The 13h Floor Elevator: You’re Gonna Miss Me is a song by the American psychedelic rock band the 13th Floor Elevators, written by Roky Erickson, and released as the group’s debut single on Contact Records, on January 17, 1966.

It was reissued nationally on International Artists, in May 1966 (see 1966 in music). Musically inspired by traditional jug band and R&B music, combined with the group’s own experimentation, “You’re Gonna Miss Me”, along with its Stacy Sutherland and Tommy Hall-penned B-side, “Tried to Hide”, was influential in developing psychedelic rock, garage rock, and was one of the earliest rock compositions to utilize the electric jug. Accordingly, critics often cite “You’re Gonna Miss Me” as a bona fide garage rock song, as well as a classic of the counterculture era.

“You’re Gonna Miss Me” reached number 55 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the 13th Floor Elevators’ only single to chart nationally. The failure of the song to achieve a higher chart listing is attributed to poor distribution by a disestablished record label. In addition, the band was prevented from consistently touring during their parole for possession of marijuana. The song was also included as a track on their debut album, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, in November 1966.

Johnny Cash: Ring of Fire is a song written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and recorded by Johnny Cash. The single appears on Cash’s 1963 album, Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash.

The song was originally recorded by June’s sister, Anita Carter, on her Mercury Records album Folk Songs Old and New (1963) as “(Love’s) Ring of Fire”. “Ring of Fire” was ranked No. 4 on CMT’s 100 Greatest Songs of Country Music in 2003 and #87 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song was recorded on March 25, 1963, and became the biggest hit of Cash’s career, staying at number one on the country chart for seven weeks. It was certified Gold on January 21, 2010, by the RIAA and has also sold over 1.2 million digital downloads

The Shrangri-Las: Leader of the Pack is a song written by George “Shadow” Morton, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich.

It was a number one pop hit in 1964 for the American girl group The Shangri-Las. The single is one of the group’s best known songs as well as a popular cultural example of a “teenage tragedy song”.

The Beach Boys: Help Me Rhonda is a song written and composed by Brian Wilson with additional lyrics by Mike Love for American rock band the Beach Boys. It was first released as “Help Me, Ronda” in March 1965 on the album The Beach Boys Today!

A second recording, with a significantly different arrangement, was issued as a single under the revised title “Help Me, Rhonda”. The single peaked at number one in the United States, making it the second Beach Boys single to reach that position after “I Get Around” in 1964. The single version was later released on the album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) in June 1965.

Elvis Presley: Suspicious Minds is an American song written and first recorded by American songwriter Mark James. After James’ recording failed commercially, the song was handed to Elvis Presley by producer Chips Moman, becoming a number one song in 1969, and one of the most notable hits of Presley’s career.

“Suspicious Minds” was widely regarded as the single that returned Presley’s career success, following his ’68 Comeback Special. It was his eighteenth and last number-one single in the United States. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it No. 91 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[citation needed] Session guitarist Reggie Young played on both the James and Presley versions.

The Monkees: I’m a Believer is a song composed by Neil Diamond and recorded by The Monkees in 1966 with the lead vocals by Micky Dolenz. The single, produced by Jeff Barry, hit the number one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending December 31, 1966 and remained there for seven weeks, becoming the last No. 1 hit of 1966 and the biggest-selling record for all of 1967. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 5 song for 1967.

Because of 1,051,280 advance orders, it went gold within two days of release. It is one of the fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide.

The song was No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in January and February 1967, as well as a Number 1 in numerous countries including Australia, Canada, and Ireland.The success of the single prompted the song to appear in four consecutive episodes of The Monkees’ TV show throughout December 1966.

The Shirelles: Will You Love Me Tomorrow is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It was originally recorded in 1960 by the Shirelles, who took their single to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The song is also notable for being the first song by an all-girl group to reach number one in the United States. It has since been recorded by many artists over the years, including a 1971 version by co-writer Carole King.

The Beatles: I Want to Hold Your Hand is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded in October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment.

With advance orders exceeding one million copies in the United Kingdom, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” would have gone straight to the top of the British record charts on its day of release (29 November 1963) had it not been blocked by the group’s first million seller “She Loves You”, their previous UK single, which was having a resurgence of popularity following intense media coverage of the group. Taking two weeks to dislodge its predecessor, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” stayed at number one for five weeks and remained in the UK top 50 for 21 weeks in total.

It was also the group’s first American number one, entering the Billboard Hot 100 chart on 18 January 1964 at number 45 and starting the British invasion of the American music industry. By 1 February it held the number-one spot, and stayed there for seven weeks before being replaced by “She Loves You”, a reverse scenario of what had occurred in Britain. It remained on the Billboard chart for 15 weeks.

“I Want to Hold Your Hand” became the Beatles’ best-selling single worldwide. In 2013, Billboard magazine named it the 44th biggest hit of “all-time” on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

Bob Dylan: Like a Rolling Stone is a 1965 song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originated in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England. Dylan distilled this draft into four verses and a chorus. “Like a Rolling Stone” was recorded a few weeks later as part of the sessions for the forthcoming album Highway 61 Revisited.

During a difficult two-day preproduction, Dylan struggled to find the essence of the song, which was demoed without success in 3/4 time. A breakthrough was made when it was tried in a rock music format, and rookie session musician Al Kooper improvised the organ riff for which the track is known.

However, Columbia Records was unhappy with both the song’s length at over six minutes and its heavy electric sound, and was hesitant to release it. It was only when a month later a copy was leaked to a new popular music club and heard by influential DJs that the song was put out as a single. Although radio stations were reluctant to play such a long track, “Like a Rolling Stone” reached number two in the US Billboard charts (number one in Cashbox) and became a worldwide hit.

Critics have described the track as revolutionary in its combination of different musical elements, the youthful, cynical sound of Dylan’s voice, and the directness of the question “How does it feel?” “Like a Rolling Stone” transformed Dylan’s image from folk singer to rock star, and is considered one of the most influential compositions in postwar popular music.

Rolling Stone magazine listed the song at number one in their “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list. The song has been covered by numerous artists, from The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Rolling Stones to The Wailers and Green Day.

