1969
There has been a recent movement in Popular Music Criticism away from the focus on the 1950s and 60s as the birth of pop. It's a pretty legitimate argument, yet it (I think/hope unintentionally) risks forcing people to the polar opposite of what has been thought forever: before the Beatles and Motown, there was nothing. This is, of course, not true, but the idea that the Beatles and Motown changed nothing is equally misinformed (of course, just as misinformed as the notion that the Beatles and Motown were all that mattered in the 60s).
So as I post these, quite honestly, fucking awesome mixes from the 1960s, keep in mind that music was excellent before this, and it has been excellent since. Then ignore that and be totally floored by the wide-ranging brilliance of the pinnacle of popular music that is the late 60s.
There is not one single afterthought on this exactly 80-minute mix. Every song here is spectacular, and every song is important for its own reasons. Beatles and late (but still great) Supremes are there, but so are the Stooges, The Kinks, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Stevie Wonder, Simon and Garfunkel, and even Frank Sinatra.
I included the single version of Isaac Hayes 12 minute epic cover of "Walk On By" that has been sampled by Portishead and Wu Tang for two equally amazing classics. I also placed "Time of the Season" on 1969's mix: even though the record was released in 68, the song didn't hit big until 69. Gospel makes its only appearance here, with the Edwin Hawkins Singers singing "Oh Happy Day," really the only big Gospel song during the modern era.
Damn, Dusty Springfield, David Bowie, Sly and the Family Stone, and one of the best Stones songs ever to top it off. How can you not love the 60s?
Download here.
1. I Wanna Be Your Dog - The Stooges - 3:12
2. Walk On By - Isaac Hayes - 4:34
3. Hot Fun In The Summertime - Sly and the Family Stone - 3:03
4. Someday We'll Be Together - The Supremes - 3:28
5. The Ballad of John and Yoko - The Beatles - 2:59
6. Victoria - The Kinks - 3:39
7. Space Oddity - David Bowie - 5:08
8. Whipping Post - The Allman Brothers Band - 5:19
9. Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival - 2:19
10. Build Me Up - The Foundations - 2:59
11. Suite Judy Blue Eyes - Crosby Stills Nash and Young - 7:28
12. My Cherie Amour - Stevie Wonder - 2:51
13. Son Of A Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield - 2:29
14. Time Of The Season - Zombies - 3:34
15. The Boxer - Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel - 5:10
16. Je T'aime Moi Non Plus - Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg - 4:17
17. My Way - Frank Sinatra - 4:37
18. Oh Happy Day - Edwin Hawkins Singers - 5:27
19. You Can't Always Get What You Want - The Rolling Stones - 7:27
posted by bza @ 6/02/2006
1 Comments:
I think a lot of that is the nostalgia bug that radio stations catch when they play "old time" music.
I'll be talking about this subject a lot more, but I guess I brought it up now because I've been thinking about why I am only going back to 1960, and there are a ton of reasons why that is really thought of as the beginning of pop, some of which are true, but many of which are not.
There is a general idea that the type of music you describe was all that was out there, and for the most part, that was what was popular, and therefore what older people want to hear when they think of the forties and fifties (you make a good point about 60s and 70s music being dull, too; the eagles, after all, have the best selling record of all time).
But just as the majority of popular music is disappointing and dull now, there has always been great, exciting, revolutionary music made. I could conceivably make these mixes back forty or fifty more years, it would just be very difficult to find the songs and info on them, both of which obviously become more rare the farther back you go.
Anyway, thanks for the comments!
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