Best Non-Hip Hop Albums of the 1960s

Now that I'm done with the 60's, I've made my decision on the best decade in music. The late 60's vs. the early 70's is too close to call, so it comes down to the early 60's vs. the late 70's. The only genre I'm really familiar with from the early 60's is jazz, and there are more than enough great jazz albums from that period that it doesn't matter that I haven't heard much from other genres. The late 70's had a lot of music that was still hanging on to the glory of the previous 10 years, but there were also a lot of signs of the shitty music that was to come in the 80's. Overall, the 60's was the best decade in music because there was as much, if not more great music, but much less bad music than the 70's. I'm sure I have a few years wrong, but it doesn't really matter. The best album of the 60's is Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan.

Albums highlighted in yellow are DD-Cup/5 Mech classics

1960

1. Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain (Jazz)
2. Charles Mingus - Blues & Roots (Jazz)
3. John Coltrane - Giant Steps (Jazz)
4. Charles Mingus - Mingus at Antibes (Jazz)
5. Yusef Lateef - The Three Faces of Yusef Lateef (Jazz)
6. Bo Diddley - Have Guitar, Will Travel (Rock and Roll/Blues)
7. Wes Montgomery - The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (Jazz)
8. Bobby Timmons - Soul Time (Jazz)
9. Horace Silver - Horace-Scope (Jazz)
10. Charles Mingus - Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Jazz)

1961

1. Yusef Lateef - Eastern Sounds (Jazz)
2. Horace Silver - Doin' the Thing (At the Village Gate) (Jazz)
3. Etta James - At Last (Blues/Vocal Jazz/Vocal Pop)
4. Bobby Bland - Two Steps from the Blues (Soul Blues)
5. Max Roach - Percussion Bitter Sweet (Jazz)
6. Ornette Coleman - This is Our Music (Free Jazz)
7. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things (Jazz)
8. Sun Ra - The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra (Jazz)
9. John Coltrane - Live at the Village Vanguard (Jazz)
10. Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley is a Lover (Rock and Roll/Blues)
11. Bill Evans - Explorations (Jazz)
12. Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz (Free Jazz)

1962

1. Wes Montgomery - Full House (Jazz)
2. Roy Orbison - Crying (Rock and Roll)
3. Dexter Gordon - Go! (Jazz)
4. Ornette Coleman - Ornette! (Free Jazz)
5. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Domino (Jazz)
6. Ray Charles - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (R&B/Country)
7. Charles Mingus - Tijuana Moods (Jazz)
8. Horace Silver - The Tokyo Blues (Jazz)
9. John Coltrane - Ballads (Jazz)
10. Max Roach - It's Time (Jazz)

1963

1. Thelonious Monk - Monk's Dream (Jazz)
2. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (Jazz)
3. Grant Green - Idle Moments (Jazz)
4. John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman - John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (Jazz/Vocal Jazz)
5. Charles Mingus - Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (Jazz)
6. John Coltrane - Live at Birdland (Jazz)
7. Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (Folk)
8. Miles Davis - Seven Steps to Heaven (Jazz)
9. Solomon Burke - If You Need Me (Soul)
10. Sam Cooke - Night Beat (Soul)

1964

1. Stan Getz & João Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto (Bossa Nova)
2. Sam Cooke - Ain't That Good News (Soul)
3. Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch! (Free Jazz)
4. Yusef Lateef - Live at Pep's Vol. 2 (Jazz)
5. Yusef Lateef - Live at Pep's Vol. 1 (Jazz)
6. Solomon Burke - Rock 'n' Soul (Soul)
7. Archie Shepp - Four for Trane (Jazz)
8. The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night (Rock)
9. Cal Tjader - Soul Sauce (Latin Jazz)
10. Andrew Hill - Point of Departure (Free Jazz)

1965

1. The Beatles - Rubber Soul (Rock)
2. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (Jazz)
3. Horace SIlver - Song for My Father (Jazz)
4. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (Folk Rock)
5. Bobby Hutcherson - Dialogue (Jazz)
6. Wes Montgomery - Bumpin' (Jazz)
7. Larry Young - Unity (Jazz)
8. Thelonious Monk - Solo Monk (Jazz/Solo Piano)
9. The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man (Folk Rock)
10. Otis Redding - Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (Soul)
11. Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil (Jazz)
12. Andrew Hill - Compulsion (Free Jazz)
13. Thelonious Monk - Monk. (Jazz)
14. Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home (Folk/Folk Rock)
15. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Rip, Rig and Panic (Jazz)
16. Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage (Jazz)

