Last Updated on 27 January 2026 by Massimo M.
The Ten Most Important Records of 1967
1967 was without any doubt an extremely important year for the rock history.
1967 is the year of the definitive consecration of English psychedelia and American acid rock. It is also the year in which the first major music festival of the flower power generation took place and that is the Monterey Pop Festival .
Above all, from the musical point of view, 1967 is the year that marked the record debuts of Pink Floyd , Doors , David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix .
Despite all these great debuts, probably the most significant records that saw the light in 1967 were two: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band of the Beatles and The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico , the first work of Lou Reed’s Velvet Underground, created by the great master of pop art Andy Warhol.
In the midst of this great variety of artists it is rather difficult to isolate records that are more deserving than others, however we will try to identify the ten most important records of 1967.
Clearly in the comments you can add the discs that you think are worthy of being on this list.
It starts with a bang because in January 1967 The Doors released their first album . The disc contains the super single “Light My Fire” which will reach number one in the United States in July. The single is a modified and shortened version of the original song on the album which lasts seven minutes. The Doors will come to second place in the US sales charts and for a debut album I’d say it’s not bad.
Between January, in the UK, and February, in the US, Rolling stones’ Between the buttons comes out . It’s an interesting record because it shows the skin change the band was trying to bring about. After the publication of Revolver by the Beatles, Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys and Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde in 1966, the way of understanding rock had changed considerably, and even Jagger and his associates decided to follow this wind of novelty. Between the Buttons brought the new wave of psychedelia / pop to the Stones discography, which betrayed above all influences of the Kinks.
In February 1967 another big hit. Jefferson Airplane release their Surrealistic pillow , the band’s second album and first with Grace slick on vocals . The disc contains two of the most famous pieces of the entire production of Jefferson Airplane or Somebody to love and White rabbit. Just Grace Slick, joining the band, brings these two songs as a dowry, written while she was part of another group, The great society. These songs will be enormously appreciated by the public of the time, obtaining excellent placings in the Billboard charts and towing the Surrealistic Pillow.
In June comes the eighth Beatles album, probably their absolute masterpiece. Obviously this is Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
What about a record where everything and the opposite of everything has been said? It is undoubtedly a work in which the creativity of the band reaches its maximum expression by producing an album like they have never seen before. It is one of the most famous records in rock history and one of the first concept albums ever made. Eleven million copies have been sold in the United States and thirty-two million worldwide, winning four Grammy awards in 1967.
In June it is also time for David Bowie’s recording debut. The album, with the same name, is quite far from the typical style of Bowie but testifies, for this reason it is an important album, the great creative energy of the singer who will be the fundamental element of his immense artistic production.
August 1967. Another debut album, another band destined to make music history. In fact, The piper at the gates of dawn dei Pink Floyd. The record is largely the brainchild of Syd Barrett and his passion for lysergic travel. There are long “space” compositions (Astronomy Domine, Interstellar overdrive) and strange and curious songs, like Lucifer Sam. It is a record far from the best known sounds of the future Pink Floyd but it remains an album of undoubted quality and importance for the history of rock.
Also in August 1967 the first album of the same name by Big brother and the holding company was released. It is above all the debut of one of the most important female voices of the whole rock scene or of Janis Joplin. After having literally hypnotized the public at the Monterey festival especially thanks to the singing performance of Janis Joplin, Big brothers sign a contract with Columbia Records and release their debut album which reaches number 60 in the United States.
In November Disraeli gears comes out, second record effort by the super group formed by Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce . It is obviously a record of the highest musical quality where the blues of the origins blends perfectly with psychedelia and its specific characteristics. The improvement and novelty of Disraeli Gears were received by critics and the public, thanks also to the concert tours that led Cream to play a little everywhere. Within Disraeli gears there is also Sunshine of your love song characterized by elements of hard rock, psychedelia, and pop, which is one of the most famous and well-known songs of Cream.
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