Poll: 1966 is considered as on the best years ever in music. What is your pick for the greatest year in music and what artists and songs back up your pick?
1977. Bowie's Berlin albums, _Saturday Night Fever,_ Sex Pistols, Giorgio Moroder, Chic, Television, Talking Heads - the turning point, a flood of new genres.
So many great years. I'm going to go with 1964. You had The Beatles (along with the other British Invasion groups), The Supremes (along with the other Motown artists), and you had 2 major American groups that survived the British Invasion and competed with The Beatles (The Beach Boys were the West Coast Sound and The Four Seasons were the East Coast Sound). It was a ground-breaking, game-changing year for popular music.
It may seem kind of crazy but I heard that "Good Vibrations" was the Beach Boys first million selling song. I've got a few of their albums in my collection but not this album, I think.
Yeah, he discovered the Manson Family. Should not have stolen David Maddox's (Charlie Manson) song and claimed it for the Beach Boys tho, started some bad juju
Saw Johnny Rivers perform several times in the last 20 years. What an outstanding performer - singer, guitarist, song writer. He certainly belongs in the Hall Of Fame.
In 1966 I did not have to take the "Last Train to Clarksville" I lived there. Although I did not know it at the time the only Clarksville that makes sense with the theme and lyrics of this song is Clarksville TN with the Army's Ft Campbell being just outside the city limits.
Yes the Monks were one of my favs in my youth but lets not forget who wrote those great songs-Hart/Boyce, Neil Diamond and the songwriting team Goffin/King.
It never ceases to amaze that Rock evolved from "Johnny B Goode" to "Tomorrow Never Knows" in just _ten_ years. And all without the convenience of the internet.
Rock n Roll developed directly from Delta Blues, including Johnnie B Goode which is jst a standard 12 bar blues pattern sped up. When US reporters would ask the early rockers where they learned to play like that, they would often respond, from YOUR country, from the Delta area players, all of whom were black. It really highlights how racism put blinders on US society.
@@jstnxprsn Racism? You just got done saying all the great blues players were initially black. No one denies that, not sure what you are referring to when you mention racism? It goes back much further than the 20th century. It stemmed from very old songs people would sing while working. So, such a terrible history, in a crazy twist of fate, brought us this great music. 🤘🏻🎸🇺🇸
Rock seemed like a pretty natural progression over the decades. We are fortunate to have it, but not at all amazing really. I mean it’s tremendous, I love it. But it is all very simple. Now, classical music, talk about coming out of nowhere! Now that is amazing. 🤘🏻🎸🇺🇸
There was so much hype all summer so we could hardly wait for the Monkees and their new TV series that came with the first week of "back to school"...I was not greatly impressed, but still looked forward to the second show a week later....Also a disappointment...Week three didn't get past the first 5 or 10 mins....After the Beach Boys and the Beatles, the Monkees was something for my 6 and 8 yr old brothers, not for any groovy teenagers...Just a load of crap...I liked a lot of their songs, but could not stand the Circus boy and cute little Brit and the whole premise of "the Monkees TV Show"... At least Mike Nesmith had SOMETHING to offer to music fans.
I was born in the early 00's but the 60's has gotta be my favorite era of music. Love the Kinks/Byrds/Monkees/Hollies/Zombies/Stones/Beatles, and my personal favorite group The Beach Boys. 1965 up until the early 70's was definitely their peak... But 1966, man... What a great year.
Nobody for the Turtles and "Happy Together"? Johnnie Nash and "I can see clearly now"? Dusty Springfield and "Wishin' and Hopin'"? Dione Warwick and "Anyone who had a heart"?
There were tons of really good songs in 1966, like Sunny Afternoon by the Kinks or Walk Away Renee by the Left Banke or The Sound of Silence by Simon n Garfunkel. Great year.
I remember 1966 like it was yesterday. It's my favorite year for music, and it seemed like it was non-stop great music. I was around in the 50's, so I got to experience all the 60's years, including watching The Beatles on Ed Sullivan in 1964. 1966 is very vivid in my mind, us kids all had our own little transistor radios for our AM stations. I was sitting on my front porch in July 1966 when the news came over of Bobby Fuller dying. Who doesn't like "I Fought The Law" from 1966..? Geez, a wealth of great songs that year.
The Monkees are the reason I became a drummer. When I was 8 years old, watching reruns on Much Music in Canada for their 25th anniversary, I became obsessed with them and knew that I wanted to play drums in a band, which I've been doing for almost 30 years now! Hopefully we get more episodes on the Monkees from POR!
Much Music introduced me to the Monkees as well. In the late 90's when I was 13 I caught their show on Much Music and I was instantly hooked and completely obsessed with them too. They've been my favourite band ever since.
Micky Dolenz had been in bands as a guitarist. When he was cast in the Monkees, producers mandated he be the drummer, and he eventually learned to be acceptable at it.
@@brianthomas2434 The story I've heard is no one wanted to be the drummer. Mike and Peter, the two dedicated musicians, took up guitars. The producers felt that Davy would be the biggest draw as the cute, British one, and no one would be able to see him behind a drum set, so Micky drew the short straw as it were. To his credit, he took lessons and became a decent drummer in his own right. A bit of trivia: Micky drums left handed, because his instructor was left handed. =D
Good vibrations is a masterpiece. When they sing gotta keep those good vibrations happening and they harmonise it seems like the clouds are opening and you can feel utopia.
@@oldermusiclover yeah they were amazing I read a great book about them. The bass player Carol Kay invented the intro to Wichita lineman and many other incredible things.
I think of the 1960s as the decade when they had learned how to use many of the innovations we take for granted today, synthesizers, effects like reverb, vibrato and phasing/flanging, fuzz distortion, even compression, without abusing them the way they later did. Being born in 1961, I remember going through the 1970s thinking that music had started to go downhill, and realizing at about 1983 that most top-40 mainstream recordings had started to sound as if they were playing through a telephone connection. It's not that everything from later years was bad, it's that the production techniques that made the 1960s so innovative enabled the sterile, canned, fakeness that crept into pop music a little more each year. I have a sinking suspicion that there will never be another musical decade as good as the 1960s.
Ah, I love hits of the sixties! I was 14, watched the Monkees TV show every Monday night…never saw them perform until the 80s revived the show, the music, and my two tween daughters were massive fans! For them, we went to a concert. So amazing to see Peter, Micky and Davy! I was ok until “Sleepy Jean” & then I teared up…
I know the Monkees were huge but even then I feel like they don't get enough respect. They were seriously talented guys who happened to be funny TV characters as well.
Well they didn't write their own songs or play on their own records. But yeah I guess you might say they were talented in some way or another. Who knows?
@@frankmarsh1159 That sir, is exactly what they did do.... Might wanna do a little research, check some song writing credit and some recording personnel.
Professor, great video! I'm 70 and loved everything you just went over. What a time. Many songs from many different genre's/styles. Nothing but the best of the best! What a time to be a teenager!!!
Bought that Vanilla Fudge record solely and only for “You Keep Me Hangin' On.” My friends don't understand what I see in it, but that organ part was true greatness.
Yeah, be sure to check out the UA-cam video of Vanilla Fudge doing "You Keep Me Hanging On" on the Ed Sullivan Show... absolutely incredible LIVE performance!
The Monkees were my favorite band since I was a child in the late 70s. I discovered them through re-runs of their TV show, and watched them every afternoon after school for years. As I got older, I started collecting their records, and in the 80s, Rhino started releasing their deep cuts via their "Missing Links" records. By the time MTV revived the TV show in 1986, I knew every song by heart. That same year, their appearance in Bangor, Maine was the first concert I ever attended. I still love The Monkees as an adult. I have a more complex understanding of and appreciation for their later music, and the struggle they faced to gain artistic control of their music, and enjoy the silliness of their show even more than I did as a child. I even got the cover art of their fourth album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd. tattooed on my right arm.
Crazy! It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that I was there…I watched the TV shows, I heard the songs. Who knew they were legends in the making? Great show professor…thanks for digging all the way back into the sixties…I’m digging it!
The Monkees were my first concert in 1967 and I can still remember the excitement. I can attest to the fact that they were playing their instruments, except for Davy, who I think had a tambourine for a few songs.
I remember in 1968 watching the Monkees on TV in my grandparents' farmhouse in Galway, Ireland. The whole family, including my grandparents, my Uncle Willie and Aunt May and my cousins Tommy, Patty and John Paul watched with me. My father who would never have watched back in the states, reluctantly joined in. They were a little behind as the show had already been cancelled in the US. They all loved it.
I was no older than an eight year old when I found my dad’s 8 track tape of the Monkees. When he took a break from wearing out his Loggins and Messina tape, which he loved. I shoved in the Monkees tape and was hooked on them ever since.
When I first heard "California Dreamin' " I said to myself "This changes everything!" It was so dark, somber, serious, pessimistic, moody, cynical. It stuck a dagger through the heart of the old "boy meets girl" formula.
