1968


1910 Fruitgum Co--are you kidding?

Hey Jude--already dealt with

Bee Gees--Get a Message--interminable whining, which they perfected

Piece of My Heart--what happened to real blues?

Blue Cheer--Summertime Blues--can't hold a candle to the original. Elephant rock, here we come.

Eric Burdon-Monterrey--more self-indulgence


Cream--incredibly overrated group

Deep Purple--Hush--nowhere near as good as "Smoke On the Water"

5th Dimension--good stuff--creative harmonies, jazz influence--no elephant rock here.

Aretha--OK, this was her peak. One classic after another. But N.B. the influence is gospel, not drugs.

Marvin and Tami--great stuff

Bobby Goldsboro--oh c'mon

McArthur Park--the first instant self-parody

Sergio Mendez--great, but again the influence is Brazilian, not drugs--and not twisting dials in the studio

Diana Ross--the group is past its peak--which was, guess when--1965 and 1966

Steppenwolf--again, ridiculously overrated

Dionne Warwick--San Jose--fine song--but again her best stuff in general is in the past. Did you like "Valley of the Dolls" theme?




Sgt Pepper led straight to elephant rock, with self-indulgent overproduced offal the order of the day.

There were certainly good rock songs after 1966. The Stones (mostly) kept the faith--stripped-down aggressive rock. Creedence went back to basics--and showed there was still a market. Aretha's high point was 1967-1968, when her pounding high-energy gospel-based anthems rocked the airwaves.   Dire Straits--again the essence of rock--and their biggest hit even lauded jazz.

And for my money the best rock song of all time was also after 1966--Won't Get Fooled Again. The Who in this even made some art-rock ideas work-like distortion of the organ.
Won't Get Fooled Again has everything--insistent beat, hard-bitten cynical lyrics--and even a primal scream. I wouldn't take out one beat--even in the long version.

But these are bright spots in an increasingly bleak landscape, with rock showing more and more sclerosis. And it has not improved since.

Fascination with technology has not served rock.