Sole US #1 hits by 60s groups (1964-69)

"Tighten Up" is an all-timer, so that.

"Tighten Up" is usually the right answer to any question, but I gotta go with "96 Tears" on this one.

Voted for Peter Paul & Mary since they don't get much love these days and I like that song, at the least the version of it in my head. It's been a while since I've heard it. "96 Tears" is tempting though.

"96 Tears" was the other I seriously considered, but as temporary Texan I had to give it to Archie Bell.

Animals, 96 Tears, Archie Bell. And I fondly remember "Judy In Disguise", and still consider it a crazy sounding single. But giving a vote to "Sugar Sugar" because Bubblegum-Pop rarely gets much respect nowadays.

damn this is hard

"Sugar Sugar" is pretty great too, actually.

I too want to vote "Sugar Sugar", but "Happy Together" has been a perennial favourite for me all my life...

will have to come back to this after some thought.

Thought for sure Mannfred Mann had also hit #1 with "Quinn The Eskimo" but apparently only in the UK (#10 in the US).

But yeah, this list reads like a K-Tel commercial from the mid-80s.

...OR Wong Kar-Wai movie titles.

Feels wrong to vote against the Shangri-Las in anything, but I think this is between "Summer in the City" and "Happy Together"

ended up voting for "The Letter"

Monday Monday for me.

Almost the whole list I've heard way too much. "Leaving on a Jet Plane."

"96 Tears" was the other I seriously considered, but as temporary Texan I had to give it to Archie Bell.

then as a lifelong Michigander I'm gonna vote for Question Mark

not many of these polls have a top four as good as 96 Tears/Tighten Up/The Letter/Summer in the City

...and then I went and forgot about Chapel of Love!

Archies over Archie

I actually love every single song in here. Strongest contenders would be 'leader of the pack', 'summer in the city' and '96 tears'.

No no noooo do not make me choose between Leader of the Pack and Sugar Sugar that is impossible Daddy vs Chips dilemma.

'Leader of the Pack' vs '96 Tears' is my impossible quandary. Really not sure I can choose.

the Letter it is

Almost voted "Rising Sun" cos that organ solo is the best organ solo of all time and sometimes that song comes on the radio and I have to crank the volume ALL THE WAY UP cos it rules so much. Also the video is incredible!

I voted "96 Tears", which has an organ on it that is also the best thing ever, just in a different way.

The percussion in "Hang On Sloopy" is insane though.

Oh damn, I overlooked "Wild Thing". That, "Rising Sun", and "96 Tears" could be the holy trinity of garage rock.

I like the Girls in the Garage band version of 'Sloopy' better than the one listed here, though it is a great song.

summer in the city

so far nobody reppin for
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZjxN3wd6M8

^^^ climbed to the top of the Easy Listening charts & stayed there

imagine hearing that song multiple times while shopping for xmas presents in 1966

omg I'm just hearing "Hang On Sloopy" for the first time—this *is* insane

I like "Winchester Cathedral" a whole lot; dunno if I'd vote for it being the best among this outstanding list though, but it certainly is a fine and fun single.

... "Chapel of Love", on the other hand, I heard *constantly* on oldies radio as a kid. never knew the title or performer until now, tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeW2cyyYUMc

vs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lIup-Dma1I

okay jumping from that vid to "Tighten Up" (also never heard before) just spun my head right 'round

'tighten up' over '96 tears', 'happy together', 'leader of the pack'

Whachu mean when you say that he came from the wrong side of town?

Has to be 96 Tears. There really isn't a one hit wonder from that era so catchy and relistenable.

As an Ohioan, fuck Hang On Sloopy 4-ever.

Voting for Happy Together.

The Letter

As a (mostly) lurker, I'm not going to vote. Just wanted to step in to say that I wouldn't be able to anyway, since "96 Tears" and "Sugar, Sugar" are probably my two favorite songs.

Just looking at that list is intimidating. The 60's really was the peak of pop music.

this is the little dance they make you do for eternity in hell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8zCEkI7mdU

wanted to vote for leader of the pack but then I remembered that the shangri-las have better songs/the universe is cruel

wanted to vote for wild thing but couldn't just out of spite wrt the ample and sundry garage band covers

i didn't know steam were white.

i guess tighten up but i can't explain it more than anything else

"Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" right up there with "Louie, Louie" wrt hastily recorded B-sides that the band/label thought was throwaway garbage but became massive and enduring hits.

Why is "Mr. Tambourine Man" so often cited as the first major folk-rock hit when "House of the Rising Sun" predates it by a year?

"Kind Of A Drag" doesn't sound good- or catchy enough to be a #1 hit.

The guy singing "The Letter" sounds about 25 years older than the guy who sang "September Gurls"

Undecided for now on my vote, probably either "Monday Morning" or "Incense and Pepperments"

Strongest lineup of any ilm poll

Cant rly choose btwn idk 6 of these

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

96 tears but leader of the pack is a v close 2nd

Hell of a good mix tape this would be

OK, I honestly believe that Sugar Sugar is possibly the greatest song ever recorded, but I have such emotional feels about the Shangri-Las and the girl group era in general, and Leader of the Pack in specific that it would actually cause me pain not to vote for it.

I have a couple of bubblegum albums that are basically album versions of this list, and yes, there was something very special about this music, but, still, there is great and amazing and emotionally evocative bubblegum in every single era. This one just has the *longest* golden glow of nostalgia.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.