1967. The Summer of Love.
People who get their thrills yammering on about which year was the greatest in rock history often fall back on 1967, and for good reason. Some of the greatest albums in rock history were released in 1967. It was truly a watershed year, when all the burgeoning creativity of the music scenes in the UK and across the USA reached its glorious fruition, affecting everything that followed. I myself prefer to think that all years have great music, and it’s rather silly to compare one era with another, but the fact remains that some moments do seem more significant than others. And 1967 was the year in which a particularly significant period of rock music reached its peak.
Great psychedelic music from England to San Francisco reached new heights in popularity in 1967, and avant-garde sounds in general became more common in the musical mainstream. At the same time, R&B and soul music were becoming less pop and more passionate with the crossover success of artists like Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin; Redding’s increased popularity was particularly ironic (and iconic, too), in that it came largely after his death in a plane crash late in the year. 
In June, the Monterey International Pop Festival—one of the first rock festivals of its type, and an inspiration for Woodstock and others of its type—helped spark the Summer of Love, the Flower Power era, and the notion of California as the center of the psychedelic music and counterculture movement. Featured performers included Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, The Who, and Ravi Shankar, plus such prominent acts from the San Francisco scene as Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin (in Big Brother & the Holding Company), and the Grateful Dead. November saw the publication of the first issue of Rolling Stone magazine in San Francisco, featuring John Lennon on the cover. The film industry also grew edgier, with the release of Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Cool Hand Luke, Blowup, and more, in what is similarly regarded as one of the key years in the development of film.
Throughout what is sometime called the “long, hot summer of 1967,” race riots erupted all over the country, most notably the 5-day 12th Street Riot in Detroit. A Supreme Court ruling made interracial marriages legal across the country, and Thurgood Marshall became the first African American Justice on the Supreme Court. Continued escalation of US involvement in Vietnam War led to more protests. The boxer Muhammad Ali refused to serve upon being drafted; he was arrested and stripped of his boxing titles. The Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs faced off in the first Super Bowl. The world’s first human heart transplant was performed.
My Top 6 Albums of 1967
Note: Some of this commentary is adapted from that in No Hype No Trends Music’s 200 Best Albums of the 1960s.
As always, you can jump to the playlist at the bottom of each post to listen while you read.
Within each tier (Top 6, Next 6, etc.), all albums are listed roughly chronologically (all release dates from Wikipedia, unless otherwise noted).
The Doors
The Doors
The DoorsReleased 1967/01/04
On their debut, The Doors capture a certain dark romanticism of the ‘60s perfectly, offering a moody, sultry counterpoint to the flower-power optimism of so many ‘60s acts. The Doors stoked excess on every turn, from the propulsive cataclysm of “Break on Through” to the overblown Oedipal poetry of “The End.” It’s fitting that a band this earthy and theatrical chose as its two covers for the album one by Howlin’ Wolf and the other by Kurt Weill.
The Doors declined pretty steadily after this debut release, only to rebound with two excellent albums in the early ‘70s. But this one remains the classic.
Read more in my top 20 of the decade.
Notable Critical Mentions:
- Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 012
- 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
- Rolling Stone: 100 Best Albums of the Past 20 Years (1987), No. 025
- Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 042
- NME Writers Top 100 Albums (1993), No. 025
- NME Greatest Albums of the ’60s (1993), No. 012
- Melody Maker All-Time Top 100 (2000), No. 082
- Paste 60 Best Albums of the 1960s, No. 048
Aretha Franklin
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
Aretha FranklinReleased 1967/03/10
Aretha Franklin brought a gospel-inflected passion to R&B, shaping songs that in other artists’ hands might have been simple love songs into cathartic, transformative experiences. Along with Otis Redding, whom she covered here, Franklin stands as one of the twin pillars of 1960s soul and rhythm and blues.
And that Otis Redding cover!—with “Respect” Franklin uses a narrative gender-switch to transform a man’s request for some peace of mind from his wife when he comes home into a woman’s defiant plea for gender equality (and sexual satisfaction to boot).
Listen to more Aretha Franklin.
Read more in my top 50 of the decade.
Notable Critical Mentions:
- Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 025
- 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
- The Rolling Stone 200 Essential Record Collection (1997)
- Rolling Stone: 100 Best Albums of the Past 20 Years (1987), No . 091
- Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No . 083
- Paste 60 Best Albums of the 1960s, No . 030
The Velvet Underground & Nico
The Velvet Underground & Nico
The Velvet Underground & NicoReleased 1967/03/12
Alternative rock starts here.
Lou Reed’s stark, matter-of-fact lyrics and delivery evoke a dark realism in his tales of hustlers and addicts, forlorn lovers and thugs. Street-life depictions of drug abuse and sexual perversity sit beside tender expressions of love and devotion. And the abrasive, dissonant sounds of The Velvet Underground & Nico expanded the horizons of music in an unforeseen direction.
This wasn’t the counter-culture glorified or romanticized; here it was exposed, beauty marks and warts and all. And although I don’t honestly believe that the lyrics or music of “Heroin” accurate depict what it’s like to be an addict, the song is a valiant, literate attempt nonetheless—and it was unlike anything that had been heard in rock up to that point.
