I turned 12 years old in 1966. Sometimes I think I am the luckiest man alive to live through this era. Just imagine turning 12 in 2024.... nobody will ever compile a list of today's "music". In 2082 they will still be listening to 60's and 70's music ! '
My Father was a doctor. He had seatbelts installed in our new chevy station wagon. The alley's behind our housed weren't paved so that was where kids settled scores with rock fights.
Same here. More he’ll is raised when we arrive, hooray for the Class of ‘65! So many vivid memories from those years. Life was magical and the music was the best!
The thing that's hard to believe is that stuff like this was coming out every couple of days back then, a geyser of talent and innovation. It was great.
Couldn't say your last sentence any better than you did! For me, 1962-70 had the best combination of pop ballads, hard rock, romantic, and some country-pop crossover songs, Skeeter Davis, "I Can't Stay Mad at You" (#7, Sep. 1963) was one I always enjoyed.
Yep. I don't really remember listening to FM until late Jr. High or early High school. Then realized there was a whole new world of great music that lasted longer than 2 1/2 minutes.
the joy of it was that we didn't have to watch them, just listen. I think if we had had to watch the 'performances' of many of these songs we'd have moved on, swiftly
@@jeffgarmon1 True. About the same time Woodstock happened is when I discovered harder rock on one of the FM stations in our city. That changed everything for me going into 10th Grade. First harder tune I heard that blew me away was The Doors "The Soft Parade". Then I heard Zeppelin's debut album, and that put the hook in me.
I played bass for the James Brown show for over 30 years. I often flew with Mr. Brown and his Learjet, because I took care of a lot of the logistics and had to go over several things with him. I asked him one time who his most inspirational artist was and he surprise me he said Bobby Helm ! I didn’t even know who he was. James looked at me and said Bobby is from Memphis, and everything that was ever good in his life. Turned bad. he lost his family his wife, his job everything. Just before he was without you kill himself he picked up the Bible and begin reading it, and he was Fascinating bye it , it came through to him as he read it! He went outside and took the bullets out of his gun, and he just sat on his porch, with his hands folded across his chest , and he was rocking back-and-forth, feeling the comfort that comes with knowing the Lord. He picked up a guitar that was there and just started strumming a few cords and then he made up this song. “I can see clearly now.” And that is the story and the beginning of the career of Bobby Helms
Born in 1953 I was blessed to have lived through this era and remember every one of these songs. Radio stations KHJ and KRLA and a life in the San Fernando Valley. Could it have been better?
It’s the strangest thing the memory of these songs, I was a small child and I have a memory of my Mum singing them to me and hugging me, I lost my Mum two years ago and this song mix gave me some tears, I miss her so much.
#44- In 66 I got home from 9th grade one afternoon and Mom was singing very softly and I asked her what was the song? She replied she just heard the most beautiful song on the radio today and then sang louder “Once on a meadow, while we were once on a meadow………..”. I laughed and said “Mom, you got the lyrics wrong, it’s ’One ton of metal, why he lifts one ton of metal’……”. We argued about it all afternoon. I sure do miss her.
I was 11 in 1966, fantastic music to grow up with!!! Cancelled out a lot of the shit in the house I grew up in!!! Thank you to all the singers, bands & groups!!!!
The same could be said for my home in the late 50's and sixties, but there was still some good stuff. Harry Belafonte, Herb Alpert, Connie Francis, Patsy Cline, etc, etc.
14 in 1966. I'm sitting in a time machine. I feel the same as then. My future all before me. Great expectations. Well.... - I still know every sound and every word of each of these songs.
Never forgot what a fantastic pop music year it was! Those acts you mentioned, and so many others: Bob Lind's "Elusive Butterfly", Johnny Rivers, "Secret Agent Man", The T-Bones, "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In") incorporated into an Alka-Seltzer commercial; The Sandpipers, "Guantanamera", The Turtles, "You Baby", etc.
Damn man, vintage '61 here, hang in there! 👍 I'm prog for sure but my early love (hated my older sister's bubblegum pop) will always be DooWop, Motown, wall of sound R&B, and that early Rock and Roll! I was born just a tad late for my music tastes.... you, just a tad early. 😄 Eta: Though, I have a soft spot for quite a few hits by Deano, Wayne, Englebert, even Frank and many of their contemporaries. Hell, I'll even include some Como et al! 😛
Easy there sparky; go listen to some local shows with blues and rock and roll. Still lots of hoppin' stuff goin' on. All the kids who were doin' it back then came from local roots. The big reason they had something new was that recording companies and record stores hadn't been promoting black artists. That wasn't true in Europe.
NEVER ! I hadn't realized all these magnificent songs came out in 1966 - I adored and adore many of them- too many to list here - but including Monday Monday, Sound of Silence, The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine...., Good Vibrations..... and on and on. I was 16 that year, a teenager growing up in Los Angeles- I don't think I could have been luckier !
@@freeguy77 I was never a fan of The Walker Brothers. Though I've all the 'normal' albums from The Beatles, John, most from Paul and George, I'm not a fan of Yellow Submarine. Never was. There were much better German songs, but I should have preferred a French one. Is this an American chart with a German singer??!
