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The Temptations.
Their songs, their showmanship, their harmonies, the soulfulness have influenced many different artists from many different countries and genres.
They never tried to make black music but music for the world to hear and listen to.
It is evident due to their story is being told on broadway and they had mini series in 1998.
Their music is very timeless
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Absolutely one of the greatest bands ever and then music will go on forever. As a sidenote, this band has always been a favorite of Vietnam veterans.
That's just like your opinion, man.
(And a good one at that.)
Wouldn't hold out much hope for the tape deck...
A lot of the Vietnam Era music is just as relevant today. For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield is a great song still very relevant. Even better is the Ozzy Osbourne cover and I wish it'd become the anthem of our times because it goes hard.
I love Ozzy and that's a solid cover, but it's nowhere near the original Buffalo Springfield version.
Came here to say this. The quality of songwriting and performance shines through any dated sound - and it’s far less dated because of the simple but effective style and production.
Otis Redding.
Just wanted to second this. Otis Redding had a timeless quality to his voice and music. Shame he passed so young.
With Booker T & The MG’s as his band, absolute dynamite.
Simon & Garfunkel. Their music is still regularly heard in TV shows, movies, commericals, etc. And, for better or worse, the themes of a lot of the songs are still relevant in today's world.
This!!!! Love S&G
Great answer
Every kid going off to college and moving out on their own connects with Simon and Garfunkel.
I used to go through phases where I’d listen to only S&G then end up getting laid in those few weeks. Eventually i noticed the pattern and tried to do it manually but it failed at that point. Must have broken the cycle.
I’d also go with just Paul Simon. I really enjoy some of his more recent stuff as well.
Am I really gonna be the first one to say The Beatles lmao
Reddit tries so hard to avoid giving credit to the Beatles for some reason. Some of the other answers are good, but goddamn, Beyoncé just put out a cover of Blackbird. It can’t get more modern than that.
Their melodies are timeless, their experimentation was ahead of its time, and nearly every genre today is influenced by them to some degree.
Were there more experimental bands in the 60s? Absolutely. But the Beatles had the platform to make that experimentation mainstream and last well into 2020s.
If you want to blow people's minds, let them know that Ringo, the oldest of the Beatles, was 29 when their last album came out.
They did all that before 30. And I have done fuck all with my life.
Just 7 years together as a band.
That's the amazing thing, right? 8 years to cover everything from "From me to you" over "hey, the studio can be an instrument too" to "Let it be". And every single member had an at least somewhat successful solo career after that.
Taylor Swift has been around for 18 years now. When you compare what happened from the mid 60s to the mid 80s in terms of musical evolution and compare it to 2004 to 2024, well... I'm not seeing that kind of development.
Something really beautiful happened with Folklore, though. I think she did well at that point but she’s peaked now.
Hi, I know you’re just doing one of those things where you hold yourself up against an extremely accomplished person or group and make a self-deprecating joke, but for fun I’m going to take it entirely at face value and respond in kind.
You have not done fuck all with your life; and the fact that you did not become the Beatles is no slight against you. The Universe asked the Beatles to become the Beatles, and they did, and did a really good job of it, better than anyone could have; and it would have been pretty redundant for you to do likewise, I think. Conversely there are things the Universe has asked of you, and asked you to become; and without knowing a thing about you I can safely say that some of those things you have done/become, and others you have not. That is just the conversational nature of reality.
Maybe you could do more, and maybe you should. But only a Sith deals in absolutes, and broad brushes like ‘fuck all’ do nothing but diminish your hard-fought accomplishments. Without even knowing what they are, I’m proud of you for them. I know it wasn’t easy. I know you’re trying. Don’t give up.
An absolute statement said by a Jedi.
I appreciate your comment. I do believe that I have made a difference in some small way with my life. There are a few people that are a little better off because of me. I hope that butterfly effects to a greater change in the world. I'll never know. But I do appreciate your kindness
I think, with respect to questions like in this AskReddit thread, it’s that’s the Beatles are ubiquitous, they’re ironically not the first thing to pop in people’s heads. Usually because it strikes them as so obvious as that they might forget they’re still applicable to questions like “what music from the 60s has aged well”.
