1966

These 60s mixes really make themselves, don't they? Start a mix with "Paint it Black" and end it with "Good Vibrations" and you can pretty much put the whole debut by She Wants Revenge in between it and still come out with an amazing mix. Not to compare "I Hear a Symphony," "These Boots Are Made for Walking," "River Deep Mountain High," and "Sunny Afternoon" to modern dreck. This is mostly soul and garage rock, with some great tracks from a couple lesser knowns like the 13th Floor Elevators, The Outsiders, Sam and Dave, and The Beatles. Some people like "Paperback Writer," I like "Rain," one of the first commercial records to feature music being played backwards.

The most difficult choice here was to exclude all of Pet Sounds. "Good Vibrations" was released the same year, and although it was included on Smiley Smile, the song was already huge in '66, so it wouldn't make much sense to include it in later years. As far as I'm concerned, it's the best Beach Boys single, beating both "God Only Knows" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice," which is saying a lot.

These picks are all pretty straightforward, and as you may have noticed there are 26 of them. As we go farther back in the decade, fewer and fewer songs were intended to fit on anything that could hold a song longer than about three and a half minutes, so very few songs (unless they were jazz) top that maximum. Where some mixes in the 90s were sixteen songs long, a couple mixes are 28 or 29 songs, which is great because I get to include more songs, but also more difficult because once you get back into the early 60s, there isn't as much that has lasted. I did my best to represent those years, but we'll get to that later. For now, here's 66 in all its glory. Enjoy.

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1. Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones - 3:45
2. You're Gonna Miss Me - 13th Floor Elevators - 2:28
3. This Old Heart of Mine - Isley Brothers - 2:46
4. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) - Marvin Gaye - 3:02
5. I Hear A Symphony - Diana Ross & The Supremes - 2:41
6. Knock On Wood - Eddie Floyd - 3:03
7. Psychotic Reaction - Count Five - 3:07
8. Time Won't Let Me - The Outsiders - 3:02
9. 96 Tears - ? And the Mysterians - 2:57
10. Walk Away Renee - Left Banke - 2:42
11. I'm a Believer - The Monkees - 2:46
12. These Boots Are Made for Walking - Nancy Sinatra - 2:46
13. Aint Too Proud To Beg - Temptations - 2:34
14. Hold On, I'm Coming - Sam And Dave - 2:38
15. You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Dusty Springfield - 2:50
16. Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind) - Loretta Lynn - 2:08
17. When A Man Loves A Woman - Percy Sledge - 2:55
18. Just Like a Woman - Bob Dylan - 4:54
19. River Deep, Mountain High - Tina Turner - 3:37
20. I'll Be There - Four Tops - 2:59
21. Summer in the City - Lovin Spoonful - 2:40
22. I Fought the Law - Bobby Fuller Four - 2:17
23. Eight Miles High - The Byrds - 3:37
24. Sunny Afternoon - The Kinks - 3:31
25. Rain - The Beatles - 2:59
26. Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys - 3:39