At an auction in 2014, Dylan’s handwritten lyrics to the song fetched $2 million, a world record for a popular music manuscript

Sonny and Cher: I Got You Babe is a song written by Sonny Bono. It was the first single taken from the debut studio album Look at Us, of the American pop music duo Sonny & Cher. In August 1965, their single spent three weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States where it sold more than 1 million copies and was certified Gold. It also reached number 1 in the United Kingdom and Canada.

In 1985, a cover version of “I Got You Babe” by British reggae/pop band UB40 featuring American singer Chrissie Hynde, peaked at number one in the UK Singles Chart and reached number 28 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. A 1993 version by Cher with Beavis and Butt-Head bubbled under the Hot 100 chart.

Aretha Franklin: Respect is a song written and originally released by American recording artist Otis Redding in 1965. The song became a 1967 hit and signature song for R&B singer Aretha Franklin.

The music in the two versions is significantly different, and through a few minor changes in the lyrics, the stories told by the songs have a different flavor.

Redding’s version is a plea from a desperate man, who will give his woman anything she wants. He won’t care if she does him wrong, as long as he gets his due respect, when he comes home. However, Franklin’s version is a declaration from a strong, confident woman, who knows that she has everything her man wants. She never does him wrong, and demands his “respect”.

Franklin’s version adds the “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” chorus and the backup singers’ refrain of “Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me…”

Rolling Stone: Honky Tonk Women is a 1969 hit song by The Rolling Stones. Released as a single only release (although a country version was included on Let It Bleed), on 4 July 1969 in the United Kingdom and a week later in the United States, it topped the charts in both nations.

The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards while on holiday in Brazil from late December 1968 to early January 1969, inspired by Brazilian “caipiras” (inhabitants of rural, remote areas of parts of Brazil) at the ranch where Jagger and Richards were staying in Matão, São Paulo.

Two versions of the song were recorded by the band: the familiar hit which appeared on the 45 single and their collection of late 1960s singles, Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2); and a honky-tonk version entitled “Country Honk” with slightly different lyrics, which appeared on Let It Bleed (1969).

Thematically, a “honky tonk woman” refers to a dancing girl in a western bar who may work as a prostitute; the setting for the narrative in the first verse of the blues version is Memphis, Tennessee, while “Country Honk” sets the first verse in Jackson, Mississippi.

I met a gin soaked bar-room queen in Memphis
I’m sittin’ in a bar, tippin’ a jar in Jackson

The band initially recorded the track called “Country Honk”, in London in early March 1969. Brian Jones was present during these sessions and may have played on the first handful of takes and demos. It was his last recording session with the band.

The song was transformed into the familiar electric, riff-based hit single “Honky Tonk Women” sometime in the spring of 1969, prior to Mick Taylor’s joining the group. In an interview in the magazine Crawdaddy!, Richards credits Taylor for influencing the track: “… the song was originally written as a real Hank Williams/Jimmie Rodgers/1930s country song. And it got turned around to this other thing by Mick Taylor, who got into a completely different feel, throwing it off the wall another way.”

However, in 1979 Taylor recalled it this way: “I definitely added something to Honky Tonk Women, but it was more or less complete by the time I arrived and did my overdubs.”

“Honky Tonk Women” is distinctive as it opens not with a guitar riff, but with a beat played on a cowbell. The Rolling Stones’ producer Jimmy Miller performed the cowbell for the recording.

Marvin Gaye: I Heard it Through the Grapevine a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966. The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967; it went to number two in the Billboard chart.

Whitfield recorded the song with Marvin Gaye over five sessions, the first on February 3, 1967, and the final one on April 10, 1967. Recordings of this version took more than a month due to Whitfield overdubbing Gaye’s vocals with that of the Andantes’ background vocals, mixing in several tracks featuring the Funk Brothers on the rhythm track, and adding the string section from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra with an arrangement by Paul Riser.

Glen Campbell: Wichita Lineman is a song written by American songwriter Jimmy Webb in 1968. It was first recorded by American country music artist Glen Campbell with backing from members of The Wrecking Crew and widely covered by other artists.

Campbell’s version, which appeared on his 1968 album of the same name, reached #3 on the U.S. pop chart, remaining in the Top 100 for 15 weeks. In addition, the song also topped the American country music chart for two weeks, and the adult contemporary chart for six weeks.

It was certified gold by the RIAA in January 1969. The song reached #7 in the UK. In Canada, the single also topped both the RPM national and country singles charts.

Dave Clark Five was an English pop rock group.

Their single “Glad All Over” knocked the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” off the top of the UK Singles Chart in January 1964; it peaked at number 6 in the United States in April 1964. “Over And Over” was a number 1 single in the United States for the group in December 1965.

They were the second group of the British Invasion on The Ed Sullivan Show, appearing in March for two weeks after the Beatles appeared three straight weeks in February 1964. For some time the Dave Clark Five was more popular in the US than in their native UK, but had a renaissance in the UK between 1967 and 1970. The group disbanded in late 1970. On 10 March 2008, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The band started out as the Dave Clark Quintet in 1957, with Clark on drums, Dave Sanford on lead guitar, Chris Walls on bass, Don Vale on piano (and arranger). In 1958, Sanford was replaced by Rick Huxley and people were confused by the meaning of the word quintet, so the band renamed themselves the Dave Clark Five, with Stan Saxon on lead vocals, Huxley on rhythm guitar, Roger Smedley on piano, and Johnny Johnson on lead guitar. Mick Ryan replaced Johnson in 1958 and Jim Spencer joined on saxophone, while Smedley left. Walls left in 1959 and Huxley became the bass player. Mike Smith joined on piano in 1960, and Lenny Davidson replaced Ryan in 1961. In 1962, the band changed its name to the Dave Clark Five when Saxon left. The group was Clark on drums, Huxley on bass, Smith on organ and lead vocals, and Davidson on lead guitar, adding Denny Payton on tenor and baritone saxophone, harmonica and guitar.

