Fifty years ago, during twelve unforgettable months in the middle of the turbulent Sixties, America saw the rise of innovative new sounds that would change popular music as we knew it. In 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music, music historian Andrew Grant Jackson (Still the Greatest: The Essential Songs of The Beatles’ Solo Careers, Where’s Ringo?) chronicles a groundbreaking year of creativity fueled by rivalries between musicians and continents, sweeping social changes, and technological breakthroughs.
Read excerpts from the book with audio/visual companions and browse playlists at www.1965book.com.
The Beatles developed the folk-rock jangle alongside the Byrds on songs like "Ticket to Ride," raced the Who to be the first to use feedback on record, and competed with the Kinks and Yardbirds to be the first to use the sitar on Rubber Soul.
Dylan fused surreal lyrics with rock and roll and broke the time constraints of Top 40 radio with the six-minute "Like a Rolling Stone," spurring his peers to a new level of lyrical sophistication in number one folk-rock singles ranging from the topical ("Eve of Destruction" and "The Sound of Silence") to the psychedelic ("Mr. Tambourine Man") and the confessional ("Help!").
New genres were born as James Brown invented funk with "Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag," the Beach Boys led the way in baroque pop, and garage bands laid the groundwork for punk.
Soul artists at Motown and Stax Records, along with the Impressions and Staple Singers, released epics that galvanized the Civil Rights movement.
Never before had popular music been so diverse. Bakersfield musicians and the "outlaws" rebelled against the glossy Nashville sound. John Coltrane released his jazz masterpiece A Love Supreme. Bob Marley and the Wailers released their odes to "rude boys" and the first version of "One Love." Frank Sinatra plotted to storm his way back into "Beatle Land." Andy Warhol got the Velvet Underground on The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. And in Northern California, the Grateful Dead become the house band at Ken Kesey’s "Acid Tests," while Allen Ginsberg invented Flower Power to save an anti-war rally from the Hell’s Angels.
As the Pill, miniskirt, psychedelics, Vietnam, and the musicians’ own long hair incited youth to non-conformity, anthems like the Rolling Stones’ "Satisfaction" amplified and accelerated the demand for freedom throughout the Western world. 1965 is a fascinating account of a defining year that produced some of the greatest songs, albums, and artists of all time.
“Jackson presents a thoroughly entertaining romp through one mighty year in pop-music history.”—Booklist
“Jackson’s rapid-fire jaunt through the musical highlights of 1965—the rise of Motown and Stax Records, the early music of David Bowie, the arrival of the Bakersfield sound—is a helpful survey for readers unfamiliar with the history of popular music.”—Publishers Weekly
“Lively… Jackson does a solid job covering the hit-makers.”—Kirkus Reviews
“From the Beatles to the Byrds, from Dylan to the Stones, from the Beach Boys to Motown, author Andrew G. Jackson brilliantly details how the year 1965 was essentially rock and roll’s coming-out party. 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music is filled with interesting insight and analysis into how a unique confluence of cultural events helped spur many of popular music’s all-time greats to reach their artistic apex, all within one, short, action-packed twelve-month period. If you weren’t there the first time around — or even if you were — sit back and prepare yourself for one heck of a ‘ticket to ride.’”—Kent Hartman, author of The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll’s Best-Kept Secret
“The Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Coltrane, The Dead, Velvet Underground, Motown … what wasn’t happening in 1965? Andrew Grant Jackson painstakingly chronicles this pivotal year in music with an eye for detail and the big picture – an exciting ride with a timeless soundtrack.”—Joel Selvin, author of Summer of Love and Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues
“1965 is a year that pop fans… revere [for] the sheer volume of innovative music and cultural transformation. A half-century on, it all remains astonishing but Jackson takes us through these 365 earth-changing days with steady hands and an addictive style. I started making a playlist almost immediately.”—Marc Spitz, author of We Got the Neutron Bomb and Twee