little folk a little psychedelia and
plenty of rock classics
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down our picks for the top
10 Billboard chart topping rock songs of
the 60s a trip
for this list we focus on rock songs
that reach number one on the Billboard
charts while making a definitive mark on
pop culture
number ten turn turn turn to everything
there is a season the birds
is
with Leary’s that were pretty much
ripped out of the Bible and a folk rock
sound that was insanely popular at the
time turn turn turn is on record as
being the number-one hot 100 hit with
the oldest lyrics
allegedly taking around 78 takes to
record and featuring some of the decades
best vocal harmonies the birds obviously
put in the time and effort to make this
a timeless classic
originally written by Pete Seeger this
version undeniably holds up to this day
as demonstrated by its multiple modern
pop culture appearances
number nine oh pretty woman Roy Orbison
walking down
treat pretty mama
with all due respect to the 1990 film
that reintroduced this song to
mainstream America oh pretty woman is
not actually about a Hollywood hooker
with a lonely heart no not even close it
was actually inspired by Roy Orbison’s
wife and when the song was released in
1964 the singer smooth delivery and
heavy pouring took it straight to number
one
twenty four years later a star-studded
Cinemax special featured a classic
performance of the song which would
ultimately earn Roy Orbison a posthumous
Grammy Award upon his death
would be true
number eight lights my fire the doors
girl we couldn’t get much higher this
was the first line that Ed Sullivan
producers asked the doors to change for
1967 live performance and do you think
they agreed nah
it was this type of rebellion that
initially led to the creation of Light
My Fire as the philosophical hippies
combined acid rock with their background
in Chicago blues
after all there weren’t many rock
musicians playing a Fender Rhodes piano
bass in the late 60s and Puerto Rican
musician Jose Feliciano was so impressed
with light my fire
that he covered the number one hit and
took home a Grammy in 1969 The Doors
expanded their minds with this billboard
smash and their musical reach expanded
throughout the world
hello darkness my old friend number
seven the sound of silence Simon and
Garfunkel because a vision softly
creeping left its seeds while I was
sleeping
long before Will Ferrel took a
tranquilizer dart to the jugular in old
school a couple of folk rockers took the
old pen and pad for a most introspective
creation when my eyes were stabbed by
the flash of a neon light after the
sound of silence
initially bombed on the music charts and
forced the duo to end their
collaboration it was father time that
saved the day along with producer Tom
Wilson who enlisted a few of Bob Dylan’s
musicians for a remix that took the
revamp version to number one man here’s
to you mrs. Robinson jesus loves you
more than you
Oh a few years later mrs. Robinson would
become the first rock song to win a
Grammy for record of the year but it was
the sound of silence that paved the road
to rock immortality and the Sun said the
words of the prophets already on the
subway wall six good vibrations the
Beach Boys before the counterculture
movement spread throughout America in
the latter half of the 60s a group of
California musicians were already
imagining a new style of music and a new
way of life in general
Brian Wilson and his team of boys from
the beach created a psychedelic rock
classic using beautiful harmonies and an
early use of the electro-theremin
the Beach Boys knew how to get around
and they came out swinging with that
very message for their first billboard
number one in 1964
number five suspicious minds Elvis
Presley we’re caught in a trap I can’t
walk
because I love you too much baby there
once was a time when Elvis was
undoubtedly the king of rock and roll
but after serving his country in the US
Army he came to realize that the times
were definitely a change
on the fishes my
but in 1968 Elvis reimbursed with his
famous black leather comeback special
and by 1969 he released his 17th and
final number-one billboard hit with
suspicious minds
it was this song that reinvigorated
Elvis’s career almost a full decade
after the release of his 1960 romantic
ballad are you lonesome tonight eternity
number four I want to hold your hand
The Beatles oh yeah when Elvis Presley
returned from Germany in March of 1964
musicians were about to begin perfecting
their craft in the German city of
Hamburg shortly before kicking off what
is now known as the British Invasion
to me as the Beatles first number one
billboard hit I want to hold your hand
literally cause distraught American
girls to faint and forced aspiring rock
