The 60 Best Albums of the 1960s (Paste, 2012)

A message from Springfield: we want The Beatles on Spotify.

From Paste:

If music as we know it today is our universe, the 1960s are the Big Bang. Of course, nothing exists in a vacuum, and many of the groundbreaking artists who rose to prominence in the decade borrowed heavily from the artists who came before them, but looking back, there’s no denying the ‘60s were some sort of scary, beautiful explosion of sound. All of a sudden, there were screaming girls, weeping and tearing their clothes off as they watched their teen idols perform. Black kids and white kids started listening to the same records—a tiny sliver of common ground for future generations to build upon as the battle for equality raged on. As the Vietnam War escalated and a nation tuned in, turned on and dropped out, the protest song became an important part of American life. In other words, the ‘60s produced some of the greatest records of all time, but beyond that, it’s the decade taught us what music could—and should—truly be.

There's always a bit of frustration in making a Spotify playlist based on a 1960s chart. You know that the Beatles will be in the chart and that - since their unavailability on Spotify - you won't be able to include them in the playlist. This happened again with this Top 60 Albums from the 60s. No Sgt.Pepper's, no Revolver, no Abbey Road. Luckily, Paste editors decided to put a "three albums per artist" limit at the list. Beatles aside, most other albums are available on Spotify, making this playlist rather complete and definitely agreeable. In both formulas: full albums for encyclopedians, 3-track-each-album for shuffle-lovers.

Enjoy!

Previously on the 60s side of Spotirama:

The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s (Pitchfork)

Reconstructing Woodstock '69 (festival setlists, track-by-track)

Nuggets - Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era (five boxstes)

TOP 60 ALBUMS OF THE 60S

(Paste, 2012, full albums, from #1 to #60)

(3-tracks, from #1 to #60)

Full list

Strikethrough albums are not available on Spotify. Some albums may be not available in all countries.

1. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
3. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
4. The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
5. The Beatles - Revolver
6. Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
7. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced
8. Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison
9. James Brown - Live at the Apollo
10. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
11. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico
12. The Band - Music from Big Pink
13. The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle
14. The Beatles - Abbey Road
15. The Band - The Band
16. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
17. Sly and the Family Stone - Stand!
18. The Kinks - The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
19. Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
20. Love - Forever Changes
21. Neil Young with Crazy Horse - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
22. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
23. The Who - Tommy
24. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
25. Otis Redding - Otis Blue
26. Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
27. Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen
28. Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash
29. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
30. Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
31. Otis Redding - The Dock of the Bay
32. Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
33. The Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
34. The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet
35. The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo
36. Sam Cooke - Night Beat
37. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
38. Etta James - At Last!
39. The Who - The Who Sell Out
40. The Beach Boys - Wild Honey
41. The Stooges - The Stooges
42. Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul
43. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica
44. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
45. Cream - Disraeli Gears
46. The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack
47. The Ronettes - Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica
48. The Doors - The Doors
49. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground
50. Simon and Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence
51. Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis
52. Howlin' Wolf - Howlin' Wolf
53. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold as Love
54. David Bowie - Space Oddity
55. The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heart
56. Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through the Grapevine
57. The MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
58. The 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators
59. Big Brother and The Holding Company - Cheap Thrills
60. Booker T. and the M.G.'s - Green Onions