For me, the Early Beatles & Prime Motown votes canceled each other out, though I love them all dearly. So I went with “I Get Around.” Graduated High School in 1966, so I was definitely there for all of these. (And I love the girl groups, too.)
Back in folk days, Dave van Ronk invented a truly spooky, atmospheric version of the Genuine Old Folk Blues “House of the Rising Sun.” Young Bobby Dylan ripped it off shamelessly for his first album. Then the Animals ripped off Dylan’s version & had a hit. Dylan complained that he was accused of singing a “cover” when he did the song in concert–van Ronk thought it was hilarious…
IMHO the arrival of the Beatles is the single biggest thing in rock music history and they’re the greatest band ever.
So of course I voted for “I Get Around” by the Beach Boys.
As great, as truly great, as The Beatles were, and as mind-blowingly important they were in 1964, the poll is about the best #1 single in 1964, and in my honest opinion, “I Get Around” is a more technically impressive record than any of the other records on the list. It’s also terrific fun.
You’re right about it being a G6, of course, and right that G is the root chord of the progression. But the other thing that makes the intro to “She Loves You” brilliant is that everyone else in the world would have completed this chord progression in the standard and (by then hackneyed) “doo wop” style — that is, G-Em-C-D, and then resolved to the G.
The Beatles not only short-circuited this expectation, they did it with the sixth chord. That last “yeah” really explodes out of the gate and propels the song forward.
Very tough for me to choose between “A Hard Day’s Night” and “She Loves You.” In the end I went with the latter, though the former is wonderful (and so is “I Feel Fine,” for that matter).
I recognize that “I Want to Hold Your Hand” started Beatlemania here in the U.S., and I don’t dislike it…for some reason, though, it never reached me in the way so many other early Beatles songs did and do.
“She Loves You” just has so much energy. Believe it or not, I play this song as part of an acoustic duo. We do over 40 Beatles songs, but this one always gets the strongest crowd reaction by far.
There are some other good ones on this list. Despite many years of dreadful overplaying, “Oh Pretty Woman” really is an outstanding song. But the Beatles juggernaut is undeniable.
I would be very surprised if you found an earlier example of feedback in a pop song.
There were blues guitarists who used feedback as a way to enhance the tone of their guitars, but even it that case I doubt if anyone used it as a standalone device as John did at the beginning of “I Feel Fine.”
How about a bit of excavating to find what caused you to doubt what you said in your class?
I picked DChord as an internet handle years ago simply because it’s the chord that rings out best on my 1966 Fireglo Rickenbacker six-string. It’s the only standard (as opposed to barre) chord on a guitar that has root-fifth-root-major third stacked in that way (unless you mute the high E when playing an A chord — I guess that’s why so many Byrds songs are out of D or A).
House of the Rising sun for me. I appreciate that the Beatles are what they are, but if I wanted to listen to one song right now thats the song I would choose.
Seen in this context, it really does show what an upheaval the British Invasion was – sure, Motown was still firing on all cylinders, and the Beach Boys and a few other U.S. acts were producing some strong stuff, but man … it was like the entire game changed. I had to go with the Beatles’ first #1, even though it’s not their best song of even that year – it ushered in a new era.
Looking over the selections, my first thought was, “it’s a choice between “House of the Rising Sun” and whichever 1964 Beatles hit is your favorite,” and that’s where the polling is, so far.
I’m gonna join the “Hard Day’s Night” crowd. I love that song.
I was going to pick Hard Days Night and changed it to Can’t Buy Me Love, and I’m sure about that! Both great songs, though. Pretty Woman’s a great one.
I remember a party at my (co-ed) frat house in say 1978. The singer in the band was Eric Burdon. It was a fine band, for a frat party. But sheesh, what a short career on top.