stars to step up their game and when I
touch you I feel happy inside with such
a simple yet effective message the song
figuratively connected John Paul Ringo
and George with mainstream America and
they kept a firm grip for years to come
number three House of the Rising Sun the
animals
Eko
in the early 60s a baby-faced Bob Dylan
was performing a folk version of this
song all around New York City but it was
the animals that reached a larger
demographic while touring with Chuck
Berry
we
House of the Rising Sun details a dark
journey through New Orleans and through
the menacing voice of Eric Burdon the
animals announced themselves as the next
great British Invasion band aside from
the Beatles that is
all in all it’s a traditional song made
popular by a most untraditional
psychedelic band
number two I can’t get no satisfaction
the Rolling Stones
as the Beatles were conducting a
collective hand-holding session with
America The Rolling Stones took a more
controversial approach by conveying
their need for a little satisfaction
while older listeners didn’t necessarily
process the sexual nature of the lyrics
younger audiences immediately grasped
the concept and helped make the Stones
hit one of the most popular songs ever
recorded
from the suggestive innuendos to the
killer guitar riff satisfaction was in
tune with the times and Jagger’s vocal
performance was the cherry on top before
we unveil our topic here are a few
honorable mentions to be a shadow in the
city
oh I already know and
Oh
Hey
number one Hey Jude The Beatles
well here it is in a time of social
unrest the Beatles gave listeners a
symbolic and inspirational seven-minute
ballad that is quite possibly the best
pop song of all time
originally devised to help young Julian
Lennon cope with the divorce of his
parents Paul McCartney slowly but surely
molded Hey Jude into something bigger
and even John Lennon believed the song
to be an inadvertent message from one
bandmates to another
the two musicians wrote help just a few
years prior but with Hey Jude McCartney
seemed to acknowledge the end of an era
and it wouldn’t be long until he and
John shook each other’s hand and went
their separate ways
so do you agree with our selections what
is your favorite Billboard chart topping
rock song of the 60s
for more mind-blowing top tens published
daily be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com
plenty of rock classics
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll
be counting down our picks for the top
10 Billboard chart topping rock songs of
the 60s a trip
for this list we focus on rock songs
that reach number one on the Billboard
charts while making a definitive mark on
pop culture
number ten turn turn turn to everything
there is a season the birds
is
with Leary’s that were pretty much
ripped out of the Bible and a folk rock
sound that was insanely popular at the
time turn turn turn is on record as
being the number-one hot 100 hit with
the oldest lyrics
allegedly taking around 78 takes to
record and featuring some of the decades
best vocal harmonies the birds obviously
put in the time and effort to make this
a timeless classic
originally written by Pete Seeger this
version undeniably holds up to this day
as demonstrated by its multiple modern
pop culture appearances
number nine oh pretty woman Roy Orbison
walking down
treat pretty mama
with all due respect to the 1990 film
that reintroduced this song to
mainstream America oh pretty woman is
not actually about a Hollywood hooker
with a lonely heart no not even close it
was actually inspired by Roy Orbison’s
wife and when the song was released in
1964 the singer smooth delivery and
heavy pouring took it straight to number
one
twenty four years later a star-studded
Cinemax special featured a classic
performance of the song which would
ultimately earn Roy Orbison a posthumous
Grammy Award upon his death
would be true
number eight lights my fire the doors
girl we couldn’t get much higher this
was the first line that Ed Sullivan
producers asked the doors to change for
1967 live performance and do you think
they agreed nah
it was this type of rebellion that
initially led to the creation of Light
My Fire as the philosophical hippies
combined acid rock with their background
in Chicago blues
after all there weren’t many rock
musicians playing a Fender Rhodes piano
bass in the late 60s and Puerto Rican
musician Jose Feliciano was so impressed
with light my fire
that he covered the number one hit and
took home a Grammy in 1969 The Doors
expanded their minds with this billboard
smash and their musical reach expanded
throughout the world
hello darkness my old friend number
seven the sound of silence Simon and
Garfunkel because a vision softly
creeping left its seeds while I was
sleeping
long before Will Ferrel took a
