The Lovin' Spoonful

The Spoonful, like the Byrds, helped invent folk-rock. But unlike their peers on the West Coast, they didn't make pop music serious in the process; in fact, they embraced the silly, fun-loving banality at pop's core. That's why the band's music, especially their second album, 1966's Daydream, has aged so well. With a history in kooky jug-band music, John Sebastian and company knew all too well that Top-40 music, however enriched lyrically, had to speak of the fleeting joys and sorrows of youth.