Some songs make you want to get up and dance. Others make you want to sit alone in your room and ponder. Songs of the latter category are often chilling in nature and leave an impact on listeners that lasts for years. I think that’s the case for the following rock songs from the 1960s, each of which still gives listeners chills more than half a century later. Let’s take a look at a few classics, shall we?
“The Sound Of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel from ‘Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. And Sounds of Silence’ (1964)
It’s haunting and timeless. And fans are still picking apart the deeper meaning of this genre-defining folk rock song decades later. “The Sound Of Silence”, surprisingly enough, was a bit of a sleeper hit, too. It was released in 1964 but didn’t begin to get substantial airplay until 1965. It received further notoriety after the song’s producer remixed the track with electric instruments that year.
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“The Sound Of Silence” remains Simon & Garfunkel’s most famous and career-defining tune. In 1965, it reached the Top 10 across the globe and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. If you’ve ever felt the crushing weight of alienation, this song will sit heavy in your heart after just one listen.
“The End” by The Doors from ‘The Doors’ (1967)
The finality of this song, given its context, still gives listeners chills today. “The End” was originally written about a breakup Jim Morrison endured. However, the song itself evolved over months of live performances. It ended up becoming a 12-minute song, one that was used as the closing track on the band’s iconic self-titled debut record. It was also one of the last songs ever performed live by the original lineup in 1970.
“The End” is a complex whirlwind of a psychedelic rock song, one that even Morrison himself said was “sufficiently complex and universal in its imagery that it could be almost anything you want it to be.”
“A Whiter Shade Of Pale” by Procol Harum (1967)
Few songs from the 1960s mastered the art of melancholy quite like the dreamy hit “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” by Procol Harum. This entry on our list of chilling 1960s rock songs was a smash hit during the Summer of Love, peaking at No. 1 across the board in multiple countries and reaching No. 5 on the Hot 100 chart in the US. It’s a timeless piece of baroque pop and psychedelic rock beauty, one that touches on classical melodies and incredible vocals via Gary Brooker.
(Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
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