Chapter 4:
An Era of Transition
1960-1964
Dawning of a New Age
By the early 1960s, the power of the first wave of rock had
dissipated
– Little Richard found religion
– Jerry Lee Lewis’s pop career was over
– Chuck Berry was in jail
– Buddy Holly was dead
– Elvis was just getting back into music
The interest in traditional rock n’ roll seemed to be dying
down
Four new trends were emerging
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Girl groups
Folk music
Surf music
The British Invasion
The Civil Rights Movement and Pop Music
The Civil Rights movement was arguably the movement
that all other movements take their cue from
– The link with music was established early on with sons &
spirituals (Keep Your Eyes on the Prize, This Land is Your
Land, & We Shall Overcome)
The strategy of the early Civil Rights Movement at its
most militant was only for social equality
– Once this was achieved, many believes full citizenship &
assimilation into American culture would follow
At this point the influence of the CR movement isn’t
apparent in lyrical content but in the rise of black
producers & black-owned labels
– Between 1962-63 there were more black artists on the
year end singles charts than any time previously
Girl Groups
The big reason for the success of black
performers on the pop charts was the
popularity of the “girl groups”
Between 1960-62, The Shirelles had a
string of hits that are considered rock n’
roll classics
– Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,
Dedicated to the One I Love, Mama
Said, Soldier Boy
Some of the biggest groups were the
Crystals (Do Ron Ron Ron) The
Ronettes (Be My Baby) Martha and the
Vandellas (Heat Wave)
By the beginning of the British Invasion
(1964), the time of the girl groups was
ending
Beginnings of the Folk Trend
Music of the 1960’s as not truly “folk” music
– folk music – songs handed down from generation to generation for so long the origin
is no longer known
– Modeled after Appalachian folk bands of the 1940s
– Usually acoustic guitar(s) accompanying one or more vocalists
– Lyrics were relatively serious about real issues: money, jobs, love, death & social
issues
This wasn’t music to dance to, it was music to think about
This music was not for “teenyboppers” but for older, more thoughtful
young adults
– These listeners were organizing to fight social injustices of all kinds, big and small
Peter, Paul & Mary
First commercially successful folk rock group
– 7 of first 8 LPs certified gold
– Dozens of Top 40 songs 1962-69
Biggest songs: If I Had a Hammer, Puff the Magic Dragon
They were in between the Ivy League folk groups and the hardcore
“folknicks”
Joan Baez
B. Jan 9, 1941
Perfect example of the early 60’s folk
movement
– Young, musically gifted, committed to
both traditional songs and social action
Became involved in political issues while
attending Boston University in 1950s
Very important to the rise of Bob Dylan in
the folk scene
Became more involved in political
activism in late 1960s
Made most commercially successful
music in 1970s
Has continued to make music, but has
become more visible in past 20 yrs as a
human rights activist
Bob Dylan
Robert Zimmerman (b. May 24, 1941)
Traditional folk singers shunned rock as
commercial junk
Bob Dylan was able to unite the “folkies” and
“rockers”
Dropped out of college in 1960, moved to
NYC in 1961 to make a career in music and
meet his hero Woody Guthrie
Released first album Bob Dylan (1962)
– No major singles, but hints at Dylan’s talent for
songwriting
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
– Blowin’ In the Wind – expressed the optimism that
existed before JFK killed later in the year
The Times They Are A Changing (1964)
– The Times They Are a Changing – same vein as
Blowin’ but with a harder edge
Dylan hated being stereotyped
– Pulling back from the edge of protest, his work became more mellow
& deep-thinking
Bringing It All Back Home (1965) confirmed “folkies” worst fears
Dylan was using electric guitars on half the songs
– He was met w/ thunderous boos when playing on stage in July ‘65
with an electrified blues band
– Accused of “selling out”, but created true folk rock
Dylan had a serious motorcycle wreck in 1966 and didn’t record
again until 1968
– Public reentry to music was John Wesley Harding (#2)
May 1969 – released Nashville Skyline (#3); overly country but
Dylan used a much mellower singing voice
– Lay, Lady, Lay (#7, 1969) & Girl From the North Country (featuring Johnny
Cash)
Dylan continued to tour and sell high-charting albums through the
1970s
– Even soundtracks (Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid #12, 1972)
1975 – played 2 benefit concerts to raise awareness and raise
money for Ruben “Hurricane” Carter, a convicted murderer
1979 – announces he is a born-again Christian & begins
releasing
– Supposedly renounces his new-found faith & travels to Israel
In the 1980s, Dylan’s music seems thrown together, hurried and
poorly produced in many cases and his fame
Still records to this day (released a Christmas album in 2009)
Influenced countless musicians, including John Lennon
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Considered one of the greatest songwriters of all time
Inducted into the Rock n’ Roll HoF in 1989
11-time Grammy winner
5 #1 albums, but only 12 Top 40 singles (no #1s) in his 47 yr
recording career
Habit of covers of his songs becoming hits for others
The Byrds
Group composed of Roger
McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Gene
Clark, David Crosby, & Michael
Clarke
pioneers in folk rock, and later
country rock
Formed summer 1964, using the
intentionally misspelled Byrds,
much like the Beatles
– Touted as the American answer
to the Beatles
In Jan. ‘65, the group met Bob
Dylan, who gave them their first
hit Mr. Tambourine Man
– Didn’t chart for Dylan, #6 for Byrds
1966 – covered Pete Seeger’s folk song Turn! Turn!
