The Musician's Sixties Mix
Sep 09 '01
The Bottom Line 20 (or 22?) awesome song from the sixties that are guaranteed to blow your mind as well as spread peace and love... dude.
I guess if you've read my 70s and 80s mix, you could see this one coming a mile away, and that's why I decided to wait some time before I published this mix. It's psychedelic and folksy stuff, and features no Beatles, because they would dominate the whole damn list, and besides, I'll probably do my own Beatles mix eventually. Also, I'm only including one song from an album, so you won't see all of "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits", or seven songs off "Are You Experienced?" by Hendrix.
Well, on with the rest of this.
1. "Whipping Post" - The Allman Brothers Band (20th Century Masters: Best Of)
Recorded in 1969, "Whipping Post" is a great display of what the Allman Brothers were about. Duane Allman and Dickey Betts both play incredible guitar here, and the song is something like a mix between country, blues, and rock. It's a great song; definitely one of the ABB's finest
2. "Light My Fire" - The Doors (The Doors)
This entry kind of bothers me because I figure "The End" and/or "Break On Through" is just as deserving of inclusion as "Light My Fire". Still, I feel that "Light My Fire" is the strongest all-round song the Doors have ever produced, and that more people enjoy than "The End" or "Break On Through" (including me).
3. "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" - Guess Who (Guess Who's Greatest Hits)
(**Canadian Content**)
Why not "American Woman"? Because "NST/NMN" is musically more complex, enjoyable, and superior to the predictable smash hit. "NST/NMN" is a combination of two different songs in the same key that feature different melodies, and by the end of the song both movements are playing together in perfect harmony. Although it's not the most popular Guess Who song, it's probably their best musical achievement.
4. "Like A Rolling Stone" - Bob Dylan (Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits)
All the songs featured on Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits could be featured on this list, but for variety's sake I've just used one Dylan song for the entire countdown... and it's a doozy. Everyone knows "Like A Rolling Stone", Dylan's most popular and best folk song. This list wouldn't be complete without it.
5. "Little Wing" - Jimi Hendrix (Axis: Bold As Love)
This is my favourite Hendrix song of his entire collection, and it's only a little longer than two minutes. It features impeccable guitar work from Hendrix, as well as an emotional and captivating solo to finish the song off. As a guitar player, I can say that not only does this song sound good, but it is technically brilliant.
6. "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" - Led Zeppelin (Zeppelin I)
This, and "Your Time Is Gonna Come" (also off Zeppelin I), started my love affair with Led Zep. I mean, I had heard "Whole Lotta Love" and "Stairway To Heaven" and I knew they were good, even though I didn't honestly appreciate them for what they were at the time, but those "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" completely blew my mind. It was on the first songs I learned to play on the guitar (of course, at the time I was playing at half the tempo and still making a mistake at every second note), and that really let me appreciate how good this song actually is.
7. "My Generation" - The Who (Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy)
This is probably the Who's best early song (early being before Tommy). Well, either this or "Magic Bus", or "The Kids Are Alright". Either way, "My Generation" is a classic that shows us what the Who were about: amazing drums, amazing bass, catchy guitar, catchy vocals. The Who were four awesome musicians who combined their powers to make one awesome band.
8. "Hey Joe" - Jimi Hendrix (Are You Experienced?)
Once again, we come across an album that features other songs that deserve to be on the list as well, such as "Purple Haze", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Fire", and "Foxey Lady". "Hey Joe" is the best though, because it has an awesome solo and all around great guitar work. Plus, the chromatic bass line sounds cool as well.
9. "Whole Lotta Love" - Led Zeppelin (Zeppelin II)
It's Zeppelin. What else can I say? Great solo, great riff, vocals, drums, bass, all-round song... those are Zeppelin's trade marks, aren't they?
10. "That'll Be The Day" - Buddy Holly (20th Century Masters: Best Of)
Okay, I know this song is a fifties song, but since I figure that I'll never do a Fifties music mix that I might as well include it while I'm close enough to the decade. The main reason I am is because it's completely stuck in my head right now, and besides that, it's a fantastic song - probably Buddy Holly's finest. It even has a little solo in it as well.