@@GeraldM_inNC I actually really dislike that song. It has the tone of "you're destroying the world and you should hate yourself" but the lyrics are actually a bippity-bobbity tune about how great Los Angeles is. You could give that lyric sheet to Mickey Mouse and it would fit, but it doesn't fit with the dark and moody sound they put it with.
@@JETZcorp The lyrics fit the music perfectly, what are you talking about?! The lyric is equally dark because it's sung from the perspective of a couple stuck in the freezing cold winters back East, dreaming of a California paradise but not able to get there. It exists as an unobtainable dream which haunts them. The scene where the narrator drops to his knees at church, praying he can escape the snow, is particularly evocative because he says "you know the preacher like the cold", which sounds to me like a pretty blunt comment on religion. Of course, the song wasn't actually released in 1966--it goes back to Dec '65. But there's no "bippity-boppity" here *at all* . You should pay more attention to what the lyrics are actually saying.
Johnny Rivers, Poor Side of Town. Always takes me back to childhood when gas was cheap and you went on Sunday drives with your parents. The song had appeal to a broad age range. Even today I can listen to this and it takes me to this very peaceful happy place.
Last train to Clarksville would be my #1. It moves me the most. I'm about your age POR and grew up with this music from my parents, especially my Dad. I was so sad when the last 'Golden Oldies' station went off the air on my dial, end of the 90's I think it was.
I was born in 81, but I grew up watching reruns of the Monkees and had a couple of their albums on vinyl (I had a massive crush on Peter Tork 🤣). Now I work at a music teaching school and one of our teachers is a former student of the school who is currently obsessed with them! Love seeing them still having life through its younger generation of fans! Thanks for another killer redux video 🙏
Great top ten. Think the Monkees are the most underappreciated vocal groups of the 60s and 70s. Hope you can get an interview with Mickey and Mike before they too pass into eternity. If you do ask them their feelings about how radio stations wouldn't play their music after the tv show went off, especially the albums they released in the 80s and late 90s 2000.
Don't know if it qualifies streamwise but "Sometime in the Morning" by the Monkees is one of my favorite songs of all time. It made me know what kind of a feeling I should expect when I got my first girlfriend. I was only 10 at the time. Carol King/Gerry Gofin song, if memory serves me.
I was born in 66. I loved ALL the music and it must have been because it was playing on the radio when I was a baby. When I was 8 I bought the Monkees greatest hits through a television commercial. It took FOREVER to get that album, but to be able to play daydream believer any time I wanted was GOLD. LOL
The Monkees caught a lot of grief because they weren't a “real band,” whatever that means. They were disparagingly referred to as the prefab four. What we know now is that The Wrecking Crew played on quite a few songs by bands that didn't get the same flack, such as The Association and even the later Beach Boys songs. Hey, at least The Monkees owned up to it. And, Mike Nesmith was actually a very good songwriter, Mickey Dolenz and Davey Jones were very good singers, and Peter Tork was a talented musician.
Let's not forget that Davy (before the Monkees) was nominated for a Tony Award for his portrayal of the Artful Dodger in the Broadway Musical "Oliver".
Loved the Monkees!!! Still do and listen to their music all the time! Peter was my favorite and love his blues band he had before he passed . Saw them in concert in '86 and was so fun! Miss Davy, Mike and Peter! Micky is doing a great job keeping the legacy alive!
Great show Adam, I was born in 58' so the seventies music was the sound track of my life and consider it the greatest decade ever for popular music in every genre at that time and the 50' and 60's were our oldies and we all know how awesome those decades were for music!...
I was in a bar in Seattle in the early 1980's, I was in my early twenties and this was before Karaoke, and the bar band was only playing Beatles songs and the singers were different people out of the audience. I remembered marveling at how much this single band impacted an entire generation...not only in America but in the whole world.
Here is my memory of Winchester Cathedral: I was in high school (Waltrip in Houston, Texas) and the jukebox in the cafeteria got stuck on that song. It played over and over until we couldn't stand it. When it started over for the umpteenth time, one boy stood up, gave a loud howl of agony, and pulled the plug on the jukebox. Everyone in the cafeteria stood up and clapped and cheered.
Last Train To Clarksville was the first song I heard by The Monkees and I was hooked on their music automatically and I still love their music to this day, they are my all time favorite music group
I wasn't born until 74, but my mom played all this stuff, great memories, but THE MONKEES!?! I used to play sick to stay home from church b/c TNT (Ted Turner's cable channel) played 3 episodes of The Monkees back-to-back on Sunday mornings in the very late 1970s. My dad would cover for me (he didn't like going to church either) & we'd watch it together. Not long after this my parents split up. I've been a Monkees fan all my life, & rewatched the episodes on TV when MTV played them & again whenever someone would have a Monkees Marathon. And my mom & sisters & I used to go to a market on Monday mornings in Clarksville, TN, & we'd sing it every time. Thanks for the video, lotsa great memories.
I am glad that I was in my teens in the 60s. It was a great time to be young and the music was great. I turned 17 in 1966 and the Beatles were peaking and many other artists were as well. Thanks for reminding me of that great year.
Saturday mornings and "The Monkees" were our introduction to rock and roll. We lived in a town called Clarksville, with a small freight train running through one edge of town.
I was born in the late 70’s and my dad graduated high school in 1967. My dad was and is a big music buff, so every Saturday morning I would wake up to 60’s and 70’s music. I love the 80’s and 90’s music I grew up with, but still my favorite decade of music is from the 1960’s.
I am a GenXer too. My Sunday mornings were filled with 60s, 70s rock & soul and Latin music. It was mom’s sign to get up and help her clean the house. The Supremes clip took me back. So did the Monkees & Beach Boys.
P.S. - It was actually recorded in December of 1965. Oh, and I forgot to mention that another future member of Led Zeppelin appears on this track: John Paul Jones on bass (😩 Sorry Jonesy).
Michael Nesmith passed away yesterday, so now only Mickey Dolenz is left from The Monkees. I heard Last Train To Clarksville on the radio the first day it was in rotation...ran out later that day and bought the 45. I still have my copy of The New Vaudeville Band's Lp. That song was sung all through the halls in my high school...I still love to sing it at 71. Love this concept. More "countdown" videos, please.
FWIW, I've always preferred the Vanilla Fudge version as well. Which leads me to the story of a dive bar in Waikiki in the late 70s' early 80s. They had the BEST juke box in the islands loaded with "oldies". I considered my (numerous) happy hours there as a grad course in music appreciation...
Always the fav of mine Vanilla Fudge version of Keep Me Hangin On. Hits it out of the park. Love the beginning and all the rest. That’s what I call rock n roll! Crank it up.
96 tears-- the only time I ever played in a band. My cousins garage band The Sweet Nothings (Billings MT) was missing their keyboardist, so I filled in on their Farfisa Mini Compact keyboard. Didn’t know what I was doing but nobody complained.
I became a fan of the Monkees when I was in the 8th grade. I can remember some girls playing A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You on a little portable record player in the 4 room school house I attended at the time. I finally got to see Mickey, Davy and Pete in Columbus, Ohio one year before Davy passed away. They put on an absolutely wonderful show. Ah those memories.....walking to a restaurant during my lunch break as a freshman in high school and hearing Pleasant Valley Sunday on the jukebox and the smell of hamburgers cooking as I walked up the street.....✌and love everyone...
I missed the original Monkees broadcasts. Then, a few years later when they were in Saturday rerun mode, my siblings and I were always leaving for piano lessons during the show intro. So I never actually saw a Monkees show until the 20th anniversary revival! But I must have been a very good and devout fan at that point, because I received my cosmic reward: a pair of tickets from KRTH 101-FM in Los Angeles for the Monkees concert at the Universal Amphitheatre on 09 July 1989. It was a 2½-hour show in which "Papa Nez" joined Micky, Peter, and Davy for the final hour. Over thirty years later, it's still #1 on my "favorite concerts" list. (And K-Earth even put out sandwich fixings and FED all of us contest winners and our guests before the show!!)
For me, 1968 was the best year. Among many others, try "Born to be Wild" (Steppenwolf), "Mony Mony" (Tommy James), "White Room" (Cream), "Hey Jude" (Beatles), "Jumpin Jack Flash" (the Stones) and my favorite "Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin. No one could put more emotion into a song than Janis.
I grew up in the 50 and 60 the best bands ever.nothing like today.the music had meaning and sole.and funck.and rethem . you dance to it you could sing along with it.it had feeling.love that time So glad we have record it
"Good Vibrations" is definitely an exquisite piece of music. Brian and Mike appeared to know what they were doing, whether they did or not. Part of me was holding out to hear about "God Only Knows", but that gem was probably big at an earlier point in '66. For anyone reading this comment, I highly recommend the Neil Diamond cover from 1977. That's how I was introduced to that song, despite it likely being next to unknown among Neil's material.
