Let’s play pretend.
It opens like a Dickens novel: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” You wake up not knowing where you are, and on the television screen, you see a Catholic and a crook battle on stage with piercing words. You jump a year and see on screen the building of a giant wall dividing Germany, and thus dividing the world, with an Iron Curtain. Two years after that, you watch an inspiring leader orate from Lincoln Memorial about dreams for the future, shortly before witnessing the Catholic from earlier shot down in Dallas right before your eyes. Leap ahead two more years, and you see helicopters, machine guns, and foreign jungles fill the screen. The grisly violence continues, horrifying you like no movie ever did before. Everything reaches its apex with a quick jump-cut to the assassinations of the inspiring leader and the Catholic’s brother from before. In this epoch of treachery, despair, hopelessness, and confusion, you can only ask yourself two things: where am I, and what happened to the American Dream?
Welcome to the Sixties.
How did our ancestors ever get through such hardships and villainy? What gave them hope when the media showcased very little hope at all? Well, there’s a reason why we so often associate the Sixties with music, and these are the very albums that defined a generation.
10. Strange Days – The Doors
While the Doors’s self-titled debut certainly features more hits than this successor, "Strange Days" is without a doubt the more poetic, allowing vocalist Jim Morrison and keyboardist Ray Manzarek to reach their full potential in truly acid-inducing tracks. It’s also perhaps the closest the band ever got to recording a psychedelic album, with strange wonders like “When the Music’s Over," “My Eyes Have Seen You,” and the title track. Who could also forget pop classics like “Love Me Two Times” and “People Are Strange?"
9. Sketches of Spain – Miles Davis
If there is such a thing as divine intervention, then Davis has perfected it with being one of the greatest – if not the greatest – jazz musicians in history. "Sketches of Spain" is nothing short of masterful, being perhaps the best jazz record my ears have ever heard (and I certainly do not have a limited knowledge of the genre). Davis’s unmatched trumpeting in this two hour epic has helped me through a wide variety of essays and homework assignments for classes, all of which I have received high marks on. That’s the power of Miles.
8. In the Court of King Crimson – King Crimson
With their strong influence on popular bands like Yes, Genesis, and Tool, you would think that King Crimson would be more often seen alongside Pink Floyd as two of the most influential progressive rock bands of the late 60s and early 70s. The band's debut album, featuring their most famous track, “21st Century Schizoid Man," "In the Court of King Crimson" is an experience, to say the least. While the aforementioned song is the most recognizable, it is not the only one noteworthy on this record. “I Talk to the Wind” is dream-like and gorgeous with co-founder Ian McDonald’s hypnotizing flute playing, and “Moonchild” is about as otherworldly and odd as it sounds.
7. Highway 61 Revisited – Bob Dylan
What can I say about this album that hasn’t already been said? It’s Bob Dylan, and it’s the record with “Like a Rolling Stone,” a classic tune that was ranked as number one in Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” With that said, “Queen Jane Approximately” is my personal favorite track on this 1965 LP. “Tombstone Blues” captures the 60s almost as perfectly as “The Times They Are a-Changin." “Ballad of a Thin Man” is a heart-wrenching track that wouldn’t be out of place on an old country record, and “Desolation Row," with its Kerouac/Steinbeck-like lyrics and wide string of allusions, is a masterpiece on its own. If you love indie music and have yet to delve into any 60s music, use this album as your introduction. You won’t be disappointed.
6. Let it Bleed – The Rolling Stones
How much better can I sell this album than by saying that it opens with “Gimme Shelter” and ends with “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and has memorable tracks like “Love in Vain," “Live With Me,” and “You Got the Silver” to make up the rich meat of this bluesy record. "Let it Bleed" is a classic, through and through.
5. At Folsom Prison – Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash was the living embodiment of everything America was and is today. He was a music outlaw with violent, deviant, and gritty lyrics. He was a gangster before gangstas took the stage. Nothing better represents this iconic -- albeit controversial -- image than when Cash reached the peak of his career with the release of his album "At Folsom Prison." No mainstream artist had ever performed in front of prison inmates before, let alone record a live album before them, and with classics like “Folsom Prison Blues," “Cocaine Blues,” and “Jackson” leading the banner, it’s sufficient to say that it worked. With themes of prison abuse, heartbreak, and death, the tracks still hold up today.
4. Surrealistic Pillow – Jefferson Airplane
Grace Slick is one of my favorite female vocalists, and I’m convinced that she is one of the many singers that Lana Del Rey has been channeling. Jefferson Airplane is like the PG-13 Velvet Underground, as shown with this record. Of course, “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit” are the leading contenders for popularity, but “She Has Funny Cars," “Today,” and “3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds” are also worth checking out.
3. Revolver – The Beatles
The Beatles are my favorite band, so of course I had to include at least one of their records on my list, and what better choice is there than this musical staple that features some of the greatest lyrics in the history of music among 14 songs cramped within its 34-minute runtime? On top of this, its harmonious vocals, matched with symphonic instrumentation, creates a truly magnificent and dreamlike experience that honestly feels too gorgeous for this world, because the Beatles were simply too perfect for the commonplaceness of our world. Earthly sound effects on songs like “Yellow Submarine” and “Tomorrow Never Knows” only emphasizes this. “Taxman," “Eleanor Rigby," “Love You To” and “Got to Get You into My Life” are also noteworthy tracks.
2. Beggar’s Banquet – The Rolling Stones
"Beggar’s Banquet" defines the 60s more than any other record I have ever listened to, honestly. “Sympathy for the Devil” quite literally goes through the entirety of the evils of the 20th century (with special focus on the 60s). “Jigsaw Puzzle” captures the anxiety and confusion felt by many of the people living during the period. “Street Fighting Man” has become sort of an anthem for all of the war and civil rights protesters active in the mid-to-late 60s, and “Salt of the Earth” is literally a prayer for all of the poor and downtrodden suffering at the time, just to name a few examples.
1. The Velvet Ground & Nico – The Velvet Underground
Not only is this my favorite 60s album, this is one of my favorite records overall. As I stated in my recent tribute article to the late Lemmy Kilmister, founding member Lou Reed was a poet for the proud ugly artists, which makes the painting by Andy Warhol – who also produced the album -- on the cover so suitable. I always considered Reed to be a poet first and a singer second, so his lyrics on "The Velvet Ground & Nico" are nothing short of pure art-pop poetry. Nico, one of the most underrated singers ever, only improves this record tenfold on tracks like “Femme Fatale” and “All Tomorrow’s Parties.” Other songs like “Venus in Furs," “I’m Waiting for the Man,” and “Heroin” make this record more than an album; it’s an experience that takes you back in time to the 60s art scene more than any other album in existence. Every song has its story to tell, and they are surely ones you will never forget.
