# Best #1 single of the year retrospective: 1966 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086 "2014-09-10T16:55:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/1 "2014-09-10T16:55:30Z")
Our survey takes us now to yet another banner year in music - 1966. 26 singles made the top spot this year, and we’re beginning to see psychedelia poking its head into the world of rock & roll. One of the things I’ve found most interesting about this retrospective so far is how songs have proven memorable for people in so many different ways, and I’m really looking forward to the results of this year. You know the drill. Which of these songs stands out for you? Previous polls: [1955-56](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=731649) [1957](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=731871) [1958](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=73202) [1959](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732199)[1960](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732526) [1961](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732691) [1962](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732872) [1963](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733112) [1964](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733297) [1965](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733526) [2012](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=675664) [2013](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=710843) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/2 "2014-09-10T17:26:11Z")
There’s so much I love there, but I had to go with the Four Tops. “Reach Out I’ll Be There” is one of my favorite songs, period. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/3 "2014-09-10T17:37:55Z")
Agree that this is a great year, and it’s one of the Beatles’ off ones in the 60s. But I can’t vote for anything other than “The Sound of Silence”. Possibly the first popular song I was introduced to as a child, and still one of my favorites. Do wish I could vote for the punctuation mark, though. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/4 "2014-09-10T17:43:11Z")
> [@Wilson](#): > > Agree that this is a great year, and it’s one of the Beatles’ off ones in the 60s. But I can’t vote for anything other than “The Sound of Silence”. Possibly the first popular song I was introduced to as a child, and still one of my favorites. > Do wish I could vote for the punctuation mark, though. For the record, The Sound of Silence also got my vote, narrowly beating out “Paint It Black”. There are better rock & roll songs in this year, but Sound of Silence is an outright amazing contribution to the great American songbook, and it so perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the mid-'60s. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/5 "2014-09-10T17:59:50Z")
Great year, but I predict that “Good Vibrations” wins. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/6 "2014-09-10T18:39:05Z")
Not as great as 1965, but still a lot of great choices. I took “Good Vibrations” just a hair ahead of “Paperback Writer.” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/7 "2014-09-10T19:40:51Z")
> [@Wilson](#): > > …off ones in the 60s… You know you’re good when, during an “off year,” you merely create the [greatest record album in the history of mankind](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/arts/music/15arts-VATICANSTOP1_BRF.html?_r=0). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/8 "2014-09-10T20:09:20Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > For the record, The Sound of Silence also got my vote, narrowly beating out “Paint It Black”. There are better rock & roll songs in this year, but Sound of Silence is an outright amazing contribution to the great American songbook, and it so perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the mid-'60s. Same dilemma for me here but I went the other way mostly because “Paint It Black” is a pretty sinister song for 1966 pop music. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/9 "2014-09-10T20:20:50Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Same dilemma for me here but I went the other way mostly because “Paint It Black” is a pretty sinister song for 1966 pop music. Agreed, and that’s the same logic I went with when I voted for “House of the Rising Sun” in 1964. Between the two of them they’re practically laying the foundation for heavy metal. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/10 "2014-09-10T20:38:45Z")
Good Vibrations has always been a favourite but it was Sounds of Silence that started me on my route to . . . what I would soon do with my life for the next six or seven years. So SofS wins it. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/11 "2014-09-10T20:47:04Z")
As an interesting side note, “Sunshine Superman” featured a pair of young session musicians, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, on guitar and bass respectively. They went on to perform in a band which never scored a #1 in the US, though you may have heard of them anyway. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/12 "2014-09-10T20:58:28Z")
Lots of good songs. “Good Vibrations”, though, is the iconic song for The Beach Boys, much like “Satisfaction” was for The Rolling Stones in 1965. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/13 "2014-09-10T21:05:19Z")
Voted Paperback Writer, but could’ve went a few other ways. I’ll never understand this love that the Beach Boys seem to get. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/14 "2014-09-10T21:26:11Z")
Had to cast my vote for “96 Tears” just because of that righteous organ. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/15 "2014-09-10T21:51:48Z")
Nancy is beating Frank?! I picked Summer In the City which is a great song among greats. Almost picked Good Vibrations, glad to see it leading the pack. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/16 "2014-09-10T21:56:42Z")
I love the Beach Boys, but “Good Vibrations” is my least favorite tune by them. So many of the songs of this year spoke to me but not that one. Lou Christi, Beatles, Simon and Garfunkle. In the end it was the Stones with “Painted Black” and I am not an especially rabid Rolling Stones’ fan. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/17 "2014-09-10T21:58:17Z")
Little over twenty years before I was born, and I know all the songs, and will confidently vote for “Winchester Cathedral”. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/18 "2014-09-10T21:59:57Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > As an interesting side note, “Sunshine Superman” featured a pair of young session musicians, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, on guitar and bass respectively. > > They went on to perform in a band which never scored a #1 in the US, though you may have heard of them anyway. 🙂 Led Zepp? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/19 "2014-09-10T22:00:22Z")
A lot of good ones this time. Tough choice. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086/20 "2014-09-10T22:07:18Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > Had to cast my vote for “96 Tears” just because of that righteous organ. You should have voted for “Soul and Inspiration” because of those righteous brothers! Me, I \*should \*vote for “Good Vibrations,” but I knew that was going to run away with it anyway, so I got my vote in for “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” instead. Was there ever a more dramatic \*sounding \*intro? Honorable mention for “Sounds of Silence,” too, the first song on the first album I ever owned. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1966/698086.md?page=2)