Good vibrations was the teaser to smile, which didn't get released until 40 years later. I do agree, as great as this song is, God Only Knows it's my favorite.
@@billdesinger8604 There's a reason there exists the "Mike Love's a douchebag" fan club. I won't list the many reasons here as we all seem to know what they are. What I do want to emphasize is that Mike was an integral part of The Beach Boys. I can't think of any other bass voice in recorded history that is so perfectly suited for their harmonies. He did a good job as a front man in their concerts which is part of their legacy, and he did come up with some good lyrics, especially with Good Vibrations. I personally think the line 'I don't know where but she takes me there" is genius and that came out of Mike's brain. Hate is poison, love is provident. We each get to choose what's best for ourselves. The Beach Boys are one of the greatest bands of all time. Let's leave it there and enjoy the music.
We were living in Berkeley in 1966. Towards the end of that year my dad entered a contest on the radio station KFRC in San Francisco. The prize was the entire top 100 of the year on 45s. For years after my twin brother and I would play DJ with all of them, permanently engraining them into our memories. Although we were only six at the time, that year is forever etched in our musical hearts.
The Beatles and The Monkees were my favorite groups in 1966. I still have all their albums, as well as complete Series 1 & 2 Monkee cards. Here There and Everywhere was our wedding song in 1978. The 60's had the best music.
The clip of Winchester Cathedral, is from an old variety show called , the Hollywood Palace. I used to watch that show . My parents had one of the first color TVs , when half the programs were still in black and white.....good times. 1966 the yr my dad bought a new chevy pickup..
When the Beatles arrived on the scene, with screaming, hysterical girl fans, I was not impressed, and ignored what they produced. But Revolver changed my mind. It was more than listenable. I was compelled to explore their talent. As it’s said: the rest is history.
My Dad had Winchester Cathedral and I always got a kick out of it. It inspired me when I went to England the summer of 1978 to go to the real Winchester Cathedral. It didn’t let me down
First caught The Monkees on Saturday morning UK TV, in either the late 70's/early 80's. They were part of re-runs of a Banana Splits show. Daydream Believer is a song that always cheers me up. I love the 80's but after that it's definitely the 60's.
The songs had a unique sound. Different songwriters doing their own take on the blues, skiffle, jug, folk, etc. That's why that era was so interesting.
I never thought of 'Last train to Clarksville" as a protest song, but the moment you mentioned it, it just clicked. Always a perpetual favourite. I loved The Monkees when I first saw them on Canada's version of MTV 'Much Music' and still do to this day.
Thanks for putting this together. I was a high school sophomore at the time, and these songs are all memorable; Winchester Cathedral, however, will always be considered (by me and probably a whole lot of people) a "novelty" song, not really a serious piece of music. That it charted so highly has always mystified me. When it came on the radio, one would usually switch to another pop AM radio station (the two biggies being WCFL and WLS in Chicago). On the other hand, I remember dancing like a madman (not well, but wildly) at "sock-hops" to "Devil with a Blue Dress." If I tried making those same moves today, I would end up in a hospital. Thanks again. Pat, in Chicago
When you talked about the greatest single of all time I was thinking it was going to be God Only Knows. At least I got the group right. Good Vibrations is a great song as well, and certainly worthy of a spot on that list.
One human being wrote God Only Knows and Good Vibrations and Wouldn't It Be Nice and Heroes and Villains and Surf's Up within 6 months. Genuinely in a league of his own
Really enjoyed this episode. I was 10 in 1966 and was already buying records and living off the radio. My dad bought me a crystal radio that summer with a little ear speaker that I put under my pillow to fall asleep at night. I recall many of these songs and tv shows.
Ear speaker…I had an old square microphone for a cassette player that I snapped the mic plug off of and then plugged the other prong into the ear phone jack of my clock radio. Had that under my pillow for years back in the 70’s…
@@tjseagrove A good story. Music grabs us at such a young age, it's amazing, and what we do to have it. In the early 70s I travelled about with a portable cassette player long before the advent of the walkman. At that time it was precious to me.
@@dougreimer2912 And don’t forget that amazing invention the transistor radio with its mono speaker and we would hang it on a tree and listen to it outside. The number 9 V batteries we would burn through was staggering.
@@tjseagrove I recall learning about commercial transistor radios in the early 60s and that they were originally from Japan. Wasn't able to get one till I finished high school.
Devil with a Blue Dress On is a song i forgot. Will need to listen to it after this... There was a lot more diversity of sound back then, despite big company control.
1971 is the greatest to me too, no other year had the depth of the albums produced then in my opinion: David Bowie - Hunky Dory; Led Zeppelin - IV; Joni Mitchel - Blue; The WHo - Who's Next; Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers; Carole King - Tapestry; Paul McCartney - Ram; Marvin Gaye - What's Going On; David Crosby - If only I could Remember my Name; John Lennon - Imagine; Allman Brothers - At Fillmore; Janis Joplin - Pearl; Don McLean - American Pie; America - America; Black Sabbath - Master of Reality and so very many more
I had just turned 6 years old when these songs were released. Wow looking at the album cover of Good Vibrations really takes me back. I remember having it in my collection but have forgotten about it the last 45 years! Loved the Monkees on TV. Also remember Gomer Pyle and the Beverly Hillbillies
I saw The Monkees LIVE in 1967 in San Francisco. I was 16 years old and I lived across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. I got my Monkees Album signed by all of The Monkees too. It was a really fun night!
I was 10 in 67 , I also lived in Marin County 🤗 that’s so cool that you saw the Monkees and they signed your album, I also loved the Monkees, I’m a life long Brian Wilson Beach boys fan ,I love the Golden Gate Bridge also
@@barbarapope349 Awesome 😎 I lived in Mill Valley. We owned 5 acres at the foot of Mount Tam. My Dad was a famous Bay Area Jazz Musician. I love the Golden Gate Bridge too. 💜💙💜
Wow! What a great place to live! And your dad the jazz musician, very cool , it looks like you’ve been involved in great music during your life🤗 it’s so funny that I would look at this channel and the comments and see a” neighbor “almost my age 😳🤗 I grew up in Inverness and Pt Reyes our house over looked Tamales Bay, I was born at Marin General hospital, it’s such a beautiful place to live as you know . Thanks for your comment 🥰
What was wonderful to me during that period was that everybody was listening to and discovering the same 20 new songs at the same time. Johnny Rivers song "Summer Rain" referenced how everyone was listening to the Beatles new album at that time. Whites were listening to blacks doing Motown music, kids were listening to country songs like "Ode To Billy Joe", and everybody was doing it together at the same time! It had a way of bringing everybody together like nothing else ever had. So the lack of access to anything new that you want being stripped down to just the Top 20 songs on the radio came with amazing benefits to society I believe. Maybe that's why for those of us who lived through it, we're still talking about it today.
What a great comment🎶🙋...totally agree, I loved Motown,Bobby Gentry, country, Rock & Roll, Dion Demucci,Dylan,just about everyone from the U.K. how bout, Instrumental Lonely Bull, Herb Alpert "This Guy" , I could go on& on🎵🎶
Absolutely love the music of 66, the music was changing so fast from here on, I am so thankful when you get to interviews with these legends and do the earlier stuff turn on some of the past music to younger audiences too.
YES!! Listened to this music playing in my older sisters room. Playing stacks of 45's put that great music in my small child brain. Love it, it's my go to music everytime!
Actually The Monkees' first single 'Last Tran To Clarksvile' was released before their TV show debuted on August 16, 1966. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 on November 5, 1966 after their TV show debuted on September 12, 1966.
I had heard that The Beach Boys "God Only Knows" sparked the writing of "Here There and Everywhere." And Paul has said that John gave him his only compliment for writing this song. It's been one of my favorites & was always shocked it didn't get more acclaim.
@@debbiehanisch2099 "God Only Knows" (GOK) is a masterpiece & one of the best songs ever written. "Here There And Everywhere" (HTAE) is a simple, well written song so typical of Paul. Of course GOK is better than HTAE. I don't think many would argue that, certainly not me. Both are pop songs. The Beach Boys did pop almost exclusively & the Beatles certainly did a lot more rock and a little bit of country. It's particularly ironic to call HTAE "overproduced" when Pet Sounds is one of the most "produced" albums in history. Thankfully Brian reigned back the production on GOK but it is still far more "produced" than HTAE. "Drivel" is subjective hyperbole & really doesn't belong in any serious comparison.
Wow, for me that’s like trying to pick my favorite child - can’t be done, but here goes: I have great memories of music from 1964 when I was 8 - hello Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show - to 1978, the year I graduated from college. 1964 - The Beatles 1965 - The Rolling Stones 1966 - The Monkees 1967 - Buffalo Springfield 1968 - Cream 1969 - Crosby, Stills & Nash 1970 - James Taylor 1971 - Rod Stewart 1972 - Carole King 1973 - Elton John 1974 - Joni Mitchell 1975 - Chicago 1976 - Al Stewart 1977 - Fleetwood Mac 1978 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Thanks for inspiring the walk down memory lane, Professor. How about a show about the best music of 1967?
