…
Arnold Dorsey struggled to break into the music industry until he was advised to adopt a more interesting stage name. Dorsey took the name Engelbert Humperdinck from the German composer of Hansel and Gretel. Already in his early thirties, the…
Universally beloved soul singer Bill Withers passed away this week. He came from the small coal mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, and spent his early career in the Navy. His career as a professional musician was notably short…
The Kinks formed in Muswell Hill, London, in 1964. They launched their career with hard-driving rock and roll like ‘You Really Got Me’ and ‘All Day and All of the Night’, songs that are considered as landmarks in the development…
The Velvet Underground began as a collaboration between frustrated songwriter Lou Reed and classically trained John Cale. Cale had worked with experimental composers John Cage and LaMonte Young, and Reed’s interest in alternative guitar tunings and drone notes provided common…
Neil Young first rose to prominence in 1960s folk-rock group Buffalo Springfield, playing lead guitar on their breakthrough hit ‘For What It’s Worth’ and writing ‘Mr Soul’ and ‘Broken Arrow’. Young’s Buffalo Springfield work isn’t his earliest recorded legacy –…
Bassist Ashley Hutchings and rhythm guitarist Simon Nicol formed Fairport Convention in 1967. They named the band after Nicol’s father’s medical practice, above which they rehearsed, on the same Muswell street as the Davies brothers of The Kinks grew up.…
Little Richard emerged in the first wave of rock and roll in the 1950s, with hits like ‘Tutti Frutti’ and ‘Long Tall Sally’. He and his contemporaries lost steam by the late 1950s; Elvis joined the army, Buddy Holly perished…
Background Californian folk-rock band The Byrds enjoyed immediate success in 1965 with their first single, a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr Tambourine Man’. The song was a watershed moment in pop music – combining Dylan’s poetic, creative lyrics with Roger…
Rock and roll launched in the 1950s, but in the 1960s the rock LP as an art form came into its own. Artists like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and The Beach Boys are perennial favourites on greatest albums of all…
In 1967, The Rolling Stones followed The Beatles into baroque psychedelia. While the resulting album, Their Satanic Majesties Request, has its admirers, the band were quick to abandon the summer of love, toughening their sound for the blues-rock of 1968’s…
Adult contemporary superstar and Hebrew Hunk Neil Diamond is a fascinating figure to me. His music is an uncomfortable blend of Brill Building pop, gospel, and confessional writing, like he can’t make up his mind whether he wants to be…
In hindsight, The Flirtations’ best known song, ‘Nothing But A Heartache’, sounds like a girl group classic from the early 1960s. It’s a terrific piece, with a pounding back-beat and a strident lead vocal punctuated by horns. But at the…
The Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There is a fascinating film, portraying different aspects of Dylan using six different actors, including a woman; Cate Blanchett steals the show with her portrayal of Bob Dylan’s twitchy peak in the mid-1960s. I…
Bob Dylan needs no introduction – he’s one of the key figures in rock music. He helped to define the genre as it matured, especially as a lyricist. He broadened the scope of rock lyrics, utilising both social issues and…
For this b-side series, I’m only counting material that wasn’t released on studio albums. For instance, ‘Black Water’ by The Doobie Brothers became a #1 single, after its original release as a b-side, but it was also included on the…
The early Byrds albums are best known for their cover versions – their take on Dylan’s ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ launched their career, while their second album was named for Pete Seeger’s biblical ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ While Roger McGuinn, David Crosby,…
It’s difficult to not pick favourite members in a band like The Moody Blues; during their “Core Seven” albums, between 1967 and 1972, all five members wrote and sang (or in drummer Graeme Edge’s case, recited) their own material. I’ve…
Congratulations to jprobichaud and Tony, who both top scored 14/15 in last week’s quiz. This week’s challenge is a rare single artist quiz, where you need to name 24 Rolling Stones albums. I scored 21/24, although I was confused by one…
Buffalo Springfield were a short-lived, but fascinating band. It’s easy to draw parallels with The Byrds. Both were 1960s Californian folk rock bands, with volatile lineups, who spawned many notable spinoffs. Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay of Poco, and…
Amazingly, for a band divided into factions since the mid-1960s, it took until 1977 for a solo album to emerge from any of the original Beach Boys. Dennis Wilson’s lush, romantic Pacific Ocean Blue sold comparatively to The Beach Boys’ Love…
Congratulations to Rich (), who scored the only 100% in last week’s quiz. This week’s quiz requires you to complete famous lines from Beatles’ songs. I scored 28/28 – can you join me on 100%?
In late 1964, Brian Wilson quit touring with The Beach Boys so that he could focus on composing and arranging their records. His replacement for the first few months, covering his bass and falsetto, was the talented Glen Campbell. Campbell…
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel started their recording career as Tom & Jerry in 1957, making teen-oriented Everly Brothers style pop. After a temporary split, they re-branded as Simon & Garfunkel, an earnest folk duo. Their debut album, 1964’s Wednesday Morning,…
One of my favourite books is The Rolling Stone Rock ‘n’ Roll Reader, a collection of Rolling Stone articles and interviews from the late 1960s and early 1970s. It captures a point when the magazine, and rock music as a…
Between 1967 and 1972, Birmingham’s The Moody Blues released seven studio albums, commonly referred to as the core seven. They stayed in step with the times, transitioning from richly orchestrated psychedelic pop to more stripped-down albums in the 1970s. At…
The Moody Blues started their career as an R&B band, enjoying a hit with ‘Go Now’, fronted by future Wings member Denny Laine, in 1965. But after Laine left and Justin Hayward and John Lodge joined, the band found a…
For all the great music that The Beatles made, my favourite two albums from the Liverpool quartet are their mid career peaks of Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Both capture the band at a point where they’d…