Originating in North London, the band was promoted as the vanguard of the “Tottenham Sound”, a response to the Mersey Beat stable managed by Brian Epstein. Dave Clark, who formed the group, occasionally placed his drum kit at the front of the stage, with the guitarists and organ to his rear and sides, and struck business deals that allowed him to produce the band’s recordings and gave him control of the master recordings. Songwriting credits went to Clark, Clark and Smith, Clark and Davidson, and Clark and Payton.
The Dave Clark Five had 17 records in the Top 40 of the US Billboard chart and 12 Top 40 hits in their native UK between 1964 and 1967. Their song “Over And Over” went to number one in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 on Christmas Day 1965, despite less impressive sales in the UK (it peaked at number 45 on the UK Singles Chart), and they played to sell-out crowds on their tours of the U.S. The Dave Clark Five was the first British band of the British Invasion to tour the US, and they made 18 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show – the most of any British Invasion group.

After the success of the Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night in 1964, the band released their own film, Catch Us If You Can (directed by John Boorman) in 1965. It also starred Barbara Ferris, and was released in the United States as Having a Wild Weekend. The short film Hits in Action highlighted a series of Dave Clark Five hits.

After their initial success, which included the movie and a television special, the major hits dried up in the US after 1967’s “You Got What It Takes”, although the band had several substantial hits in the UK in the 1967–1970 period. Other than the songs “Inside and Out”, “Maze of Love” and “Live in the Sky” (the latter actually quotes directly from the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love”), the band did not follow the trend of psychedelic music. The DC5 disbanded in 1970, having placed three singles on the UK chart that year, two of which reached the Top Ten. In 1970, Davidson, Huxley and Payton left and Alan Parker and Eric Ford joined on lead guitar and bass. This line-up, renamed “Dave Clark & Friends”, lasted until 1973.

Between 1978 and 1993, none of their music was available to be purchased in any commercial format, as rights-holder Clark declined to license the band’s recordings. In 1993, a single CD “Glad All Over Again” was produced by Dave himself and released by EMI in Britain. After a 1989 deal with the Disney Channel to rebroadcast the 1960s ITV show Ready Steady Go! (which Clark owned), he made a deal with Disney-owned Hollywood Records to issue in 1993 a double CD “History of the Dave Clark Five”. No DC5 material was then legally available until 2008, when the “Hits” compilation was released by Universal Music in the UK. In 2009 selections from the band’s catalogue were released on iTunes.

Herman’s Hermit are an English beat (or pop) band, formed in Manchester in 1964.

Originally called Herman & The Hermits, they were discovered by Harvey Lisberg, who signed them up to management. Lisberg sent a return plane ticket to Mickie Most so that he could come up from London to see the band play in Bolton. Most became the group’s record producer, controlling the band’s output. He emphasised a simple, non-threatening, clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers. This helped Herman’s Hermits become hugely successful in the mid-1960s but dampened the band’s songwriting; Noone, Hopwood, Leckenby and Green’s songs were relegated to B-sides and album cuts.

Their first hit was a cover of Earl-Jean’s “I’m into Something Good” (written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King), which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 13 in the US in late 1964. They never topped the British charts again, but had two US Billboard Hot 100 No.1s with “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” (originally sung by Tom Courtenay in a 1963 British TV play) and “I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am” (a British music hall song by Harry Champion dating from 1911, which Peter Noone’s Irish grandfather had been in the habit of singing when Noone was young). These songs were aimed at a US fan base, with Peter Noone exaggerating his Mancunian accent.

In the US, their records were released on the MGM label, a company which often featured musical performers they had signed to record deals in films. The Hermits appeared in several MGM movies, including When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965) and Hold On! (1966). They also starred in the film Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter (1968) and appeared in the 1965 anthology film Pop Gear.

Herman’s Hermits had four Top 3 hits in the US in 1965, with the aforementioned No. 1 hits and “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” (US No. 2). They recorded The Rays’ “Silhouettes” (US No. 5), Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World” (US No. 4), “Just a Little Bit Better” (US No. 7), and “A Must to Avoid” (US No. 8) in 1965; “Listen People” (US No. 3), George Formby’s “Leaning on a Lamp Post” from Me and My Girl (US No. 9), and the Ray Davies song “Dandy” (US No. 5) in 1966; and “There’s a Kind of Hush” (US No. 4) in 1967. On WLS “Mrs. Brown” and “Silhouettes” were 1–2 on 14 May 1965 and exchanged positions the next week, a distinction matched only by The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You” during 14 February – 6 March 1964.

They appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dean Martin Show and The Jackie Gleason Show. Continued success in the US proved elusive beyond 1967, although they had as many Top Ten hits in Britain (five) in the period 1967 through 1970 as they had had there in the years of the mid-‘sixties when the band were wowing American audiences and British audiences seemed more diffident. By the time the group recorded their final album of the 1960s, Rock ‘n’ Roll Party, the band’s success in the US was history and the album was not released by MGM there. Peter Noone and Keith Hopwood left the band in 1971.

Herman’s Hermits reunited in 1973 to headline a successful British invasion tour of the US culminating with a standing-room-only performance at Madison Square Garden and an appearance on The Midnight Special (without Hopwood). Later, a version of the band featuring Leckenby and Whitwam opened for The Monkees on reunion tours of the US. Noone declined an offer from tour organizers to appear, but later appeared with Davy Jones on a successful teen-idols tour. Karl Green began performing again in 2014, playing the hits of Herman’s Hermits for the first time since 1980

The Lefte Banke is an American baroque pop band, formed in New York City in 1965.

They are best remembered for their two US hit singles, “Walk Away Renée” and “Pretty Ballerina”. The band often used what the music press referred to as “baroque” string arrangements, which led to their music being variously termed as “Bach-rock” or “baroque rock”.

The band’s vocal harmonies borrowed from contemporaries such as the Beatles, the Zombies, and other British Invasion groups.

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed “Walk Away Renée” at #220 in its list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

Jimi Hendrix Experience was an American-English rock band that formed in Westminster, London, in September 1966

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding, and drummer Mitch Mitchell comprised the group, which was active until June 1969. During this time, they released three studio albums and became one of the most popular acts in rock. In April 1970, Hendrix, Mitchell, and bassist Billy Cox performed and recorded until Hendrix’s death on September 18, 1970. This later trio was sometimes billed as the “Jimi Hendrix Experience”, but the title was never formalized.

Highly influential in the popularization of hard rock and psychedelic rock, the Experience was best known for the skill, style, and charisma of their frontman, Jimi Hendrix.