Brother, you are so appreciated. Of the songs you featured, Good Vibrations is out on its own. Looking back on this period in my life, young folks don't get the context, but it was all new to our ears. Every week we went to the music store to see the latest offerings and each week there were songs that would later become rock classics. We were so lucky. Honestly the mid to late sixties were so special in music. There was a lot of great music that came later but the sixties were amazing.
Never before, likely naver again: April 4, 1964. All 5 of the Top 5 that week (plus 9 more with in the top 100, and a couple more that referenced them….. the Beatles absolutely OWNED the Billboard Charts that week!!!!
I'm 56 I've had a radio in my ear since forever. I still will watch the Monkees anytime I come across it. I grew up in California and back then everyone knew all the Beach Boys songs. I even won a radio contest where I won the entire BB catalog. Damn I'm old... But music has gotten me through everything.
I was 14 in 1966, and all of these songs were great. I watched The Monkees all the time,. Good Vibrations is absolutely amazing - the harmony is exquisite. I still have my Revolver album that I bought in ‘66. Damn, those were good years with great music. Of course there was a whole lot of great music from the rest of the 60s. I’ll never forget seeing Cream in concert at Clowes Hall in Indy. Ginger Baker was out of this world.
1966, the year that I graduated from high school, was a great year for music! The sixties and early seventies were the best years for music imo, started going downhill, with a few exceptions when disco hit it big. A lot of the songs had a relatable message, were easy to sing along to, had a beat and a melody. This music is imprinted in my brain and my heart.
But, please, in the beginning there was quite a lot of truly fine, very exciting disco music -- that could keep you dancing 'til the wee small hours of the morning. Around 78, however, the newer disco sounds were overly drawn out and quite repetitious. By then Disco had had its day.
Walked up to the stage in the very small "MOD SCENE" in North Haven C...a dance club...storefront...circa 1965-66. Watched the stage version of "...hangin on"
I would say The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hanging On" is the greatest and most influential song of the rock/pop era. Not only a great song whose lyrics are rooted in the blues tradition -- but the first song to purposefully use technology to create/amplify an emotionally impact - with the electric guitar's 'telegraphing'.
At about 7 years old I can remember my oldest brother had the 45 of Winchester Catherdral. He was 8 years older than me and learning the trumpet and trombone which at least one is prominent in the song (if memory serves 🙂) He practiced too it. Another song I had not heard or thought of in probably 40 years !
It’s impossible to have a list that doesn’t include Hal Blaine in the 60s. Bobby Darren, Johnny Rivers, the Beach boys, and the Monkees. All Hal Blaine on drums.
My parents listened to all of these songs growing up in the 50s and 60s (they were born in 1951 and 1953). So, I grew up listening to these oldies! Love it! ❤
Great episode Adam, brings back memories of watching Adam West as “Batman” on television. Sad thing about Question Mark: seems he never really played many concerts, or had much in term of earnings from his songs. To make matters worse, at one point, around 2005, the house he was living in with friends burned to the ground and he lost everything. The home was not insured. Also, the keyboard player, "Little Frank" Rodriguez, was about 14 years old at the time, and it seems that the only member of The Mysterians who was actually old enough to sign a contract was Question Mark himself. I read one of his interviews, and, sheesh, you’d have a hard time interviewing him. He’s a rambler! But an innovator- the beginnings of punk! About Casey Kasem, there isn’t a warmer and fuzzier feeling than memories of hearing his shows on early Saturday mornings into the early afternoons. His storytelling and backstories were like storytelling time at summer campfires. Umm… smell that?… S’mores anyone?
I was an 18 year old senior in ‘66. How great it was cruising, listening to mono AM radio and if we were lucky we had a rear seat speaker. Two years later we had a garage band. Later on in college I took a fine arts elective about pop, rock and folk music culture. I remember the prof reflecting on the 60s saying that after Woodstock country took a deep breath, exhaled and moved into he 70s. I’m still stuck in the 60s. Thanks for this video.
Love, love, LOVE the Beach Boys, but I think their best song is "Wouldn't it be nice". It's one of only a few songs that manages to make me cry; I love it so much.
Poll: 1966 is considered as on the best years ever in music. What is your pick for the greatest year in music and what artists and songs back up your pick?
1977. Bowie's Berlin albums, _Saturday Night Fever,_ Sex Pistols, Giorgio Moroder, Chic, Television, Talking Heads - the turning point, a flood of new genres.
71' without a doubt for at least top 40 music..Too many songs to mention
Ok ''American Pie''
@@bigneon_glitter Very good choice.
So many great years. I'm going to go with 1964. You had The Beatles (along with the other British Invasion groups), The Supremes (along with the other Motown artists), and you had 2 major American groups that survived the British Invasion and competed with The Beatles (The Beach Boys were the West Coast Sound and The Four Seasons were the East Coast Sound). It was a ground-breaking, game-changing year for popular music.
The ‘60’s was the decade of wonderful changing music. So much beautiful talent, can never be replicated.
Brian Wilson’s talent is just amazing.
It may seem kind of crazy but I heard that "Good Vibrations" was the Beach Boys first million selling song. I've got a few of their albums in my collection but not this album, I think.
And Brian had to do it all by himself!! He didn’t have a Paul or John to help him write, and he didn’t have George Martin!
Yeah, he discovered the Manson Family. Should not have stolen David Maddox's (Charlie Manson) song and claimed it for the Beach Boys tho, started some bad juju
@@Friendofstfrank It was Dennis who took the song and changed the lyrics. It wasn't Brian's idea.
Johnny Rivers has been underrated throughout his entire career. He belongs in the Hall of Fame as much as anyone else.
My late father was a big Johnny Rivers fan. I grew up listening to these songs thanks to my parents who always had music playing in our home.
They need to induct him ASAP, I've heard he has some sort of pneumonia and flu!
Saw Johnny Rivers perform several times in the last 20 years. What an outstanding performer - singer, guitarist, song writer. He certainly belongs in the Hall Of Fame.
Love Johnny. My favorites of his are his version of “Memphis” and the theme song he did for the show “Secret Agent Man”.
Absolutely! It's such s marketing scam. They should have inducted the 50s as a group when they opened like the Hollywood Walk of fame did.
The Monkees were the soundtrack of my youth. Rest in peace, Mike, Davy, and Peter.
In 1966 I did not have to take the "Last Train to Clarksville" I lived there. Although I did not know it at the time the only Clarksville that makes sense with the theme and lyrics of this song is Clarksville TN with the Army's Ft Campbell being just outside the city limits.
Yes the Monks were one of my favs in my youth but lets not forget who wrote those great songs-Hart/Boyce, Neil Diamond and the songwriting team Goffin/King.
Yep me too! My very first album my mom gave me on my 8th birthday was the Monkees first album! It's like a time machine for me to this day!
@@GhostRider-sc9vu didnt know that thec3 had passed..
Saddened me
@@petechau9616 much like Motown had Holland Dozier and Holland.
It never ceases to amaze that Rock evolved from "Johnny B Goode" to "Tomorrow Never Knows" in just _ten_ years. And all without the convenience of the internet.
No kidding. it's pretty incredible.
Rock n Roll developed directly from Delta Blues, including Johnnie B Goode which is jst a standard 12 bar blues pattern sped up. When US reporters would ask the early rockers where they learned to play like that, they would often respond, from YOUR country, from the Delta area players, all of whom were black. It really highlights how racism put blinders on US society.
It would'nt have happened if the Internet existed...
@@jstnxprsn Racism? You just got done saying all the great blues players were initially black. No one denies that, not sure what you are referring to when you mention racism?
It goes back much further than the 20th century. It stemmed from very old songs people would sing while working. So, such a terrible history, in a crazy twist of fate, brought us this great music. 🤘🏻🎸🇺🇸
Rock seemed like a pretty natural progression over the decades. We are fortunate to have it, but not at all amazing really. I mean it’s tremendous, I love it. But it is all very simple.
Now, classical music, talk about coming out of nowhere! Now that is amazing. 🤘🏻🎸🇺🇸
I remember watching The Monkees every week when it was originally aired on TV…funny the memories that are stuck in your brain from over 50 years ago.
Ditto
I love The Monkees! I love their music. They don't deserve the flack they caught from jealous music snobs.
There was so much hype all summer so we could hardly wait for the Monkees and their new TV series that came with the first week of "back to school"...I was not greatly impressed, but still looked forward to the second show a week later....Also a disappointment...Week three didn't get past the first 5 or 10 mins....After the Beach Boys and the Beatles, the Monkees was something for my 6 and 8 yr old brothers, not for any groovy teenagers...Just a load of crap...I liked a lot of their songs, but could not stand the Circus boy and cute little Brit and the whole premise of "the Monkees TV Show"... At least Mike Nesmith had SOMETHING to offer to music fans.