tranquilizer dart to the jugular in old
school a couple of folk rockers took the
old pen and pad for a most introspective
creation when my eyes were stabbed by
the flash of a neon light after the
sound of silence
initially bombed on the music charts and
forced the duo to end their
collaboration it was father time that
saved the day along with producer Tom
Wilson who enlisted a few of Bob Dylan’s
musicians for a remix that took the
revamp version to number one man here’s
to you mrs. Robinson jesus loves you
more than you
Oh a few years later mrs. Robinson would
become the first rock song to win a
Grammy for record of the year but it was
the sound of silence that paved the road
to rock immortality and the Sun said the
words of the prophets already on the
subway wall six good vibrations the
Beach Boys before the counterculture
movement spread throughout America in
the latter half of the 60s a group of
California musicians were already
imagining a new style of music and a new
way of life in general
Brian Wilson and his team of boys from
the beach created a psychedelic rock
classic using beautiful harmonies and an
early use of the electro-theremin
the Beach Boys knew how to get around
and they came out swinging with that
very message for their first billboard
number one in 1964
number five suspicious minds Elvis
Presley we’re caught in a trap I can’t
walk
because I love you too much baby there
once was a time when Elvis was
undoubtedly the king of rock and roll
but after serving his country in the US
Army he came to realize that the times
were definitely a change
on the fishes my
but in 1968 Elvis reimbursed with his
famous black leather comeback special
and by 1969 he released his 17th and
final number-one billboard hit with
suspicious minds
it was this song that reinvigorated
Elvis’s career almost a full decade
after the release of his 1960 romantic
ballad are you lonesome tonight eternity
number four I want to hold your hand
The Beatles oh yeah when Elvis Presley
returned from Germany in March of 1964
musicians were about to begin perfecting
their craft in the German city of
Hamburg shortly before kicking off what
is now known as the British Invasion
to me as the Beatles first number one
billboard hit I want to hold your hand
literally cause distraught American
girls to faint and forced aspiring rock
stars to step up their game and when I
touch you I feel happy inside with such
a simple yet effective message the song
figuratively connected John Paul Ringo
and George with mainstream America and
they kept a firm grip for years to come
number three House of the Rising Sun the
animals
Eko
in the early 60s a baby-faced Bob Dylan
was performing a folk version of this
song all around New York City but it was
the animals that reached a larger
demographic while touring with Chuck
Berry
we
House of the Rising Sun details a dark
journey through New Orleans and through
the menacing voice of Eric Burdon the
animals announced themselves as the next
great British Invasion band aside from
the Beatles that is
all in all it’s a traditional song made
popular by a most untraditional
psychedelic band
number two I can’t get no satisfaction
the Rolling Stones
as the Beatles were conducting a
collective hand-holding session with
America The Rolling Stones took a more
controversial approach by conveying
their need for a little satisfaction
while older listeners didn’t necessarily
process the sexual nature of the lyrics
younger audiences immediately grasped
the concept and helped make the Stones
hit one of the most popular songs ever
recorded
from the suggestive innuendos to the
killer guitar riff satisfaction was in
tune with the times and Jagger’s vocal
performance was the cherry on top before
we unveil our topic here are a few
honorable mentions to be a shadow in the
city
oh I already know and
Oh
Hey
number one Hey Jude The Beatles
well here it is in a time of social
unrest the Beatles gave listeners a
symbolic and inspirational seven-minute
ballad that is quite possibly the best
pop song of all time
originally devised to help young Julian
Lennon cope with the divorce of his
parents Paul McCartney slowly but surely
molded Hey Jude into something bigger
and even John Lennon believed the song
to be an inadvertent message from one
bandmates to another
the two musicians wrote help just a few
years prior but with Hey Jude McCartney
seemed to acknowledge the end of an era
and it wouldn’t be long until he and
John shook each other’s hand and went
their separate ways
so do you agree with our selections what
is your favorite Billboard chart topping
rock song of the 60s
for more mind-blowing top tens published
daily be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com
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