Best Songs of the 1960s

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   A Day in the Life

   The Beatles · from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) · Album scores 99/99

   The orchestral climax of the album that reinvented the LP.

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   BD
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   Like a Rolling Stone

   Bob Dylan · from Highway 61 Revisited (1965) · Album scores 95/99

   Six minutes that rewrote what a single could be.

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   God Only Knows

   The Beach Boys · from Pet Sounds (1966) · Album scores 99/99

   Brian Wilson's most perfect, fragile arrangement.

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   Gimme Shelter

   The Rolling Stones · from Let It Bleed (1969) · Album scores 96/99

   The Stones at their most ominous and electric.

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   All Along the Watchtower

   The Jimi Hendrix Experience · from Electric Ladyland (1968) · Album scores 79/99

   The definitive reading of a Dylan song.

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   VU
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   I'll Be Your Mirror

   The Velvet Underground · from The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) · Album scores 98/99

   Nico's tender counterpoint to the album's darkness.

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   Respect

   Aretha Franklin · from I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967) · Album scores 82/99

   The song that crowned the Queen of Soul.

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   Light My Fire

   The Doors · from The Doors (1967) · Album scores 80/99

   The organ-driven breakthrough that made them stars.

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   OR
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   I've Been Loving You Too Long

   Otis Redding · from Otis Blue (1965) · Album scores 92/99

   Southern soul at its most aching.

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    Folsom Prison Blues

    Johnny Cash · from At Folsom Prison (1968) · Album scores 85/99

    Recorded live to a roar of inmates.

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    My Generation

    The Who · from My Generation (1965) · Album scores 89/99

    The stuttering anthem of mod youth.

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    The Sound of Silence

    Simon & Garfunkel · from Sounds of Silence (1966) · Album scores 90/99

    The hushed folk landmark that launched them.

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    BE
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    A Day in the Life

    The Beatles · from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) · Album scores 99/99

    The orchestral crescendo and Lennon's most unsettling domestic narrative.

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14. 14
    BD
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    Like a Rolling Stone

    Bob Dylan · from Highway 61 Revisited (1965) · Album scores 95/99

    The six-minute single that broke every rule and made Dylan permanent.

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    BB
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    God Only Knows

    The Beach Boys · from Pet Sounds (1966) · Album scores 99/99

    Paul McCartney's favourite song and the high point of 60s pop production.

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    JH
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    Purple Haze

    The Jimi Hendrix Experience · from Are You Experienced (1967) · Album scores 91/99

    The dissonant intro chord (E7#9) and everything followed from it.

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    AF
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    Respect

    Aretha Franklin · from I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967) · Album scores 82/99

    Otis's song transformed into a demand — and she got it.

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    S&
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    Bridge Over Troubled Water

    Simon & Garfunkel · from Bridge over Troubled Water (1970) · Album scores 86/99

    The closing statement of the decade — piano, voice, and an impossible climax.

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    Waterloo Sunset

    The Kinks · from Something Else by the Kinks (1967) · Album scores 85/99

    Ray Davies looking out over London and writing pop's most tender observation.

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    RS
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    Gimme Shelter

    The Rolling Stones · from Let It Bleed (1969) · Album scores 96/99

    Merry Clayton's scream and the most menacing groove the Stones ever recorded.

    Vinyl →CD →Album →
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