1966

1. Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde (Folk Rock)
2. Yusef Lateef - The Golden Flute (Jazz)
3. James Carr - You Got My Mind Messed Up (Soul)
4. The Beatles - Revolver (Rock)
5. Galt MacDermot - Shapes of Rhythm (Jazz)
6. Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield (Folk Rock)
7. John Coltrane - Ascension (Free Jazz)
8. Don Cherry - Symphony for Improvisors (Free Jazz)
9. Simon and Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (Folk/Folk Rock)
10. Percy Sledge - Warm & Tender Soul (Soul)
11. John Lee Hooker - It Serves You Right to Suffer (Blues)
12. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (Sunshine Pop)
13. The Kinks - Face to Face (Rock)

1967

1. The Kinks - Something Else by the Kinks (Rock)
2. Thelonious Monk - Straight, No Chaser (Jazz)
3. The Moody Blues - Days of Future Past (Progressive Rock)
4. Love - Forever Changes (Psychedelic Rock)
5. McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoy (Jazz)
6. The Doors - The Doors (Psychedelic Rock)
7. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced (Psychedelic Rock)
8. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold as Love (Psychedelic Rock)
9. Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding (Folk Rock)
10. Duke Pearson - The Right Touch (Jazz)
11. Gábor Szabó - The Sorcerer (Jazz)
12. Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield Again (Folk Rock)
13. Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim - Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim (Bossa Nova/Vocal Pop)
14. Archie Shepp - The Magic of Ju-Ju (Free Jazz)
15. Country Joe & The Fish - Electric Music for the Mind and Body (Psychedelic Rock)
16. Cream - Disraeli Gears (Psychedelic Rock)
17. Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow (Psychedelic Rock)

1968

1. Yusef Lateef - The Blue Yusef Lateef (Jazz)
2. The United States of America - The United States of America (Psychedelic Rock)
3. The Kinks - The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society (Rock)
4. The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo (Country/Folk Rock)
5. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - The Inflated Tear (Jazz)
6. The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle (Psychedelic Rock)
7. The Delfonics - La La Means I Love You (Philly Soul)
8. The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers (Psychedelic Rock)
9. Sun Ra - Outer Spaceways Incorporated (Free Jazz)
10. Irma Thomas - Take a Look (Soul)
11. Margo Guryan - Take a Picture (Sunshine Pop)
12. Miles Davis - Nefertiti (Jazz)
13. Lonnie Smith - Think (Jazz)
14. Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul (Soul)
15. The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat (Experimental Rock)
16. Steve Marcus - Tomorrow Never Knows (Jazz)
17. The Band - Music from Big Pink (Rock)
18. Keith Jarrett - Somewhere Before (Jazz)
19. Otis Redding - The Dock of the Bay (Soul)
20. The Doors - Waiting for the Sun (Psychedelic Rock)
21. James Carr - A Man Needs a Woman (Soul)
22. Duke Ellington - …And His Mother Called Him Bill (Jazz)

1969

1. Sun Ra - Atlantis (Jazz)
2. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (Folk)
3. Can - Monster Movie (Krautrock/Psychedelic Rock)
4. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (Progressive Rock)
5. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (Folk Rock/Hard Rock)
6. The Kinks - Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (Rock)
7. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II (Hard Rock)
8. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poors Boys (Roots Rock)
9. The Beatles - Abbey Road (Rock)
10. Moody Blues - To Our Children's Children's Children (Progressive Rock)
11. Pharoah Sanders - Karma (Free Jazz)
12. Townes Van Zandt - Our Mother the Mountain (Country/Folk)
13. Doris Duke - I'm a Loser (Soul)
14. Lonnie Smith - Move Your Hand (Jazz)
15. Bettye Swann - Don't You Ever Get Tired of Hurting Me (Soul)
16. B.B. King - Completely Well (Blues)
17. Jethro Tull - Stand Up (Progressive Rock)
18. Wendy & Bonnie - Genesis (Psychedelic Pop)
19. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Volunteered Slavery (Jazz)
20. The Who - Tommy (Rock Opera)
21. Leonard Cohen - Songs from a Room (Folk)
22. Deep Purple - Deep Purple (Hard Rock)
23. John Barry - On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Soundtrack)
24. Grand Funk Railroad - On Time (Hard Rock)