820 Roger Miller (1936-1992) “King of the Road” 1965

“The Jimmy Dean show gave Roy Clark, Patsy Cline, and Roger Miller their first big breaks and introduced the world to many country music artists.”
Jimmy Dean: “First of all, I’d have to say that Roger Miller was the most spontaneously creative human being I’ve ever met. I mean just off the top of his head. There was a comedic side of him, but there was also a very serious side. I remember I interviewed him on a syndicated show that I had and I asked, ‘Who is roger Miller?’ And he said, ‘Well, he’s a composite of an awful lot of different people.’ And he was. He was a multifaceted human being. Did you hear about the award he presented me?...Well, we introduced ‘King of the Road’ on our television show, and shortly thereafter he sent us the Golden Doorknob Award. It has a little plaque below the golden doorknob that says, ‘To Jimmy Dean, for a million doors you opened for me’” (Lyle E. Style, Ain’t Got No Cigarettes: Memories of Music Legend Roger Miller, 2005).

Roger Miller “King of the Road”

819 Barry McGuire (1935- ) “Eve of Destruction” 1965

“Unlike other popular songs ‘Eve of Destruction’ was a political dissent song stressing the point that man was on the brink of nuclear annihilation. The significance of the piece was that it was the first protest song dealing with specific issues to reach this height of popularity…In September of 1965, when ‘Eve of Destruction’ was at the top of the national charts, a questionnaire was administered to a stratified sample of sociology students at San Francisco State College ranging from incoming freshmen to graduate students. This choice of sample was predicated upon two considerations: (1) sociology students are generally regarded as more ‘liberal’ in their political views; and (2) the capricious nature of the Top Forty and a local campaign to ban ‘Eve’ from the airwaves prompted the use of the most readily accessible sample” (R. Serge Denisoff and Mark H. Levine, The Public Opinion Quarterly, Spring 1971). 

Barry McGuire “Eve of Destruction”

818 The McCoys “Hang On Sloopy” 1965

“The long and winding road as a rock musician all began for Derringer (1947- ) back in his native Dayton, Ohio, and nearby Indiana, where he grew up with the name Rick Zehringer. (He changed it for his first record with The McCoys.) Derringer got his first guitar at the age of nine and quickly proved his musical talents. ‘I went and jammed with my uncle, who was also a musician,’ recalls the compact and muscled Derringer. ‘We passed the hat and made $40. Then my brother started playing drums, and a neighbor kid wanted to play bass, so I showed him how. Pretty soon we called ourselves The McCoys.’ The name came from a song they played from an album by the Ventures. ‘I started playing in the school marching band, too, so I got to play a number of instruments and learned dance band and Big Band music’” (Kay Kipling, Sarasota Magazine, Apr. 2001). 

The McCoys “Hang On Sloopy”

817 Martha and the Vandellas “Nowhere to Run” 1965

“The fourth pop Top Ten single by Martha Reeves (1941- ) and the Vandellas is a tale of a tortured love affair with a far darker tone than all but a few other Motown hits of the era. As Martha wails about running from a man who's ‘no good for me,’ being haunted by his face ‘every step I take’ and whenever she looks in the mirror, and concludes there’s ‘nowhere to run, nowhere to hide,’ this appears to be a portrait of an abused woman who can’t bring herself to break free. It’s disturbing, but compelling. For Reeves, the song evokes “how I felt after seeing 18- and 19-year-old kids coming back from Vietnam with injuries” (Steve Sullivan, Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, 2013). 

Martha and the Vandellas “Nowhere to Run” 

816 Bob Marley (1945-1981) and the Wailers “One Love” 1965

“The millenarian-messianic cult of Rastafarianism that Marley championed through his music draws some of its ideology from the teachings of back-to-Africa advocate Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Born on August 17, 1887, in the city of St. Ann’s Bay in the Jamaican parish of St. Ann, Garvey (nicknamed ‘Mose’) was one of eleven children sired by a once prosperous printer. He was descended from the Maroons, originally a band of fifteen hundred African slaves released by their Spanish masters in 1655, who fled to the impenetrable interior of Jamaica as Cromwell’s forces invaded the island. (Maroon is a corruption of the Spanish word cimarron, meaning unruly)” (Timothy White, Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley, 1899). 