The Beatles are still often heard today, can be easy to forget it’s a 60 year old band!
She covered Blackbird, played it straight, and it still came out sounding fresh and new.
I actually prefer the Stones anymore but The Beatles are, unobjectively, the greatest band that ever played. The most influential artists of a decade, a generation... a century.
If something is unobjective wouldn’t that make it subjective?
That’s like your subobjective opinion man.
There were 60s rock/pop bands that were more consistently experimental, but more drastically? How much more drastically experimental could a rock band have been in early 1966 than Tomorrow Never Knows?
For me the Beatles are awesome, they compressed so much talent into 4 people who went through and kick started so many genres of music, they had almost infinite variety, and never allowed themselves to become comfortably static, and always sought to push themselves further into new horizons.
I just don't like most of their music. Some songs are incredible though.
Most of the White Album is timeless. I love every single Beatles song and album, but so many songs on the White Album seem to transcend time. They don’t really fall into the typical 60s sounds or sounds from any decade really, they’re just really good tunes that I imagine will sound good for a long time, at least until music changes so much that these timeless songs can be neatly placed into a certain century or era or something.
So ahead that they couldn't replicate it on stage!
There’s an arc to appreciating the Beatles music geeks go through.
Stage 1: The Beatles are awesome!
Stage 2: The Beatles are good, but there are better bands.
Stage 3: The Beatles are overplayed and overrated.
Stage 4: Well… I guess they WERE pretty good and influential…
Stage 5: The Beatles are awesome!
I think the sticking point for a lot of people is that most casual listeners don’t realize that the Beatles were an “album” band at their core, especially from Help! and beyond.
Their singles are great, but if that’s all you hear from them I can understand why someone thinks they’re overrated. Many of the singles have also become ubiquitous in our culture, and it’s easy to take them for granted.
For me, it wasn’t until I listened to their albums front to back that I realized how incredible they were.
I started and ended at stage 1. If anything my love has only increased.
Somebody somewhere recently pointed out that, in relation to modern rock/pop music, the Beatles are the default. Kids think they're boring because everyone that's come since has largely been repeating or building on what the Beatles very suddenly and completely introduced to the mainstream; and it's not until anyone looks at what was the top of the chart in the years before and after they stepped foot in the states that they begin to understand. And then, hopefully, they'll be up to exploring the quailty of what was released in that short amount of time.
The most influential band of all time.
They changed how music was written, with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band defining the “concept album.”
With George Martin, they changed how music was recorded with many technical innovations in multitrack/overdub recording.
The best selling artist on the Billboard 200, with 19 records hitting #1.
And beyond all of that, the music. To write that many timeless classics, in that short a period of time, and we’re still talking about it over 50 years later? Will never happen again.
All before they were 30.
All from 1963-1970.
Yup, and what's even more amazing is that, even if they weren't Beatles, their solo career is enough for them each to be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame.
I thought Buddy Holly came up with multi-track recording and overdubs. I might be wrong but I heard that was one of his innovations.
Les Paul
younger generations are really not that much into The Beatles, as far as i can see. that's a shame ofc. I'm in my 30s now and The Beatles are following me since i was a kid even though they are decades older than me.
Idk, I just turned 20 and most people I know like them to some degree, but the world isn’t a uniform monocultural place anymore and there isn’t like one band or artist that everyone or most kids like anymore, there’s large fandoms for individual artists like Taylor swift, Carti etc. but a lot of people my age just listen to like classic rock in general or mix it in with its modern indie equivalents, tldr: a lot of young people respect the Beatles as some of the best musicians of recent history, but a lot have only heard hey Jude at the same time.
Mozarts of rock n roll.
I sometimes play my entire catalog on shuffle. Depending on my mood I might skip a song. There are only a few artists I won’t skip. Eminem, nin and the Beatles. Sometimes if I get a random Beatles song I’ll just queue up the entire album and listen to it
This is the answer. They have some songs that sound like they could have been recorded and released this year.
The unsppken rule amongst music nerds is that no matter the list, the beatles probably top it, so there is no need to bring them into the discussion, because it may just turn into a beatles circle jerk.