Turn!
– Failed to ever reach that level of commercial success
for the rest of the band’s existence
By summer ‘66, Gene Clark had left the band to begin a
solo career
Their album Fifth Dimension solidified their departure
from the folk rock sound
– first record widely banned b/c of supposed drug-oriented lyrics
– Single Eight Miles High reached #14
By Oct. 1968, McGuinn was the only original Byrd left
– Crosby had left to form Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
– Clarke joined the Dillard and Clark Group
– Hillman joined the Flying Burrito Brothers
Though the band was short lived, enshrined in the
RRHoF in 1991
Surfing Music
When discussing California
rock/surf music, the Beach Boys
defined the sound
The Beach Boys
Formed 1961
– Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl
Wilson, Mike Love & Al Jardine
In the early 1960s, virtually
invented California rock
– Celebrated an idealized
California teen’s life – surfing,
driving, dating
Sold over 65 million records
world-wide
Many of their early songs used Chuck Berry guitar licks (w/o
permission) w/ vocal harmonies
– Earliest hits were Surfin’ Safari (#14, 1962), Surfin’ USA (#3,
1963) (note for note copy of Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen with
new lyrics) & Surfer Girl (#7, 1963)
– With Surfer Girl, Brian Wilson would begin producing the
group’s music
1963-65 are the years when their legacy is established
– Little Deuce Coupe (#15, 1963), Be True to Your School (#6, 1963)
– Fun, Fun, Fun (#5, 1964), I Get Around (#1, 1964)
– Help Me, Rhonda (#1, 1965), California Girls (#3, 1965)
March 1966 – Pet Sounds is released
– #10 album, but sold poorly; not certified gold until 30th anniversary in
1996
– Pioneered studio techniques never used before & even influenced
work on albums like The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club
Band
They reached #1 again in 1968
with Good Vibrations
The band continued to play
throughout the 70s
By the 1980s, the band still
performed but the lineup changed
almost constantly
– Dennis Wilson died 12/28/83
while swimming
– 1988 – best selling #1 Kokomo
– Carl Wilson died from cancer
2/6/98 & Al Jardine quit shortly
thereafter
1988 – inducted into RRHoF
2001 – group received a Lifetime
Achievement Award Grammy
The British Invasion
The Beatles were responsible for many trends in rock
music, but maybe none more influential than the British
Invasion
Prior to 1964, rock n’ roll was an American product,
exported to other countries
– The British loved American rock acts like Bill Haley,
Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry & Little Richard
– American blues artists also had been popular there since
the late 1940s
1964 – of 23 #1 hits, 9 were by British bands
– 1965 – 13 of 26 #1 songs were British (6 by Beatles)
– 1954 -1963 - Only 2 British #1s
Post-1964 rock defined by the Beatles & Rolling Stones
The Bad Boys of Rock n’ Roll
The Rolling Stones
While the Beatles were influenced by
early rock and roll, The Stones
received their influences from the roots
of rock: the blues
Formed in summer of 1962, the
“Stones” final lineup was set in January
1963.