Bob Marley and the Wailers “One Love”

815 The Mamas and the Papas “California Dreamin’” 1965

John Phillips: “‘This is the summer of ’65. All of us were living in their (Cass Elliot and Jimmy Hendricks) apartment. We had a couple of cats and all the girls would beg for money for cat food on Sunset Strip. The money actually went to the cat food. Denny (Doherty) and I were taking steaks out of supermarkets—wearing big coats. We were taking a lot drugs at the time. It seemed like the thing to do. We were expanding our minds. We had no idea it was Russian roulette, at the time.’”

“Many of their hijinks came to an end when Barry McGuire…introduced the members of The Mamas and The Papas to his producer, Lou Adler of Dunhill Records.” The group sang background for McGuire’s first album, Hang On, Sloopy. McGuire recorded their song, California Dreamin’, but Adler asked the group to record their own version featuring Denny Doherty. When the song became a hit in November, it “would define the ‘California’ sound and lifestyle for an entire generation of Americans” (Doug Hall, The Mamas & The Papas: California Dreamin’, 2000). 

The Mamas and the Papas “California Dreamin’”

814 The Lovin’ Spoonful “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice” 1965

“None of the musicians who got caught up in the early-‘60s folk boom was better situated than Sebastian to become immersed in it. His father, also named John, was a noted classical harmonica player who was open to a wide variety of music. While the elder Sebastian didn’t teach his son to play the haromonica (one of the many instruments Sebastian has played well over the years), he did help introduce him to some of his early influences… ‘I had a wonderful early life, which included people like Sonny Terry, Josh White and Burl Ives, who was an old friend of my dad. Woody Guthrie sleep on our floor. Burl said, I’ve got this friend and he’s in from Oklahoma and he doesn’t have a place to stay’” (Mike Boehm, Los Angeles Times, 2 April 1993). 

The Lovin’ Spoonful “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice”

813 The Lovin’ Spoonful “The Other Side of Life” 1965

“Lovin’ Spoonful was formed a the end of 1964 by John Sebastian (born on March 17, 1944, in New York City), a Greenwich Village folk music veteran who’d played harmonica on albums by Judy Collins, Tom Rush, and other folkies, and guitarist Zal Yanovsky, a former member of the folk-rock group the Mugwumps (alongside future Mamas & Papas Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty). With Steve Boone on bass and Joe Butler on drums, they named their group from a line in the song Coffee Blues by the great bluesman Mississippi John Hurt, with whom Sebastian had played in the Village” (Steve Sullivan, Encyclopedia of Great Popular Recordings, 2013). 

The Lovin’ Spoonful “The Other Side of Life”

812 The Lovin’ Spoonful “Do You Believe in Magic” 1965

“In addition to folk and rock, jug band music (particularly Jim Kweskin’s band) was a key influence on the group, and very evident on the debut hit. ‘The element that they brought that was different from other folk influences was that they tended to not only put a lighthearted spin on their music, but they also adapted really odd instruments to use in the studio,’ Steve Boone told Richie Unterberger in Turn! Turn! Turn! The ‘60s Folk-Rock Revolution. ‘We were one of the few folk-rock bands that played on all our records…no studio musicians involved’” (Steve Sullivan, Encyclopedia of Great Popular Recordings, 2013). 

The Lovin’ Spoonful “Do You Believe in Magic”

811 Gary Lewis (1945- ) and the Playboys “This Diamond Ring” and “Save Your Heart for Me” 1965

“For three decades Tommy ‘Snuff’ Garrett was one of the most successful pop, country and middle-of-the-road producers. As a teenager, he became a disc-jockey in Lubbock, where he championed Buddy Holly’s work, and Wichita Falls, before joining Liberty records in Hollywood. At Liberty he was to work with the post-Holly Crickets but Garret’s first success was with Johnny Burnete, whose ‘Dreamin’’ he produced in 1960. He also discovered Bobby Vee, whom he first recorded at Norman Petty’s studio before concocting a series of string-laden hits in 1960-3 for the singer. Garrett also worked with Gene McDaniels but achieved his greatest commercial success with Gary Lewis and the Playboys. Led by the son of comedy actor Jerry Lewis, the group had seven Top Ten hits in 1965-6…With arrangements by Leon Russell, Garrett produced five albums by the band” (Phil Hardy, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001). 

