The Grooviest One Hit Wonder Rock Songs Of The 60s

Like hey man, get ready to tune in, turn on, and drop out with the 7 grooviest one-hit wonder rock songs of the 60s. Come on man, don’t be a square!

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The 1960’s Were A Very Turbulent Time In Our Nation’s History.

Compared to today, think of it as 3 times the chaos, with no social media! There was, however, social change. From the fight for equal rights for minorities to the fight for equal rights for women, the Cold War, the generation gap, the war raging in Vietnam, and more. The 1960s were defined by change in America. No more so than in the world of music. Artists like the Beatles and Bob Dylan gave direction to a generation confused about where they belonged. It all came to a head one August weekend in upstate New York, at the famed Woodstock Music & Arts Festival at Bethel Woods.

Once You Get Through The ’60s, Check Out These One Hit Wonders Of The ’70s!

Not all the music was life-changing or decade-defining, however. Some songs like the the ones on our groovy list of One Hit Wonder Rock Songs Of The 60s, are just fun novelty songs. Others were written to be as impactful protest anthems as songs from the Beatles, Dylan, The Stones, or Crosby Stills Nash, and Young, but just didn’t have the staying power of those artists, for whatever reason.

One song on this list has gone on to be a well-known novelty hit generations over. Another has been covered by legendary bands like The Who, and Rush. Still, another is heard today in sports stadiums across the country. Nope, our One Hit Wonder Rock Songs Of The 60’s have staying power in their way. These artists might not be remembered for their long catalog of hits, but they are at least remembered once. Now that’s groovy man, so let’s turn it up!

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• In A Gadda Da Vida - Iron Butterfly 1968

  Definitely the most hard rocking of all the One Hit Wonder Rock Songs Of The 60s. The Southern California based Iron Butterfly is still well respected today as pioneers, along with Deep Purple and Black Sabbath in developing  the heavy sound we all know and love.

• Wipeout - The Surfaries 1963

  A surf music instrumental composed by Bob Berryhill, Pat Connolly, Jim Fuller, and Ron Wilson, in the form of twelve-bar blues, the tune was first performed and recorded by The Surfaries who became famous with the single in 1963. It was featured in no less than 20 television shows and feature films in the 1960’s alone! 

• Summertime Blues - Blue Cheer 1968

  A decade after Eddie Cochran wrote and had a hit with Summertime Blues, the band Blue Cheer climbed the charts with a heavy, crunchy, psychedelic version of the song. Although they had some other moderate successes, nothing brought Blue more Cheers than this one. So good!

• Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye - Steam 1969

  So the legend has it there were these three songwriters. They wrote a blues shuffle style instrumental and it didn’t really become a hit. Years later when two had a falling out with the third and he quit the writing trio, they put lyrics the the instrumental, made it a bit more modern sounding, and boom, next thing you know they were kissing their old writing partner goodbye and enjoying one hit wonder success!

• Fire - The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown 1968

  I mean this was 60’s drug culture to it’s finest. Arthur Brown had an operatic voice and a love of the crazy and macabre. No more on display than with this, his band’s only hit. Of course the memorable opening line sets the tone for the rest of the song. This video gave me nightmares when they played it on MTV Classics.

• Little Bit O Soul - Music Explosion 1967

  If I had known that a little bit o soul is all you need to get the fish to bite, I would have switched from worms years ago. An original garage rock band from Ohio, these guys had the world in their hand for a short time in the summer of 1967.

• Green Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers

  This song was one of the first Psychedelic rock songs to be a chart topper. Oddly enough written by Paul Leka, who also co wrote Na Na Hey Hey. Also strange is that like Music Explosion, The Lemon Pipers where also from Ohio! This song’s a bit to happy for me.