So begins an ambitious ten-part project reflecting on the best that popular music had to offer in the last fifty years. Each part will present a list of the one hundred best songs or albums that five separate decades had to offer, culminating with the best of this decade at the end of the year (so, roughly one list per month until 2010). I’ll start with the best songs of the 1960s, and work my way ahead through time during the remainder of the year.
In order to keep things a bit more fair and eclectic, I have enforced the rule that no individual artist/group may have more than five entries in the song lists (though there will be no such restriction in the album lists). While prepping this 60s list, I realized that having about twenty Beatles songs would become a bit monotonous; plus, it knocked off too many other great tracks notable enough to get the honor. If that’s an unfair compromise against keeping things as honest as possible, I’m willing to sacrifice integrity in favor of a wider celebration.
Besides, as future lists will also attest, it ain’t easy narrowing down a hundred favorites from an enormous ten-year span. As is, plenty of deserving entries had to be clipped off and left to gather dust in “close-but-no-cigar” territory. Among those that tragically missed the cut are (in alphabetical order): "At Last," Blue Cheer, "Boom Boom," Tim Buckley, Solomon Burke, the Byrds, Glen Campbell, Ray Charles, the Crystals, Miles Davis, Nick Drake, Marvin Gaye, "Gloria," Merle Haggard, Herbie Hancock, "Hang on Sloopy," the Impressions, "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida," "I Want You Back," "Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)," Charles Mingus, the Miracles, "Misirlou," "Moulty," "Nights in White Satin," Roy Orbison, "Runaway," the Shangri-Las, Nina Simone, Scott Walker, "Wild Thing," "Wooly Bully," the Yardbirds and more. And that only represents artists and songs that had no correlating winners in the list to come. I’m sure you can tell already how arduous it was to make some of these decisions.
So for all music aficionados out there (and anyone else, for that matter), please enjoy a look back at the best songs that the 1960s had to offer (at least, in my mind). Share your own favorites, if you like. This is, after all, a celebration of fifty years of great music.
100. Up on Cripple Creek
by the Band
from The Band
1969 / Folk
Garth Hudson used a wah-wah pedal with his clavinet on this track and he made it sound like the bass burps of Parliament. What, no room for funk in a folk rock song? Listen to "Up on Cripple Creek" again and try telling that to the relentless-yet-laidback groove. The tale is typical of the Band, all alcoholism, melancholy and southern American myth, but it's the liquid beat that gets you in full swing every time.
99. Son of a Preacher Man
by Dusty Springfield
from Dusty in Memphis
1968 / Soul
There's the famous 3/3 note opening, the fabulous horn riff that followed suit, the subdued but slow-burn drum beat...but this song isn't sold by the melody. Instead, it's Springfield's tremulous but inviting warble, sung like a naïf that still can’t help but lick her lips just thinking about Billy Ray. The Queen of Soul covered this one a couple years later but failed to top Springfield's vocal performance; proof enough about how everything aligned perfectly on this one.
98. Uptight (Everything's Alright)
by Stevie Wonder
from Up-Tight
1966 / Soul
He was only fifteen, but Stevie Wonder was on his sixth record by the time he finally hit it big with "Uptight"—lucky him, since Motown was quickly running out of patience. Thanks to a joyous performance and the huge horn fanfare, it's far too giddy to dislike. While Stevie would have better songs ahead of him, he never gave us a more infectious and upbeat hit.
97. Shotgun
by Junior Walker & the All Stars
from Shotgun
1965 / Soul
The shotgun explosion that opens this cut is like a crack of thunder hitting a tin roof. Of course, it's Walker's gutbucket saxophone (particularly at both ends) that fills your mind, but the organ-like keyboard stinger serves as the best hook, the answer to each refrain cry. This was his first hit single and remains almost inarguably his finest and most well-known.