Gary Lewis and the Playboys “This Diamond Ring”

Gary Lewis and the Playboys “Save Your Heart for Me” 

810 The Kinks “Tired of Waiting for You” and “A Well Respected Man” 1965

“The north London suburb of Muswell Hill is perhaps best known for the serial killer Dennis Nilsen, who disposed of his victims in an Edwardian semi long since boarded up but oddly (given our obsession with notoreity) without a blue plaque. Not far from the infamous Cranley Gardens address is the secondary modern where Ray Davies and his younger brother Dave went to school in the Fifties. A plaque there commemorates the Kinks; Muswell Hill was as important to the brothers' band as Liverpool was to the Beatles...Ray Davies was born in 1944 to a Smithfield slaughterman, Frederick Davies, and his wife, Annie. At William Grimshaw secondary (now Fortismere School) he discovered George Orwell and asked a classmate called Rod Stewart to help form a band. (Stewart was kicked out when his voice was found to be unpleasantly raspy)” (Ian Thomson, The Daily Telegraph, London, March 21, 2015). 

The Kinks “Tired of Waiting for You” 

The Kinks “A Well Respected Man”

809 The Impressions “People Get Ready” 1965

“Born in Chicago on June 3, 1942, Curtis Mayfield sang with the Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers, and joined the Impressions in 1957…From the beginning, said Mayfield, he modeled the Impressions’ sound on the music that had inspired him: ‘Gospel was your foundation and there’s been many a song coming from the black church.’ His fellow Impressions were Sam Gooden and Fred Cash. Having grown up on Chicago’s South and West Sides, Mayfield said that while listening closely to Martin Luther King, Jr., and other black leaders of the time, the ideals of his songs were rooted most deeply in the local community. At all times, his vision was generous, inclusive, proud, and hopeful” (Steve Sullivan, Encyclopedia of Great Popular Recordings, 2013). Listed on the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

The Impressions “People Get Ready”

808 Herman’s Hermits “I’m Henry the VIII, I Am” and “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter”1965

“One of the more lightweight British beat groups of the sixties, Herman’s Hermits were one of the most commercially successful. The exaggerated ‘Englishness’ of material like ‘Mrs Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter’ and music-hall star Harry Champion’s 1911 song ‘I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am’ made the group especially popular in America...Peter Noone and the group then appeared in the teen movies When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965) and Hold on! (1966). Their soundtracks yielded further hits” (Phil Hardy, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001).

Herman’s Hermits “I’m Henry the VIII, I Am”

Herman’s Hermits “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter”

807 Roy Head (1941- ) and the Traits “Treat Her Right” 1965

“The son of migrant farmers from South Texas, Head moved with his family to San Marcos when he was a high schooler and sought out musicians who shared an affinity for the hard-driving rhythm and blues he grew up loving. His first band was a trio with [Tommy] Bolton and [Gerry] Gibson called the Treys. Even after adding [Dan] Buie, [Bill] Pennington and [Clyde] Causey (who joined the service after high school and was replaced by George Frazier), the band was called the Treys. But one day a radio announcer mistakenly introduced them as ‘the Traits’ and the name stuck. ‘It didn't feel right being in a six-piece band called the Treys,’ Buie says… Around 1960, the frontman asked that his name be put before the band's and they became Roy Head and the Traits. ‘Roy was 110 percent into making a living from music,’ Buie says, ‘but the rest of us kinda had the attitude that we were having fun and all, but it would soon be time to go to college and get jobs’” (Michael Corcoran, Austin American-Statesman, Oct. 20, 2007). 

Roy Head and the Traits “Treat Her Right”

806 The Vince Guaraldi (1928-1976) Trio “Linus and Lucy” 1965

“There must have been times in 1963 when Vince Guaraldi was riding high on his surprise hit ‘Cast Your Fate to the Wind,’ when he thought: This is what I’ll be remembered for. Not that he have minded. He said taking requests for it was like signing the back of a check…He’d mostly be remembered for it, too, if soon after he hadn’t written the music for a TV Christmas special that CBS didn’t have much hope for” (National Public Radio, Fresh Air, 2012). 