All three of the band’s studio albums, Are You Experienced (1967), Axis: Bold as Love (1967) and Electric Ladyland (1968), were featured in the top 100 of the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, at positions 15, 82 and 54 respectively.

In 1992, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Buckinghams formed in 1965 in the Chicago area, consisting of Carl Giammarese, Nick Fortuna, Jon Jon Poulos, Dennis Tufano and Dennis Miccoli.

Their break came when they won a “Battle of the Bands” contest sponsored by a Chicago TV show, “All Time Hits”, and were awarded a 14-week gig on the show. This being the height of the “British invasion”, the show wanted the band to have a more British-sounding name, and settled on The Buckinghams.

In 1966 the group signed a contract with USA Records, a Chicago label, Their first records were covers of hit songs: James Brown’s “I’ll Go Crazy”, The Beatles’ “I Call Your Name”, The Hollies’ “I’ve Been Wrong Before”. They sold fairly well in the Chicago area, but the band needed a national hit to cement their reputation. They found it in “Kind of a Drag”, which sold more than a million copies and went to #1 on the national pop charts.

The group soon left USA Records for the much larger Columbia Records, and had another hit with “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”, which was previously a hit for Lloyd Price. Their next song was an even bigger hit, “Don’t You Care”, reaching #6 on the national charts. The band soon became a hot property on TV teen and variety shows, appearing on such programs as The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) and New American Bandstand 1965 (1952). It was during this period that they came out with yet another hit, a remake of Cannonball Adderley’s “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”, which got to #5 on the charts. In 1967 their string of hits continued with “Susan” and “Hey Baby, They’re Playing Our Song”, which reached #11 and #12, respectively.

Unfortunately, things began to decline in 1968. Their album, “In One Ear and Gone Tomorrow”, didn’t produce one hit single. They went through a string of personnel changes, which didn’t help matters, and the next year they decided to disband. In 1980 the band–minus Jon Poulos, who had died of a drug overdose earlier that year–reunited for a reunion show sponsored by Chicago radio station WLS.

The Mamas and The Papas was an American folk rock vocal group that recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968, reuniting briefly in 1971.

They released five studio albums and seventeen singles, six of which made the top ten, and sold close to 40 million records worldwide.

The group was composed of John Phillips (1935–2001), Denny Doherty (1940–2007), Cass Elliot (1941–1974), and Michelle Phillips née Gilliam (b. 1944).

Their sound was based on vocal harmonies arranged by John Phillips, the songwriter, musician, and leader of the group who adapted folk to the new beat style of the early sixties.

Gary Puckett & the Union Gap was an American pop rock group active in the late 1960s.

Their biggest hits were “Woman, Woman”; “Over You”; “Young Girl”; and “Lady Willpower.”

It was formed by Gary Puckett, Gary ‘Mutha’ Withem, Dwight Bement, Kerry Chater, and Paul Wheatbread, who eventually named it The Union Gap.

It featured costumes that were based on the Union Army uniforms worn during the American Civil War. They were noticed by Jerry Fuller, who gave them a recording contract with Columbia Records.

The group eventually grew unhappy with doing material written and produced by other people, leading them to stop working with Fuller. The band eventually disbanded and Puckett went on to do both solo work and collaborations.riggs (lead vocals).

The Rascals were an American rock band, formed in Garfield, New Jersey in 1965.

Between 1966 and 1968 the New Jersey act reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 with nine singles, including the #1s “Good Lovin'” (1966), “Groovin'” (1967), and “People Got to Be Free” (1968), as well as big radio hits such as the much-covered “How Can I Be Sure?” (#4 1967) and “A Beautiful Morning” (#3 1968), plus another critical favorite “A Girl Like You” (#10 1967). The band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Supremes were an American female singing group and the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.

Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown’s acts and are, to date, America’s most successful vocal group with 12 number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

Most of these hits were written and produced by Motown’s main songwriting and production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland.

At their peak in the mid-1960s, the Supremes rivaled the Beatles in worldwide popularity, and it is said that their success made it possible for future African American R&B and soul musicians to find mainstream success.

Founding members Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross, and Betty McGlown, all from the Brewster-Douglass public housing project in Detroit, formed the Primettes as the sister act to the Primes (with Paul Williams and Eddie Kendricks, who went on to form the Temptations). Barbara Martin replaced McGlown in 1960, and the group signed with Motown the following year as the Supremes. Martin left the act in early 1962, and Ross, Ballard, and Wilson carried on as a trio.

During the mid-1960s, the Supremes achieved mainstream success with Ross as lead singer. In 1967, Motown president Berry Gordy renamed the group Diana Ross & the Supremes, and replaced Ballard with Cindy Birdsong.

Ross left to pursue a solo career in 1970 and was replaced by Jean Terrell, at which point the group’s name reverted to the Supremes. After 1972, the lineup changed more frequently; Lynda Laurence, Scherrie Payne, and Susaye Greene all became members of the group during the mid-1970s. The Supremes disbanded in 1977 after 18 years.

Buffalo Springfield was an American-Canadian rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966.

Their original lineup included Stephen Stills (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Dewey Martin (drums, vocals), Bruce Palmer (electric bass), Richie Furay (guitar, vocals), and Neil Young (guitar, harmonica, piano, vocals). Pioneering the folk rock genre, Buffalo Springfield, along with the Byrds, combined elements of folk and country music with British invasion influences into their early works. Their second studio album, Buffalo Springfield Again, marked their progression to psychedelia and hard rock.

With a name taken from a steamroller, the group signed to Atlantic Records in 1966 and released their debut single “Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing” – a regional hit in Los Angeles. The following January, the group released the protest song they were most prominently known for, “For What It’s Worth”. After various drug-related arrests and line-up changes, the group decided to break up in 1968. Stephen Stills went on to form the folk rock supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash with David Crosby of the Byrds and Graham Nash of the Hollies. Neil Young had launched his successful solo career and reunited with Stills in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in 1969. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

The Hollies are an English pop/rock group known for their pioneering and distinctive three part vocal harmony style.

The Hollies became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s (231 weeks on the UK singles charts during the 1960s; the 9th highest of any artist of the decade) and into the mid 1970s. It was formed by Allan Clarke and Graham Nash in late 1962 as a Merseybeat type music group in Manchester, although some of the band members came from towns north of there. Graham Nash left the group in 1968 to form the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash.

