The 10 Greatest Classic Rock Songs That Defined the 1960s

Image via Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection Published Sep 18, 2026, 8:01 AM EDT Val Barone is a journalist working remotely and specializing in music features. A passionate music lover, she keeps up to date on the latest developments in the entertainment world, and in the past five years, she's written for several sites, including ScreenRant, MovieWeb, TheThings, and Far Out Magazine. She covers breaking news in the music world and loves sharing stories about the classic rock musicians she grew up listening to. As a Gen Z writer, she offers a fresh perspective on the events that change music history. Sign in to your Collider account The 1960s was perhaps the most important decade for rock music. By then, the genre had had time to mature, and people were starting to recognize it as a serious form of art. As rock 'n' roll became more mainstream, bands and artists all over the world started experimenting and pushing the boundaries of the genre, and many songs from that time period became the foundation for modern music. British bands like The Beatles, The Who and the Rolling Stones were at the forefront of this transformation, innovating within their art form and channeling their generation's hopes, fears, and dreams into timeless music. Across the pond, artists like Bob Dylan were writing some of the greatest lyrics in music history, unknowingly influencing writers for decades to come. Here are 10 of the greatest classic rock songs from the '60s. 10 "I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The Beatles (1964) "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is among the most iconic Beatles songs, mostly due to its significance both for fans and for the band itself. It was the first Billboard U.S. No. 1 by the Fab Four, and it marked a definite change in rock 'n' roll forever. The Beatles had been steadily growing as one of the most popular bands in Britain, and their manager and record label were pushing for them to tour the United States. However, the band felt they weren't ready. They believed that, in order to truly make it in the land that created rock 'n' roll, they needed to have a U.S. No. 1. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was the song that achieved this, and thanks to this song, The Beatles dared conquer America. Their performance of this song on The Ed Sullivan Show was a monumental moment that went down in history, and this song changed the course of the band, and rock music, forever. 9 "You Really Got Me" — The Kinks (1964) "You Really Got Me" is by far the most successful hit The Kinks ever had. The beauty of this song is that, while it's clearly a staple of its time, it's also timeless enough that you can play it at a party nowadays, and it would still get people to the dance floor. It's incredibly modern, and it became a huge influence on later rock movements like punk and heavy metal. The lyrics are very classic, straightforward rock 'n' roll. "The inspiration for the lyrics and title came to me one night while playing with Dave Hunt at The Scene Club in Soho," singer Ray Davies explained. From the stage, he saw a very attractive girl, but she sadly slipped away from him. "When we finished, I went off to find her, but she was gone and never returned to the club. She really got me going." 8 "The House of the Rising Sun" — The Animals (1964) "The House of the Rising Sun" was not written by The Animals, but it became a rock 'n' roll classic thanks to their unforgettable version of it. The first time they performed this traditional folk classic was during a joint concert with Chuck Berry, and it quickly became obvious that the blues rock style fitted this classic perfectly. Eventually, they recorded and released their legendary version in 1964, and it became a huge hit. Nowadays, most people still come back to this version, and some fans even think theirs is the original. That's how big it became. 7 "Like a Rolling Stone" — Bob Dylan (1965) Bob Dylan shaped not one, but several decades of music, but if we had to choose just one of his countless iconic tracks, "Like a Rolling Stone" would definitely be at least in the top 5. Released in 1965, it has been perceived by a lot of fans as one of the many tracks directed at Joan Baez, as part of their complicated, on-an-off romance. Though Dylan never explicitly said it was about a former lover, he did admit that it was a song about rightful anger, about proving to someone they were wrong about you. Originally, Dylan said, it was 10 pages long, and it was just him putting all his fury into words. He didn't have plans to turn it into a song, it happened almost accidentally. "In the end, it wasn’t hatred, it was telling someone something they didn’t know, telling them they were lucky. Revenge, that’s a better word. I had never thought of it as a song until one day I was at the piano, and on the paper, it was singing, ‘How does it feel?’ in a slow-motion pace, in the utmost of slow motion." 