96. Happy Together
by the Turtles
from Happy Together
1967 / Pop
This song shouldn't be on the list. I know that, you know that. The lyrics are unimaginative saccharine. And it's so wispy in comparison to the era's thoughtful reflections on social upheaval and war sickness that it might as well just be called a ditty instead of a true song. But then you listen to it. The steady beat gets you tapping your toes. Then the chorus bursts forth in all of its Technicolor glory. And it wins. 
95. Mister Pleasant
by The Kinks
from the Mister Pleasant single
1967 / Pop
With tinkling keys, big brass horns, a traditional jazz arrangement and the bounciest beat this side of polka pop, "Mr. Pleasant" is one of the Kinks' more underappreciated classics. It's basically a sequel cum remake of "A Well Respected Man," but this one tops its inspiration handily. Its merry melody may disguise a wrier message, but it's impossible not to be swept up by its stage show delights. 
94. It's the Same Old Song
by the Four Tops
from Four Tops' Second Album
1965 / Soul
The singers get all the credit, and it's deserved, but what made the Four Tops one of Motown's greats were those irresistible tunes. That groove won't suffer fools who can't get down to it (thanks, Funk Brothers). But not to be outdone, the Tops do an amazing thing—when that fat little refrain comes on, the music hardly changes at all, but Levi Stubbs' vocal tone leans forward and becomes its own percussive force, hammering home every sweet sound.
93. Touch Me
by the Doors
from The Soft Parade
1969 / Rock
The Doors probably had better songs that should have made the list instead ("The End," "Break on Through," "People Are Strange"), but "Touch Me" was such an unexpected treat that ignoring it would have been a crime. Not only was it a beacon on the mostly underwhelming Soft Parade album, but it was a fabulous pop song bursting at the seams with dizzying energy, a rarity for these acid rockers. Those horns make this one soar.
92. Beyond the Sea
by Bobby Darin
from the Beyond the Sea single
1960 / Big Band
The last of Darin's generation-spanning hits, "Beyond the Sea" has mostly been kept alive by frequent use in all sorts of media (even video games). The song was adapted from a 1940s French song with entirely new words, and got a treatment by several big names, including Benny Goodman, but the song remains his. The lyrics are wistful and romantic and Darin's performance remains on that note throughout no matter what the band's up to. The farewell fade is fitting; even though he'd act in films and keep recording for a decade more, he'd never top this moment.
91. Nowhere to Run
by Martha & the Vandellas
from Dance Party
1965 / Soul
Although adopted by Vietnam soldiers as alternately a cynical grand statement and a brazen war cry, "Nowhere to Run"'s roots lies in a bad relationship that you can't get out of. But while Martha Reeves sings with a distinct weariness, the Funk Brothers piled on their big sound, loading up the track with enough brass and tambourine claps to fill up ever cranny in whatever room it's being blasted. Hitsville USA strikes again.
90. For What It's Worth
by Buffalo Springfield
from Buffalo Springfield
1967 / Folk
Oft-associated with the Vietnam War, Civil Rights and the Kent State shooting, "For What It's Worth" was actually written about a lesser subject: growing tensions between club-goers and the police at an L.A. venue. But thanks to the famous eerie chime and uncomplicated but thought-provoking lyrics, it can serve almost any topic to good effect. The band is better known as a springboard for future stars; their legacy may be unfairly shoehorned towards just this one song, but there are far worse things to be remembered for.
89. I Can See for Miles
by the Who
from The Who Sell Out
1967 / Rock
It may surprise some to know that "I Can See for Miles" is the only Who song to crack the Top 10 in the U.S. (and just barely, at that), which says a little about the Billboard charts and a lot about American musical tastes. Nevertheless, this is one of the songs that signaled their coming shift from mod rockers and proto-punks to a complete and uber-ambitious outfit of rock royalty. Everything's bigger, more spacious and complex, but despite the rich vocal harmonies and Pete Townshend's huge, wailing guitar, it's Keith Moon's tom evisceration during the chorus that kicks your ass.
88. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
by Bob Dylan
from Blonde on Blonde
1966 / Folk
Most prefer "Visions of Johanna," but Blonde on Blonde's most memorable epic will always be "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again." Like many Dylan tracks of the era, it's less about meaning than it is about imagery—a series of distracted anecdotes tied up with a refrain plea—and few songs make you feel as helpless, trapped and displaced as this one. Dylan's typically a guitar & harmonica man, but the organ and percussion is what helps make this one unforgettable.
87. Shangri-La
by the Kinks
from Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
1969 / Rock
A common theme in Ray Davies' songwriting is sardonic irony, a rather unique method during an era where most musicians were only concerned with free love and good drugs. The Kinks were no strangers to sadsack storytelling, and despite the fact that they were very British, there's a universal appeal to stories well-told set to a wonderful tune that begins so sweet and spare and winds up at a climax as enormous and other-worldly as the title would suggest.
86. Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love In)
by the Chocolate Watchband
from No Way Out
1967 / Rock
You might think you've stumbled upon some long lost Rolling Stones track, but no, you've just discovered the Chocolate Watchband. Constant lineup changes ensured that the band wouldn't last long, but "Are You Gonna Be There" remains a bluesy garage rock fireball deserving of more fame. Also like the Stones, Mark Loomis and David Aguilar competed for attention as lead guitarist and vocalist; both were gone mere months after recording this ragged classic.
85. White Rabbit
by Jefferson Airplane
from Surrealistic Pillow
1967 / Rock
If you need a musical cue to show a character first testing a mind-altering drug, you go to "White Rabbit." But its imagery is kinda goofy for my taste and the Alice references are awfully obvious. Why this song storms your mind is the martial drums, the building volume, the sneaky guitar and Grace Slick's wavering vocal performance that suggests the terror, icy authority and confusion of a portentous storyteller. Remember: there was a brief time when she actually was a viable and valuable singer.
84. So Long, Marianne
by Leonard Cohen
from Songs of Leonard Cohen
1968 / Folk
There's a lot of sadness and joy in "So Long, Marianne," one of Cohen's finest. The strings might make the song seem otherworldly but the acoustic guitar holds it against the earth. It may be a fragile recording that teeters between chuckling and breaking, but there's a force in the singer/songwriter’s emotive voice that suggests that no matter how tortured he is in weighing the options at hand, it's the consideration and not the choice that matters most.
83. I'm a Boy
by the Who
from the I'm a Boy single
1966 / Rock
Scheduled to be part of a rock opera called Quads (no relation to Quadrophenia), "I'm a Boy" is sci-fi whittled down to specifics. Some could relate to the troublesome habit of certain parents raising their kids as the opposite gender because they either wanted a child of different sex or just didn't know any better. It's also a great example of the Who's power pop perfection, merging pretty harmonies and catchy melodies with tough steel guitar scratches and Keith Moon's frenzied cymbal crashes.
82. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
by the Animals
from the Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood single
1965 / Rock
The electric guitar and organ riff is so fabulous that you could listen to it on repeat for an hour and not get tired of it. Speeding up the tempo was indeed the Animals' masterstroke, since it was originally a hit for Nina Simone, and she did a great job with it. But Eric Burdon's deep voice gave it an entirely different soul/R&B quality, making it a smoky stroke of genius. Besides, I'd be remiss to not find room on the list for Burdon and his garage rock legends (but then, where the hell is Nina?).
81. Louie Louie
by the Kingsmen
from The Kingsmen in Person
1963 / Rock
The song had been around for many years before the Kingsmen had a go at it, but thanks to paranoia about obscenity and a wonderfully sloppy and raucous performance, it belongs to the Kingsmen. Forever associated with drunken sing-alongs, it's meant to be slurred and spat out in a state of, um, lower consciousness. It also inspired Ray Davies to write the Kinks' best song when he has fooling around with the track's chords (to say nothing for the Troggs' very similar "Wild Thing").
List continues on next page.
