Unless you are living under a rock, you’ve heard that The Grateful Dead are playing a pair of “farewell shows” in Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. There is an obscene amount of hype over these shows, and they’ve sold about 8 trillion tickets for them. Not bad for a band that NOBODY knows any songs by unless you are a fan. The Dead were a huge cult band, but really didn’t do much to change popular music has a whole. The 60’s were a great time for music in the Bay Area, and there were a lot of bands that were way more important, in my own humble opinion. Feel free to get angry, but here’s a list of 10 undeniably talented bands from the Bay in the 60’s.
Well, as you know, we are currently in the thick of all things SXSW related. It was a bit shocking to find out that the lead singer of one of the acts that I was excited to see had passed away on the first day of the festival. Alex Chilton, of Big Star was a highly influential musician that has played a very big role in my musical growth through the years. 
As the decade comes to an end, it means it’s time for lists. Lots of lists. All making a vague attempt at condensing the most pivotal parts of our popular culture, and spitting them out in a haphazard form. This is a list of what I, personally, consider to be the most important pure pop musical moments of our decade. You will be upset by things on this list. You may think I am a complete idiot for missing “____” by The _____’s. Just remember, this is a list of POP songs. I will not mis-estimate the importance of Radiohead, AR Rahman, The Strokes, Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, and other acts that will appear on every other best of the decade list. This is just a pop list. I don’t have room for the Fleet Foxes, I’m sorry.