5 Rock Songs That Take Boomers Back To Their First Crush

A first crush is as important a formative experience as any, and music can be the perfect tool to relive it all, especially for baby boomers, as the love songs circulating in their most impressionable years are the perfect background to any such yearning. Music may have been playing in the background during a built-up confession, or at a school dance, or only in solitude upon reflection, but it's hard to imagine it wasn't there at all. For boomers specifically, the songs that dominated the radio and the charts in this era, such as around the mid-60s, were full of that blossoming energy of young love, from soft rock to pop and folk rock.

Artists like The Supremes and the Beach Boys nailed this style best, their music bursting at the seams with the energy of innocence and young love. In this list, we'll feature some songs that really set the scene for a first crush: the inescapably perfect and harrowing emotions, the larger-than-life feel, and the youthful optimism and innocent chases of love. These five songs may bring you back to a specific moment, or they may just capture the overall experience, but they surely will remind you of a first crush through the beauty of classic rock 'n' roll.

A classic tune of summertime and easy listening, a story appropriate for many songs in The Beach Boys' stellar catalog, "God Only Knows" is about as definitive a first crush song as can be found, especially for this era. Released in 1966 toward the group's legendary album "Pet Sounds," this track was even a classic love song banned from the radio at one point, but it still became a timeless hit.

Its upbeat, sweet sound has that necessary youthfulness that's essential for first-crush music, and the song's universal lyrics, plus its commercial success, make it a song any romantic of the time could latch onto. "God Only Knows" is genuine and even leans dramatic, probably more so for a kid coming of age when the song was new, making it easy to imagine any lovestruck youth singing along to its trademark verses: "If you should ever leave me / Well, life would still go on, believe me / The world could show nothing to me / So what good would living do me?" Vocally, it's a gorgeous track and an excellent testament of love for the likes of any in early romantic desperation.

This cute, folk-rock track has all the trappings of a soundtrack for young love, and it must have struck a chord because it's still one of Paul Simon's most popular songs all these years later, judging from its streaming numbers. "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" was released in 1972 as a single and was one of the main tracks on Simon's '72 self-titled album, an early look at his dominance of soft rock in the '70s. Though some of the song's details are ambiguous, the atmosphere of cheery guitars and whistling, as well as quick vocals and percussion, captures all the necessary feelings of first love.

Some of the details are meant to be overly dramatic, but a commonly readable allusion — perhaps even to the listening kids of the time — was a romantic undertone. Though there is tribulation built into the track, its upbeat tempo and brightness is unyielding, making "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" a perfect anthem to remind of a first crush, though perhaps one had in secret, or that couldn't be. Simon's lyrics and singing evoke this youth strongly, and the central, catchy tune makes this track an essential for reminiscing on this feeling.

The Supremes made hit after hit in the '60s before iconic vocalist Diana Ross left the band, and among the most iconic and appropriate for this list is "Stop! In the Name of Love." Released in 1965 and topping the charts that spring, this song certainly reached the ears of a fair number of young people, who would likely discover it as a perfect soundtrack to their first crush. The standout R&B and pop music from Motown and The Supremes wasn't totally sonically aligned with the rock sounds of its time, as its sound more lends itself to the eras with soft rock that would soon follow, but this song captures this first-crush feeling like few others.

The scale of the track brings out the overwhelming feeling a first crush can have, the stakes that feel life or death, as the feeling is nearly inescapable. Its repetitions of near desperation, as well as its plea in the chorus, capture perfectly that smitten but scared feeling of this formative feeling: "I'm so afraid of losing you forever / Stop! In the name of love / Before you break my heart." It's an addictive listen even now, and this radio success has the perfect sound for any reminiscing on a first romance.

Among the most cutesy of Bob Dylan's songs, the mix of Dylan's carefree Nashville-era lyrics and this upbeat sound was a perfect storm for a '60s crushing anthem, and "I Want You" certainly delivered. Released in March of '66 as a single for "Blonde on Blonde," this upbeat three-minute tune was one of Dylan's top hits, reaching No. 20 in the U.S. Filled with upbeat chords and wild harmonica playing, "I Want You" has a perfect air of young love and its inescapable passion.

Through fun and abstract lyrics, "I Want You" really sticks its meaning in its chorus, which stands in contrast to the rest of the song with its crystal clear feeling: "I want you, I want you / Yes I want you, so bad / Honey, I want you." Dylan's voice manipulates the lines with a nearly childish drawl, and the song blends the mid-'60s rock sounds with this essential message in a perfectly wrapped container for young love.

Though this song wasn't among the biggest hits for The Rolling Stones in the '60s, it's become an essential track in the group's legendary discography thanks to its gorgeous arrangement and universally applicable lovestruck appreciation. A beautiful blend of pop melodies and the then-emerging psychedelic rock, "She's a Rainbow" was released in late 1967 and was moderately successful, topping out at 25 in the U.S. charts.

The song's romantic chorus set the standard for many love songs to follow — "She comes in colours ev'rywhere / She combs her hair / She's like a rainbow" — and it's easy to imagine the many impressionable youth of the time latched onto this timeless imagery for their own first crushes. Mick Jagger's standout vocals really sell the vision, and paired with the beauty of the arrangement, the Stones created a rock 'n' roll classic. Its swells, pure romanticism, and prismatic sounds are a transport into another time, taking any boomer straight back to the joys of their first crush.