The Best Rock Songs of the 60s

What are the best rock songs from the 60s?

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One of the major influences during the 1960s was what is known as "The British Invasion." The British Invasion was the term applied by the news media — and subsequently by consumers — to the influx of rock and roll, beat and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States, Australia and Canada. The classic British Invasion period was 1964 to 1967 (roughly bracketed by The Beatles' appearance on Ed Sullivan and the emergence of Jimi Hendrix as a U.S.-born superstar who had his first success in the UK).

Several major subgenres that emerged in the 1960s including Garage Rock, Surf Music, Psychedelic Rock. Garage Rock refers to imitators of the British Invasion who played mainly to local audiences and sold inexpensively made recordings. Some of the better known bands of this genre include The Sonics, Question Mark & the Mysterians, and The Standells.

Surf music was part of the surf culture that was exemplified by Dick Dale and The Surfaris, featured faster tempos, innovative percussion, and reverb- and echo-drenched electric guitar sounds. In the UK, British groups included The Shadows. Other West Coast bands, such as The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean slowed the tempos down and added lush harmony vocals to create what became known as the "California Sound."

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that attempts to replicate the mind-altering experiences of hallucinogenic drugs. The Holy Modal Rounders introducing the term in 1964. Bands like the Grateful Dead and Big Brother & the Holding Company are two famous bands of the genre.

In the late 1960s, rock music was blended with folk music to create folk rock, blues to create blues-rock and with jazz, to create jazz-rock fusion, and without a time signature to create psychedelic rock. This helped make rock music part of the beatnik counterculture that was associated with the wider anti-war movement building against the threat of the atomic bomb. The folk genre was pioneered by Woody Guthrie. Bob Dylan came to the fore in this movement, and his hits with "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Masters of War" brought protest songs to a wider public.

Located below you will find a list of some of the best rock songs of the 1960s. For your convenience, we have included links to the sheet music on Sheetmusicplus.com as well as the CD on Amazon.com whenever available. If you are looking to purchase the mp3 or would like to listen to a sample, then click on either the Amazon, Rhapsody, or iTunes links.

Rhapsody provides both music subscriptions as well as individual mp3s for sale in WMA format and iTunes only provides MPEG-4 audio files for sale. However, Amazon does offer mp3s that are compatible with both Windows Media Player and iTunes. For more information about where to purchase music online, we provide it on our Music Downloads page or our Music Subscriptions page.

These singles are considered among the best rock songs to hit the charts in the 1960s.

"All Along the Watchtower" performed by Jimi Hendrix
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"All Day And All Of The Night" performed by The Kinks
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"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" performed by Elvis Presley
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"Born To Be Wild" performed by Steppenwolf
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"Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" performed by Neil Sedaka
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"Can't Buy Me Love" performed by The Beatles
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"Can't Help Falling in Love" performed by Elvis Presley
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"Cathy's Clown" performed by The Everly Brothers
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"Chapel of Love" performed by Dixie Cups
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"Come Together" performed by The Beatles
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"Crying" performed by Roy Orbison
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"Dream Baby" performed by Roy Orbison
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"Gimme Some Lovin'" performed by The Spencer Davis Group
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"Good Luck Charm" performed by Elvis Presley
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"Happy Together" performed by The Turtles
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"Hey Jude" performed by The Beatles
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"Honky Tonk Women" performed by Rolling Stones
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"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" performed by Rolling Stones
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"I Got You Babe" performed by Sonny & Cher
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"I Saw Her Standing There" performed by The Beatles
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"I Wanna Hold Your Hand" performed by the Beatles
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"It's My Party" performed by Lesley Gore
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"Johnny Angel" performed by Shelley Fabares
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"Leader Of The Pack" performed by The Shangri-Las
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"Light My Fire" performed by The Doors
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"Like A Rolling Stone" performed by Bob Dylan
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"Louie, Louie" performed by the Kingsmen
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"Mony Mony" performed by Tommy James & The Shondells
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"My Boyfriend's Back" performed by the Angels
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"My Generation" performed by The Who
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"Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" performed by Steam
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"Oh, Pretty Woman" performed by Roy Orbison
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"Only The Lonely (Know The Way I Feel)" performed by Roy Orbison
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"Palisades Park" performed by Freddy Cannon or The Beach Boys
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"Peppermint Twist" performed by Joey Dee & The Starliters
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"Piece of My Heart" performed by Janis Joplin
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"Put A Little Love In Your Heart" performed by Jackie DeShannon or Marcia Griffiths
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"Respect" performed by Aretha Franklin
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"Return To Sender" performed by Elvis Presley
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"Runaround Sue" performed by Dion and the Belmonts
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"Runaway" performed by Del Shannon
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"Running Bear" performed by Johnny Preston
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"She Loves You" performed by The Beatles
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"She's Not There" performed by The Zombies
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"Somebody to Love" performed by Jefferson Airplane
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"Stay" performed by Maurice Williams
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"Sugar, Sugar" performed by The Archies
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"Summer in the City" performed by Loving Spoonful
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"Sunshine of Your Love" performed by Cream
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"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" performed by The Tokens
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"The Loco-motion" performed by Little Eva
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"The Name Game" performed by Shirley Ellis
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"The Twist" performed by Chubby Checker
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"The Wanderer" performed by Dion
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"Tossin' and Turnin'" performed by Bobby Lewis
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"Twist and Shout" performed by The Isley Brothers
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"Walk Don't Run" performed by The Ventures
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"White Room" performed by Cream
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"Wild Thing" performed by The Troggs
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"Wooly Bully" performed by Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs
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"Yesterday" performed by The Beatles
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"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" performed by The Righteous Brothers
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