@@grantkruse1812 But I was 4 years old HAHA
I was born in the early 00's but the 60's has gotta be my favorite era of music. Love the Kinks/Byrds/Monkees/Hollies/Zombies/Stones/Beatles, and my personal favorite group The Beach Boys. 1965 up until the early 70's was definitely their peak... But 1966, man... What a great year.
How bout The Who?
Yeah! Yet another band that proves 60s music is the greatest.
Nobody for the Turtles and "Happy Together"? Johnnie Nash and "I can see clearly now"? Dusty Springfield and "Wishin' and Hopin'"? Dione Warwick and "Anyone who had a heart"?
Hi Luna! Good to see a young person appreciating good music! Keep listening!
LOOK ON MY PLAYLIST FROM 1967.
ua-cam.com/video/b56e9Ot20_8/v-deo.html
I was friends with Tommy boyce during his last days in Nashville. What a great songwriter as well as a very friendly and open human being.
There were tons of really good songs in 1966, like Sunny Afternoon by the Kinks or Walk Away Renee by the Left Banke or The Sound of Silence by Simon n Garfunkel. Great year.
walk away renee still gets to me!
Yes, the prof has certainly turned up a pile of crap here.
Let's not forget itchycoo Park, or reflection of my life but I think the latter was more 69 but still a great song
Add "Good Thing" - Paul Revere and the Raiders - to the '66 list for me, eh?
The Yardbirds owned '66: Shapes of Things, I'm A Man/Over Under Sideways Down, and Happenings Ten Years Time Ago. All in '66.
I remember 1966 like it was yesterday. It's my favorite year for music, and it seemed like it was non-stop great music. I was around in the 50's, so I got to experience all the 60's years, including watching The Beatles on Ed Sullivan in 1964. 1966 is very vivid in my mind, us kids all had our own little transistor radios for our AM stations. I was sitting on my front porch in July 1966 when the news came over of Bobby Fuller dying. Who doesn't like "I Fought The Law" from 1966..? Geez, a wealth of great songs that year.
🎶🎵And the Law Won...🙋
And I got to see the clash in concert
The Monkees are the reason I became a drummer. When I was 8 years old, watching reruns on Much Music in Canada for their 25th anniversary, I became obsessed with them and knew that I wanted to play drums in a band, which I've been doing for almost 30 years now! Hopefully we get more episodes on the Monkees from POR!
The same reason I picked up the guitar at the same age.
Much Music introduced me to the Monkees as well. In the late 90's when I was 13 I caught their show on Much Music and I was instantly hooked and completely obsessed with them too. They've been my favourite band ever since.
Micky Dolenz had been in bands as a guitarist. When he was cast in the Monkees, producers mandated he be the drummer, and he eventually learned to be acceptable at it.
@@brianthomas2434 The story I've heard is no one wanted to be the drummer. Mike and Peter, the two dedicated musicians, took up guitars. The producers felt that Davy would be the biggest draw as the cute, British one, and no one would be able to see him behind a drum set, so Micky drew the short straw as it were. To his credit, he took lessons and became a decent drummer in his own right. A bit of trivia: Micky drums left handed, because his instructor was left handed. =D
The monkees were just awesome. Unfortunately, rip, Mike, Peter and Davey.
Good vibrations is a masterpiece. When they sing gotta keep those good vibrations happening and they harmonise it seems like the clouds are opening and you can feel utopia.
and the musicians were the fab Wrecking Crew
@@oldermusiclover yeah they were amazing I read a great book about them. The bass player Carol Kay invented the intro to Wichita lineman and many other incredible things.
@@rodlytton765 they were indeed the late Hal Blaine is still one of my fav drummers
The opening vocals still send chivers up my spine. Definitely a masterpiece.
I know the 80s is my jam, but the 60s was the stuff of legends. Glad you're still reminding us of how great they were.
Thanks for watching!
I think of the 1960s as the decade when they had learned how to use many of the innovations we take for granted today, synthesizers, effects like reverb, vibrato and phasing/flanging, fuzz distortion, even compression, without abusing them the way they later did. Being born in 1961, I remember going through the 1970s thinking that music had started to go downhill, and realizing at about 1983 that most top-40 mainstream recordings had started to sound as if they were playing through a telephone connection. It's not that everything from later years was bad, it's that the production techniques that made the 1960s so innovative enabled the sterile, canned, fakeness that crept into pop music a little more each year. I have a sinking suspicion that there will never be another musical decade as good as the 1960s.
Yes, The Jam were really popular in the 80s
And dont forget the 70s were right next to the 60s in greatness.
Late 50s, too: Lots of transcendent songs.
Ah, I love hits of the sixties! I was 14, watched the Monkees TV show every Monday night…never saw them perform until the 80s revived the show, the music, and my two tween daughters were massive fans! For them, we went to a concert. So amazing to see Peter, Micky and Davy! I was ok until “Sleepy Jean” & then I teared up…
I know the Monkees were huge but even then I feel like they don't get enough respect. They were seriously talented guys who happened to be funny TV characters as well.
So agree! So much talent in one band for sure
Totally agree! Somehow, my kids heard the Monkees and loved them. It was great the we had 3 generations of Monkee lovers 😜
Agreed! The fact they're not in the R&R HOF is a total crock!
Well they didn't write their own songs or play on their own records. But yeah I guess you might say they were talented in some way or another. Who knows?
@@frankmarsh1159 That sir, is exactly what they did do.... Might wanna do a little research, check some song writing credit and some recording personnel.
Professor, great video! I'm 70 and loved everything you just went over. What a time. Many songs from many different genre's/styles. Nothing but the best of the best! What a time to be a teenager!!!
Bought that Vanilla Fudge record solely and only for “You Keep Me Hangin' On.” My friends don't understand what I see in it, but that organ part was true greatness.
Maybe you need new friends. Like me.
Oh you could feel the guy's pain when he sang that!
They turned a good song into a flat-out great one.
Yeah, be sure to check out the UA-cam video of Vanilla Fudge doing "You Keep Me Hanging On" on the Ed Sullivan Show... absolutely incredible LIVE performance!
I saw them live, and they spun my head around. They were the warmup band, and were better than the main attraction.
The Monkees were my favorite band since I was a child in the late 70s. I discovered them through re-runs of their TV show, and watched them every afternoon after school for years. As I got older, I started collecting their records, and in the 80s, Rhino started releasing their deep cuts via their "Missing Links" records. By the time MTV revived the TV show in 1986, I knew every song by heart. That same year, their appearance in Bangor, Maine was the first concert I ever attended. I still love The Monkees as an adult. I have a more complex understanding of and appreciation for their later music, and the struggle they faced to gain artistic control of their music, and enjoy the silliness of their show even more than I did as a child. I even got the cover art of their fourth album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd. tattooed on my right arm.
Crazy! It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that I was there…I watched the TV shows, I heard the songs. Who knew they were legends in the making? Great show professor…thanks for digging all the way back into the sixties…I’m digging it!
The Monkees were my first concert in 1967 and I can still remember the excitement. I can attest to the fact that they were playing their instruments, except for Davy, who I think had a tambourine for a few songs.
All the happiness we were given through all the creativity.who'd have thought
I remember in 1968 watching the Monkees on TV in my grandparents' farmhouse in Galway, Ireland. The whole family, including my grandparents, my Uncle Willie and Aunt May and my cousins Tommy, Patty and John Paul watched with me. My father who would never have watched back in the states, reluctantly joined in. They were a little behind as the show had already been cancelled in the US. They all loved it.
I was no older than an eight year old when I found my dad’s 8 track tape of the Monkees. When he took a break from wearing out his Loggins and Messina tape, which he loved. I shoved in the Monkees tape and was hooked on them ever since.
Beatles are my favorite band ever. Love 60s music and 70s. Thanks for your videos
When I think of 1966 I think of the Mamas and the Papas one of the greatest vocal groups of all time.
When I first heard "California Dreamin' " I said to myself "This changes everything!" It was so dark, somber, serious, pessimistic, moody, cynical. It stuck a dagger through the heart of the old "boy meets girl" formula.
@@GeraldM_inNC I actually really dislike that song. It has the tone of "you're destroying the world and you should hate yourself" but the lyrics are actually a bippity-bobbity tune about how great Los Angeles is. You could give that lyric sheet to Mickey Mouse and it would fit, but it doesn't fit with the dark and moody sound they put it with.
