4 Hits That Prove 1968 Was an Early Peak Year for Hard Rock

The genre we loosely call hard rock didn’t just appear overnight, all at once. It started to morph into existence out of different styles such as beat music, garage rock, and psychedelia as the 60s progressed.

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By 1968, the genre was starting to really make its presence felt. These four hit singles from that calendar year prove our point.

“Sunshine Of Your Love” by Cream

Eric Clapton received much of the notoriety for Cream. But you can hear all three members rising to the occasion on this beloved hit. Jack Bruce plays the thudding bass riff and trades off on lead vocals with Clapton. As for Slowhand, he offers a trippy solo that, ever so briefly, borrows a melody from the old chestnut “Blue Moon”. And Ginger Baker wallops the beat with fierce abandon. Give some credit as well to Pete Brown, a Cream associate who often helped them with their lyrics. Nobody was prepared for a trio to make this kind of racket. But people sure loved it when they did.

“Hello, I Love You” by The Doors

This song certainly had some hard rock influences, influences that were maybe a shade too faithful. Ray Davies of The Kinks has claimed that he received a settlement from The Doors due to “Hello, I Love You” coming a bit too close to “All Day And All Of The Night”. And Doors’ guitarist Robby Krieger admitted that John Densmore’s drum pattern was modeled on what Ginger Baker did on “Sunshine Of Your Love”. The Doors took those elements and created a song that somehow combines romance with menace. Jim Morrison’s insinuating vocal delivery plays a big part in that vibe.

“Born To Be Wild” by Steppenwolf

This song contains the phrase “heavy metal thunder.” If that doesn’t qualify it as hard rock, we don’t know what will. The ultimate road anthem was written by a Canadian musician by the name of Mars Bonfire. His brother was in a band that eventually became Steppenwolf, which is how the band heard the song. Guitar pyrotechnics join up with the motorcycle-engine rhythms to create an indelible effect. To this day, you can’t hear this song without thinking of bikers tooling down the open road. “Born To Be Wild” just missed out on the top spot in the US charts in 1968, settling for No. 2.

“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by The Rolling Stones

Yes, by their standards, The Rolling Stones’ 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request was a bit of a mess. But, to their credit, they realized that their foray into psychedelia and baroque pop had reached its logical conclusion. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” brought them back to blues-based rock with ferocious purpose. The narrator endures a litany of painful degradations, only to insist that it’s all “a gas.” Keith Richards located another riff for the ages to give the song a flying start. Richards’ gardener inspired the name of the song, forever earning himself a place in rock history.

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