Great year, BUT: Remember the doo-wops? Of course you do, HS dances, drive-ins, sports, diners, etc. Right up there. Now please join me in asking everyone to get off our lawn.
Conspicuous by their absence for me were: Lightning Striking Again by Lou Christie; Lies by the Knickerbockers; Ballad of the Green Berets by Barry Sadler; You Didn't Have to be so Nice by the Lovin Spoonful; Georgy Girl by the Seekers: Cherish by the Association; multiple Beach Boys songs from per Sounds and Good Vibrations; etc.
Astonishing to see such a wealth of absolute classics in one year - and that was just the "pop" charts. The sixties were an amazing time for music, and I'm so glad that I did most of my growing up in that decade. I was 13 in '66 and all these songs sound as fresh and exciting to me as they did then Better times, that's for sure.
I was a 5yr old child in the Philippines, but i couldn't believe myself that i remember most of those songs played here. 😍 I agree, 60's decade in music is unsurpassed in beauty, impact, and gifted. 🙏🏽
58yrs. later, this video sure brought back some memories. Three of the songs I've never heard before - go figure. Thanks for a pleasant stroll down memory lane, & kind regards!
11 yrs old in 66. Gotta give a shout out to CKLW radio - 50 thousand watt station in Windsor, Ontario that played all these great hits back in those days.
Oh my oh my the memories of CKLW😂🎉❤. I’m About your age and we really did grow up is some great times. I’m kind of old - but my memory is very powerful. I won’t trade my memory, but will admit that I get saddened when I remember the “old days” and all those wonderful people that have already left us.
One of the songs that didn't feature here was Poetry In Motion by Johnny Tillotson. I had an Uncle Wally and when Poetry In Motion was played at family parties in the 1960s/70s all the youngsters would go over to Uncle Wally and sing "Wal, Wal, Wal, Wal, Wal" instead of Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. I hope you remember that song UncleWally3.
In 1964 I was 8 years old. I can't believe I remember so much of this music from then. What I heard was mostly AM radio - mono - from a car radio - or TV - also mono. Talk about a blast from the past, wow.
Some people would opt for '65, some for '67...actually the whole decade was full of wonderful music but '66 the year of The Beatles Revolver and Dylan's Blonde on Blonde is arguably the peak of that creative cauldron called The Sixties!
Yes it's difficult, if not impossible, to pick an individual year; they were all so good. I think everyone has their favorite based on their own personal memories from that era.
This is one person's opinion. Some of them were either 1965 or 67. Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys was like 1964. No Yardbirds! In 1966, they had at least three in the top 40, including "I'm a Man," "For Your Love," and, "Over, Under, Sideways, Down." But again, this is one person's favorites.
@@gsjackson34 It actually WAS a hit in spring of '67, that's when you would have been hearing it on the radio. On WABC in NY it peaked at #13 in April.
What's funny is that I can remember a specific place and time I heard these songs, probably the first time I heard them and was able to listen closely to the lyrics. My grandmothers house, the back of our station wagon, on a specific curve or bend in the road, or listening via earphone on my transistor radio on my bed.
In listening to these lists it strikes me as to how different the Beatles sound. Their sound was truly different, fresh. I could only imagine hearing their stuff for the first time. I would have been blown away.
USMC 64--68. March 1966 just coming Home from Vietnam, 20 years old. Two weeks later I'm at Camp Lejeune and I get picked for Sea Duty. From late March 66 to early February 1968, I was with the Marine Detachment aboard the USS Saratoga. But I still remember all of these great songs. And despite all the hard times back then, it was still a great time. Thank you for this great video, and God Bless.
You arre correct. But I'm always open to listen to suggestions from you guys as I wasn't alive at that time so there will be songs that I simply don't know. So you can name them if you like.
I was 11 in 1966 and had discovered the Beatles at the end of 65. My only complaint is why aren't Paperback Writer and Nowhere Man not #1 & #2? Great music! I love most of the songs.
Same here. I remember being blown away by Elusive Butterfly-- Bob Lind. Released in either very late '65 or early '66. Everyone's Gone to the Moon was '65 I believe.
We had no idea we were in music paradise back then. It was easy to think it would last forever. If 3/4 of those songs were released as a new recording today, they would be #1 hits.
I was 9 years old in 1966 and we always had the radio on top of the refrigerator on in the morning and we heard so many fantastic songs and they were playing in my mind all day.These songs werea big part of our lives it made life fun and happy you can't ask for more if you were a songwriter or musician.
What a wonderful time doing National Service in the army. Playing with howitzers in Sydney, jungle training in Queensland and time off during the weekend. At the beginning of '68 discharged and two weeks later my artillery battery went to Vietnam. Phew! Hearing these songs makes me want to do it all over again. Anybody got a Time Machine? 😊
WOW! What a year for music. I know all but 6 of these, and I was only 6 in ‘66. I still enjoy many of them 58 years later. Those of us who grew up in the 60s, 70s and 80s were truly blessed with an amazing musical heritage.
agree, my era too, although in my mind the 70s were a lull in mainstream music, all funk and disco, but there were still some great groups that were really alternative but now worshipped, like Steely Dan and Supertramp. the 80s had the wonderful New Wave era, but nothing could match the 60s, the birth of everything from reggae to psychedelic pop.
