Beatlemania was hitting America 55 years ago this month. It's been on my brain because my daughters are suddenly digging the Beatles, and I have been revisiting their early stuff for the first time in awhile. I thought it would be interesting to listen to that music in the context of what it emerged into. There are competing narratives about this. One is that pop music was super lame, then the Beatles came in and added a lot of excitement and pushed things in a totally new direction. The other, more recent revisionist take is that Beatlemania killed older ways of making music that were more heterodox than what came after. I am not sure where I stand on this, other than to say that I really love early 60s R&B (so did the Beatles), to the point where I don't buy the narrative about the Beatles filling a vacuum. Anyway, let's get on with the countdown!
10. Diane Renay, "Navy Blue"
This song is the kind of thing people think of when they consider the early 60s to be a musical wasteland. This is basically bargain-basement Lesley Gore, lacking her pathos with a far too cheery arrangement. I do like the weird organ sound, at least.
9. The Tams, "What Kind Of Fool Do You Think I Am"
This is a fairly typical early 60s doo-wop style song, but it's got that weird flute behind it, which gives it a little something extra. There's also a member of the group jumping in with a deep bass voice on the chorus, which is something I loved about those records. The thing is, by the standards of the time I think this one is kind of weak and lacking in the punch of other doo-wop records. It has a kind of vague "beach" feel to it, which was certainly all the rage in those pre-Beatles years.
8. The Rivieras, "California Sun"
Speaking of beach music, here's a classic example of the genre. According to my dad this was one of the few 45s he and his brothers had growing up. It speaks of the glorification of California in 60s music and 60s culture more generally. The pull of that kind of music, which I heard a lot at home and on oldies radio as a kid, made my first visit to the Golden State truly special. The song itself has a great little organ line, but the vocals are tepid. This song would be properly covered by The Ramones, who gave it needed bite.
7. The Rip Chords, "Hey Little Cobra"
Man, this is just a straight-up ripoff of the Beach Boys. It's also an example of the car song, directly adjacent to surf music. When future societies look back on our catastrophic dependence on fossil fuels they will make songs like this the subjects of their cultural histories.
6. Major Lance, "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um"
Like the Tams, here's another local soul music artist. The beat has a cool mambo flavor and the "um um um" chorus is pretty catchy. As much as I like music like this, it sounds pretty dry compared to what Motown was about to unleash.
5. Al Hirt, "Java"
In 1964 instrumentals still went high on the charts. This jazzy number is the kind of thing made to swing a beehive hairdo to.
4. Lesley Gore, "You Don't Own Me"
Now this right here is a million miles from stuff like "It's My Party And I Can Cry If I Want To." An early pop music feminist message that Gore delivers with utter confidence. The strings and her voice are a perfect trebly combo for coming out of an AM radio on an old car. Just compare this to the Diane Renay song at number 10 for an example of how disposable teen music at the time could actually be interesting.
3. The 4 Seasons, "Dawn (Go Away)"
Again, near the top of the countdown we are in serious territory, and this time it's social class, not gender. This is a song sung by working class Jersey Italian guys aware that no matter what they say, love is not blind. It's particularly sad, since the singer is telling Dawn to leave him because their infatuation can't break down social barriers. It gets at something that has long saddened me, namely that growing up working class means internalizing the idea that you do not deserve to have what you want and that you need to learn to resign yourself to it. It's a survival strategy, obviously, but it eats at the soul. Maybe Dawn wanted to cross the tracks! The singer can't let her because he doesn't think he's worth it.
2. The Beatles, "She Loves You"
There is no song that better embodies Beatlemania than this one, which is the first Beatles song I can remember hearing. Is it cheesy? Yes. Is the "yeah yeah yeah" too simple? Yes. Is it pure pop sugar rush? You bet. And listening to the other songs on the countdown, I agree a little with the old narrative about the Beatles reviving a moribund popular music world. This song MOVES and PUSHES like the others on the countdown don't. Ringo's drums never sounded more powerful, the harmonies more chiming. Resistance is futile.
1. The Beatles, "I Want To Hold Your Hand"
This is the song that broke the Beatles in America, and like "She Loves You" it has a kind of giddy abandon to it. It puts in song form that indescribable rush of young love, that feeling that some folks spend the rest of their life chasing. As a kid I thought they were saying "I get high" instead of "I can't hide," and so evidently too did Bob Dylan. It works better musically, because the song is describing that love high when you hold a crush's hand for the first time. Listening to this you can hear the harmonies that I think really put the Beatles over the top. When a group has great harmonies it is a kind of magic, and the Beatles paired those harmonies with some all-time melodies. The secret to their success is pretty simple.
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