1960s Music

Young Mick

In my high school in the 80s a lot of the kids were poseurs and affected this thing for the 60s and wore tie-dyes and shit like that so, except for this thing for The Doors in 9th grade, I sort of ignored 1960s music for a long time. My sister was also a know-it-all product of the 60s and that sort of automatically made me not want to deal with it because she would always be correcting me and stuff.

Anyway, later in life I came to respect the 60s and feel a sense of nostalgia for a time I never experienced if that is even possible. I can't even imagine what it was like to have this new kind of music at your disposal at the time. It must have been so synonamous with being young and so perfectly attuned to the social changes going on. Listening to contemporary music must have felt like a rebellion in and of itself.

There's nothing like that today. Kids and their parents listen to the same music. What do kids do to rebel?

Anyway, back to the 60s. I think it all started with The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Motown and Bob Dylan and they all sort of begat all the other acts. The Kinks. The Rolling Stones. The Animals. The Byrds. The Lovin' Spoonful. The Mamas and The Papas. The Four Seasons. Burt Bacharach and Hal David's arrangements for Dionne Warwick. The Doors. Ike and Tina Turner.

There are so many more. I feel like I could explore 60s music for years and never reach the end of my interest. So many of these bands and songs are classics, but it's more than that: I think that this music is so linked with the political and social events of the 60s that you can't help but see a kaleidoscope of images when you listen: JFK, MLK, RFK, Watts Riots, Vietnam, LBJ, etc., and that is what makes it so moving to me.

5 60s Songs I just downloaded:

Heatwave-Martha and the Vandellas
Satisfaction-The Stones
God Only Knows-The Beach Boys
Anyone Who Had a Heart-Dionne Warwick
We Gotta Get Out of This Place-The Animals