I love the mamas and the papas
@@JETZcorp The lyrics fit the music perfectly, what are you talking about?! The lyric is equally dark because it's sung from the perspective of a couple stuck in the freezing cold winters back East, dreaming of a California paradise but not able to get there. It exists as an unobtainable dream which haunts them. The scene where the narrator drops to his knees at church, praying he can escape the snow, is particularly evocative because he says "you know the preacher like the cold", which sounds to me like a pretty blunt comment on religion. Of course, the song wasn't actually released in 1966--it goes back to Dec '65. But there's no "bippity-boppity" here *at all* . You should pay more attention to what the lyrics are actually saying.
Yes they were great and I appreciate the fact that they wrote their hits.
66, 67, and 68 were the greatest years for rock music.
And 65
Johnny Rivers, Poor Side of Town. Always takes me back to childhood when gas was cheap and you went on Sunday drives with your parents. The song had appeal to a broad age range. Even today I can listen to this and it takes me to this very peaceful happy place.
Last train to Clarksville would be my #1. It moves me the most. I'm about your age POR and grew up with this music from my parents, especially my Dad. I was so sad when the last 'Golden Oldies' station went off the air on my dial, end of the 90's I think it was.
I was born in 81, but I grew up watching reruns of the Monkees and had a couple of their albums on vinyl (I had a massive crush on Peter Tork 🤣). Now I work at a music teaching school and one of our teachers is a former student of the school who is currently obsessed with them! Love seeing them still having life through its younger generation of fans! Thanks for another killer redux video 🙏
Thanks Allison.
@Anna Trail sometimes I *feel* that old, if it helps 😁👵🏽
Great top ten. Think the Monkees are the most underappreciated vocal groups of the 60s and 70s. Hope you can get an interview with Mickey and Mike before they too pass into eternity. If you do ask them their feelings about how radio stations wouldn't play their music after the tv show went off, especially the albums they released in the 80s and late 90s 2000.
Don't know if it qualifies streamwise but "Sometime in the Morning" by the Monkees is one of my favorite songs of all time. It made me know what kind of a feeling I should expect when I got my first girlfriend. I was only 10 at the time. Carol King/Gerry Gofin song, if memory serves me.
I was born in 66. I loved ALL the music and it must have been because it was playing on the radio when I was a baby. When I was 8 I bought the Monkees greatest hits through a television commercial. It took FOREVER to get that album, but to be able to play daydream believer any time I wanted was GOLD. LOL
The Monkees caught a lot of grief because they weren't a “real band,” whatever that means. They were disparagingly referred to as the prefab four. What we know now is that The Wrecking Crew played on quite a few songs by bands that didn't get the same flack, such as The Association and even the later Beach Boys songs. Hey, at least The Monkees owned up to it.
And, Mike Nesmith was actually a very good songwriter, Mickey Dolenz and Davey Jones were very good singers, and Peter Tork was a talented musician.
I always liked them anyway the Monkees were one of the 1st records I bought, I really liked Mickey's vocals.
Let's not forget that Davy (before the Monkees) was nominated for a Tony Award for his portrayal of the Artful Dodger in the Broadway Musical "Oliver".
Not only all of that, but they were so much fun to watch and listen to. True entertainment for the masses.
That's like saying Walt Disney wasn't a real animator because he covered fairy tales.
Agree 100%. Is the music good and do you enjoy listening to it and go back and listen again? That is what matters. Not how they got started.
Loved the Monkees!!! Still do and listen to their music all the time! Peter was my favorite and love his blues band he had before he passed . Saw them in concert in '86 and was so fun! Miss Davy, Mike and Peter! Micky is doing a great job keeping the legacy alive!
I was 16 when Good Vibrations came out and with my 1st hearing I was IN LOVE! I remember where I was! Genius!
Great show Adam, I was born in 58' so the seventies music was the sound track of my life and consider it the greatest decade ever for popular music in every genre at that time and the 50' and 60's were our oldies and we all know how awesome those decades were for music!...
I was in a bar in Seattle in the early 1980's, I was in my early twenties and this was before Karaoke, and the bar band was only playing Beatles songs and the singers were different people out of the audience. I remembered marveling at how much this single band impacted an entire generation...not only in America but in the whole world.
The blues revival, when the Brits reinterpreted the blues in form of pop music and the Americans were too, was amazing.
I moved to Buenos Aires in 2003 and was stunned how much they love the Beatles there, and local bands were covering them
Impacted like a wisdom tooth.
Here is my memory of Winchester Cathedral: I was in high school (Waltrip in Houston, Texas) and the jukebox in the cafeteria got stuck on that song. It played over and over until we couldn't stand it. When it started over for the umpteenth time, one boy stood up, gave a loud howl of agony, and pulled the plug on
the jukebox. Everyone in the cafeteria stood up and clapped and cheered.
Last Train To Clarksville was the first song I heard by The Monkees and I was hooked on their music automatically and I still love their music to this day, they are my all time favorite music group
I wasn't born until 74, but my mom played all this stuff, great memories, but THE MONKEES!?!
I used to play sick to stay home from church b/c TNT (Ted Turner's cable channel) played 3 episodes of The Monkees back-to-back on Sunday mornings in the very late 1970s. My dad would cover for me (he didn't like going to church either) & we'd watch it together.
Not long after this my parents split up.
I've been a Monkees fan all my life, & rewatched the episodes on TV when MTV played them & again whenever someone would have a Monkees Marathon.
And my mom & sisters & I used to go to a market on Monday mornings in Clarksville, TN, & we'd sing it every time.
Thanks for the video, lotsa great memories.
I am glad that I was in my teens in the 60s. It was a great time to be young and the music was great. I turned 17 in 1966 and the Beatles were peaking and many other artists were as well. Thanks for reminding me of that great year.
You're welcome. Thanks for watching!
Errr....The Beatles were Still making Great Music...they didn't peak out in 66...they were Still Climbing!!!
Saturday mornings and "The Monkees" were our introduction to rock and roll.
We lived in a town called Clarksville, with a small freight train running through one edge of town.
I just saw, what’s left of the Monkees 2 weeks ago in Medford, Ma
Mickey is still killing it.
1965 was an awesome year for rock and roll! Look at June of that year! Thanks!
LucasMac
I may be “older” but I sure feel blessed that I heard all this music while they were happening.
Greatest stuff you will ever hear.
I was born in the late 70’s and my dad graduated high school in 1967. My dad was and is a big music buff, so every Saturday morning I would wake up to 60’s and 70’s music. I love the 80’s and 90’s music I grew up with, but still my favorite decade of music is from the 1960’s.
You have a great Dad!
I am a GenXer too. My Sunday mornings were filled with 60s, 70s rock & soul and Latin music. It was mom’s sign to get up and help her clean the house. The Supremes clip took me back. So did the Monkees & Beach Boys.
Sunshine Superman is a favorite hit from 1966. What a fresh, unique sound Donovan had. You instantly know it couldn't be anyone else.
And with a guitar part played by a young Jimmy Page. They reunited not too long ago to reprise the song.
P.S. - It was actually recorded in December of 1965. Oh, and I forgot to mention that another future member of Led Zeppelin appears on this track: John Paul Jones on bass (😩 Sorry Jonesy).
And how many girls were named Jennifer, after one of his songs!
Michael Nesmith passed away yesterday, so now only Mickey Dolenz is left from The Monkees. I heard Last Train To Clarksville on the radio the first day it was in rotation...ran out later that day and bought the 45. I still have my copy of The New Vaudeville Band's Lp. That song was sung all through the halls in my high school...I still love to sing it at 71. Love this concept. More "countdown" videos, please.
FWIW, I've always preferred the Vanilla Fudge version as well.
Which leads me to the story of a dive bar in Waikiki in the late 70s' early 80s. They had the BEST juke box in the islands loaded with "oldies". I considered my (numerous) happy hours there as a grad course in music appreciation...
Me too. Still one of my favorite recordings ever.
60's, 70's and 80's ...95% of my favorite songs were made in those decades.
Always the fav of mine Vanilla Fudge version of Keep Me Hangin On. Hits it out of the park. Love the beginning and all the rest. That’s what I call rock n roll! Crank it up.
96 tears-- the only time I ever played in a band. My cousins garage band The Sweet Nothings (Billings MT) was missing their keyboardist, so I filled in on their Farfisa Mini Compact keyboard. Didn’t know what I was doing but nobody complained.
I’d say this is the best list you’ve done so far❤
I became a fan of the Monkees when I was in the 8th grade. I can remember some girls playing A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You on a little portable record player in the 4 room school house I attended at the time. I finally got to see Mickey, Davy and Pete in Columbus, Ohio one year before Davy passed away. They put on an absolutely wonderful show. Ah those memories.....walking to a restaurant during my lunch break as a freshman in high school and hearing Pleasant Valley Sunday on the jukebox and the smell of hamburgers cooking as I walked up the street.....✌and love everyone...
