# 60s and 70s essentials? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 3, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222 "2011-01-03T13:36:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222/1 "2011-01-03T13:36:00Z")
I listen to a lot of music. I’m 30 years old, and grew up in a house with a massive record collection. My parents had a pretty broad collection of albums from the 60s and 70s, and while I definitely did not listen to all of them, I listened to many, and at least became familiar with the album covers and artists. Anyway, I know that their collection was far from comprehensive, and as I’ve pursued my own musical interests I’ve filled in some gaps, but far from all of them. Among my friends in my age group I’d say I’m one of the most knowledgeable about pre-Nirvana rock and folk music, but I always feel like I only have part of the picture. So, who, in your mind, is essential, overlooked, misunderstood, or oft-forgotten in the music of the 60s and 70s (give or take)? I’m keeping the 80s out of the equation only to keep a little focus. What albums are worth knowing? For the purposes of this thread, let’s assume that I already know Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, but I don’t know Joan Baez or Arlo Guthrie. I know Chicago but not Blood, Sweat and Tears. If that makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222/2 "2011-01-03T13:47:23Z")
I doubt the collection has Blood Sweat and Tears’s best album “_The Child is Father to the Man_,” but that’s the essential one. There’s also" Laura Nyro – _New York Tendaberrry_ Lovin’ Spoonful – _Greatest Hits_ (usually I don’t recommend “Greatest Hits” albums, but the Spoonful was a singles group). Emett Rhodes – _Emmit Rhodes_ Kak – _Kak_ Renaissance – \* Renaissance\* (sometimes packaged as _King and Queens_) – not the group that became famous later. Loudon Wainwright III – _Album III_ Mothers of Invention – _We’re Only In It for the Money, Burnt Weenie Sandwich,_ or _Freak Out_ McDonald and Giles Pink Floyd – _Atom Heart Mother_ or _Meddle_ Rick Wakeman – _The Six Wives of Henry VIII_ Soft Machine – _Third_ Spirit – _The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus_ (one of the greatest albums of the era). Traffic – _Dear Mr. Fantasy, John Barleycorn Must Die_ or _Traffic_ The Band – _The Band._ ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222/3 "2011-01-03T14:38:52Z")
Feh. For the great singles of the 1970s get Rhino Records “Have a Nice Decade”. It’s 7 full disks of hit singles and one hit wonders that did well. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222/4 "2011-01-03T16:44:41Z")
60s San Francisco Bay Area Quicksilver Messenger Service - _Happy Trails_ Country Joe and the Fish - _Electric Music For the Mind and Body_ Lothar and the Hand People - _Presenting…_ Moby Grape - _Moby Grape_ Big Brother and the Holding Company - _Cheap Thrills_ And the usual assortment of albums by the Dead, Jefferson Airplane and CCR. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222/5 "2011-01-03T17:33:15Z")
My favorite album of all time: Fever Tree Here’s one song: [San Francisco Girls](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoJZndRfMQU). They were actually from Texas and had never been to San Francisco when the song was recorded. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222/6 "2011-01-03T18:56:41Z")
Well, a definitive list of all important music from the 60s & 70s would probably use up more bandwidth than the SDMB even has; but the thread so far seems to be veering towards late 60s/early 70s west coast “classic rock.” Soooo, **Grateful Dead** - _Live Dead_, _Workingman’s Dead_ and _American Beauty_ **Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young)** - _Crosby, Stills, Nasih_ and _Deja Vu_, also Neil Young’s solo _Harvest_ and David Crosby’s _If I Could Only Remember My Name_. **Jefferson Airplane** - _Surrealistic Pillow_ and _Volunteers_, also check out _Blows Against the Empire_ (credited to Paul Kantner - Jefferson Starship) and _Hot Tuna_ (Hot Tuna are an acoustic spin-off group of Airplane proper.) **Janis Joplin** - _Pearl_ and _Joplin in Concert_. Skip _Cheap Thrills_ - a shoddy, sloppy mess that only proves Joplin made the right decision going solo. **Joni Mitchell** - _Ladies of the Canyon_, and _Court & Spark_. (Most folks will say “Blue” is her seminal work, but IMO her best songs are on either of these Lps.) **the Byrds** - _Turn! Turn! Turn!