They enjoyed considerable popularity in many countries (at least 60 singles or EPs and 26 albums charting somewhere in the world spanning over five decades), although they did not achieve major US chart success until 1966 with “Bus Stop”.

The Hollies had over 30 charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, and 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, with major hits on both sides of the Atlantic that included “Just One Look”, “Look Through Any Window”, “Bus Stop”, “I Can’t Let Go”, “On a Carousel”, “Stop Stop Stop”, “Carrie Anne”, “Jennifer Eccles”, and later “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”, “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” and “The Air That I Breathe”.

They are one of the few British pop groups of the early 1960s, along with The Rolling Stones, that have never disbanded and continue to record and perform. In recognition of their achievements, The Hollies were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964.

The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole consistent member, until the group disbanded in 1973.

Although they only managed to attain the huge commercial success of contemporaries like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Rolling Stones for a short period (1965–66), the Byrds are today considered by critics to be one of the most influential bands of the 1960s.

Initially, they pioneered the musical genre of folk rock, melding the influence of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands with contemporary and traditional folk music. As the 1960s progressed, the band was also influential in originating psychedelic rock, raga rock, and country rock.

The band’s signature blend of clear harmony singing and McGuinn’s jangly twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar has continued to be influential on popular music up to the present day. Among the band’s most enduring songs are their cover versions of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” and Pete Seeger’s “Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season)”, along with the self-penned originals, “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better”, “Eight Miles High”, “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”, “Ballad of Easy Rider” and “Chestnut Mare”.

The original five-piece line-up of the Byrds consisted of Jim McGuinn (lead guitar, vocals), Gene Clark (tambourine, vocals), David Crosby (rhythm guitar, vocals), Chris Hillman (bass guitar, vocals), and Michael Clarke (drums). However, this version of the band was relatively short-lived and by early 1966, Clark had left due to problems associated with anxiety and his increasing isolation within the group. The Byrds continued as a quartet until late 1967, when Crosby and Clarke also departed the band. McGuinn and Hillman decided to recruit new members, including country rock pioneer Gram Parsons, but by late 1968, Hillman and Parsons had also exited the band. McGuinn, who by this time had changed his name to Roger after a flirtation with the Subud religion, elected to rebuild the band’s membership and between 1968 and 1973, he helmed a new incarnation of the Byrds, featuring guitarist Clarence White among others. McGuinn disbanded the then current line-up in early 1973, to make way for a reunion of the original quintet. The Byrds’ final album was released in March 1973, with the reunited group disbanding soon afterwards.

Several former members of the band went on to successful careers of their own, either as solo artists or as members of such groups as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Desert Rose Band. In the late 1980s, Gene Clark and Michael Clarke both began touring as the Byrds, prompting a legal challenge from McGuinn, Crosby, and Hillman over the rights to the band’s name. As a result of this, McGuinn, Crosby, and Hillman performed a series of reunion concerts as the Byrds in 1989 and 1990, and also recorded four new Byrds’ songs.

In January 1991, the Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an occasion that saw the five original members performing together for the last time. McGuinn, Crosby, and Hillman still remain active but Gene Clark died of a heart attack in May 1991, and Michael Clarke died of liver failure in December 1993.

The Miracles were an American rhythm and blues vocal group that was the first successful recording act for Berry Gordy’s Motown Records, and one of the most important and influential groups in pop, rock and roll, and R&B music history.

Formed in 1955 by Smokey Robinson, Warren “Pete” Moore, and Ronnie White, the group started off as the Five Chimes, changing their name to the Matadors two years later. The group then settled on the Miracles after the inclusion of Claudette Robinson in 1958. The most notable Miracles line-up included the Robinsons, Moore, White, Bobby Rogers and Marv Tarplin.

After a failed audition with Brunswick Records, the group began working with songwriter Berry Gordy, who helped to produce their first records for the End and Chess labels before establishing Tamla Records in 1959 and signing the Miracles as its first act.

The group eventually scored the label’s first million-selling hit record with the 1960 Grammy Hall of Fame smash, “Shop Around”, and further established themselves as one of Motown’s top acts with the hit singles “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me”, “What’s So Good About Goodbye”, “Way Over There”, “I’ll Try Something New”, “Mickey’s Monkey”, “Going to a Go-Go”, “(Come ‘Round Here) I’m the One You Need”, “Just A Mirage”, “If You Can Want”, “More Love”, “I Don’t Blame You at All”, “Ooo Baby Baby”, the multi-award-winning “The Tracks of My Tears”, “Special Occasion”, “I Second That Emotion”, “Baby Baby Don’t Cry”, the number-one Pop smashes “The Tears of a Clown” and “Love Machine”, “Do It Baby”, and “My Girl Has Gone”,among numerous other hits.

Referred to as Motown’s “soul supergroup”, the Miracles recorded 26 Top 40 Pop hits, sixteen of which reached the Billboard Top 20, seven top 10 singles, and a number one single (“The Tears of a Clown”) while the Robinsons and Tarplin were members. Following the departure of Tarplin and the Robinsons, the rest of the group continued with singer Billy Griffin and scored two final top 20 singles, “Do It Baby” and “Love Machine”, a second # 1 hit, which topped the charts before the group departed for Columbia Records in 1977, recording as a quintet with Billy’s brother Donald Griffin replacing Marv Tarplin, where after a few releases, they disbanded in 1978. In all, the group had over fifty charted hits by the time they disbanded.

On the R&B charts, the Miracles scored 26 Top 10 Billboard R&B hits, with 4 R&B # 1’s, and 11 U.S. R&B Top 10 Albums, including 2-#1’s. Bobby Rogers and Ronald White revived the group as a touring ensemble sporadically during the 1980s and again in the 1990s with lead singer Sydney Justin. Following White’s death in 1995, Rogers continued to tour with different members until he was forced into retirement due to health issues in 2011, dying less than two years later.

