1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music

Andrew Grant Jackson

Thomas Dunne Books

2015, 328 pages

ISBN: 9781250059628

An entertaining read for those who enjoyed the 1960s or who have an interest in music history is 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music by Andrew Grant Jackson. 1965 was a year of incredible music that was diverse and created, in part, by competition amongst groups and musicians from North America and Europe. The music was also influenced by the war in Vietnam and the Civil Rights Movement, among other things. All of this is captured by Jackson who begins the book with a 10-page “1965 Selected Time Line” featuring significant songs and activities that occurred, by month, in 1965.

Not only will you read about the top songs of the year, along with those who wrote and performed them, but also Martin Luther King Jr.’s civil rights work, the Vietnam War, the LA riots and President Lyndon Johnson’s involvement with these along with Medicare and Medicaid.

But music is the focus of this interesting book and there is considerable information in this well researched book about the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Byrds, the Beach Boys along with Bob Dylan, Otis Redding, Marianne Faithful, Diana Ross, Phil Ochs and many others who made the 1960s so memorable. You not only learn which songs topped the charts, but also about how the songs were created and why. I certainly enjoyed the information about some of my favourite songs including Mr. Tambourine Man and Eve of Destruction as well as the album Rubber Soul.

Divided into sections for each of the seasons, the book begins with the Rolling Stones and ends with subjects that include the album Rubber Soul and the wonderful television special “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. In between there is lots of information about what the author describes as “…the most groundbreaking twelve months in music history.”

http://www.northumberlandnews.com/blogs/post/5677130-entertaining-books-for-summer-/