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Mick Jagger – vocals
Keith Richards – lead guitar
Brian Jones – rhythm guitar
Bill Wyman – bass
Charlie Watts – drums
By June 1963, the Beatles were a
British sensation & their manager was
promoting the Stones as the
debauched opposite
June 1963 - first single was a cover of Chuck Berry’s Come
On (#21 Britain)
– After appearing on the British tv show, Thank Your Lucky Stars,
the band’s manager was told to get rid of “that vile-looking
singer with tire-tread lips”
Their next hit I Wanna Be Your Man (#15, written by Lennon
& McCartney)
January 1964 – first headlining tour of Britain w/ the
Ronettes, released a cover of Buddy Holly’s Not Fade Away
(#3 Britain, #48 US)
June 1964 – first US tour; while in Chicago, recorded at
Chess Records studio
– The Stones’ version of old blues tune Little Red Rooster was banned
in the US for objectionable lyrics
Jagger & Richards began writing their own material & Tell Me
(You’re Coming Back to Me) was their first Top 40 US hit in
August
The Stones hit their stride in 1965-66
– The Last Time cracked the Top 10
(US)
– Satisfaction (#1, 1965)
– Get Off of My Cloud (#1, 1965)
– As Tears Go By (#6, 1965)
– 19th Nervous Breakdown (#2, 1966)
Aftermath was the Stones’ first LP
of original material
– Overshadowed by The Beatles
Revolver & Dylan’s Blonde On
Blonde
– Still, Paint It Black (1966) & Ruby
Tuesday (1967) were #1 in US
The bad boy image the Stones
projected was becoming too real
– By May ‘67 – Jagger, Richards &
Jones all faced jail time for various
drug charges
All three received heavy sentences, but
were suspended after appeal
To keep a low profile the band
temporarliy withdraw from public
appearances
– Fall ‘67 – a B-side “We Love You” #50
guest starred Lennon & McCartney sang
back up
Dec. 1967 – released Their Satanic
Majesties Request
– Stones’ psychedelic answer of Sgt. Pepper
May 1968 – “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” #3,
marked a return to basic rock n’ roll
June 9, 1969 – Brian Jones leaves the
band & is replaced by Mick Taylor
– July 3 – Jones found dead in his swimming
pool, cited as “death by misadventure”
July 11, 1969 – “Honky Tonk Women” debuts #1
– Let It Bleed quickly goes gold
– Jones appears on most tracks, but Taylor makes his first on-disc
appearance
Dec 6, 1969 – Altamont Speedway
– Suppose to be a “thank you” for American fans
– Urged by the Grateful Dead to hire the Hell’s Angels biker gang for
security
– Poorly planned lay out led to problems with the crowd
– Supposedly Sympathy for the Devil had incited near-riot conditions
with the crowd and Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death by a
couple of gang members
– Stones would not play Sympathy for the Devil in concert until 1975
1970 – Rolling Stones Records is formed under the Atlantic label
The Stones establish themselves as the premier band in rock
during the early 1970s w/ Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main
Street (1972) Goats Head Soup (1973) It’s Only Rock n’ Roll
(1974) and Black and Blue (1976) all going #1 on the sales charts
1974 - Mick Taylor leaves band, replaced by Ron Wood in 1976
Starting in the 1980s, the Rolling Stones become more of an
institution than an influence in music
1992 - Bill Wyman leaves the band after 30 years
Some statistics on the Rolling Stones since 1963:
10 gold albums
21 platinum/multi-platinum albums
– Estimated 200 million total albums sold
13 #1 singles in the U.S. alone
9 #1 albums
Exile on Main Street #7 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction #2 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest
Songs
– 14 songs total on the list
The band ranked #2 on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Artists
Inducted into the RRHoF in 1989
The Who
Founded 1964
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Pete Townshend – guitars/vocals
Roger Daltrey – vocals
John Entwistle – bass
Keith Moon – super-mega-bombastic
drums
Townshend and Entwistle knew each
other in school and played together in
band
1962 – Entwistle joined a band that
included Daltrey, called the Detours
When the band needed a new rhythm
guitarist, Entwistle suggested
Townshend
1963 – Daltrey switched to vocals,
Townshend to lead guitar and Moon
