60s Music Quiz
Motown, the British Invasion and the golden age of the cover. Name the Beatles, the Supremes, Dylan and the surf-rock hits of the 60s.
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The 60s at a glance
- Years
- 1960 to 1969
- What defined it
- The British Invasion reshaped the charts, Motown turned Detroit soul into pop gold, and psychedelic rock pushed the studio into new territory as the decade closed.
- Dominant sounds
- Beat and pop rock · Motown soul · folk rock · surf rock · psychedelic rock · the Nashville Sound in country
- Key genres
- Rock and roll, soul and R&B, folk and protest music, surf rock, psychedelia, blues rock, progressive and baroque rock
- Signature instruments and tech
- Rickenbacker 12-string guitars · Fender amps with spring reverb · the sitar and Indian ragas · the Mellotron · multitrack studio recording
- Essential artists
- The Beatles · The Rolling Stones · Bob Dylan · The Supremes · Aretha Franklin · The Beach Boys · Jimi Hendrix · The Byrds · The Four Tops
- Songs to know
- I Want to Hold Your Hand · Like a Rolling Stone · Respect · Baby Love · House of the Rising Sun · Louie Louie
- The industry
- Motown and its Tamla label out of Detroit · Atlantic Records for soul · the 45 rpm single and the LP · television breakthroughs on The Ed Sullivan Show
- Why the 1960s is fun to guess
- The hooks are short and instantly familiar, so one bar of a Supremes chorus or a Beatles riff is often all you need to name the song.
- Where to start
- Begin with the giant crossover hits: the Beatles, the Supremes and the Beach Boys are the friendliest on-ramp before the deeper cuts.
- The tricky ones
- One-off garage and surf hits like Louie Louie or a Byrds jangle can fool you, and Motown singles often sound like siblings.
The Artists Who Defined the 60s
The Beatles and the Stones led the British Invasion, Motown sent the Supremes and the Four Tops up the charts, and Aretha Franklin crowned soul. The decade's biggest names all wait in the lineup.
The Rolling Stones
'Satisfaction' landed in 1965, 'Angry' in 2023: six decades from one band. Guess the Rolling Stones song, then place the decade Jagger and Richards cut it in.Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix played a right-handed Stratocaster flipped upside down and turned feedback into music. Guess the Jimi Hendrix song and place his four blazing years before the 27 Club.Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is the first laureate primarily famous as a popular singer-songwriter to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Guess the Bob Dylan song and place the turn from acoustic protest to going electric.The Beach Boys
Dennis Wilson was the classic lineup's only avid surfer, yet their harmonies defined surf-pop before Brian Wilson reinvented it on Pet Sounds. Guess the Beach Boys song and trace the arc.Stevie Wonder
On 'Superstition,' Stevie Wonder played the drums, Moog bass and clavinet riff himself. Guess the Stevie Wonder song, then hear one man playing the whole band.Paul McCartney
On his 1970 debut, McCartney played nearly every instrument himself. Guess the Paul McCartney song, then place it: Beatle, Wing, solo, or duet?Elvis Presley
The King made 'Hound Dog' famous, but Big Mama Thornton recorded it first. Guess the Elvis Presley song, then name who really cut it first.Frank Sinatra
The phrasing and swagger that made him the Chairman of the Board. His anthem 'My Way' borrowed its melody from a French song, 'Comme d'habitude'.Nat King Cole
A jazz pianist who became pop's smoothest voice. His 1961 re-recording of 'Unforgettable' anchored a 1991 posthumous duet with daughter Natalie Cole.The Songs That Defined the 60s
From the bassline of 'My Girl' to the riff of 'Satisfaction', the decade's biggest tracks give themselves away from the opening bar. And half of them started life as someone else's song.
- 01
Hey Jude
1968
- 02
Respect
1967
- 03
Satisfaction
1965
- 04
My Girl
1964
- 05
Good Vibrations
1966
- 06
Like a Rolling Stone
1965
- 07
Light My Fire
1967
- 08
Mrs. Robinson
1968
60s Music Trivia
73 million viewers for the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, Dylan going electric at Newport, the reverb trick behind surf rock. The 60s is full of stories that make sharp trivia.