_, _the Fifth Dimension_ and _Sweetheart of the Rodeo_. **Buffalo Springfield** - _Buffalo Springfield_ and _Buffalo Springfield Again_ **the Mamas & the Papas** - Any old “greatest hits” collection will do, since they basically repackage the same dozen or so songs over & over again. **Love** - _Forever Changes_ **the Beach Boys** - _Pet Sounds_ **the Doors** - the self-titled debut and _L.A. Woman_. **Santana** - the debut Lp and _Abraxas_. **Frank Zappa / the Mothers of Invention** - _We’re Only In It For the Money_ and _Weasel Ripped My Flesh_. **Creedance Clearwater Revival** - _Bayou County_, _Green River_ and _Cosmo’s Factory_. Some of the bands, you’d probably be better just putting together a playlist on itunes or rhapsody. Some suggestions - _Pride of Man_ & _the Fool_ - Quicksilver Messenger Service _Rock & Soul Music_ & _I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag_ (from the Woodstock soundtrack) Country Joe McDonald & the Fish _White Bird_ - It’s a Beautiful Day _I Got a Line On You_, _Fresh Garbage_ - Spirit _Hot Rod Lincoln_ - Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen _Omaha_ - Moby Grape _Spill the Wine_ - Eric Burdon & War _Make Your Own Kind of Music_ & _Don’t Let the Good Life Pass You By_ - Mama Cass ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222/7 "2011-01-03T23:00:43Z")
I’d go for country rock. Start with the Byrds, then on to Buffalo Springfield, Poco, the Eagles, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan’s Nashville period and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. If you like that, you can get really deep. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222/8 "2011-01-03T23:20:03Z")
Ian and Sylvia. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222/9 "2011-01-04T00:03:59Z")
The Who - Who’s Next and Tommy The Animals - a greatest hits album will do Any of Bonnie Riatt’s first 4 or 5 albums Neil Young with Crazy Horse - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere The James Gang - Live The Go-Gos - Beauty and the Beat Cream - Disraeli Gears Johnny Rivers - Best of Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow. Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus Laura Nyro - Christmas and the Beads of Sweat I tried to keep it under one hundred… ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222/10 "2011-01-04T03:53:33Z")
Stand Up - Jethro Tull Benefit - Jethro Tull The Turning Point - John Mayall Surrealistic Pillow - Jefferson Airplane (thirded) Folky stuff I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore - Phil Ochs Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan Wildflowers - Judy Collins Songs of Leonard Cohen - Leonard Cohen Karla Bonoff - Karla Bonoff Dave Van Ronk, Folksinger - Dave Van Ronk Liege & Lief - Fairport Convention Below the Salt - Steeleye Span …and if you want some weird stuff, try Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter, by The Incredible String Band ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222/11 "2011-01-04T04:30:04Z")
Not yet mentioned: 60s - **The Zombies** [Example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cYdH46HqpE&feature=related) [Example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5IRI4oHKNU) [Example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnkO9cIc3zo&feature=related) 70s - **Big Star** [Example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnkO9cIc3zo&feature=related) [Example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNKSs1J38EA&feature=related) ``` - **War** [Example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro4yhp9L6Ok) [Example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liq_wYFkMoU&feature=related) [Example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzQApZWlxgw&feature=related) ``` ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222/12 "2011-01-04T04:30:30Z")
Bloomfield, Cooper and Stills, Super Session. I’d also check out Manassas. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60s-and-70s-essentials/566222/13 "2011-01-04T04:30:44Z")
Quintessential 70s (for me), these are a few I can think of for now. Kiss Earth, Wind and Fire. Wild Cherry (beyond “Play that Funky Music” I liked their stuff). Parliment BeeGees (Yeah, I know they’re known for their Disco, but they had some good pre-disco stuff).