1965

I wonder if Roger Daltrey regrets singing "hope I die before I get old." My guess is no, considering the fact that his life has turned out pretty well since that fateful line made its way into rock history. Perhaps if it had been sung with any irony, with a slight wink at the naivete of youth, I might be able to forgive the currently depressing "Who" tour, not to mention the never ending disappointment that is The Rolling Stones (and here's "Satisfaction," that could have been sung at the first Super Bowl). But then if you didn't believe he honestly wanted to die, would it have had the same impact? Part of the appeal of rock n roll is that the artists throw themselves so completely into their work (probably the reason why The Killers and She Wants Revenge and The Darkness are so shitty, ironic removal from your music has never worked). Unfortunately for rock stars, it is also what makes it so embarrassing to get older, kind of a more unforgiving "I Can't Believe I Wore That."

But then, why does it not seem as depressing for James Brown to hop around at 70? "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" has just as much rebellious youth in it as "Satisfaction," but somewhere along the line Rock became music for young people. Most likely it is because old white men are the status quo, they look like the establishment, and there's no amount of weird spiky haircuts, tightly fitting t-shirts, and tattoos that can cover up this fact. Though it is infinitely more pleasurable to watch Mick Jagger jump around on stage than to watch Brian Wilson be handed a guitar by three people that he can't even really manage to play himself, the middle ground is to simply get older and display that in your art. To reference another artist that had one of his best songs in '65, even if Paul Simon is starting to resemble Dr. Evil, at least he appears to be writing about things that matter to people his age (though he had a head start - he never would have made any assertion about younger being better in the first place). There's only so much you can do to maintain a genre as fleeting as rock n roll. And that's what makes it so fucking great.

One last thing, check out the Shangri-Las, the greatest girl group ever, for some dark, awesome pop. There's more of them to come as rock fades away and early 60s pop comes into stronger focus in the early 60s.

Download the mix here.

1. My Generation - The Who - 3:17
2. Like A Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan - 6:09
3. Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones - 3:46
4. Shotgun - Junior Walker & The All Stars - 3:04
5. Papas Got A Brand New Bag - James Brown - 4:19
6. Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds - 2:22
7. Gloria - Them - 2:41
8. California Dreaming - Mamas and the Papas - 2:41
9. We Can Work It Out - The Beatles - 2:15
10. Uptight (Everything Is Alright) - Stevie Wonder - 2:54
11. California Girls - Beach Boys - 2:35
12. I Can Never Go Home Anymore - Shangri-Las - 3:12
13. The Tracks Of My Tears - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - 2:55
14. It's The Same Old Song - Four Tops - 2:49
15. In The Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett - 2:30
16. Keep On Running - Spencer Davis Group - 2:43
17. Ain't That Peculiar - Marvin Gaye - 3:00
18. My Girl - The Temptations - 2:45
19. We Gotta Get Out of this Place - The Animals - 3:16
20. For Your Love - Yardbirds - 2:31
21. See My Friends - The Kinks - 2:48
22. Flowers On The Wall - The Statler Brothers - 2:25
23. King of the Road - Roger Miller - 2:27
24. I've Been Loving You Too Long - Otis Redding - 2:57
25. The Sounds of Silence - Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel - 3:06
26. It Was A Very Good Year - Frank Sinatra - 4:28