I missed the original Monkees broadcasts. Then, a few years later when they were in Saturday rerun mode, my siblings and I were always leaving for piano lessons during the show intro. So I never actually saw a Monkees show until the 20th anniversary revival! But I must have been a very good and devout fan at that point, because I received my cosmic reward: a pair of tickets from KRTH 101-FM in Los Angeles for the Monkees concert at the Universal Amphitheatre on 09 July 1989. It was a 2½-hour show in which "Papa Nez" joined Micky, Peter, and Davy for the final hour. Over thirty years later, it's still #1 on my "favorite concerts" list. (And K-Earth even put out sandwich fixings and FED all of us contest winners and our guests before the show!!)
Always loved the Monkees. My Wife is a huge Monkee's fan and we saw Davy Jones about 25 years ago when he came to town. Rip
For me, 1968 was the best year. Among many others, try "Born to be Wild" (Steppenwolf), "Mony Mony" (Tommy James), "White Room" (Cream), "Hey Jude" (Beatles), "Jumpin Jack Flash" (the Stones) and my favorite "Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin. No one could put more emotion into a song than Janis.
Yeah, '68 was THE year.
Great Choice!!
Wow
Real 💪💪💪
Agreed.
I grew up in the 50 and 60 the best bands ever.nothing like today.the music had meaning and sole.and funck.and rethem . you dance to it you could sing along with it.it had feeling.love that time
So glad we have record it
"Good Vibrations" is definitely an exquisite piece of music. Brian and Mike appeared to know what they were doing, whether they did or not. Part of me was holding out to hear about "God Only Knows", but that gem was probably big at an earlier point in '66. For anyone reading this comment, I highly recommend the Neil Diamond cover from 1977. That's how I was introduced to that song, despite it likely being next to unknown among Neil's material.
Good vibrations was the teaser to smile, which didn't get released until 40 years later. I do agree, as great as this song is, God Only Knows it's my favorite.
PLEASE don’t put Love in the same class of talent as Brian Wilson. Love was (is) a wannabe who was the musical weak link of the BB’s.
@@billdesinger8604 There's a reason there exists the "Mike Love's a douchebag" fan club. I won't list the many reasons here as we all seem to know what they are. What I do want to emphasize is that Mike was an integral part of The Beach Boys. I can't think of any other bass voice in recorded history that is so perfectly suited for their harmonies. He did a good job as a front man in their concerts which is part of their legacy, and he did come up with some good lyrics, especially with Good Vibrations. I personally think the line 'I don't know where but she takes me there" is genius and that came out of Mike's brain. Hate is poison, love is provident. We each get to choose what's best for ourselves. The Beach Boys are one of the greatest bands of all time. Let's leave it there and enjoy the music.
@@scottsessions3240 The greatest bands have love/hate relationships. Mike and Brian, Keith and Mick, Paul and John, Eddie and Dave, etc etc.
Pet Sounds.., one of the best albums of all time.
We were living in Berkeley in 1966. Towards the end of that year my dad entered a contest on the radio station KFRC in San Francisco. The prize was the entire top 100 of the year on 45s.
For years after my twin brother and I would play DJ with all of them, permanently engraining them into our memories.
Although we were only six at the time, that year is forever etched in our musical hearts.
Cool!
The Beatles and The Monkees were my favorite groups in 1966. I still have all their albums, as well as complete Series 1 & 2 Monkee cards.
Here There and Everywhere was our wedding song in 1978. The 60's had the best music.
The Beatles "And" the Monkeys ?......ha ha ha.....how is that possible ?
Lol
The clip of Winchester Cathedral, is from an old variety show called , the Hollywood Palace. I used to watch that show . My parents had one of the first color TVs , when half the programs were still in black and white.....good times. 1966 the yr my dad bought a new chevy pickup..
Woooooooo!!! HERMANS HERMITS!!!! Such an underrated band!!!
When the Beatles arrived on the scene, with screaming, hysterical girl fans, I was not impressed, and ignored what they produced.
But Revolver changed my mind. It was more than listenable. I was compelled to explore their talent. As it’s said: the rest is history.
I was around 10 years before when all the girls were screaming and fainting for the King. As John Lennon said "before Elvis, there was nothing!"
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this video! The Monkees are my favorite group ever. I would love to see them covered more!
My Dad had Winchester Cathedral and I always got a kick out of it. It inspired me when I went to England the summer of 1978 to go to the real Winchester Cathedral. It didn’t let me down
First caught The Monkees on Saturday morning UK TV, in either the late 70's/early 80's. They were part of re-runs of a Banana Splits show. Daydream Believer is a song that always cheers me up.
I love the 80's but after that it's definitely the 60's.
Very cool!
Tra la la, tra la la, la
Tra la la, tra la la, la
Tra la la, tra la la, la
Tra la la, tra la la, la
Anything by the Monkeys is great in any generation.
Loved me some Banana Splits.
@@DDKaraokeOutlaw Bet everyone sang that while driving a 6 wheel buggy! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Headquarters was my first album and Dolenz, Jones, Joyce, and Hart was my first concert! Original fan club member too.
The songs had a unique sound. Different songwriters doing their own take on the blues, skiffle, jug, folk, etc. That's why that era was so interesting.
So much more variety of style!
That's the exact reason why I love this music.
1959 & 1963 are EPIC years that should be done
I never thought of 'Last train to Clarksville" as a protest song, but the moment you mentioned it, it just clicked. Always a perpetual favourite. I loved The Monkees when I first saw them on Canada's version of MTV 'Much Music' and still do to this day.
@Ivan Schlotzky they outsold the Beatles and Stones in 1967. I was around, they were huge!
Thanks for putting this together. I was a high school sophomore at the time, and these songs are all memorable; Winchester Cathedral, however, will always be considered (by me and probably a whole lot of people) a "novelty" song, not really a serious piece of music. That it charted so highly has always mystified me. When it came on the radio, one would usually switch to another pop AM radio station (the two biggies being WCFL and WLS in Chicago).
On the other hand, I remember dancing like a madman (not well, but wildly) at "sock-hops" to "Devil with a Blue Dress." If I tried making those same moves today, I would end up in a hospital. Thanks again.
Pat, in Chicago
"Winchester Cathedral" was my favorite song back then and I drove my parents crazy playing it over and over. Good memories.
When you talked about the greatest single of all time I was thinking it was going to be God Only Knows. At least I got the group right. Good Vibrations is a great song as well, and certainly worthy of a spot on that list.
One human being wrote God Only Knows and Good Vibrations and Wouldn't It Be Nice and Heroes and Villains and Surf's Up within 6 months. Genuinely in a league of his own
Grew up with the Monkees! Love those guys! Miss Peter, Mike and Davy! Micky keeping it going!!!! Still playing their music!!!!
Really enjoyed this episode. I was 10 in 1966 and was already buying records and living off the radio. My dad bought me a crystal radio that summer with a little ear speaker that I put under my pillow to fall asleep at night. I recall many of these songs and tv shows.
Ear speaker…I had an old square microphone for a cassette player that I snapped the mic plug off of and then plugged the other prong into the ear phone jack of my clock radio. Had that under my pillow for years back in the 70’s…
@@tjseagrove A good story. Music grabs us at such a young age, it's amazing, and what we do to have it. In the early 70s I travelled about with a portable cassette player long before the advent of the walkman. At that time it was precious to me.
@@dougreimer2912 And don’t forget that amazing invention the transistor radio with its mono speaker and we would hang it on a tree and listen to it outside. The number 9 V batteries we would burn through was staggering.
@@tjseagrove I recall learning about commercial transistor radios in the early 60s and that they were originally from Japan. Wasn't able to get one till I finished high school.
Devil with a Blue Dress On is a song i forgot. Will need to listen to it after this...
There was a lot more diversity of sound back then, despite big company control.
1971 is the greatest to me too, no other year had the depth of the albums produced then in my opinion: David Bowie - Hunky Dory; Led Zeppelin - IV; Joni Mitchel - Blue; The WHo - Who's Next; Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers; Carole King - Tapestry; Paul McCartney - Ram; Marvin Gaye - What's Going On; David Crosby - If only I could Remember my Name; John Lennon - Imagine; Allman Brothers - At Fillmore; Janis Joplin - Pearl; Don McLean - American Pie; America - America; Black Sabbath - Master of Reality and so very many more
Damn fine year for music!
And you really only scratched the surface, as you say.
I so agree. 1971!!
1971 for me as well, English fella wrote a book. about it which I have. Was 7 then as opposed to 2
I had just turned 6 years old when these songs were released. Wow looking at the album cover of Good Vibrations really takes me back. I remember having it in my collection but have forgotten about it the last 45 years! Loved the Monkees on TV. Also remember Gomer Pyle and the Beverly Hillbillies
The doors w here only together for 18 months incredible!
Definitely can't go wrong with a top ten list of the 60's. Keep it coming!
I saw The Monkees LIVE in 1967 in San Francisco. I was 16 years old and I lived across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. I got my Monkees Album signed by all of The Monkees too. It was a really fun night!
