The Beatles? Most of their songs aren’t really dance music. Of course, you still dance to a lot of them, but with a few notable exceptions (“Twist and Shout,” for example) they’re not really dance music. (As Cecil once said, Don McLean was arguably referring to this when he said that the “sergeants played a marching tune.”
I’d say that the 60s were characterized by a lot of popular music that was NOT very danceable. This is in contrast to the big band music of the 20s to 50s and the disco era of the 70s.
Agreed. Also, a lot of the Spector produced stuff, like the Ronettes’ Be My Baby, the Crystals’ He’s a Rebel, Da Doo Run Run, He’s Sure the Boy I Love.
The Wahtusi, by the Orlons (or the Ronettes or the Miracles, if you prefer).
The early & mid 60’s produced the most danceable music. Psychedelia was more suited to sitting around in a haze or just writhing semi-rhythmically. Out of the UK, early Beatles & Stones will mostly work.
From the US, Motown & other R&B will mostly work. Plus many hits already mentioned–sometimes by one-hit wonders. The Beach Boys, of course.
Louie, Louie? We ‘danced’ to that in the high school gym.
I do remember James Brown being played at clubs, and I do remember marathon dancing to “Cold Sweat” - sort of like at a proto-rave, only fueled by Boones Farm Apple Wine instead of chemicals from the Mexican drug cartel.
This goes far beyond just the influence of psychedelia. The folk tunes of the 60s, for example, weren’t really danceable. Nor would it be easy to dance to the music of many other big 60s groups, such as the Mamas and the Papas.
I do agree that the most danceable Beatles music came from their earlier years, though – the ones that were most reminiscent of the bygone 50s. Were they mostly danceable? Maybe in the sense that you could manage to dance to them, but I wouldn’t really call most of it dance music.
I’d say that the most obvious example of a danceable Beatles song is “Twist and Shout.” Notably though, it was not originally a Beatles tune.
BTW, I do think that the most danceable 60s music came out of Motown. What’s more, Motown music doesn’t typically require a lot of dance skill. Just about anybody can do the Temptation walk, for example.