In my Rise And Fall Of Rock And Roll post, I ignored an important chunk of modern music, because it didn’t fit the Singer/Songwriter motif that I had going. In the early/mid 1960s, there were a surprising number of songs that did well on the Hit Parade, with no words at all. It was the tiny little era of the instrumental.
There were the guitar-driven rock-type songs like
Wipeout – The Ventures
Pipeline – The Chantays
Telstar – The Tornadoes
Walk Don’t Run – The Ventures
This was the first record that I ever owned.
Apache – The Shadows
While there were guitars in back-up, this was a percussion tour de force.
Let There be Drums – Sandy Nelson
A sort of cross between folk, and surf-rock.
Miserlou – Dick Dale
Let’s Go Tripping – Dick Dale
Something more in a Country flavor
Rebel Rouser – Duane Eddy
Country/Pop with steel guitars
Sleepwalk – Santo & Johnny
Teardrop – Santo & Johnny
A Country/Rock version of an old folk song
Beatnik Fly – Johnny & the Hurricanes
There were more orchestral, and less-Rock songs
Classical Gas – Mason Williams
Rinky-Dink – Dave baby Cortez
Last Date – Floyd Cramer
Soulful Strut – Young-Holt Unlimited
Stranger on the Shore – Aker Bilk
Peter Gunn Theme – Henry Mancini
Grazing in the Grass – Hugh Masekela
The Lonely Bull – Herb Alpert
Soul Twist – King Curtis
A Taste of Honey – Herb Alpert
Tracey’s Theme – Billy Vaughan
Click on any of the titles for individual YouTube concerts. These are perhaps most of the good ones. If you’d like to take a stroll back through the ‘Good Old Days’ of music, click below.
1960’s Instrumental Hits – https://www.google.ca/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNR2ivX8mPkk94pXbkt6B8GG-PAfNg%3A1581038839884&source=hp&ei=97w8Xr_YM8Gk_QbPtIOgCw&q=1960s+instrumental+hits&oq=1960s+instrumen&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0l7j0i22i30l3.13150.26396..32723…5.0..0.1241.3882.11j3j5-1j1j1……0….1..gws-wiz…..10..35i362i39j0i131j0i13j0i13i30.BOxbDJax408
Archon's Den 