cover image source: giphy
We've been time traveling through the decades for the past couple of weeks and are sticking with the theme again this week... This time we're headed to the swingin' 60's. Motown, the British Invasion, bossa nova, surf rock, psychedelic rock, folk... the genres of the 60's spread far(out) and wide. Whether you're inspired by the unhinged, acid-laced sounds of Hendrix's electric blues or are more drawn to the radio-friendly, straight-laced bubblegum pop of the era, I'd like to hear what ya are into. 🙌
How we do
In this weekly series, folks can chime in and drop links to whatever it is they've been listening to recently + browse others suggestions.
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Hop in that time machine and let's head back to the sixties. Note: you can embed a link to your song using the following syntax {% embed https://... %}. This should work for most common platforms!
Really looking forward to listening to y'all's suggestions! 🎶
Top comments (15)
I'm gonna drop in a little Motown!
I'm a huge fan of Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrel's duet on Ain't No Mountain High Enough.
Honestly, I think a big part of the pull is James Jamerson's super melodic bass line that grooves all over the place. James Jamerson is an incredible basisst and you can hear his work on loads of Motown hits. Check out this visualization of the bass work on the song:
some of my all time faves :~)
Wow, great list here! 🙌
The Zombies just feel so incredibly 60's to me haha! I hadn't hear this tune before, but Time of the Season is definitely one that pops in my head when I'm thinking about the hippy movement.
Simon & Garfunkel created a masterpiece with Scarborough Fair... their harmonies are so relaxing. When I close my eyes, I imagine I'm in the 1600s listening to a band of bards, haha. Paul Simon is one of my fave songwriters, though looking this song up, I realize he didn't write it and it goes back much further... anyway, he and Art Garfunkel really did it justice in this recording.
And King Crimson! I've yet to really dive into their stuff. They're kinda challenging for me but I know they make amazing music and helped to break the mold of what a rock band can do, inspiring lotsa the prog rockers to come in the 70's/
It's gotta be Pet Sounds! I know this is a polarizing pick, but I'm on team Beach Boys for sure.
Brian Wilson is absolutely brilliant!
I really can't choose between The Beatles and The Beach Boys (not sure if that's what you're implying by "team Beach Boys" but I know the two get compared regularly and saw themselves as rivals)... in any case, I think Pet Sounds is genius. They took Phil Spector's Wall of Sound method but did something very different with it, making music that is beautifully gentle and harmonious.
Opeth
Damnation
Dammmmmnn(nation)! I'm digging it. 🙌 This is quite a bit different than what I usually listen to, and that's a good thing. 😀
Honestly, it sounds a bit like a metal band, but so far I'm not hearing any distortion! That's super cool!! I'm not opposed to metal as a genre, but heavy distortion sometimes puts me off it cause it can just be a bit overwhelming. Here, things build and feel epic, the music is constantly changing and there's a darkness in the sound, but while the typical metal distortion can kinda make things feel out of control, this feels very much in control.
I don't know what I'd compare it to... again, this is outside the scope of what I know. There are times where I get hints of Incubus in there... but that's probably just because it's the nearest thing in my mind to this kinda music.
I am quite a bit older and this was given to me by my son. It is a very, very heavy metal band but this album was stuff that didn't make a few other harder records.
Check out Polyphia -- anything they do is amazing. Technical and nice to play low as I am coding.
also, they are a bit like some of the sweet stuff from Mastodon. I am not a fan, again, from my son, but there are some amazing music from this group too.
Great song but people should know the video is a recut of Cab Calloway’s “Jumping Jive” from the 1943 movie “Stormy Weather”. Check it out at youtu.be/_8yGGtVKrD8. Also check the comments. Great song and great dancing by the Nicholas Brothers.
This is awesome!
My intro to gipsy music was via this NPR tiny desk performance by Gogol Bordello:
I really dug Barecelona Gipsy Klezmer Orchestra... they're a little more refined than the kinda punk attitude that Gorgol Bordello bring, haha! I like 'em both though!
When I searched "Sephardic music", I landed on the following which is pretty freaking cool:
I love how strong the Eastern influence is in this type of music. The drums really remind me of drums in Indian music.
If you had something else in mind for Sephardic music, then please lemme know!
I like the Gogol Bordello you posted. I did not know them. The Sephardic one you posted is one of those. They sing in Ladino. One of my projects is creating a Ladino dictionary I should write about it.
I just checking on The Beach Boys - God Only Know (1966) and didn't know they have modern MV
Count it!! These folks are boogeying down. I'm loving the tune.