3 Rock Songs From the 1960s That Sound Like They’re From a Different Decade

Three songs released in or around the late 1960s are presented as sounding ahead of their time: Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild”, the Beach Boys’ “All I Wanna Do” and Big Brother & the Holding Company’s “Summertime”. Their heavy rock, hazy textures and intense vocals anticipated styles associated with later decades.

“Born to Be Wild” appeared in 1968 and gained wider recognition through the 1969 film *Easy Rider*; its driving sound and “heavy metal thunder” lyric pointed towards later heavy metal. The Beach Boys recorded “All I Wanna Do” in the late 1960s, though it was released in 1970, and the article says it helped lay groundwork for shoegaze and dream pop. Big Brother & the Holding Company released their interpretation of “Summertime” in August 1968, with Janis Joplin’s raw, shifting delivery giving the older song a strikingly modern feel.