Pitchfork has published a rambling list of the "200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s," beginning with the Kinks' "Sunny Afternoon" at 200 and the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" at #1 (presumably -- the final 20 aren't numbered). It's an interesting list because it's in a British publication, and these songs were chosen (and reviewed very earnestly) by young rock critics, most if not all I bet who weren't even born when the '60s closed out with Altamont and a few months later, Kent State.
I haven't read all the reviews of the songs yet, but the list is a statement of today's musical measure. Sure, nobody would argue with the inclusion of most of the songs. A classic song of the era would be hard to leave out. But only from today's rock-crit perspective does Sam Cooke's powerful 1964 ode to the civil rights movement, "A Change Is Gonna Come," rank as #3 on a list like this, just behind the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" and just ahead of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." Cooke recorded the song in 1963 after hearing Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," and although it's a moving lyric and performance, it didn't fit in with Cooke's track record of pop-gospel soul music. He was killed in December of '64 and RCA released the track, which barely grazed the Top 40 and disappeared into pop oblivion, to be resurrected by nerdy critics like me, and these Brits today.
And only through a British filiter does Desmond Dekker and the Aces, a one-hit wonder on the U.S. pop charts, rate a #10 spot with their terrific 1969 song "Israelites," an early reggae track about the tribulations of the working man in Jamaica. I love the song (and have it shuffling through my iPod) but I'm not sure it would end up in my top 10 of the decade.
Some other nerd choices: Leonard Cohen's "So Long Marianne," MC5's "Kick Out the Jams," 13th Floor Elevators' "You're Gonna Miss Me." And for Anglophiles (or if you're across the pond from where I'm sitting), there are a handful of songs on the list that yo know that I don't.
For a confirmed nostalgic guy, I'm oddly unmoved at scrolling through the list. It certainly wasn't my experience of the '60s, and even though I'm a former rock critic, I find some of the sanctimoniousness of the writing to be tedious and too smartypants. Yikes... I used to write like that!
But it's still worth a look to compare mental notes and maybe see if some of the songs I haven't thought of in a long time are available on iTunes. Ah, modern times. The past is at our fingertips, just a click away.
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Comments: 18
You had to be there....
This is what happens with history all the time. New generations look at it from different perspectives.
I've made this a Feature in The Sixties. VERY important ARTICLE. Thanks !
http://nikkeiview.com/nv/archives98.htm#anchor1995518
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976802594
How many Beatles and Doors songs are on the list. I remember when the Beatlts owned the top ten, I wasn't even ten.
As for "Turning Japanese" (which by the way is a pretty racist song, even if it is catchy, The Vapors were an English new wave band,a two-hit wonder. The song and its video were popular in the early '80s.
I like new stuff too, and listen to all sorts of music now. But those songs form my childhood have a different place in my psyche....
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976800641
Cheers!
It becomes so intertwined in our lives, only a few notes of a song can bring back a flood of memories!
And, Maggie...you bring up a very good point about music and its context.
Living it, remembering it, makes hearing it again richer, fuller. I remember one resident in the Alzheimer's unit I worked in awhile back saying the same thing, listening to music from the '30's..."You had to have been there".
What future generations have to say about that music is interesting as it shows their understanding of history.
I wonder how we would view Beethhoven and his music if we had been there?