’60s Top Tens

For my college 50th reunion, a four-person panel reviewed songs that had charted during our four years, September ’64 through May ’68, and came up with a list of 30 nominees to be voted on for a Class Top Ten. The songs selected had to 1)be personal favorites of at least two of us; 2)have been a popular hit – preferably charting at #5 or above, even better at #1; and 3)contribute to genre diversity – including no two songs by the same performer. What follows here are four lists: the list of 30, a consensus of our panel; the Class Top Ten, as voted by 100 or so classmates at the reunion; my personal top ten, from the list of 30; and a personal list of fifteen favorite songs that made our initial roster of 130 songs but not the final 30.

Top 30, 64-68, in chronological order:

• Zombies, She’s Not There
• Martha & Vandellas, Dancing in the Street
• Roy Orbison, Oh Pretty Woman
• Righteous Brothers, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
• Petula Clark, Downtown
• Temptations, My Girl
• Supremes, Stop! In the Name of Love
• Bob Dylan, Like A Rolling Stone
• Wilson Pickett, Midnight Hour
  Rolling Stones, Satisfaction
  Lovin’ Spoonful, Do You Believe in Magic
• Animals, We Gotta Get Out of This Place
• Simon & Garfunkel, Sound of Silence 
  Rascals, Good Lovin’
  Percy Sledge, When A Man Loves A Woman 
• Beach Boys, Wouldn’t It Be Nice
  Left Banke, Walk Away Renee
  Spencer Davis Group, Gimme Some Lovin’
• Buffalo Springfield, For What It’s Worth
• Aretha Franklin, Respect
• Doors, Light My Fire
  Beatles, A Day in the Life
• Procol Harum, Whiter Shade of Pale
  Van Morrison, Brown-eyed Girl
• Sam & Dave, Soul Man
  Jimi Hendrix, Purple Haze
• Stone Poneys, Different Drum
  Monkees, Daydream Believer
  Otis Redding, Dock of the Bay
• Sly & Family Stone, Dance to the Music

Class of ’68 Top Ten

1. Aretha Franklin, Respect
2. Bob Dylan, Like A Rolling Stone
3. Rolling Stones, Satisfaction
4. Otis Redding, Dock of the Bay
5. Simon & Garfunkel, Sound of Silence
6. Temptations, My Girl
7. Doors, Light My Fire
8. Righteous Brothers, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
9. Percy Sledge, When A Man Loves A Woman
10. Wilson Pickett, Midnight Hour

Bob’s Top Ten

1. Temptations, My Girl
2. Bob Dylan, Like A Rolling Stone
3. Buffalo Springfield, For What It’s Worth
4. Procol Harum, Whiter Shade of Pale
5. Supremes, Stop! In the Name of Love
6. Left Banke, Walk Away Renee
7. Lovin’ Spoonful, Do You Believe in Magic
8. Righteous Brothers, You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’
9. Petula Clark, Downtown
10. Otis Redding, Dock of the Bay

Personal Favorites beyond the Top 30

• Beau Brummels, Just A Little
• We Five, You Were On My Mind
• Turtles, You Baby
• B.J. Thomas, I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
• Tremeloes, Silence Is Golden
• BeeGees, I Can’t See Nobody
• Jimmy Ruffin, What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
• Casinos, Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
• Buckinghams, Kind of a Drag
• Miracles, Tracks of My Tears
• Swinging Medallions, Double Shot
• Shades of Blue, Oh How Happy
• Bob Lind, Elusive Butterfly
• Herman’s Hermits, There’s A Kind of Hush
• Outsiders, Time Won’t Let Me