The Miracles have been awarded many top music industry honors over the years. In 1997, the group received the Pioneer Award at the Rhythm and Blues Foundation for their musical achievements. Four years later, in 2001, they were inducted to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. In 2004, they were ranked thirty-two on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, retaining that same position seven years later, in 2011. Four of their hit songs were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2009, the group received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Throughout their careers, the Miracles were also enshrined with honors for their songwriting by both BMI and ASCAP. In 2008, Billboard listed them at #61 on their 100 most successful Billboard artists ever list. After much controversy, the Miracles were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.

The Beatles Were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960.

With members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they became widely regarded as the foremost and most influential act of the rock era. Rooted in skiffle, beat, and 1950s rock and roll, the Beatles later experimented with several musical styles, ranging from pop ballads and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock, often incorporating classical elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways. In the early 1960s, their enormous popularity first emerged as “Beatlemania”, but as the group’s music grew in sophistication, led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, they came to be perceived as an embodiment of the ideals shared by the counterculture of the 1960s.

The Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960, with Stuart Sutcliffe initially serving as bass player. The core of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before asking Starr to join them. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their popularity in the United Kingdom after their first hit, “Love Me Do”, in late 1962. They acquired the nickname “the Fab Four” as Beatlemania grew in Britain the next year, and by early 1964 became international stars, leading the “British Invasion” of the United States pop market. From 1965 onwards, the Beatles produced increasingly innovative recordings, including the albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), The Beatles (commonly known as the White Album, 1968) and Abbey Road (1969).

After their break-up in 1970, they each enjoyed successful musical careers of varying lengths. McCartney and Starr, the surviving members, remain musically active. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in November 2001.

Monkees Are an American pop rock band originally active between 1965 and 1971, with subsequent reunion albums and tours in the decades that followed.

They were formed in Los Angeles in 1965 by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968.

The musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork and British actor and singer Davy Jones. The band’s music was initially supervised by producer Don Kirshner.

Dolenz described the Monkees as initially being “a TV show about an imaginary band … that wanted to be The Beatles, [but] that was never successful”. The actor-musicians, however, soon became a real band.

For the first few months of their initial five-year career as “The Monkees”, the four actor-musicians were allowed only limited roles in the recording studio. This was due in part to the amount of time required to film the television series. Nonetheless, Nesmith did compose and produce some songs from the beginning, and Peter Tork contributed limited guitar work on the sessions produced by Nesmith. They eventually fought for and earned the right to collectively supervise all musical output under the band’s name. The sitcom was canceled in 1968, but the band continued to record music through 1971.

A revival of interest in the television show came in 1986, which led to a series of reunion tours and new records. Up until 2011 the group had reunited and toured several times, with varying degrees of success. Despite the sudden death of Davy Jones on February 29, 2012, the surviving members reunited for a tour in November–December 2012 and again in 2013 for a 24-date tour.
The Monkees have sold more than 75 million records worldwide and had international hits, including “Last Train to Clarksville”, “Pleasant Valley Sunday”, “Daydream Believer” and “I’m a Believer”. At their peak in 1967, the band outsold The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined.

Boyce & Hart, the songwriting and (later) performing team of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, are most famous for writing several of the Monkees’ big hits, including “Last Train to Clarksville,” “Valleri,” and “(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone.”

Together and separately, they also wrote or contributed to hits by several other acts in the 1960s, including Freddy Cannon, Curtis Lee, Little Anthony & the Imperials, and Jay & the Americans.

In 1967 they began recording on their own as a duo, landing a Top Ten hit the same year with “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonite.”

Based in Los Angeles, Boyce & Hart were a West Coast equivalent to the kind of craftsmanship and methodology espoused by Brill Building songwriting teams, although their material was less meaningful and enduring than Goffin-King’s or Barry-Greenwich’s. They emphasized bright, happy, AM radio melodies with room for lots of vocal harmonies, an appropriate vibe for the Monkees and other acts; it was typical of the L.A. late-’60s pop/rock that would retroactively be dubbed “sunshine pop.”

Boyce, the older of the pair, had a history that long predated the Monkees, co-writing a Top Ten hit for Fats Domino in 1959 (“Be My Guest”). Around the early ’60s, he met Hart and the pair spent some time in New York in the mid-’60s, where they (with Wes Farrell) wrote the Jay & the Americans hit “Come a Little Bit Closer.”

Throughout the first half of the 1960s Boyce wrote or helped write material without any Hart involvement, including hits by Cannon (“Action”) and Lee (“Pretty Little Angel Eyes”), while Hart had a piece of the songwriting for Little Anthony & the Imperials’ “Hurt So Bad.” It wasn’t until 1965 that the Boyce-Hart partnership took off in earnest, as they were signed to the Screen Gems publishing company. They knocked off some energetic pop/rockers that were recorded by bands like Paul Revere & the Raiders (“[I’m Not Your] Stepping Stone”) and the Leaves (“Words”), as well as the theme for the soap opera Days of Our Lives.

They found themselves in the right place at the right time when they were commissioned to write a few songs for the pilot episode of The Monkees (including its famous theme song). Because the Monkees were going to be on TV every week, they needed a steady supply of songs fast, which helped assure that Boyce & Hart placed many of their tunes with the group. These included not only a few hits, but also many album tracks; about half the songs on the Monkees’ first album were Boyce-Hart tunes. The Monkees even redid some Boyce-Hart songs, such as “(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone,” “Words,” and “Tomorrow’s Gonna Be Another Day.”

Boyce & Hart’s material may not have been the first choice of what the group — and specifically their most experienced songwriter, Mike Nesmith — wanted to record. But Boyce-Hart’s knack for AM-friendly pop hooks and chipper, just-this-side-of-bubblegum arrangements were very much in tune with the image projected by the group on their show. Boyce & Hart were also involved in the Monkees’ first two albums as producers, a role they returned to on the Monkees’ albums in 1969 and 1970.

Starting in 1967, Boyce & Hart also recorded on their own for A&M Records. Aside from “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonite,” however, none of their efforts made the Top 20 or came close to that song in quality, although “Alice Long (You’re Still My Favorite Girlfriend)” and “Out & About” both made the Top 40 and “We’re All Going to the Same Place” and “Goodbye Baby” charted in lower positions. Boyce & Hart split up, both as songwriters and performers, at the end of the 1960s, although they teamed up with ex-Monkees Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones to perform and record for a while in the mid-’70s as Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart. Boyce committed suicide in November 1994 after a lengthy struggle with illness and depression.

