The Real 60s Music 

The Real 60s Music

Ann Althouse says the Grammy winners in the 60s were pathetic--meaning that rock, which was changing the world, wasn't represented.

I can see her point with Percy Faith and even the sillier 5th Dimension songs. I enjoyed the Tijuana Brass as a kid because I played trumpet. I still love Jimmy Webb's songs, but Glen Campbell's versions were a battle on behalf of the oldsters against the hippies. Rock is music of the libido; Carole King's Tapestry, although I feel sentimental about some of the songs, is the music of someone who vaguely remembers having a libido.

I had drafted a long, link-rich post, and then lost it. The main point was: people seem to think AM Radio in the 60s, when AM was still king, was dominated by rock. Instead it was still dominated by the boomers' parents, rather than the boomers themselves. They came to like songs with a beat--but emphatically not a rock beat.

Don't Tony Bennett and Sinatra hold up extremely well, whereas the Concert for Bangladesh doesn't?

The 5th Dimension recorded some Laura Nyro songs--as did Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Carole King wrote "Hi De Ho (That Old Sweet Roll)" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman".