Kenny Rogers said that Jimi Hendrix once told him that “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” was his all-time favorite song.

"Twist and Shout” became one of the Beatles’ big hits when it was released in March 1964 at the outset of Beatlemania. The song was a cover of the Top 20 hit two years earlier by the Isley Brothers.

The British Invasion knocked many American groups off the charts in the mid-1960s. Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs, who scored a number one hit with “Sugar Shack” in 1963, decided to adopt a grittier sound with “Bottle of Wine.” Gilmer still performed lead vocals, but the band shortened its name to the Fireballs to reflect ‘60s fans’ preference for groups.

“Want to take a mind excursion? How ‘bout a little diversion? The hippest of all trips. The return to reality. Well, join me.” With that introduction, William Mercer, or Rosko to free-form radio fans, would open his shows that showcased a broad range of music: rock, soul, folk, and jazz. Mercer, who grew up on New York’s 114th Street and Manhattan Avenue, read poetry by Kahlil Gibran and delivered impassioned monologues against the My Lai massacre and the Kent State shootings

After leaving the Beatles, George Harrison had an impressive solo career before his untimely death in 2001 at age 58. Harrison notched five Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Of the five, only one was not original to Harrison: “Got My Mind Set on You.”

The Rolling Stones’ 1986 hit “Harlem Shuffle” was first recorded by Bob & Earl, an R&B duo whose version rose to number 44 on the charts in 1963. The song’s roots are not uptown in New York City; instead, the dance was born 3,000 miles away in Los Angeles.

Sly and the Family Stone appeared at promoter Bill Graham’s Fillmore East on three weekends in 1968 and 1969, appearing with bands that include the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Eric Burdon & the Animals.

The Gary Lewis & the Playboys’ tune “This Diamond Ring” song took a labyrinthine path to №1 in 1965.

The 1960s was a watershed era for blue-eyed soul, with multiple hits by the Young Rascals, Mitch Ryder and the Righteous Brothers. Add the Box Tops, whose 1967 “The Letter” became a №1 single and would sell four million copies.

As drug use became more prevalent in the 1960s, pop music reflected the times. Songs that glamorized getting high flooded the airwaves. The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” and “Purple Haze” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience had some of the more obvious references to drugs; others, like the Association’s “Along Comes Mary,” were more oblique.

When the Zombies arrived at London’s Abbey Road studios in August 1967, their creativity was high but success was in the past. The British Invasion band had two innovative hits, 1964’s “She’s Not There,” followed the next year by “Tell Her No.”

In The Beatles Anthology, Paul McCartney said he considered writing an “answering song” to “Forget Him.” “John and I wrote ‘She Loves You’ together. There was a Bobby Rydell song out at the time and, as often happens, you think of one song when you write another.”

In 1966, the Left Banke featured flute, harpsichord and string orchestration in their debut hit single, “Walk Away Renée.” The haunting sound of the record was so unusual for its time that its style earned its own names: “Bach-Rock” or “Baroque ’n’ Roll.”

In 1967, Dave Mason founded Traffic with Steve Winwood, Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi. The British band’s debut album that year, Mr. Fantasy, made them international stars. Despite their instant success, Mason left the band after the album was released, then returned for a few months in 1968.

The Singer-Songwriter Was 79 Frank Mastropolo It is sad to note the passing of Dave Mason, the co-founder of Traffic who performed with many of the superstars of his generation. Mason died April 19, at his home in Nevada. Mason was 79. “Dave Mason lived a remarkable life devoted to the music and the people he loved,” read a statement about his passing. Dave Mason published a cornucopia of backstage stories and unresolved feuds in his 2024 book Only You Know and I Know, also t

Novelty songs first appeared in the late 19th century and were popular on the radio into the 1980s. One of the weirdest and most successful was 1966’s “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” by Napoleon XIV.

In this excerpt from the book Fillmore East: The Venue That Changed Rock Music Forever, two people who worked at promoter Bill Graham’s historic concert hall describe for the first time the night Paul McCartney — in disguise — and future wife Linda Eastman attended a show.

For their final album Goodbye the members of Cream — bassist Jack Bruce, drummer Ginger Baker and guitarist Eric Clapton — decided each would contribute one studio track; the rest of the album would be live cuts. The guitarist said in Conversations with Eric Clapton that The Band’s debut album inspired him to pursue a new direction for his last song.

New wave band Talking Heads, fronted by David Byrne, got its name from an issue of TV Guide. In the liner notes of Popular Favorites 1976–1972: Sand in the Vaseline, bassist Tina Weymouth said the magazine “explained the term used by TV studios to describe a head-and-shoulder shot of a person talking as ‘all content, no action’. It fit.”

Guitarist Spencer Davis, bassist Muff Winwood, and Muff’s 14-year-old brother Steve Winwood on keyboards and vocals formed the Spencer Davis Group in 1963. The group had №1 hits in the UK with two songs by Jamaican-born Jackie Edwards: “Keep on Running” and “Somebody Help Me.” In 1966, manager Chris Blackwell decided the band had to write a song of their own.