My Generation by The Who (1965)

Popular opinion has a funny way of working. When most people think of The Who, they think of Who’s Next (recorded in 1971), or worse Who Are You (recorded in 1978). Of course, anyone with a passing knowledge of musical history should know that The Who go back to 1964 (or further, arguably). Most bands change substantially over seven (not to mention fourteen) years, which makes The Who’s first LP worth investigation at the very least.

Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan (1965)

Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,918 in the 2000 census. The metropolitan census including outer suburbs and villages was estimated to be roughly 184,000. At the westernmost point on the north shore of Lake Superior, Duluth is linked to the Atlantic Ocean 2,300 miles (3,700 km) away via the Great Lakes and Erie Canal/New York State Barge Canal or Saint Lawrence Seaway passages and is the Atlantic Ocean’s westernmost deep-water port.

Mr. Tambourine Man by The Byrds (1965)

As you probably know by now, Bob Dylan was a fairly important musical man. He took the old folk tunes (back then they were the new folk tunes) and added levels of depth that Woody Guthrie et all never quite considered. What he didn’t do (at least before 1965) was turn his music into electric twelve string driven harmony fueled pop.

Scissor Sisters by Scissor Sisters (2004)

Back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, there was GLAM! A musical genre devoted to moustachioed men in women’s clothes who sometimes played music. Unfortunately, it died before the turn of the 1980s, at the beginning of a great musical ice age. Well, for better or for worse, some lizards survived whichever cataclysmic event fits this metaphor most conveniently, which leads us to (the) Scissor Sisters.

Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division (1979)

Once upon a time, there was a band called Joy Division. They had a bassist a bit like John Entwistle, a singer a bit like Jim Morrison, a guitarist (and keyboardist) a bit like Robert Fripp, and a drummer a bit like Jaki Liebezeit (Can you guess?). And they stole every other element of their music from Wire. But importantly, they made music. Up until the point where the singer did himself in. After that, nobody seemed to care about this music.

Abbey Road by The Beatles (1969)

1969 saw the end of an era. The hippie movement was still going strongly, of course (not unlike the Vietnam war), but one momentous event changed its direction to some degree: The Beatles split up. But why is this so important? Surely it would take years to find out. Well it really only takes a few spins of Abbey Road.

The Rolling Stones by The Rolling Stones (1964)

It’s hard to believe that in 1964 Rock and Roll wasn’t a global phenomenon. In fact, it hadn’t even spread the entirety of the US by that point. In short, England needed some Rock and Roll gods to come from Rock and Roll heaven and spread the good word around. Actually, this already happened in the form of The Beatles, but the poms wanted a second helping, and so they got The Rolling Stones as well.

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan by Bob Dylan (1963)

For some reason folk is an often ignored genre. Well it certainly inspired The Byrds and Crosby Stills and Nash (who were one third Byrd admittedly) among others, but nowadays they tend to be equal recipients of this ignorance. So what happened to folk then? Well it’s obviously still there, since music (recorded music at least) doesn’t disappear. And, in fairness, it’s been rising again (like just about everything from the 60s and 70s it seems). But it always helps to look at the roots of a genre, so let’s.

Please Please Me by The Beatles (1963)

Please Please Me is not the first ever vinyl record. It’s not the first ever rock and roll record. It isn’t even the first English rock and roll record. But it is the first Beatles record, and there’s probably enough historical significance in that alone to merit some examination.

In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson (1969)

In the Court of the Crimson King is an album of opposites. Well I suppose, to be fair, King Crimson are a band of opposites, but that doesn’t really matter now. On one hand it’s quite easy to see where the band draws its influence: Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix. On the other hand, you can see where the band’s influence would later spread: Roxy Music, Black Sabbath, Yes, ABBA (well, no, I guess not). The easiest statement to make is that this is the record which ended the 1960s and started the 1970s