@@racketman2u ….but the 70s gave us Bowie, some of best Stones, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, the best of Pink Floyd, the Clash, Graham Parker, Neil Young, The Police, Roxy Music, Little Feat, ….and The Bay City Rollers😆
@@racketman2u Yes, of course. And Talking Heads, Blondie, Fleetwood Mac, Ramones, most of Grateful Dead, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Stevie Wonder …. And of course The Osmonds.
I was born in Germany in 1966 and feel very connected to the music from that year, even though I didn't get to know it until much later. My favorites tend to be the British bands, like The Who, The Beatles, The Kinks, Rolling Stones and many others. But Nancy Sinatra, The Beachboys and Mamas & Papas are also among them. The only German song in your video (Melanie - Er ist wieder da) was unknown to me until today.
On my 6th birthday, in 1966, my parents got me a small transistor radio. I discovered music that year, real music, not nursery rhymes. Mowton sound was my favorite. Later on the first three albums I purchased were The Troggs with wild thing, Donovan Mellow Yellow, and Paul Revere and the Raiders.
I got my 1st little transistor in '63 so I wouldn't monopolize the stereo console. My first two albums were Johnny Cash 's "Everybodr Loves A Nut" (considered by some to be a novelty album) and "Meet The Beatles".
Incredible collection of songs. Many have endured to this day. I was an army private and my favorites were the Stones, Hollies, Otis Redding, James Brown, The Yardbirds, Buffalo Springfield, and The Doors. The Sinatras not so much.😂
I was born in 1954 and remember hearing almost all these songs on KXOK-AM in St. Louis. (FM was still mostly classical, jazz or "easy listening") For me the hormones were coming on hot and heavy, I had a crush on half the girls in school, and a few even had a crush on me(!). Vietnam was on the TV every evening, and some of the older brothers of people I knew were going there. It was just another part of the adult world I trying to understand. These songs were the sound track to all that.
@@JohnReitz-ps2ct No kidding!! I grew up in Winchester which is off sulpher springs Rd. I played little league at Manchester park. You must have known Stone Phillips then. My cousin was Eugene Moniz class of '73 I think. Well good to hear from an alumni
@@MerryHoneyBee-xc4tl Small world! Yes, I was in the same Boy Scout patrol as Stone. He was a star even back then. Would have been easy to hate but he was always a good guy. I haven't been back in almost 15 years. Thank you for the contact!
@@YakubibnEsau Thanks Guy. I had a duel MOS-Infantry and Intelligence. After telling me for three years I was going to Nam and assigning me to Philly for 3 months before going to Nam, the Army wisely decided the Nation was more secure leaving me in Philly than running around South East Asia with a gun. Apparently the Army was correct as not one NVA or VC crossed the Delaware River while I was in Philly! But fighting the little old women armed with shart umbrellas, for a seat on the Pen Central was Hell. 🙂
My 12 favorites (from this list) from the year I graduated from high school: Good Lovin'; Sunny; Wouldn't It Be Nice; Daydream; They're Coming To Take Me Away; Paint It Black; I Am A Rock; We Can Work It Out; Nowhere Man; The Sound of Silence; When A Man Loves A Woman; The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore.
Thanks for this brilliant video , takes me back to when I was twelve and we were over the park all singing to They're coming to take me away ha ha , great tracks Nick 70 🏴
In 1966 I was finishing grade school, and would start into Junior High that Fall. These were all very great and memorable songs on radio and TV back then!👍
@@ShunyamNiketanaJerry Samuels, aka Napoleon XIV, died last year. He’d had minor hits since the fifties. I would place him as the missing link between Nervous Norvus and captain beefheart
This is brilliant thanks for sharing this great video with all of us die hard 60s music fans. I wasn't even born in the 60s I was born in the mid 70s! I wish that I'd have been born sooner though to witness all of this great music when it was around❤👍🙂
You can spin it any way you want. The song was released on the Rubber Soul album, which was released in 1965. So Helter Skelter was released as a single in 1976 to coincide with the Rock and Roll LP. So I guess you can say Helter Skelter was released in 1976 🤔
This list also leaves out at least two giant hits that were released in 1966: "Last Train to Clarksville" and "Eleanor Rigby." And who is Marion? I guess her 45 (and a couple of others listed) were big outside the U.S.
What a fabulous playlist. Hope you don't mind, but I'm going to play it in full in my Sixties radio show tomorrow (3KND in Melbourne, Australia). Great job and thanks for sharing your love of the sixties music. Rock on!
Thanks for putting together such a diverse list of music. I was only 6 years old in 1966 but I recognize many of these songs from back then because my dear Mom always had a radio on that was tuned into KEZY in Southern California.
I was 10 years old and I remember hearing these songs while driving in my parents car or with my transistor radio. Being alive at this time led to music being a big part of my life.