5 Rock Songs From 1967 That Sound Even Cooler Today

Some songs never lose their ability to transport us to a certain feeling. In 1967, during the height of the counter culture culminating in the Summer of Love, music often incorporated an intrinsic psychedelic sound with nods to hippie drug culture, as the young boomers thought they were going expand their minds to discover new ways to be in the world and change society into one more in tune with love, nature, joy, and personal freedom. It was a nice dream. 

While all of that didn't quite work out, we were left with some tangible things, and one of those is the music. Songs from the likes of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Traffic, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, and Cream have all not only kept their cool factor but surpassed it all these years later. While what makes something cool isn't easy to quantify, we chose these songs because of the way the music still hits. In some cases, the songs on this list imbue that stank-face rock 'n' roll feel that wakes up those dark, edgy places in us. In others, the music is arranged in compelling ways that have kept the songs interesting, especially in comparison to today's rock 'n' roll. We didn't invent cool, but we know it when we see it, and these songs from 1967 sound even cooler today.

It opens with a languid groove to a mellow tempo, and soon, Traffic frontman Steve Winwood is beckoning Mr. Fantasy to "play us a tune / something to make us all happy / Do anything, take us out of this gloom / Sing a song, play guitar / Make it snappy." There is something about the delivery of "Mr. Fantasy" that gets your attention from the moment he starts singing, and as the song continues, we understand that Mr. Fantasy gives so much to others that he has nothing left for himself, as Winwood sings, "You are the one who can make us all laugh / But doing that, you break out in tears."

It's pretty interesting that the band came up with this mildly complex character once you know that the song was inspired by a drawing drummer Jim Capaldi did one day. He said in the "Mr. Fantasy: 50th Anniversary Mini-Documentary" on YouTube, "I'd drawn this character playing a guitar, with puppet hands instead of his own hands. I wrote a letter next to it: 'Dear Mr. Fantasy, play us a tune." The doodle was lying around the cottage the band was staying in while working on the album when his bandmates started building a song off of it, and it ended up on Traffic's debut album, "Mr. Fantasy." 

Beyond Winwood's impossible to ignore pleas, the song builds as it progresses, with punctuations of "Ooh-woahs," plenty of harmonica, and a pretty scorching guitar solo before the song slips back into its more chill mode, then brings back a powerful crescendo. The song sounds a little ahead of its time for 1967, which may be why it has held up so well.

Grace Slick says "White Rabbit" was about more than a psychedelic trip, a theme the song is strongly associated with. Yes, it was trippy times in San Francisco in 1967, but that was only part of it, man. According to the Jefferson Airplane frontwoman, the white rabbit in the song was symbolic of curiosity and seeing where that leads, and more specifically, as she wrote for The Guardian in 2021, the song's allusions to Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" were similar to her experiences as a young woman in San Francisco in the 1960s: "Alice was on her own, and she was in a very strange place, but she kept on going and she followed her curiosity — that's the White Rabbit. A lot of women could have taken a message from that story about how you can push your own agenda."

We're pretty sure most people didn't take that from the song, what with all the references to taking pills and mushrooms to change your size while in some sort of magical realm where "logic and proportion / have fallen sloppy dead." But the song from the album "Surrealistic Pillow" still sounds really cool in large part due to its composition. There is something crisp and direct in the delivery of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" that captivates. The Spanish-inspired sound of the snare drum juxtaposed against the dreamy Eastern influenced guitar melody, all buoying Slick's powerful command of the lyrics, combine to make a classic rock song that sounds surreal and unique. 

In 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience put out two albums that were, and still are, masterclasses in badassery: their self-titled debut album and "Axis: Bold as Love." "Manic Depression" was the second song on the band's first album, and it comes out swinging thanks to drummer Mitch Mitchell's work behind the kit. While Hendrix was a guitar god, "Manic Depression" leans more into percussive elements, with the driving beat heavy on triplets pushing the song forward with an upbeat tempo. Hendrix delivers some guitar wails as he carries us on the journey that feels something like a runaway train. Amazingly, the song was recorded in just one take, according to a Mitchell quote in the book "Jimi Hendrix, The Ultimate Experience."

The term "Manic Depression" in the 1960s was a sort of loose reference to what we call bipolar disorder today, but the song isn't really about that. Maybe Hendrix just related to the "depression" part. He is quoted as saying in 1967, "I can't write no happy songs. 'Foxy Lady' is about the only happy song I've written. [I] don't feel very happy when I start writing" (via Cosmic Magazine). 

The song is about wanting a woman and the frustration he felt when things weren't working out. Hendrix sings: "Manic Depression is searching my soul / I know what I want but I just don't know / how to go about getting it," and later, "I wish I could caress and kiss, kiss / Manic depression is a frustrating mess! Wow!" Songs just don't sound like this anymore, but maybe they should. Because "Manic Depression" is easily cooler than a lot of stuff out there today. Just sayin'. 

In 1966, Janis Joplin joined Big Brother and the Holding Company, bringing the song "Bye, Bye Baby" with her, and it ended up the first song on their self-titled 1967 album. It had been written by her friend from her home state of Texas, Powell St. John, and her new band made it shine with syncopated rhythm and Latin influences. It's a groovy little number, with a driving beat backing Joplin's unmistakable voice. The thing that makes it a standout is the way the lyrics and the musical arrangement work together to create a feeling of lightness or positivity about moving on in life after a breakup. With lyrics like, "Lord, I might've been your wife / But you settled for a place right in my heart / You didn't want a place in my life / So long, my honey, so long / I guess you know you're on your own." 

Six decades later, the song is relatable to anyone who has had to move on from a relationship while still having feelings for the other person. It's a good day when you get to the place where you are looking forward instead of back, and that's why this song still works. It's the sun coming out after the rain. By virtue of being a vintage piece of music that was expertly composed and is still universally relatable, the toe-tapper that is "Bye, Bye Baby" gets a spot on our list. 

Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" is some serious rock 'n' roll. Off of 1967's "Disraeli Gears," the band's sophomore album, the song was also their best-selling single, moving half a million records. "Sunshine of Your Love" was a departure from Cream's first album, which leaned heavily into the blues realm. If you notice a similarity in the driving rhythm of this song and "Manic Depression," it may be because Cream singer and bassist Jack Bruce took inspiration for the bassline for "Sunshine" after going to a Jimi Hendrix concert. Drummer Ginger Baker then threw an emphasis on the downbeat, Eric Clapton worked his magic on the guitar, and the group had a bona fide banger. 

Listening to the song today, it has that unmistakable opening riff that makes us feel like something dark and seedy is afoot, but in the best possible way. Even though the music seems to come from some foreboding place, the lyrics are about love. Again. "Yes, I'm with you, my love / It's the morning, and just we two / I'll stay with you, darlin', now / I'll stay with you 'til my seas are dried up." See, those guys are romantic once you get past the awesome gnarly heaviness of the music. Regardless, the jam is a staple of rock 'n' roll coolness today as much as it ever was.