1960s retrospective
Best Songs of the 1960s
Pop music in the modern sense begins in the '60s. The Beatles, Motown, Stax, the British Invasion, the folk revival — every framework that later decades would inherit was being invented in real time, often by people in their early 20s.
What defined this era
The decade pop became an art form. Every later genre traces back to a '60s ancestor.
Artists at the center
- • The Beatles
- • Bob Dylan
- • Aretha Franklin
- • The Rolling Stones
- • James Brown
- • Marvin Gaye
- • The Beach Boys
- • Otis Redding
- • Sam Cooke
- • Stevie Wonder
A listening note
'60s mono mixes are the original mixes. Stereo versions are usually retrofits — and sound worse for it.
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