This album, dismissed and relatively unheard at the time, would go on to be a guiding light for ‘70s punk, ‘80s college-radio rock, and the alternative rock explosion of the ‘90s. It’s one of the essential albums of this, or any, decade.
Listen to more Velvet Underground.
Read more in my top 5 of the decade.
Notable Critical Mentions:
- Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 003
- 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
- SPIN: The Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s, No. 003
- SPIN: The Top 100 Alternative Albums (SPIN Alternative Record Guide, 1995), No. 003
- Rolling Stone: 100 Best Albums of the Past 20 Years (1987), No. 021
- Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 013
- NME Writers Top 100 Albums (1993), No. 006
- NME Greatest Albums of the ’60s (1993), No. 003
- Melody Maker All-Time Top 100 (2000), No. 012
- Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time (2016), No. 004
- Paste 60 Best Albums of the 1960s, No. 011
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Are You Experienced? [US]
The Jimi Hendrix ExperienceReleased 1967/08/23
(released 1967/05/12 in the UK, with different tracks)
I remember a high school friend of mine, who may even have been with me when I bought this album, commenting that he didn’t think he could ever buy an album with such a ridiculous cover. It was the classic, clichéd psychedelic fishbowl shot of the band, all in their corny colorful getup, with pink trees in the background—but the music inside was exhilarating. Are you Experienced? is the apex of psychedelic guitar rock. Every track is a classic of rock history. Really.
I should note that, contrary to my established guidelines for this project, I include this album in its US version, not the UK version released earlier (see cover, right). Hendrix living and developing his work in England at the time, and his work was released there first. But the US version is too deeply ingrained in my sense of rock history. Plus, he’s an American artist. My reissue CD contains all the tracks from both the US and UK versions of the album—17 songs in all—and is the one you should buy, if you don’t have it already. And of course you should.
Read more in my top 5 of the decade.
Notable Critical Mentions:
- Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 008
- 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
- Rolling Stone: 100 Best Albums of the Past 20 Years (1987), No. 005
- Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 015
- NME Writers Top 100 Albums (1993), No. 029
- NME Greatest Albums of the ’60s (1993), No. 015
- Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time (2016), No. 029
- Paste 60 Best Albums of the 1960s, No. 007
The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The BeatlesReleased 1967/06/01
For many of those who lived through Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’s release, it was the most life-changing album of its time. It’s primary cultural significance, it’s place in music history, cannot be denied.
With its endless musical innovation in structure, arrangement, and lyrics, it fully established rock music as an art form. It stands as perhaps the first concept album (albeit a quite loosely defined one, merely bookended by the twin “performances” by the fictional Sgt. Pepper brass band), and ushered in the album era. Others have written more exhaustively and completely on its brilliance than I ever could.
I don’t rate this album quite as highly as many critics do—Revolver and the White Album seem more essential collections of songs to my ears. And Abbey Road, as a thematically and musically linked sequence, tops Sgt. Pepper for me. Even as a psychedelic experience, Magical Mystery Tour feels just about as good. (Certainly, I prefer many of its songs to the overrated “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” which I feel gets more credibility from its LSD initials than in the appeal of the song itself.)
But other than perhaps Revolver, those other Beatles albums can’t boast the same impact on music history and its place in society as Sgt. Pepper.
Read more in my top 20 of the decade.
Notable Critical Mentions:
- Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 004
- 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
- Rolling Stone: 100 Best Albums of the Past 20 Years (1987), No. 001
- Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 001
- NME Writers Top 100 Albums (1993), No. 033
- NME Greatest Albums of the ’60s (1993), No. 016
- Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time (2016), No. 021
- Paste 60 Best Albums of the 1960s, No. 001
Cream
Disraeli Gears
CreamReleased 1967/11/02
Disreali Gears is Cream’s one truly brilliant album; its seamless fusion of blues-rock and psychedelic experimentation places it as one of the defining albums of its time. The rest of Cream’s career could reasonably be heard through a good compilation, but every track here is essential—a little corny in the way psychedelia seems to us now, but essential nonetheless.
Read more in my top 20 of the decade.
Notable Critical Mentions:
- Acclaimed Music top albums of the ’60s, No. 038
- 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
- Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003), No. 112
- NME Writers All-Time 100 (1974), No. 020
- Paste 60 Best Albums of the 1960s, No. 045
Here’s the complete 1967: The Year in Review playlist for you—three tracks per album. Enjoy!
More 1967, The Year in Review
More Years in Review of the 1960s…
Art Citations:
- The Velvet Underground & Nico: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2346708
- Are You Experienced? US cover: By Ilanv (talk) – Modified version of File:Are You Experienced – US cover.jpg (enhanced quality)., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31372537
UK cover: By Bruce Fleming – Unknown, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2180891 - The Doors: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=194509
- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=142096
- Disraeli Gears: By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16039691
- I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You: Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5914298
- The Monterey International Pop Festival: By Monterey Pop Festival – https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/79/24/a5/7924a548511a1d31665de4475aa287ff.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49679596
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