39.  My Generation. The Who. Nov 1965.

"I hope I die before I get old." This is the line that must surely haunt Pete Townshend a half century after he wrote it. Back then he was speaking for 'his generation', the burgeoning mod generation of young, nihilistic pill popping kids who lived fast and partied hard.

The Who were an intellectual band in the same way as The Beatles in that they were a part of far more than just the music scene. The Who were a 'Pop Art Band'; Townshend had been an art-school student like Lennon and brought his artistic sensibilities to The Who in his song writing. The stuttered "Why don't you all f-f-f-fade away" articulates frustration, "Don't try to dig what we all say", you wouldn't understand scream the disaffected youth of the Western world. 'They' (the establishment) don't listen. 'My Generation is a conspirational record and you, the listener, are in on it, with the band, on the inside looking out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN5zw04WxCc

The Who - My Generation

36.  (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. The Rolling Stones. Aug 1965.

An amphetamine paced blues song, Satisfaction is a nihilistic reflection of the band's boredom, frustration and utter contempt towards "the great American hard sell". Recorded in Chicago's Chess studio with overdubs added in L.A at RCA, the guitar riff was loosely based on 'Dancing In The Street' with Keith Richards claiming that the riff came to him in a dream. 
While everyone was hung up on the true vocal art of 'singing', Jagger was content to 'rap' his sloganised lyric and in some way anticipated the style and content of Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a7cHPy04s8

35.  Mr Tambourine Man. The Byrds. April 1965.

When Dylan first heard what The Byrds had done to his song he was pleasantly surprised, reportedly commenting "Man, you could dance to that." However, The Byrds had not wanted to record Mr Tambourine Man at all, deeming it uncommercial. With Jim/Roger McGuinn overlaying multiple 12 string Rickenbacker, Leon Russel on piano, Larry Knetchthal bass, Hal Blaine drums and David Crosby and Gene Clark helping out on vocal the song was worked into a 2 minute pop song that stormed the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, earning The Byrds their 'American Beatles' comparison and forming the blueprint for future bands such as REM and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyOzGPbn2tg

The Byrds Mr Tambourine Man Remastered

YOUTUBE.COM

34.  The Times They Are A-Changin' Bob Dylan. March 1965.

The title track of Dylans third album released in 1964, gave Dylan his first hit in the UK in March 1965. The sound was like nothing ever heard before by a British audience. Dylan's rasping voice and lazily strummed guitar interspersed by blasts of off key harmonica were deemed a rallying call for every would be bedsit troubadour.

Dylan had written more eloquently on the changing moods of the time, 'When My Sip Comes In' and injustice, 'The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll'. but 'The Times They Are A-Changing became a rallying call for 'disaffected youth' on both sides of the Atlantic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg9_Lx2AWaE

Watchmen soundtrack:The times they are a changing Bob Dylan.

A song from the watchmen soundtrack.

YOUTUBE.COM

33.  You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'. The Righteous Brothers. Dec 1964.

Phil Spector always claimed that his records were "little symphonies" and with 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', Spector proved his point. It was Sam Phillips who years earlier had said that in Elvis he had found a white man with the soul of a black man. In The Righteous Brothers Spector had found two white/black singers. Now all he needed was a song.

The title, 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' was decided upon even before Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill were called upon to write the song. A week of studio sessions were spent creating the Spector 'Wall of Sound' backing and only then were Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield called in to add the vocal. The record was too long for radio so Spector had all the record labels printed up with a playing time shorter than the actual length of the record in the hope that radio programmers would not notice.

Sometime later Spector tried to repeat his success by speeding up the tempo and throwing everything including the kitchen sink into the mix for 'River Deep. Mountain High', but the record was a flop in the US, though a hit in the UK. Spector was disheartened and retired from record production for a while, leaving 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' as his masterpiece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEkB-VQviLI

THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS YOU`VE LOST THAT LOVIN` FEELIN`

?

YOUTUBE.COM

32.  Dancing In The Street. Martha & The Vandellas. Sept 1964.

Not many records can boast a fanfare and the sound of people marching from one side of the studio to the other while rattling heavy steel chains as a sound effect. 'Dancing In The Street' was a departure from the norm for a soul record. No simpering female vocal or sweetly played orchestration. Former Motown records were often 'diluted' to appeal to a white audience but 'Dancing In The Street' eschews all that and instead presents the sound of Black America, the real sound of Detroit sounding as if manufactured in the tough, industrial part of town. The power of 'Dancing In The Street' has not decreased over time. It still pumps 100% pure adrenalin and any attempts to cover the song only go to prove the power of the original can not be matched (Bowie & Jagger are proof of that).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQpbURSFaNU

Martha and the Vandellas - Dancin' in the Street (lyrics)

Martha and the Vandellas - Dancin' in the Street with lyrics.

YOUTUBE.COM

31.  You Really Got Me. The Kinks. Aug 1964.

The first deliberately moronic British pop record. The Kinks had already had two records fail to climb the charts (one of them a Beatle style version of Long Tall Sally) and manager Larry Page with producer Shel Talmy called a meeting to discuss where the band ought to go from here. One of the motions carried was that they needed to get session men in to address the lack of musical skill within the band. Some sources say that guitarist Dave Davies kicked a hole in an amp after being told that he was being replaced on record by a young Jimmy Page.  However, this has been found to be a myth and it is indeed Dave Davies playing guitar on the record, the grungey sound being the result of his cutting the amp's speaker with a razor blade. This resulted in the amp sounding like a fuzz box and The Kinks were inadvertently to create the first Brit Punk record with 'You Really Got Me'.

Jimmy Page plays a guitar solo of gonzoid proportions, making his later work seem wasteful and pompous, Ray Davies sings like a man who needed his teeth fixing and the whole makes for a glorious mess of a record. Manager Larry Page was dumped by The Kinks and went on to repeat the whole process a year or so later with his new protogés The Troggs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTTsY-oz6Go

The Kinks - You Really Got Me