11. "Satisfaction" - Rolling Stones (Hot Rocks)
Mehh. I'm not the biggest Stones fan (overrated, cough, cough...), but I will be one of the first to admit that they've had some fantastic songs in the sixties as well as the seventies. This is one of them, and will always be a great tune (as long as Britney Spears doesn't continue to butcher it, ugh).
12. "All Along The Watchtower" - Jimi Hendrix (Electric Ladyland)
It pains me to put this on the list instead of "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)", but Hendrix's version of the classic Dylan song deserves to be here. I mean, what more could a guitar player want? It has three separate solos, one which includes a wah-wah and the backwards effect. It's a perfect song.
13. "Summertime Blues" - The Who (Live At Leeds)
Although Live At Leeds may have been released in the seventies (I'm not sure), I know that the Who were playing this song live during the late sixties. I do believe that it's originally an Alan Jackson tune, but I'm not sure. But what I am sure of is that the Who's version of this song is amazing.
14. "Cinnamon Girl" - Neil Young (Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere)
(**Canadian Content**)
One of the best Neil Young songs of all time, "Cinnamon Girl" has one of the most amazing solos of all time... amazing because there is only one note played in the solo! It sounds great though, because "Cinnamon Girl" is a really well-written song that sounds super. The one note solo only adds to the song.
15. "White Rabbit" - Jefferson Airplane (Surrealistic Pillow)
Drugs, drugs, drugs... this is pure sixties spaced-out drugs rock. "One pill makes you big, one pill makes you small, and the ones that mother gives you don't do anything at all...". I love the drumming in this song though, as well as the quiet guitar licks used through out the song.
16. "San Francisco" - Scott MacKenzie (Forrest Gump Soundtrack)
This is a great song to represent the sixties as a whole, because it features some traditional music aspects combined with a few things that are a little more unusual. The song starts off pretty bland, but then we get some psychedelic sitar and some folk lyrics ("All across the nation, such a strange vibration").
17. "Let's Get Together" - Youngbloods (???)
Hippie folk rock. This is more music that represents the sixties very well, because of it's folk lyrics and hippie mentality ("...let's try to love one another right now..."). Everyone has heard this one, but besides nostalgia it holds up on it's own. A solid song that shows what being a hippie was all about.
18. "Love Me Two Times" - Doors (Strange Days)
The Doors do blues here, with a catchy guitar lick and strong vocals. I really think that Jim Morrison is the best at yelling "Oh yeah!", and this song has another demonstration of how good he is just before you reach the keyboard solo.
19. "Shapes Of Things" - Yardbirds (???)
Even though this song was released right in the middle of another one of the now-famous guitarist switches in the Yardbirds (Jeff Beck leaves, enter Jimmy Page), it did rather well, and it forced Page to imitate Beck's style in live performances. It's a solid song that was both pyschidelic and rockin'.
20. "For What It's Worth" - Buffalo Springfield (Greatest Hits)
(**Kind of Canadian Content**)
Buffalo Springfield is one of the most popular bands ever, provided they had very limited output. Everyone who is close with Buffalo Springfield (a band featuring CSNY members Neil Young and Steven Stills) wishes that they were around longer because they had so much potential to create other fantastic hits, similar to Neil Young's "Broken Arrow" and the classic "For What It's Worth". "FWIW" is an amazing folk song that is a great way to finish off a sixties collection.
I hope you enjoyed this mix. I probably left out some key songs or musicians that deserved to be here, but I wouldn't know because I was basing this on my general knowledge of the sixties, and without doing background checks to see if everything was or wasn't made in the sixties. So, if you have and comments or suggestions, all are welcome because I love to talk music. Oh, by the way...
1. Ohio by CSNY - was that seventies or sixties? If it was sixties then I give it an honorary #21 spot on the list.
2. When was Disraeli Gears by Cream released? I think it's sixties, but I'm not sure... if it is, then "Sunshine Of Your Love" would get the honorary #22 spot on the list.
Well, anyways, I hope you enjoyed.
Peace
The Musician
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