Letโs take a psychedelic trip down memory lane, munโฆ ๐๐๐ฅ
12. The Kinks
Power chords, rebellion, and English charm.
Ray and Dave Davies didnโt just bring the noise โ they invented it. Without โYou Really Got Me,โ punk, garage rock, and even metal wouldnโt exist. They were Britpop before Britpop knew what it was.
๐ถ Must-listen: Waterloo Sunset
๐ค Fun fact: Van Halen stole their thunder with a cover of โYou Really Got Meโ and made it a hit again!
11. The Byrds
Jangly guitars and Dylan covers galore.
Folk met rock, had a cheeky joint, and turned into The Byrds. They helped spawn the entire folk-rock and country-rock movement. Without them? No Eagles, no Wilco, no jangly indie.
๐ถ Must-listen: Turn! Turn! Turn!
โฎ๏ธ Hippie stat: They beat The Beatles to psychedelia with Eight Miles High in ’66.
10. Cream
The first real โsupergroupโ โ and they knew it.
Clapton. Bruce. Baker. Three egos, two fists, one wall of sound. Cream were short-lived but packed enough riffs into three years to last a lifetime. Heavy, bluesy, and loud as hell.
๐ถ Must-listen: Sunshine of Your Love
๐ฅ Drum kit deathmatch: Ginger Baker vs. the world.
9. Jefferson Airplane
The freak flag fliers of San Fran.
Grace Slick and co. soundtracked the Summer of Love with acid-drenched anthems and politically-charged bangers. Without them, Woodstock wouldโve been a lot less groovy.
๐ถ Must-listen: White Rabbit
๐ง Psychedelic trivia: White Rabbit was written in one go, high on Miles Davis and red wine. Rock โnโ roll!
8. The Doors
Morrisonโs leather trousers alone deserve a ranking.
Blues, poetry, psychedelia, sex, death โ all slathered in organ solos. The Doors werenโt a band. They were a bloody experience. Dark, strange, and seductive as hell.
๐ถ Must-listen: Riders on the Storm
๐ช Mad fact: Jim got arrested on stage in Miami. Iconic chaos.
7. The Velvet Underground
Too weird to live, too important to ignore.
Nobody bought their recordsโฆ but everyone who did started a band. Lou Reed and co. werenโt chart-toppers โ they were underground revolutionaries who birthed punk, art rock, and indie.
๐ถ Must-listen: Heroin
๐ค Quote: โThe Velvet Underground didnโt sell many records, but everyone who bought one formed a band.โ โ Brian Eno.
6. The Beach Boys
From surfboards to symphonies.
They started with sun and sand, but Pet Sounds changed music forever. Brian Wilsonโs layered genius gave The Beatles a run for their money โ and maybe even beat them.
๐ถ Must-listen: God Only Knows
๐ Wild stat: Wilson composed Good Vibrations in sections like a bloody mini-opera.
5. The Who
Maximum R&B and maximum destruction.
Smashing guitars, exploding drums, and windmill strums. Pete Townshendโs riffs + Keith Moonโs wildness = absolute carnage. Proto-punk, mod heroes, and arena rock architects.
๐ถ Must-listen: My Generation
๐ฅ Smash stat: Townshend destroyed over 35 guitars on stage (and probably a few hotel rooms too).
4. The Rolling Stones
If the Beatles were the nice boys, these were the naughty lads.
Sex, drugs, blues, and strut. The Stones took Chuck Berry and turned it up to 11. Still touring, still dangerous, still somehow alive.
๐ถ Must-listen: Gimme Shelter
๐ Rock stat: Theyโve outlasted the Cold War, disco, and their own liver functions.
3. Jimi Hendrix Experience
A whole new universe of sound.
Jimi wasnโt from this planet. From feedback to fire rituals, he reinvented what a guitar could be. Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding gave him the canvas. He painted in lightning bolts.
๐ถ Must-listen: Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
๐ธ Legend stat: Set his guitar on fire at Monterey just for the hell of it. Diolch, Jimi.
2. The Beatles
The blueprint. The boom. The Beatles.
From mop-top mania to psychedelic masterpieces, they did more in a decade than most bands do in a lifetime. Every genre they touched โ they transformed.
๐ถ Must-listen: A Day in the Life
๐ Global stat: At one point, they held the top five Billboard spots. Read that again. Five!
1. Led Zeppelin
The โ60s gave birth to the gods of the โ70s.
They may have formed in โ68, but Zep hit the ground like a thunderclap. Blues-rock, proto-metal, mysticism, Tolkien โ it was all in there. Jimmy Pageโs riffs? Iconic. Plantโs howls? Eternal. Bonhamโs drums? Earth-shaking.
๐ถ Must-listen: Dazed and Confused
โก God-tier stat: Their first album dropped in January โ69. By yearโs end, theyโd already changed the game.
Final Thoughts:
Some bands gave us riffs. Others gave us revolutions. The โ60s didnโt just rock โ it redefined what rock could be, mun. ๐ค Whether youโre dropping the needle on vinyl or queuing up Spotify, this list is your gateway to the decade that started it all.
๐ฌ Think we missed someone? Chuck a tantrum in the comments and tell us who!
#RiffReportRewind #60sRockRoyalty #TidyTunes ๐ดโโ ๏ธ
