Golden Oldies Music

The year 1960 was a leap year and started on a Friday. The U.S. had the hotly contested presidential race between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. It was also known as “The Year of Africa” because the independence of seventeen nations there focused attention on the continent. Elvis Presley returned home after two years of service for the U.S. Army and being stationed in Germany. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz filed for divorce. Domino’s Pizza was founded. Harper Lee published To Kill a Mocking Bird. It won the Pullitzer Prize for the best American novel of 1960. The Flintstones, which was an animated take-off of The Honeymooners, premiered. It was initially considered as entertainment for adults rather than children. Westerns were solidly in the Top Ten TV list (e.g., Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Have Gun — Travel), but sitcoms and variety shows began to gain ground. The American Football League came into being as a rival to the NFL. And the music? Doo Wop, rock and roll, pop singers, R&B, rockabilly, country all continued to be popular. We started dancing to the Twist.

Here are the selections:

1. The Angeles Listened In by The Crests
2. Baby (You’ve Got What it Takes) by Dinah Washington and Brook Benton
3. Beyond the Sea by Bobby Darin
4. Finger Poppin’ Time” by Hank Ballard and The Midnighters
5. Harbor Lights by The Platters
6. Image of a Girl by The Safaris
7. It’s Now or Never by Elvis Presley
8. Let the Little Girl Dance” by Billy Bland
9. Night by Jackie Wilson
10. Only the Lonely by Roy Orbison
11. Puppy Love by Paul Anka
12. Save the Last Dance for Me by The Drifters
13. Sixteen Reasons Connie Stevens
14. Stay by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs
15. Sweet Nothin’s by Brenda Lee
16. Teen Angel by Mark Dinning
17. The Twist by Chubby Checker
18. When Will I be Loved by The Everly Brothers
19. Where or When by Dion and the Belmonts
20. Wild One by Bobby Rydell

If you would like to hear some hits from 1959: “Golden Oldies Playlist for 1959.”

For More Golden Oldies Music                

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop, rock and roll, R&B, or rockabilly songs that were hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

Please click here for the Daily Doo Wop YouTube channel, to which you can subscribe. Thank you for stopping by The Daily Doo Wop.