I was raised in a household surrounded by classical music and jazz. Still, in the 1960’s, the extreme burst of energy and invention happening in popular music was bound to find a way to seep in. To her credit, my mom and my aunt were adventurous in their tastes. Through them, and through some of the older kids in the neighborhood, I discovered the Beatles, Cream, the Doors and the Blues Project, among others. I was even allowed to go to a couple of psychedelic rock concerts in New York. Still, I was too young to know what was going on in the underground music scene, or that it even existed, so I learned about most of it only after the bands or artists were long gone.
It is normal, I suppose, to favor the music associated with one’s high-school and college years. When I got to that age, I came to feel we had been gypped. To this day, we have not seen another period as brilliant and transgressive as the 60’s.
The Surfaris: Wipe Out
Nothing separates pre-1960 popular music from post-1960 popular music more than the role of the electric guitar. Before 1960, it was used as most instruments had always been used, as an accompaniment. In the 1960s’ it became a star in its own right, and nothing has been the same since. The Surfaris opened the door with compositions like this, and groups like the Ventures would soon kick the door down completely. This performance was recorded more than 40 years after the original, still featuring the original lead guitarist Jim Fuller. It still rocks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5D07c0dJuQ
The Yardbirds: For Your Love
In cosmology, the Big Bounce is the theory that there was a universe before the Big Bang, and that it collapsed into a tiny blob which then exploded again in what we call the Big Bang. I like to think that the Big Bounce describes the Yardbirds. They were the gathering point of an extreme concentration of talent, most of whom did not stay long but “bounced”, going on to new ventures that transformed popular music, creating whole new sub-genres of rock. Their three most famous guitarists were Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Page, of course, went on to co-found Led Zeppelin. Clapton went on to Cream, Derek and the Dominoes, and a long solo career with frequent collaborations. Beck, in my opinion, produced the greatest body of work of the three, driving multiple evolutions in blues, rock, fusion and more. Bandmate Paul Samwell-Smith went on to found Renaissance and to produce albums by Carly Simon, Cat Stevens, Jethro Tull and several punk and new-wave bands. Here are the Yardbirds with Beck playing a mic’ed 12-string acoustic guitar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU5zqidlxMQ
Yardbirds: Heartful of Soul with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page
This is a mashup of two clips. Jeff is the reserved one in the black-and-white clip; Jimmy is the dandy with the ruffled shirts and psychedelic guitar. They actually overlapped for a few months but Beck left to start his own group with a little known singer named Rod Stewart. The Jeff Beck group also launched the careers of future members of the Rolling Stones, The Who, and the Kinks, among others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5IqXi0rnfQ
Yardbirds: Shapes of Things
A warning about war and environmental destruction—in 1967. Page turns in a transgressive, dissonant solo, foreshadowing some of the wailing guitar work he would do with Led Zeppelin, as well as other progressive rock bands to come. Keith Relf, the lead singer, died only a few years after this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSix9tDVbro
The Kinks: Lola
The Kinks were a major player in the London underground scene. They injected irony and pathos into rock, presaging the new wave movement. Ray Davies was a big influence on Chrissie Hynde (as well as being father to her daughter). This is their biggest hit, and a little ahead of its time, to say the least: A guy is confused by his feelings for a trans-woman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LemG0cvc4oU
The Kinks: Sunny Afternoon
Ironic take on wealth and values.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYIl6n_SRCI
Meanwhile, 8000 miles away, back in L.A….
The Electric Prunes: I Had Too Much to Dream
Psychedelic rock meets surf music? I don’t really know what to say about this. They should have been much bigger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeVnbAfcwv8
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