I was 10 in 67 , I also lived in Marin County 🤗 that’s so cool that you saw the Monkees and they signed your album, I also loved the Monkees, I’m a life long Brian Wilson Beach boys fan ,I love the Golden Gate Bridge also
@@barbarapope349 Awesome 😎
I lived in Mill Valley. We owned 5 acres at the foot of Mount Tam.
My Dad was a famous Bay Area Jazz Musician. I love the Golden Gate Bridge too. 💜💙💜
Wow! What a great place to live! And your dad the jazz musician, very cool , it looks like you’ve been involved in great music during your life🤗 it’s so funny that I would look at this channel and the comments and see a” neighbor “almost my age 😳🤗 I grew up in Inverness and Pt Reyes our house over looked Tamales Bay, I was born at Marin General hospital, it’s such a beautiful place to live as you know . Thanks for your comment 🥰
@@CelestialNav1 I forgot to address your name 🤦🏻♀️
What was wonderful to me during that period was that everybody was listening to and discovering the same 20 new songs at the same time. Johnny Rivers song "Summer Rain" referenced how everyone was listening to the Beatles new album at that time. Whites were listening to blacks doing Motown music, kids were listening to country songs like "Ode To Billy Joe", and everybody was doing it together at the same time! It had a way of bringing everybody together like nothing else ever had. So the lack of access to anything new that you want being stripped down to just the Top 20 songs on the radio came with amazing benefits to society I believe. Maybe that's why for those of us who lived through it, we're still talking about it today.
What a great comment🎶🙋...totally agree, I loved Motown,Bobby Gentry, country, Rock & Roll, Dion Demucci,Dylan,just about everyone from the U.K. how bout, Instrumental Lonely Bull, Herb Alpert "This Guy" , I could go on& on🎵🎶
@@almavazquez6397 Yep I forgot to mention the instrumentals! Still some of my favorite records to this day! Thanks for the nice comment! 😃
I knew a guy who always referred to "Ode to Billy Joe" as that song that starts out telling how ""Mama's never been right"!!!
I was impressed with the list of interviewees - and then you’re sitting there with Brian Wilson! Great show, some truly immortal songs here
Absolutely love the music of 66, the music was changing so fast from here on, I am so thankful when you get to interviews with these legends and do the earlier stuff turn on some of the past music to younger audiences too.
YES!! Listened to this music playing in my older sisters room. Playing stacks of 45's put that great music in my small child brain. Love it, it's my go to music everytime!
Actually The Monkees' first single 'Last Tran To Clarksvile' was released before their TV show debuted on August 16, 1966. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 on November 5, 1966 after their TV show debuted on September 12, 1966.
Here, There and Everywhere has grown and grown in popularity as more people hear it.. What a great tune! And a great arrangement by the Beatles.
I had heard that The Beach Boys "God Only Knows" sparked the writing of "Here There and Everywhere." And Paul has said that John gave him his only compliment for writing this song. It's been one of my favorites & was always shocked it didn't get more acclaim.
God only knows blows Here there and everywhere out if the water. The later is over produced pop drivel. Just saying.
@@debbiehanisch2099 "God Only Knows" (GOK) is a masterpiece & one of the best songs ever written. "Here There And Everywhere" (HTAE) is a simple, well written song so typical of Paul. Of course GOK is better than HTAE. I don't think many would argue that, certainly not me. Both are pop songs. The Beach Boys did pop almost exclusively & the Beatles certainly did a lot more rock and a little bit of country. It's particularly ironic to call HTAE "overproduced" when Pet Sounds is one of the most "produced" albums in history. Thankfully Brian reigned back the production on GOK but it is still far more "produced" than HTAE. "Drivel" is subjective hyperbole & really doesn't belong in any serious comparison.
Bridge Over Troubled Water song inspired Beatles' Long And Winding Road.
My first 45’s were Monkees’ “Clarksville” & “Believer”! You too? I played them so much that my Uncle gave me a stack of Beatles albums.
Wow, for me that’s like trying to pick my favorite child - can’t be done, but here goes:
I have great memories of music from 1964 when I was 8 - hello Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show - to 1978, the year I graduated from college.
1964 - The Beatles
1965 - The Rolling Stones
1966 - The Monkees
1967 - Buffalo Springfield
1968 - Cream
1969 - Crosby, Stills & Nash
1970 - James Taylor
1971 - Rod Stewart
1972 - Carole King
1973 - Elton John
1974 - Joni Mitchell
1975 - Chicago
1976 - Al Stewart
1977 - Fleetwood Mac
1978 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Thanks for inspiring the walk down memory lane, Professor. How about a show about the best music of 1967?
Gr
Brother, you are so appreciated. Of the songs you featured, Good Vibrations is out on its own. Looking back on this period in my life, young folks don't get the context, but it was all new to our ears. Every week we went to the music store to see the latest offerings and each week there were songs that would later become rock classics. We were so lucky. Honestly the mid to late sixties were so special in music. There was a lot of great music that came later but the sixties were amazing.
Never before, likely naver again: April 4, 1964. All 5 of the Top 5 that week (plus 9 more with in the top 100, and a couple more that referenced them….. the Beatles absolutely OWNED the Billboard Charts that week!!!!
I'm 56 I've had a radio in my ear since forever. I still will watch the Monkees anytime I come across it. I grew up in California and back then everyone knew all the Beach Boys songs. I even won a radio contest where I won the entire BB catalog. Damn I'm old... But music has gotten me through everything.
The Vanilla Fudge version of Keep Me Hangin' On was definitely the best. Epic, especially the long version. One of the best recordings of all time.
I was 14 in 1966, and all of these songs were great. I watched The Monkees all the time,. Good Vibrations is absolutely amazing - the harmony is exquisite. I still have my Revolver album that I bought in ‘66. Damn, those were good years with great music. Of course there was a whole lot of great music from the rest of the 60s. I’ll never forget seeing Cream in concert at Clowes Hall in Indy. Ginger Baker was out of this world.
1966, the year that I graduated from high school, was a great year for music! The sixties and early seventies were the best years for music imo, started going downhill, with a few exceptions when disco hit it big. A lot of the songs had a relatable message, were easy to sing along to, had a beat and a melody. This music is imprinted in my brain and my heart.
But, please, in the beginning there was quite a lot of truly fine, very exciting disco music -- that could keep you dancing 'til the wee small hours of the morning. Around 78, however, the newer disco sounds were overly drawn out and quite repetitious. By then Disco had had its day.
Salute! You were around for the beginning of rock & roll! Ain't it great!
Walked up to the stage in the very small "MOD SCENE" in North Haven C...a dance club...storefront...circa 1965-66. Watched the stage version of "...hangin on"
I would say The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hanging On" is the greatest and most influential song of the rock/pop era. Not only a great song whose lyrics are rooted in the blues tradition -- but the first song to purposefully use technology to create/amplify an emotionally impact - with the electric guitar's 'telegraphing'.
At about 7 years old I can remember my oldest brother had the 45 of Winchester Catherdral. He was 8 years older than me and learning the trumpet and trombone which at least one is prominent in the song (if memory serves 🙂)
He practiced too it. Another song I had not heard or thought of in probably 40 years !
It’s impossible to have a list that doesn’t include Hal Blaine in the 60s. Bobby Darren, Johnny Rivers, the Beach boys, and the Monkees. All Hal Blaine on drums.
That’s “Darin.”
@@Victoria-ni3tf Or, possibly, "James."
My parents listened to all of these songs growing up in the 50s and 60s (they were born in 1951 and 1953). So, I grew up listening to these oldies! Love it! ❤
Great episode Adam, brings back memories of watching Adam West as “Batman” on television.
Sad thing about Question Mark: seems he never really played many concerts, or had much in term of earnings from his songs. To make matters worse, at one point, around 2005, the house he was living in with friends burned to the ground and he lost everything. The home was not insured.
Also, the keyboard player, "Little Frank" Rodriguez, was about 14 years old at the time, and it seems that the only member of The Mysterians who was actually old enough to sign a contract was Question Mark himself.
I read one of his interviews, and, sheesh, you’d have a hard time interviewing him. He’s a rambler! But an innovator- the beginnings of punk!
About Casey Kasem, there isn’t a warmer and fuzzier feeling than memories of hearing his shows on early Saturday mornings into the early afternoons. His storytelling and backstories were like storytelling time at summer campfires. Umm… smell that?… S’mores anyone?
I was an 18 year old senior in ‘66. How great it was cruising, listening to mono AM radio and if we were lucky we had a rear seat speaker. Two years later we had a garage band. Later on in college I took a fine arts elective about pop, rock and folk music culture. I remember the prof reflecting on the 60s saying that after Woodstock country took a deep breath, exhaled and moved into he 70s. I’m still stuck in the 60s. Thanks for this video.
Love, love, LOVE the Beach Boys, but I think their best song is "Wouldn't it be nice". It's one of only a few songs that manages to make me cry; I love it so much.
I love "I get around"