“Charles Gompertz, a reverend in San Francisco, heard ‘Cast’ on the radio. He hired Guaraldi to write a jazz mass to be performed at the city's newly built Grace Cathedral. Guaraldi spent 18 months writing the music for his trio and a 68-voice choir. The score, performed live in May 1965, was a unique blend of jazz, Latin music and waltz tempos, said [Derrick] Bang: ‘It had not been done in the U.S. up until that time.’ A radio broadcast of ‘Cast’ also led to another job. [Producer Lee] Mendelson heard the song and hired Guaraldi in 1963 to provide the music for ‘A Boy Named Charlie Brown,’ a documentary film on [Charles] Schultz” (Pete Barlas, Investor’s Business Weekly, Dec. 23, 2010). A Charlie Brown Christmas album is listed on the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

The Vince Guaraldi Trio “Linus and Lucy”

805 The Graham Bond Organization "Train Time" and “Tammy” 1965

“for many the founding father of the British R&B movement, Bond, who died aged 36 in 1974, was ultimately denied the wider acclaim afforded those he mentored and inspired, such as Jack Bruce, Stevie Winwood and Jon Lord. He was a pioneer of the combination Hammond organ and Leslie speaker cabinets to add rich textures to jazz and blues material, providing a gateway for the harder rock and even prog musicians who followed. Check the record shelves of just about every British musician who started out in the mid-60s and you’ll find a copy of the Organization’s game-changing album The Sound of ‘65”  (Terry Staunton, Record Collector, April 2013). 

The Graham Bond Organization "Train Time"

The Graham Bond Organization “Tammy”

804 The Four Tops “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch” 1965

“On record, the Four Tops were oh-so-smooth. On stage, one of ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine’s’ ‘100 Greatest Groups Of All Time’ was downright sensational…The Four Tops crossed over to mainstream audiences via TV programs like ‘Hollywood A Go-Go,’ ‘The Mike Douglas Show’ and ‘Ed Sullivan.’ On Murray The K’s 1965 TV special ‘It’s What’s Happening Baby,’ they are shown playfully slinging popcorn and soft drinks as they perform ‘I Can’t Help Myself’ for an integrated pre-teen crowd” (Science Letter, 11 Nov. 2008). 

The Four Tops “I Can’t Help Myself”

803 Wayne Fontana (1945- ) & the Mindbenders “Game of Love” & “A Groovy Kind of Love” 1965

“The Mindbenders were originally formed in Manchester in 1963 as the Jets. They signed with the Fontana label and changed their name to Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders. Their initial recordings were the covers of American numbers, which were included in the basic repertoire of most groups in the north west of England at the time…Wayne Fontana and the group went their separate ways in October 1965” (Harry Bill, The British Invasion: How The Beatles and Other UK Bands Conquered America, 2004). 

Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders “Game of Love”

Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders “A Groovy Kind of Love”

802 Richard Fariña (1937-1966) and Mimi Baez Fariña (1945-2001) “Reno Nevada” and “Mainline Prosperity Blues” 1965

“Richard Fariña's Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me (1966) provides an intriguing example for anyone who followed the rise of the counterculture from the mid-1950s. Until his death—motorcycle accident on the night of his first and only novel’s publication party, just short of his thirtieth birthday—he seemed to be at the center of what was happening” (Robert Murray Davis, World Literature Today, May-June 2006).

Nancy Carlen, producer of the Big Sur Festival said of Mimi, younger sister of Joan Baez, and former ad man Richard Fariña, “Dick and Mimi were a really unusual act. Most people were doing a traditional thing or a blues thing or a protest thing. They were combining folk music with Eastern music and poetry and rock and roll. They were completely original and creative” (David Hajdu, Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña and Richard Fariña, 2001).

Richard and Mimi Fariña “Reno Nevada”

Richard and Mimi Fariña “Mainline Prosperity Blues”

801 The Envoys “Door” 1965

"No matter how you slice it, the conclusion is inescapable: with regard to ‘Jesus rock’ the British were there first. And not just a couple isolated bands – this was clearly a movement. The Envoys obviously had their ears in tune with the ’60s sounds of the Beatles, Hollies and all the rest. Kicking off with the chorus of “there’s nobody like Jesus”, this obscure single captures two of the best samplings of the whole gospel beat phenomenon, jangling along with a full-tilt high-energy electric sound. Male lead vocals, with female bgvs" (The Archivist, 4th edition by Ken Scott). "The Envoys Gospel beat group came into existence as a result of a Sunday school party novelty item but in October 1963 was pushed into a last-minute spot at a church rally which launched the group into a continuing series of appearances at church-based rallies, coffee - bars, in prisons and remand homes and secular places of entertainment such as beat clubs, dance halls and cinemas" (https://www.classicchristianrockzine.com/2014/12/the-envoys.html). 

The Envoys “Door”