6 "Hey Jude" — The Beatles (1968) "Hey Jude" is a legendary track for many reasons. Its release marked an important moment in the band's history, since they had stopped playing live two years before, and their appearance on David Frost's TV show to perform it caused excitement among fans. The song was also 6 minutes long, and it was released as a single at a time when singles were meant to be only 3 minutes. Producer George Martin said in The Beatles Anthology that he tried to convince them not to release it as a single, claiming that no record station would play such a long single, but John Lennon argued that they would play it because it was The Beatles. And he was right. The song reached No. 1 both in the U.S. and the U.K. "Hey Jude" was written by Paul McCartney for Lennon's son Julian, offering him comfort amid his parents' divorce, and decades later, it's still an uplifting anthem of optimism. 5 "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" — The Rolling Stones (1965) This is unarguably the Rolling Stones track. While this band has a long list of hits that have shaped modern music, no song better captures the spirit of this British band, especially at the time. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" established the Rolling Stones as the "bad boys" of the British invasion groups, expressing the frustration and anger at the commercialism of the youth of the 1960s. The hook "I can't get no satisfaction" is simple enough, but incredibly compelling, and the double entendre made it even more edgy and outstanding. In the song, Mick Jagger sings angrily about invasive false advertising and sexual frustration, and no matter how much time passes, young people always seem to go back to this track. 4 "My Generation" — The Who (1965) Need we say more? "My Generation" by The Who was, explicitly, a song about the youth of the 1960s and their struggle to find their place in a world that had changed drastically from the one their parents knew before World War II. It is, admittedly, very grim, with the band feeling like their generation had no future. Guitarist Peter Townshend explained that he wrote this song about "trying to find a place in society. I was very, very lost. The band was young then. It was believed that its career would be incredibly brief," he said. Ironically, this song contributed to making The Who's career timeless, and with his raw and honest music, Townshend helped pave the way for his generation. 3 "Light My Fire" — The Doors (1967) "Light My Fire" is The Door's signature song, with perhaps the most recognizable keyboard riff in rock history. The song, written mostly by guitarist Robby Krieger, originated from the lyrics of the Rolling Stones' "Play with Fire." Keyboardist Ray Manzarek then added his own spin on the song, creating an organ riff inspired by Bach, and a solo inspired by The Sound of Music (if you listen closely, you'll recognize the song progression of "My Favorite Things"). This innovative melody, coupled with Jim Morrison's hypnotic, velvet vocals, made this song into a beacon of 1960s psychedelia. 2 "God Only Knows" — The Beach Boys (1966) Pet Sounds contains countless masterpieces, but "God Only Knows" stands out among them. The complex progression and ambiguous sound make this song sound innovative even now. The Beach Boys were at the top of their game when they released "God Only Knows" in 1966, and Brian Wilson's songwriting really shines in this earnest ballad. Paul McCartney called it one of his favorite songs ever written, and said that Pet Sounds, and this track in particular, were what encouraged The Beatles to push boundaries and experiment with harmonies and new sounds. So, this song didn't just represent The Beach Boys' incredible range, it also became a key influence in 1960s music. 1 "A Day in the Life" — The Beatles (1967) "A Day in the Life" closes The Beatles' most groundbreaking album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and it was so mind-blowingly it was even banned by the BBC at the time. "A Day in the Life" was one of the greatest Lennon-McCartney collaborations. John Lennon wrote the opening and closing verses, and Paul McCartney wrote the middle section, which was initially a completely different song. This song feels like a hazy, vivid dream, from start to finish. Lennon's raspy voice, the crescendo orchestra sections, and the jarring change from the refrain to McCartney's bridge, marked by an alarm clock, encourage this feeling of standing between dream and reality. This song is considered by many to be The Beatles' most influential track, which is no small feat, and, much like the rest of the album it belongs to, it changed the rules of rock 'n' roll forever.