I started looking over some old music lists from the 60’s, with a goal of doing a best of list from that decade. For some reason, I clicked on the year 1967 first. Holy cow! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw all the great music that was on the charts that year. And I don’t mean a couple huge songs and then some smaller ones. I mean, top to bottom that year was an amazing year. The fifteen songs I listed was really the tip of the iceberg.
The list of groups and artists that had hits that year is like a stroll down the rock hall of fame. The Stones, The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, The Monkees…just crazy. The list of people I left off the list is just as amazing. Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, The 5th Dimension, Simon and Garfunkle. And we are talking the major hits of these groups as well, not B-Sides. I could do two lists with the charts from 1969, and still have some left over. I wonder how in the hell in 40 short years we went from this much great music to a situation like we are in now. Amazing how drastically things have changed.
- Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl
- Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze
- The Who - Happy Jack
- The Beatles - Strawberry fields
- Doors - Light My Fire
- The Monkees - Steppin Stone
- The Who - I Can See For Miles
- Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense and Peppermints
- Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
- Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale
- The Monkees - Pleasant Valley Sunday
- Spencer Davis Group - I’m A Man
- The Doors - People are strange
- Sam and Dave - Soul Man
- The Rolling Stones - Ruby Tuesday
5 responses so far ↓
1 ajani // Oct 4, 2007 at 2:11 pm
for me as well the 60s were the golden age of music; there was so much creativity; so much hope. i really appreciate what you are doing.the music u post brings back some wonderful memories- mostly, because some of my friends were going to Nam during this period. thanks brings
2 Infonistacrat // Oct 4, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Yeah, I was in the Gulf War in 90, and I have some music that takes me back to that. My nephew is in Iraq right now, and gets back this month I hope, so I can’t wait to ask what he listened to there.
3 Wilbau // Oct 4, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Well, nice you care about the music from then. However there was great music that wasn’t in the charts. Remember the early Bob Dylan, Vanilla Fudge, Moondog, Incredible String Band and legions of others. The spirit of the NewPort Festival. The Folk Scene. All mostly forgotten.
4 Infonistacrat // Oct 4, 2007 at 4:23 pm
I agree. There were SO many artists that charted that year I left off…it was like walking into the Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
5 The Fourth Bardo // Oct 5, 2007 at 5:36 pm
1967 was an exceptional year for music & culture,some great albums-Forever Changes-Love,The Velvet Underground & Nico,Sergeant Pepper-The Beatles,Are You Experienced-Jimi Hendrix,Piper At The Gates Of Dawn-The Pink Floyd among them.Also things such as Vietnam,The Monterey Festival,The Stones drug bust ,& the subsequent railling against society for the heavy handed way they were treated,the first round the world satellite broadcast that The Beatles appeared on…the list is endless.
An interesting guage for what a quantum leap 1967 was is to think about what life was like 5 years before 1967 (ie 1962),and then think about 5 years ago from now -2002. We hardly seemed to have moved on from then ,but that same time-span in the ’60’s was immense!
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