So if someone ever asks the top 5 albums of all time, they mean not including the top 5 beatles albums because there is the list, and it's not fun anymore.
Kinks, Zombies, Beach Boys, Beatles, Animals, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin. Most 60’s music still holds up. The recordings at that time were just timeless.
Something Else by The Kinks is a masterpiece
Relative to their current level of mainstream notoriety, the Zombies have a lot well known songs that absolutely hold up and are used in ads, movies and tv shows. All around great band that isn't talked that much, glad you mentioned them.
The main thing that dates 60’s music is really just the production, with hard panning and just older recording techniques. For example just listen to pink Floyd’s first album then dark side of the moon, the latter has almost modern sounding production and the former, well…
thank you for mentioning The Beach Boys lol
Especially All I Wanna Do, probably their most modern sounding song.
Jimi Hendrix
Electric Ladyland is truly one of the best albums ever.
That cat was from another planet. Best guitarist of all time. He understood that the guitar was meant to convey your musical vision, not just your manual dexterity.
Iggy Pop. I put on one of the early albums in the car with one of my younger employees, he commented on how well 90’s music aged.
I've written and re-written a post about The Stooges so many times but ultimately have deleted everything because I'm just not good enough a writer to put into words how good and influential they are.
...The Velvet Underground
Indie is indepted to The Velvet Underground.
I'll mention Nick Drake for the exact same reason.
Exactly - The first time I listened to their self-titled and After Hours played, I thought the album was finished and a modern indie song had come on
For reals. Just heard "rock n roll" the other day and I thought it was a new band.
John Cale's album Mercy came out a few years ago. Utterly modern sound and excellent from start to finish.
Lou Reed is a treasure.
Rolling Stones have proved pretty timeless. And they released a fantastic album last year.
My only beef with the Stoned is how weak their total discography is. Their best work is timeless, genre defining stuff. The rest is pretty forgettable. They have like 100 albums and 95 of them are just sorta lazy covers of blues songs.
They are extremely prolific. You can just keep going deeper and deeper with their catalogue. They’re one of those bands where your favorite songs can always be changing. I find that to be the mark of a good band.
You start off liking the big ones, the “Start Me Ups” and the “Can’t You Hear Me Knockins” then the next thing you know you’re loving songs like “Sweet Black Angel” and “Sway” more than those, and the journey continues
I see Can't You Hear Me Knocking, I upvote.
I second this — “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” is the first track I want to hear when someone drops a Stones reference, and everyone should hear it at least once in their lives. That riff, the feral vocals, that drum lick, the bass line, and then the sax solo and Mick Taylor run of Santana-esque genius that closes the song. There are great Stones tunes, but that one is next-level
Most of their albums have 2-4 singles and 2-4 deep cuts. Given how much music they’ve put out over their career, IMO, it’s remarkable that they’re still able to play and write at such a high level.
The song they released during COVID to me was the best song that year. The blues album you mentioned was good too.
Haven’t heard the newest but have heard mostly positive things.
This band has been around 20 years longer than I have.
You don’t know what you are talking about. You are ignorant re: The Rolling Stones. No offense.
They have about 25 albums unless you double count a few that have US and UK versions (where one or two songs are different). Maybe 3 albums are blues covers. Their first two and then an album of covers released in 2016.
The Stones made music in a number of genres: blues, pop, rock, country, funk, disco, new wave, punk, and a number of sub genres of rock such as southern rock and 70s rock.
You’re just not familiar with their discography.
The Doors and Hendrix. They never get old.
For some reason The Doors have not aged well for me. Loved them in my teenage years, though. Hendrix sounds better than ever.
I'm 47, and I've been having a renewed appreciation for the Doors recently
I simply got bored with the whole “Morrison is the Shakespeare of the 60’s” thing when the guy was rhyming storm with storm. Their music is great but the lyrics just bore me.
Oh Morrison was not the lyricist he thought he was.
Morrison was great, and so was Robby Krieger. I feel most people only The Doors for their hits which a lot is different from the rest of their catalog. Some of the most interesting music ever made.
I do think Morrison influenced what frontmen would eventually become though
I get it. Another of bands I listened to in my youth I can't stomach anymore. We all have those.