replaced the old drummer
early 1964 - they were going by The Who, had a Mod Rock
image and they played blues, James Brown and Motown
covers
Their original material was anything but classic R&B
They were know for violent stage shows where Townshend
would bash his guitar on the stage
The group cut a demo “I Can’t Explain” with session guitarist
Jimmy Page and landed a record deal
I Can’t Explain was ignored until the band appeared on Ready,
Steady, Go in January 1965
– Townshend smashed his guitar and Moon joined in by kicking
his drum
The song soon reaches #8, followed by Anyway, Anywhere,
Anyhow (Top 10 UK) and My Generation (#2 UK, #75 US) in
November 1965
1967 – The Who starts prepping to enter the US w/ Happy
Jack (#24)
The Who Sell Out (#48, 1967) follows
on the heels of the band’s
appearance at the Monterey Pop
Festival in June
– Featured mock advertisements and
jingles
Oct 1968 – Magic Bus (#39) was a
compilation of B-sides to pacify fans
while Townshend worked on his rock
opera
Tommy was the 90 minute story of a
deaf, dumb, and blind boy turned
pinball champion/pop icon turned
autocratic messianic guru
– Album made it to #4 in the US
– Pinball Wizard #19
– Only played in its entirety a handful of
times in concert
The band continues to produce albums, but
personality clashes eventually take a toll on
the group
Townshend suffered from an identity crisis
through the 1970s
– My Generation had been an anthem for the
younger generation (live fast, die young, don’t
trust anyone over 30)
– By 1975, he was part of that older generation
now
1978 – the youth that The Who had
appealed to in the mid 60s now embraced
punk
– Who Are You (#2 album, #14 single)
– Last & highest charting album by the original
band
Sept 7, 1978 – Keith Moon dies from
overdose in LA
– The band continued on but members said it was
never the same
1982 – the band officially
breaks up
Townshend and Daltrey
went on to have solo
careers but eventually the
band reformed in 1999
1996 - Zak Starkey became
the new drummer
2002 - Entwistle left the
band
Highlights of The Who’s
career
1990 - Inducted into the
Rock n’ Roll HoF
7 albums on Rolling Stone’s
500 Greatest Albums
7 platinum/multi-platinum
albums
1 gold album
Never had an album higher
than #2 or a single higher
than #9 in the US
The Yardbirds
While the band didn’t last long
(1963-68), it was very influential.
– it wrote the book on bluesrock,
– served as a link between mid
60’s British R&B and late 60’s
psychedelia
Formed in June ’63
– Keith Relf – vocals,
– laid the foundation for heavy
harmonica
metal
– Chris Dreja – rhythm guitar
British blues band known for
– Jim McCarty – drums
having 3 of the most famous
– Paul Samwell-Smith – bass
guitarists in rock history in their
– Anthony Topham – lead
line-up
guitar
– Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, &
Topham was replaced by
Jimmy Paige
Eric Clapton in October ‘64
Best known for For Your Love,
Heart Full of Soul, I’m A Man
1965 - Clapton left the band in
protest when they shifted to a pop
sound
– Clapton joins John Mayall’s
Bluesbreakers
– Recommended Jimmy Paige,
Paige declined, Beck joined
– June ‘66 – Paige reconsiders and
joins the band; Paige and Beck
are co-lead guitars
– Nov ‘66 – Beck is fired by the
band
1968 – the band disintegrates
– Paige can’t use the name Yardbirds
for legal reasons
– allows Paige to form Led Zeppelin
Inducted into the RRHoF in 1992
The Animals
Flood of British Rock
– Mainly a blues band
– Best known for House of the Rising
Sun (#1, 1964)
– 9 Top 20 hits 1964-68
– Inducted in RRHoF in 1994
Gerry and the Pacemakers
– Popular in England, like the Beatles
in 1963
– Soft, pop style
– Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying
(#4, 1964) Ferry Across the Mersey
(#6, 1965)
Donovan
– Folk rock, hippie musician of late ‘60s
– 1966 – had Sunshine Superman (#1)
& Mellow Yellow (#2)
Herman’s Hermits
– The most popular of “the other
British groups”
– Very soft, pop, bubblegum
sound
– 1965 was breakout year (3
Top 5’s, 2 #1 songs)
– I’m Into Something Good
(#13, 1964), I’m Henry VIII, I
Am (#1, 1965)
The Kinks
– Built an image like the Rolling
Stones (on & off stage) but
not as commercially
successful
– You Really Got Me (#7,
1964), Tired of Waiting For
You (#6, 1965)