It’s time now for the second round of semi-finals in our retrospective; the 1960s. The above are, as of right now, the songs leading the polls for their respective years. 1964 is a dead tie, so both the top vote-getters from that year advance.
Pick your favorite and then vote in any '70s polls you have yet to vote in before that best-of goes up on Saturday.
Well, before opening the thread, if someone asked me to list the “most important singles of the 60’s,” I would go with Satisfaction, I Want to Hold Your Hand and then Respect…"
So - Satisfaction. Still captures the sound of rock rebellion and cool.
I’d love to vote for Georgia On My Mind in memory of my grandmother who passed away very recently, as it was one of her favourite songs…
But more objectively, the decade belongs to The Beatles and that raises another problem: none of those that made the cut are among the best things they’ve done. I have a soft spot for Someting but A Hard Day’s Night is probably more universal. So…
Well, these are the songs that the Teeming Millions voted as the best #1 jams of the respective years they charted in, so that’s democracy for ya.
I’m thinking that my “sequel” to this retrospective series might use the year-end Hot 100 charts to look at the songs that charted highly in a particular year but didn’t make it to the top, so we can look at the songs that were iconic but didn’t quite make it to #1.
My vote in this poll, FWIW, went to The Sound of Silence, because it just so perfectly sums up the zeitgeist to me.
As I mentioned in the OP, “A Hard Day’s Night” and “House of the Rising Sun” were tied in the 1964 poll at the time I created this thread, so they both advanced.
I agree with your sentiments. “Something” may be a better song to many, but “A Hard Day’s Night” is among the most well known of the Beatles’ songs, not only from their early era but overall. It has universal recognition.
Congratulations to the following songs for achieving the double honor of winning their yearly polls AND being the best #1 song of the year, according to the world-famous Ponch8 Music Rating System:
Hit the Road Jack
House of the Rising Sun (by a tie!)
Respect
Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay
Now on to the serious business of my vote. I voted for “House of the Rising Sun” in a VERY tight decision over “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay.”
“Surf City” is decent enough, but it still finishes dead-ass last in the Ponch8 Music Rating System. The competition is significantly tougher in these best-of-the-decade polls, now isn’t it, Jan & Dean?
My personal preference is “The Sound of Silence,” but I can’t conceive of anyone but the Beatles winning this. Of the two listed, I’m going with “Something.”
Every one of those choices was stellar. Even The Lion Sleeps Tonight, which so far hasn’t gotten any love but what a fun singalong song.
House of The Rising Sun, for me though. No question. Eric Burdon was about the sexiest man on the planet then.
Anyone remember Frijid Pink? They did an excellent Rising Sun cover. I saw that live in the early 1970s. I can’t even remember when or where, because, early '70s.
I wanted to vote for the Beatles but A Hard Day’s Night just doesn’t do it for me. Satisfaction is an iconic song but I never like the Rolling Stones in general all that much so I couldn’t bring myself to vote for them either. I had to pick a dark horse (no pun intended) and go with Aretha and her power delivery of R-E-S-P-E-C-T even though I personally like The Sound of Silence and House of the Rising Sun more as casual MP3 music.
