The 60s
I'm a Believer - The Monkees
This song was composed be Neil Diamond and was recorded by the Monkees in 1966. It was then released later during the year on November 12th 1966. It was of a pop rock genre and the song was a major success for the band coming in at number 1 on the U.S Billboard Hot 100 chart for 7 weeks and it also made number 1 for 4 weeks on the Uk singles chart during January and February in 1967. The song went gold within 2 days of release with over 1,051,280 advance orders which also makes it one of the fewer than 40 all-time singles to have sold more than 10 million physical copies world wide.
Something that you might not know about the song is that the song was covered by Smash Mouth in 2001 and was made a feature in the shrek movie.
The band that sung the song and performed it were The Monkees and they were and American pop and rock band that were active between 1966 and 1971. They were originally formed for a TV program which shares the bands name and the show was about a band who wanted to be the beetles but was never successful which is ironic because the band was one of the most successful bands in the 1960s and they sold more than 75 million records worldwide. The TV show aired from 1966-1968 but became popular again in the 1980s which brought back reunion tours for the proceeding decades.
The band consisted of 4 men, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz. Davy Jones unfortunately died in February 2012 and was later followed by Peter Tork in February 2019.
The Monkees
Then and Now
Davy
Jones
Peter
Tork
Michael
Nesmith
Micky
Dolenz
Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival
The song was written by John Fogerty and was performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was released in April 1969 and it's peak position on the Hot 100 was number 2. It also reached number 1 on the UK singles chart for 3 weeks in September 1969. This was Creedence Clearwater Revivals 2nd gold single.
The song was a mixture of three genres; Roots rock, Swamp rock and Country rock. This meant that it could be used in a lot of movies and some TV shows. Some of the movies included:
An American werewolf in London;
Blade;
The Big Chill and;
Kong: Skull island.
Some of the TV shows that the song was included in are:
Supernatural;
The walking dead and;
Teen Wolf.
The song reached popularity in Argentina and has since then become a football chant along with some Man City fans (English football team) adapting it and renaming it the 'Argentinian blues' to make a reference to the Argentinian players.
The band Creedence Clearwater Revival were active between 1968 and 1972. THye were an American rock band that rarely used romance in their lyrics but used political and socially conscious lyrics, some of which representing the Vietnam war. Unfortunately the band had to part ways due to arguments that happened within the band and lawsuits that were going on between some band members. The band consisted of 4 members, Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, John Fogerty and Tom Fogerty. The band was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame in 1993 but due to grudges held by John Fogerty, he refused to share this special moment with the 2 remaining members Doug and Stu as he refused to play at the induction with them.
Tom Fogerty sadly died on September 6th 1990 after his battle with tuberculosis and AIDS. Unfortunately he never reconciled with his brother John Fogerty and in an interview John was asked how he remembered his brother in which he replied;
"I have very confused feelings for my brother becausue there was a time when things were happy. The best I can say in Tom's case is he was the older brother and the younger brother had more talent, therefore he was jealous event to a greater degree than the other two in Creedence Clearwater Revival." - This is something that I find quite heartless but it could also be a front for the regret that he may have for not fixing his relationship with his brother before he died.
I can only hope that people don't make the same mistake that he did and they earn from it.
The 60s is a time of music that I find incredible and its a very personal or almost nostalgic time period of music along with the 70s, 80s and 90s because they each represent a person in my family and memories that I have with that family member.
The 60s are personal to me because it represents my father and the music that he introduced me to when I was growing up. Recently it has been a struggle to be motivated to do work and to even get out of bed most days because my dad has been in and out of hospital for the past three months and it was incredibly difficult on my 18th birthday due to him being in a coma all of October and seeing him like that made the whole month incredibly difficult but the things that helped me through it was looking back on the memories that I have made with him throughout my life. One group of memories that will forever stick with me are the Sundays that we spent together in the members only pub that we are a part of, during the afternoons there was a DJ of sorts who would play records from the 50s, 60s and 70s called 'Memphis Mike'. The atmosphere that was at the pub was like nothing I've ever seen or experienced before, everyone was happy, they would be drinking, laughing, singing and having a dance. It was like you were in a different world to the outside and there was no stress and no arguments, it was just a place of pure joy. I would look forward to going there every week and just experiencing the way that everyone was.
The 60s will forever hold a dear place in my heart so choosing 5 songs to write about was an incredibly difficult task but I will be creating a playlist of my favourie songs of all time so make sure to check it out when it has been posted!
I hope you enjoy the songs as much as I do and maybe you'll learn things about the popular songs that you never knew!
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Then and Now
Doug Clifford
Stu Cook
John Fogerty
Tom Fogerty
Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf
This song was written by Mars Bonfire and recorded/performed by Steppenwolf. It was released in June 1968 and was classed as Hard Rock and Proto-Metal. It is sometimes described as the first heavy metal song and it reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles. Int 2004 Rolling Stones magazine placed the song at 129 on the 500 greatest songs of all time. In 2004 the song finished at number 29 on AFI's 100 years 100 songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. In 2009 it was names the 53rd best hard rock song of all time by VH1 and in 2018 the song was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a new category for singles.
Steppenwolf was a very interesting band to study as they were active during 3 different time frames with 2 different line ups. The band was formed in the late 1960s with the original line-up being John Kay (lead vocalist, rhythm guitar and harmonica), Michael Monarch (lead guitarist, backing vocalist), Rushton Moreve (Bass guitar, backing vocalist) Jerry Edmonton (Drums, backing vocalist) and finally Goldy McJohn (Keyboards, backing vocalist). John was active throughout all times that the band was active, Michael was an active member from 1967-1969, Rushton was active in the band from 1967-1968, finally Jerry and Goldy were both active from 1967-1972.
The final line up that the band used was John Kay, Michael Wilk, Gary Link, Ron Hurst and Danny Johnson.
A fun fact for why Rushton Moreve was fired from the band is that in 1969 he missed a lot of gigs due to his girlfriend convincing him that LA was going to be levelled by an earthquake and it was going to fall into the sea.
Steppenwolf
Then and NowS
The Original Line-up
Died in 1981
Died in 1993
John
Kay
Rushton
Moreve
Michael
Monarch
Jerry
Edmonton
Goldy McJohn
The Final Line-up
John
Kay
Michael
Wilk
Gary
Link
Ron
Hurst
Danny
Johnson
(I can't get no) Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
This song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and was performed by The rolling stones. It is classed as a blues rock and a hard rock song where the lyrics refer to sexual frustration and commercialism. It had 2 different release dates, one for the US and one for the UK, on the 20th of August 1965 it was released to the UK which was over 2 months later than when it was released to the US public.
The song is second on the Rolling Stones 500 Greatest songs of all time and it is one of the worlds most popular songs. It was introduced into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1995 and was added to the National Recording registry of the Liberty of congress in 2006.
The Rolling stones have gone through so many changes within their members and their touring members but they all left quite early on. The current band members are Mick Jagger (lead and backing vocalist, harmonica, rhythm guitar, percussion, keyboards), Keith Richards (lead and rhythm guitar, bass guitar, backing and lead vocalist), Charlie Watts (drums, percussion, backing vocalist), Ronnie Woods (rhythm and lead guitar, bass guitar, and backing vocalist).