Do you know what I think the quintessential sound of the '60s is, spanning all genres?
Double-tracked vocals.
Just think about it: almost every musician or group you can think of used double-tracked vocals. It was a very new thing, and previously used most famously by Les Paul and Mary Ford and Buddy Holly.
The Beatles...
The Beach Boys...
The Monkees...
Everybody who worked with Phil Spector...
The Kinks...
Jimi Hendrix...
...And those are only the most famous names I can think of off the top of my head. Well, let's face it- the only musicians or groups I can think of that probably didn't use double-tracking frequently, as far as I know, is Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, and James Brown. So perhaps the more stripped down music of the time lacked it. And really, would you want your stripped down music to have double-tracked vocals, unless you were anything like The Ramones? Or maybe it's when your singing voice already packs a punch...
I'm excluding instrumental groups, of course.
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