- The Beatles' first Ed Sullivan Show appearance on February 9, 1964 drew an estimated 73 million viewers, a record for American television at the time, and the easiest name in any guess the artist round.
- Motown scored its first US number one in 1961 with the Marvelettes' Please Mr. Postman, launching the label's long run of chart-toppers from Detroit.
- The Animals' 1964 recording of House of the Rising Sun is cited as the first commercially successful folk song recorded with rock and roll instrumentation.
- Bob Dylan's electric performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, weeks after Like a Rolling Stone, stunned folk purists and helped ignite folk rock, a story that settles many a round when you challenge your friends.
- Surf rock got its shimmering sound by cranking the spring reverb on Fender amplifiers to the maximum, heard on Dick Dale's Let's Go Trippin'.
The 60s: the full story
The 60s trap is 'who did it first?' Half the decade's biggest hits were covers or handoffs: the Byrds turned Dylan's 'Mr. Tambourine Man' into folk rock, the Animals reworked an old folk ballad into 'House of the Rising Sun', and a single Motown song could belong to three different acts. Then the originals hit just as hard. The Beatles drew 73 million viewers to Ed Sullivan in 1964 and set off the British Invasion, the Supremes stacked up number ones, and Aretha Franklin took 'Respect' and made it hers in 1967. Our 60s music quiz leans into that confusion. Guess the song from the opening bar, and see whether you can tell the cover from the original. Browse more quizzes on music by decade or switch to a music genre quiz.
60s Music Quiz FAQ
What is the 60s music quiz?
The 60s music quiz is not one quiz but a whole collection of 1960s rounds you can play back to back. Each one drops you into the decade that gave us the British Invasion, Motown and the Summer of Love. You hear a track, then race to name the song or the artist behind it, from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to the Supremes and Aretha Franklin. It is replayable and built for anyone who loves the era.
Which artists and songs show up in the quiz?
Expect the giants of the decade. The Beatles turn up with I Want to Hold Your Hand, Bob Dylan with Like a Rolling Stone, and the Byrds with their folk rock cover of Mr. Tambourine Man. Motown is everywhere, from the Supremes' Baby Love to the Four Tops. Soul arrives through Aretha Franklin's Respect, surf through the Beach Boys, and garage rock through the Kingsmen's Louie Louie. If you want to guess the 60s song, these are the names to know.
Is the 60s music quiz free to play?
Yes, the 60s music quiz is free, with no signup required to start playing right away. You can jump into a round as a guest and test your ear, or guess the song with friends in multiplayer, against Motown, the British Invasion and psychedelic rock without paying anything. If you sign in, the game saves your stats, tracks your streaks, and lets you climb the weekly league against other players. That makes this 60s music trivia easy to try once and rewarding to come back to.
How hard is it to guess the 60s song?
The difficulty scales with you. The huge crossover hits, like the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Supremes, are easy to name from the opening bar, so beginners feel confident quickly. The challenge grows with deeper cuts: one-hit surf and garage tracks, lesser-known Motown B-sides, and psychedelic experiments from the 13th Floor Elevators. Because the rounds stay short and varied, you can push your speed and accuracy without ever getting stuck on a single tune.
What makes 1960s tracks so recognizable?
The 1960s built songs around short, unforgettable hooks, which is exactly what makes them easy to recognize. Motown leaned on James Jamerson's bass and tight vocal harmonies, surf rock on drenched Fender reverb, and folk rock on the jangle of Rickenbacker 12-string guitars. Add the sitar and studio effects of psychedelia, and each style has a fingerprint. One bar of Baby Love or the riff from Louie Louie is often all you need to place the track.
Sources & methodology
Sources consulted
Wikipedia · AllMusic · Pitchfork · Billboard · Songtrivia editorial team.
Our methodology
Each topic is curated by a Quiz Master with category expertise. Selection crosses cultural impact, chart performance, recognition potential and era variety.