To Be Alive In '65

I recently posted about 1965 in film--not a great year, But I think it may be the best year in the 20th century for popular music.  Rock and roll was turning into rock, and you had the earlier wildness mixed with the increasing sophistication that was to come.  You had the British Invasion, Motown, folk rock and numerous other sounds at their height.

And it's all detailed in Andrew Grant Jackson's 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year In Music.  He goes over things month by month, style by style, telling the story of how so many great artists did so much amazing work.  He also spends a lot of time discussing the politics, fashion and other art of the time to provide context--I didn't think it was that necessary, but there it is.

I would normally discuss the book at this point, but instead, let's just list some of the titles that came out that year.  How about these:

"Yesterday," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Turn! Turn! Turn!," "I Got You Babe," "Help!" "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," "Downtown," "Stop! In The Name Of Love" (a lot of exclamation points in '65), "Help Me Rhonda," "My Girl," "Mr. Tambourine Man," "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),""The Sound Of Silence," "Eve Of Destruction" and "Ticket To Ride."

And those were just some of the #1 hits.  Other top ten songs--blocked from #1 by the above--include:

"Like A Rolling Stone," "Wooly Bully," "I Got You (I Feel Good)," "Love Potion Number Nine," "What's New Pussycat?," "California Girls," "Shotgun," "Unchained Melody," "Catch Us If You Can," "Let's Hang On!," "King Of The Road," "It's The Same Old Song," "The In Crowd," "Yes I'm Ready," "Tired Of Waiting For You," "For Your Love," "All Day And All Of The Night," "What The World Needs Now Is Love," "Positively 4th Street," "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag,"  "England Swings," "The Boy From New York City," "The Last Time," "Do You Believe In Magic," "Heart Full Of Soul," "Go Now!" and "It's Not Unusual."

For albums, you had the Beatles' Help! and Rubber Soul, Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited, the Stones Out Of Our Heads, Herb Alpert's Whipped Cream & Other Delights, Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas, John Coltrane's A Love Supreme and so many more.

And if you were hip, you'd also be hearing the beginnings of Ska, the Who ("My Generation"), The Velvet Underground and the San Francisco Sound. Must have been quite a time.