Max Picks …songs from 1964

1964

There are so many songs I had to leave off…I could have filled up 50 slots. This is the year music exploded into what developed into modern rock. The British were coming, they came, and they conquered. On February 9, 1964, the world changed. We all know the song that hit first… I Want To Hold Your Hand. If you want to know about that one…here is a link to the good article that halffastcyclingclub wrote for The Beatles week that I had.

I’m going to start off with the B side of that single…one of the best B sides ever. It’s a fairly well-known song also. Let’s start off with the John Lennon and Paul McCartney song I Saw Her Standing There. After this year…the world would never be the same.

The English bands started to come over after the door was kicked in by The Beatles. One of the rawest and roughest was The Animals. They do their take on this classic traditional song and it has become the standard version that most people remember and it’s been covered by artists including Woody Guthrie in the 1940s.

A garage-sounding song and a future look at punk music. The Kinks made themselves known with this raw edgy hit.

The Dave Clark Five knocked the Beatles out of the number one position on the UK charts with Glad All Over. It was written by Dave Clark and Mike Smith.

Let’s end with an American band that had been charting since 1962 but now they were getting huge. The Beach Boys with Don’t Worry Baby. This is a masterpiece of a song. One of my all-time favorites. It’s up there with God Only Knows by them also. Brian Wilson wrote this tremendous song. I bumped another great song for this…I Get Around…but I just had to. Do you agree?

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

54 thoughts on “Max Picks …songs from 1964”

  1. All great tunes from a year that changed music history. Who saw this coming? No one, until the Beatles hit the stage on the Sullivan Show. Don’t Worry Baby is the first song that Brian Wilson incorporated the “wall of sound” that Spector used, and man, did he take it to another level. The solo drum beat to start the song was the legendary Hal Blaine, and the Wrecking Crew did the rest. I still listen to the BB today, so good music “never fades away,” as Buddy Holly said.

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    1. I should have been born earlier Dana…I would have loved to have grown up in this generation. I loved those big consoles…they were as big as boats and really cool.

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      2. I live in Nashville and I bought an amp from a country musician a few years back. He told me when the Beatles came…to put it in perspective it was like Michael Jackson times 1000. He said for even country guys the world changed to color…after the Sullivan apperance the world was different.

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      4. No, because the media we listen on is so scattered now. Spotify, television, radio, youtube, movies, commericals, and more… plus record companies don’t back rock bands as much anymore…hey I hope one day it happens but I doubt it.

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  3. Can’t argue with any of them! What a year, and so many more options you could have gone with. I will say that ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ over ‘I Get Around’ is the right call. That’s a great tune, but very of its time. while ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ is timeless.

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    1. Thanks…I thought so about Dont’ Worry Baby…yes it’s so many I could have included! The list is almost endless. I didn’t represent Stax or Motown in this one but 64 belongs to you guys lol.

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  4. Great choices! I won’t even try to think about other songs from that year. I would definitely pick “I Saw Her Standing There” as the A-side over “I Wanna Hold your Hand.” I love the simple but dramatic choreography with the lip-sync to “House of the Rising Sun”.

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  5. All good, and yes for SURE ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ eclipses ‘I get Around’, like Phil said it really took that sound to another level and how about Hal Blaine on it. Tremendous . ‘House of the rising sun’ also great and to me sounded ahead of its time… until I really started reading about music and working on my blog I had guessed it came from around 1970. A sea change was coming in , in ’64

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    1. This is THE year everything changed…it knocked a lot of artists out of the charts. Like I said before…I do believe Buddy Holly could have competed with the British.

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      1. might be so, if he could have advanced with the times and wrote some more complex songs – and it’s reasonable to assume if he had been able to keep at it another 5 or 10 years, he would have.

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  6. It’s between ‘I Get Around’ and ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ as to my favourite Beach Boys song. ‘Good Vibrations’ of course is a musical production tour de force. ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ is easily my preferred listening choice on your list.

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    1. On this list…it’s so hard to pick a favorite. God Only Knows is probably my favorite Beach Boys song followed closely by Don’t Worry Baby.

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  9. What a crazy B-Side Max. You can’t even call that one a B-side. Maybe call it a double A side.
    Good ol Ray and Dave and the Kinks. The blueprint that Oasis would follow due to the brothers…

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  10. There is a completely new feel and strength to these songs compared to two years ago. The ‘black and white’ to ‘full blown colour’ comment is spot on, the crew-cut kids were already growing their hair and the suave crooners were soooo passé.
    I think I mentioned on Dave’s or your post previously ‘Glad All Over’ is still the stadium song Crystal Palace FC fans still sing. Usually it ends, after 90 minutes, to us fans sitting quietly, feeling sad all over. Sigh. It ain’t easy following a mid-table at best team.
    And what the Hell is that at the tail end of the Kinks video???

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    1. I didn’t know that song is still being played anywhere…that is really cool.
      There is a different sound going on that the British brought. Everything was out in front and now…a little clearer and the 50s were starting to melt away by this time. .

      I don’t know what the hell is going on after the Kinks song…it looks like they were changing sets and they were keeping the crowd happy???

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  11. What a great bunch of tunes!! You may remember that 64 was my pick for the BEST year of music for a past Turntable Talk. SO many amazing songs. I won’t diss you for neglecting to mention Everybody Loves Somebody by Dean … LOL

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  12. Man, what a year in music. It’s hard if not impossible to top. Obviously, I love all of these tunes. That Vox Continental in “House of the Rising Sun – I’ll never get tired of that sound. Not only is “Glad All Over” a truly infectious tune, but it also knocked off “I Want to Hold Your Hand” from the top spot of the British charts. I’m okay with that.

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    1. I love the drums in Glad All Over…I remember hearing it as a little kid…loved it ever since. You had a little of everything in this post.

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  17. Max, I gotta ask. For the last couple of days the song “Tobacco Road” by the Nashville Teens has been in my head. It came out in 64, hence my asking here. Are you familiar with it? Opinion?

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