In early 1965 as the “British invasion” dominated the American music scene, two rockers from Long Island, Steve Boone and Joe Butler, teamed up with two folkies from Greenwich Village, John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky, to form the Lovin’ Spoonful and go on to record and perform some of the songs that would dominate the charts and establish them among the greats of the mid-sixties era.

Combining the best of folk music and rock and roll, with a touch of country thrown in, they gave us such hits as “Do You Believe in Magic,” “Daydream,” “You Didn’t Have to be So Nice,” “Nashville Cats” and the anthem for a hot July evening, “Summer in the City.” All this in the span of 4 years and 5 albums. In addition to that they also wrote and performed two soundtrack albums for two directors very early in their careers, Woody Allen “What’s Up Tigerlily” and Francis Ford Coppola “You’re a Big Boy Now. “They toured almost constantly during this period and were one of the first rock bands to perform on college campuses almost as much as for teenage concert goers.

In 1967 Zal Yanovsky left the band to pursue a solo career and was replaced by Jerry Yester, a member of the Modern Folk Quartet and friend of the band since its earliest days. All of the band’s energy was soon focused on recording their fourth album the very ambitious Everything Playing. It was the first attempt for a rock band to record an album on the new Ampex 16 track tape recorder and quite a challenge it was. It was worth the effort however, producing hits like “Darlin’ Be Home Soon,” “Six O-Clock” and “She’s Still A Mystery To Me” on the American charts and “Boredom” and “Money” in the UK and Europe.

In June 1968 John Sebastian left the band to go solo and Joe, Steve and Jerry went back into the studio to record what would be their last hit single of the 1960’s, “Never Goin’ Back” with legendary Nashville session player Red Rhodes on pedal steel guitar. As 1969 approached the skies were darkening in Good Time Music land and sensing opportunities in individual endeavors the three remaining members went their separate ways with a promise to not let the spark go out.

In 1991 a long awaited settlement with their record company inspired Joe and Steve to contact Jerry and start up the Lovin’ Spoonful again. After a two month rehearsal in the Berkshire Mts., the group started touring anew, visiting over 150 cities and countries worldwide and reaching out to a whole new audience in addition to those that have enjoyed their music over the years. So look for them coming to your neighborhood bringing a brand new batch of Good Time Music. You can also click the concert info button for a calender of their future appearances.

March 6, 2000 marked a milestone for the band. They were officially inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.

Association is an American pop band from California in the folk rock or soft rock genre.

During the 1960s, they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts (including “Windy”, “Cherish”, “Never My Love” and “Along Comes Mary”) and were the lead-off band at 1967’s Monterey Pop Festival.

Formed in Portland, Oregon, USA, in 1961, when pianist Revere (b. 7 January 1938) added Mark Lindsay (b. 9 March 1942, Cambridge, Idaho, USA; vocals/saxophone) to the line-up of his club band, the Downbeats. Drake Levin (guitar), Mike Holliday (bass) and Michael Smith (drums) completed a group later known as Paul Revere And The Nightriders, before settling on their Raiders appellation. Several locally issued singles ensued, including “Beatnik Sticks” and “Like Long Hair”, the latter of which rose into the US Top 40.

Group manager and disc jockey Roger Hart then financed a demonstration tape which in turn engendered a prestigious recording deal with CBS Records.

Their version of bar band favourite “Louie Louie” was issued in 1963, but although highly successful regionally, was outsold by local rivals the Kingsmen who secured the national hit.

A year passed before the Raiders recorded a new single, during which time Phil Volk had replaced Holliday. “Louie Go Home” showed their confidence remained undiminished, but it was 1965 before the Raiders hit their commercial stride with the punky “Steppin’ Out”.

By this point the band was the resident act on Where The Action Is, Dick Clark’s networked, daily television show. The attendant exposure resulted in a series of classic pop singles, including “Just Like Me” (1965) “Kicks”, “Hungry”, “Good Things” (all 1966) and “Him Or Me – What’s It Gonna Be?’ (1967), each of which were impeccably produced by Terry Melcher. However, the Raiders” slick stage routines and Revolutionary War garb – replete with thigh-boots, tights, frilled shirts and three-cornered hats – was frowned upon by the emergent underground audience.

The departures of Smith, Levin and Volk made little difference to the Raiders’ overall sound, enhancing suspicion that session musicians were responsible for the excellent studio sound. Later members Freddy Weller (guitar), Keith Allison (bass) and Joe (Correro) Jnr. (drums) were nonetheless accomplished musicians, and thus enhanced the professional approach marking Hard ‘N’ Heavy (With Marshmallow) and Collage. Despite inconsistent chart places, the group maintained a high television profile as hosts of Happening 68. In 1969 Lindsay embarked on a concurrent solo career, but although “Arizona” sold over one million copies, later releases proved less successful.

Two years later the Raiders scored an unexpected US chart-topper with “Indian Reservation (The Lament Of The Cherokee Reservation Indian)”, previously a UK hit for Don Fardon, but it proved their final Top 20 hit. Although Weller forged a new career in country music, Revere and Lindsay struggled to keep the band afloat, particularly when dropped by their long-standing label. Lindsay departed in 1975, but Revere became the act’s custodian, presiding over occasional releases for independent outlets with a stable line-up comprising Doug Heath (guitar), Ron Foos (bass) and Omar Martinez (drums).

The Raiders flourished briefly during the US Bicentennial celebrations, before emerging again in 1983 mixing old favourites and new songs on their Raiders America label. This regeneration proved short-lived, although Revere still fronts the band on the nostalgia circuit, with additional long-serving members Danny Krause (keyboards) and Carl Driggs (lead vocals).

Righteous Brothers were the musical duo of Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley.

They began performing together in 1962 in the Los Angeles area as part of a five-member group called The Paramours, but adopted the name “The Righteous Brothers” when they embarked on their recording career as a duo. They recorded from 1963 through 1975 and continued to perform until Hatfield’s death in 2003. Their emotive vocal style is sometimes dubbed “blue-eyed soul”.

Hatfield and Medley have contrasting vocal range that helped them create a distinctive sound as a duet, but also strong vocal talent individually that allowed them to perform as soloists. Medley sang the low parts with his bass-baritone voice, with Hatfield taking the higher register vocals with his countertenor voice.

They had their first hit with the 1964 song “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'”, produced by Phil Spector and often considered one of his finest works. Other notable hits include “Ebb Tide”, “Soul and Inspiration”, “Rock and Roll Heaven”, and in particular, “Unchained Melody”. Both Hatfield and Medley also had for a time their own solo careers.

Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962.

The first settled line-up consisted of Brian Jones (guitar, harmonica), Ian Stewart (piano), Mick Jagger (lead vocals, harmonica), Keith Richards (guitar), Bill Wyman (bass) and Charlie Watts (drums). Stewart was removed from the official line-up in 1963 but continued as an occasional pianist until his death in 1985. Jones departed the band less than a month prior to his death in 1969, having already been replaced by Mick Taylor, who remained until 1975. Subsequently, Ronnie Wood has been on guitar in tandem with Richards. Following Wyman’s departure in 1993, Darryl Jones has been the main bassist. Other notable keyboardists for the band have included Nicky Hopkins, active from 1967 to 1982; Billy Preston through the mid 1970s (most prominent on Black and Blue) and Chuck Leavell, active since 1982. The band was first led by Jones but after teaming as the band’s songwriters, Jagger and Richards assumed de facto leadership.

The Rolling Stones were in the vanguard of the British Invasion of bands that became popular in the US in 1964–65. At first noted for their longish hair as much as their music, the band identified with the youthful and rebellious counterculture of the 1960s. Critic Sean Egan states that within a year of the release of their 1964 debut album, they “were being perceived by the youth of Britain and then the world as representatives of opposition to an old, cruel order—the antidote to a class-bound, authoritarian culture.” They were instrumental in making blues a major part of rock and roll and changing the international focus of blues culture to the less sophisticated blues typified by Chess Records artists such as Muddy Waters—writer of “Rollin’ Stone”, after which the band is named. After a short period of musical experimentation that culminated with the poorly received and largely psychedelic album Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967), the group returned to its bluesy roots with Beggars Banquet (1968) which—along with its follow-ups, Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971) and Exile on Main St (1972)—is generally considered to be the band’s best work and are considered the Rolling Stones’ “Golden Age”. It was during this period the band were first introduced on stage as “The World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band”. Musicologist Robert Palmer attributed the “remarkable endurance” of the Rolling Stones to being “rooted in traditional verities, in rhythm-and-blues and soul music”, while “more ephemeral pop fashions have come and gone”.

Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California in 1961.

The group’s original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. They emerged at the vanguard of the “California Sound”, initially performing original surf songs that gained international popularity for their distinct vocal harmonies and lyrics reflecting a southern California youth culture of surfing, cars, and romance.

Rooted in jazz-based vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and doo-wop, Brian led the band in devising novel approaches to music production, arranging his compositions for studio orchestras, and experimenting with several genres ranging from pop ballads to psychedelic and baroque.

The group began as a garage band managed by the Wilsons’ father Murry, with Brian’s creative ambitions and sophisticated songwriting abilities dominating the group’s musical direction. After 1964, their albums took a different stylistic path that featured more personal lyrics, multi-layered sounds, and recording experiments. In 1966, the Pet Sounds album and “Good Vibrations” single vaulted the group to the top level of rock innovators and established the band as symbols of the nascent counterculture era. Following Smile’s dissolution, Brian gradually ceded production and songwriting duties to the rest of the band, reducing his input because of mental health and substance abuse issues.

The group’s public image subsequently faltered, and they struggled to reclaim their commercial momentum in America. The continued success of their greatest hits albums during the mid 1970s precipitated the band’s transition into an oldies act, a move that was denigrated by critics and many fans. Since the 1980s, much-publicized legal wrangling over royalties, songwriting credits and use of the band’s name transpired.

Dennis drowned in 1983 and Carl died of lung cancer in 1998. After Carl’s death, many live configurations of the band fronted by Mike Love and Bruce Johnston continued to tour into the 2000s while other members pursued solo projects. For the band’s 50th anniversary, all the current surviving members briefly reunited for a new studio album and world tour. Even though Wilson and Jardine do not perform with Love and Johnston’s band, they remain a part of the Beach Boys’ corporation, Brother Records Inc.

The Beach Boys are regarded as the most iconic American band and one of the most critically acclaimed, commercially successful, and widely influential bands of all time, while AllMusic stated that their “unerring ability… made them America’s first, best rock band.” The group had over eighty songs chart worldwide, thirty-six of them US Top 40 hits (the most by an American rock band), four reaching number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The Beach Boys have sold in excess of 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time and are listed at number 12 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 2004 list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”. They have received one Grammy Award for The Smile Sessions (2011). The core quintet of the three Wilsons, Love and Jardine were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988

The Turtles are an American rock band led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman.

The band had several Top 40 hits beginning with their cover version of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” in 1965. They scored their biggest and best-known hit in 1967 with the song “Happy Together”.

The band broke up in 1970. Kaylan and Volman later found long-lasting success as session musicians, billed as the comedic vocal duo Flo & Eddie. In 2010, a reconstituted version of the band, the Turtles Featuring Flo & Eddie, began performing live shows again.

Sonny and Cher were an American pop music duo, actors, singers and entertainers made up of husband-and-wife Sonny and Cher Bono in the 1960s and 1970s.

The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector.
The pair first achieved fame with two hit songs in 1965, “Baby Don’t Go” and “I Got You Babe”.

Signing with Atco/Atlantic Records, they released three studio albums in the late 1960s, as well as the soundtrack recording for an unsuccessful movie, Good Times. In 1972, after four years of silence, the couple returned to the studio and released two other albums under the MCA/Kapp Records label.

In the 1970s, they also positioned themselves as media personalities with two top ten TV shows in the US, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and The Sonny & Cher Show. The couple’s career as a duo ended in 1975 following their divorce. In the decade they spent together, Sonny and Cher sold over 40 million records worldwide.

Performing under her first name, Cher went on to a highly successful career as a solo singer and actress, while Sonny Bono was eventually elected to Congress as a Republican U.S. Representative from California. The two performers were inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998, right after Sonny’s death in a skiing accident.