Here is a list from Pitchfork; the Beach Boys’ "God Only Knows" takes first place. The selections are excellent (head to iTunes), but I would have opted for the Beatles’ "Rain" and the Byrds’ "Eight Miles High." You’ll find links to their top 200 picks as well.
Daniel Levitin’s This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession — is a new book on how music affects our brains. Here is an introduction to the book.
Addendum: Here is an interview with Levitin.
For me, better than music of the 1960s is the music the 1960s inspired.
For example:
Brian Jonestown Massacre
The Warlocks
Dead Meadow
The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
The Kills
The Out Crowd
Ranking songs is like ranking foods. It seems like it’s all tastes. What’s the “measuring stick” for the “best” songs?
If I said I liked Abbey Road better than Sgt. Pepper, we could all bicker until we’re blue in the face, we won’t get anywhere. I don’t mean to discourage discussion, but it’s kind of silly.
“If I said I liked Abbey Road better than Sgt. Pepper, we could all bicker until we’re blue in the face, we won’t get anywhere.”
This is plain false! Arguing about music is precisely how you get somewhere. An articulate and passionate friend with different tastes can help you appreciate bands and songs you never fully “got” before. Also, there quite often a fact of the matter about which of two albums or songs is better. Sometimes it is obvious. Sometimes it is obvious only after you lose an argument about it.
What I would like to see is a “History of the Greatest Songs of the 1960s”. It would be a longitudinal study of Greatest-Songs-of-the-1960s lists, generated over the years.
It would start with the actual 1960s (ranked by sales and playtime), then compile Greatest of the 1960s lists, compiled in the 1970s, 1980s, etc.
I would imagine that 1970s and 1980s lists would be more Beatles/Stones/Who dominated, with more Motown sneaking in from the 1980s to the present, more Country Music (Johnny Cash) in the 1990s and 2000s lists, and more “Other” (reggae, religious, etc.) in more modern lists.
1. Stand By Me – This is as beautiful a song as you can imagine, song by Ben
E King.
2. Sounds of Silence – 1964 version. I don’t know why this is considered
overrated. The lyrics from the S and G are assume.
3. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? – Chicago’s first album rocks.
4. I Am A Walrus – This is my favorite Beatles song. It is brilliant.
5. Song, Sung, Blue – This Neil Diamond song is very catchy.
6. For What’s It Worth – Buffalo Springfield.
7. God Only Knows – The Beach Boys
8. My Girl – The Temptations.
9. You Can’t Always Get What You Want – The Rolling Stones
10. What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? – David Rifkin (Temptations)
Perhaps economists are more like rock songs than I thought.
March round selma
negro spirituals.com/news-song/
nonsensical sandwich party
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