You don’t need a weatherman and you don’t have to have seen the new Bob Dylan movie “A Complete Unknown” to understand that the winds of change were blowing through the American music scene in 1965. Not only did Dylan complete his transformation from a topical folksinger to a poetic rock n’ roller, this was an extraordinarily exciting year for those who loved the new sounds, from the Beatles, Stones and other British Invasion bands, to the rise of Motown to the dawn of blue-rock and folk-rock. 

      Indeed, I think 1965 was the greatest single year in the history of popular music over the past century.

      Of course, this is debatable.

      One could consider 1929, which witnessed the writing or first recordings of major songs by such Hall of Fame composers as Cole Porter (“You Do Something to Me”), Fats Waller (“Ain’t Misbehavin’”), George Gershwin (“An American in Paris”), Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (“With a Song in My Heart”), Irving Berlin (“Putting on the Ritz”) and Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown (“Singin’ in the Rain”).

      Or what about1977, which saw the international emergence of punk rock and New Wave, marked by debut albums from the Clash, Sex Pistols, the Jam, Talking Heads, Television, the B-52’s and Elvis Costello?   

      Also from 1977: Fleetwood Mac’s mega-selling “Rumours” album, the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” Bob Marley & the Wailers’ “Exodus,” Peter Tosh’s “Equal Rights,” David Bowie’s “Heroes,” Graham Parker & the Rumour’s “Stick to Me,” Jackson Brown’s “Running on Empty,” Steely Dan’s “Aja,” Joni Mitchell’s “Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter” and Al Green’s “The Belle Album.” This was also the year “Saturday Night Fever” opened on U.S. movie screens and helped bring disco to the mainstream.

      And if my nine-year-old granddaughters were joining this debate, they’d probably argue for 2024. And they might cite Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” and the conclusion of her record-shattering Eras tour, Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter,” Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” Charli XCX’s “Brat,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short ‘n Sweet,” Chappell Roan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” and Kendrick Lamar’s “GNX” and his single “Not Like Us.” They would also likely mention the soundtrack to the “Wicked” movie, featuring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

      There’s no doubt that 1929, 1977, 2024 and many other years produced terrific, even transcendent music. But for me, 1965 remains unparalleled in the breadth, originality and lasting impact of its popular music.

      Here’s why:

      Bob Dylan’s decision to swap his acoustic guitar and harmonica for an electric rock and blues band, and compose songs that were unprecedented in their length and poetic imagery, was a very big deal.

      This was the year in which Dylan released two of his greatest albums—“Bringing It All Back Home” (featuring “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”) and “Highway 61 Revisited” (including “Ballad of a Thin Man,” “Desolation Row” and the pathbreaking “Like A Rolling Stone”—and stunned audiences at the Newport Folk Festival and other venues with the audacity and volume of his new style. Earlier in the year, Dylan had a very successful all-acoustic tour of England, which was recorded in D.A. Pennebaker’s outstanding, fly-on-the-wall documentary “Dont [sic] Look Back.”

      I saw Dylan in concert on Nov. 5 at Cornell University, where he performed a solo acoustic set followed by a second, electric set of new material backed by the group that became the Band. At one point, an audience member yelled out, “We want the real Dylan,” and the real Dylan onstage replied, “You got him.”

      The Beatles, the most popular and influential rock band in history, rose to new creative heights in 1965. The band toured the U.S. (where they performed before a record 55,600 fans at Shea Stadium) and Europe, recorded such memorable Lennon-McCartney songs as “Ticket to Ride,” “Yesterday,” “Day Tripper” and “We Can Work It Out” and, near the end of the year, released “Rubber Soul,” an album that many fans still consider their best. That chart-topping album included such immortal songs as “Norwegian Wood,” “Michelle” and the unforgettable “In My Life.”

      The band was more heavily involved in the album’s production and mixing than ever before, as they incorporated new instruments (sitar, harmonium and a piano that sounded like a harpsichord), new sound effects (a fuzz bass) and extensive vocal overdubs.

      The Rolling Stones’ songwriting team of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards found their own voice, recording such trend-setting and career-defining songs as “The Last Time,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (the band’s first Number One hit in the U.S.), “Play With Fire” and “Get Off of My Cloud” on two new albums, “Out of Our Heads” and “December’s Children (And Everybody’s).” They did all this recording while also staging highly successful tours of Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America, establishing themselves as a significant anti-establishment voice of their generation (at least for a while).

      Although some British rock bands started to gain popularity in the States following the Beatles first tour and first appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964, the full-fledged British Invasion took place in 1965. Among the groups and songs crossing the Atlantic to conquer the minds and bodies of American youth were the Who (“My Generation”), the Kinks (“Tired of Waiting for You,” “A Well Respected Man”), the Yardbirds (“For Your Love” and “Heart Full of Soul”), the Animals (“We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place”), Them (“Here Comes the Night,” with lead singer Van Morrison) and Herman’s Hermits (“Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” and “I’m Henry VIII, I Am”).

      This spectacular year also saw the release of great songs in even more rock subgenres. In folk rock there was Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence,” The Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe in Magic?” and “You Didn’t Have to be So Nice.” Chicano rockers Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs and Cannibal and the Headhunters scored big with “Wooly Bully” and “Land of 1000 Dances,” respectively, while country rock was represented by the Bobby Fuller Four’s “I Fought the Law.” And we shouldn’t neglect such singular groups as the Mamas and the Papas (“California Dreamin’), the Beach Boys (“Help Me, Rhonda” and “California Girls”) and Country Joe & the Fish (“Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag”).

      The greatest popular competition for the Beatles, Stones and the other British Invasions bands came from the artists emerging from Detroit’s Motown Records, which was now calling its music “The Sound of Young America.”

      The Temptations’ “My Girl,” the Supremes’ “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “Where Did Our Love Go?” and the Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself” and “It’s the Same Old Song” were all smash hits, followed closely by such emerging classics as the Miracles’ “Ooh Baby Baby” and “The Tracks of My Tears,” Martha and the Vandellas’ “Nowhere to Run,” Jr. Walker & the Allstars’ “Shotgun,” Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t That Peculiar” and the Isley Brothers’ “This Old Heart of Mine.”

      Meanwhile, the slick sounds of Motown were getting some grittier R&B competition in the form of such rougher, Southern-based soul singers as Otis Redding (“I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”), Wilson Pickett (“In the Midnight Hour”) and James Brown (“Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” and “I Got You {I Feel Good}.”) Also entering the mix was the blue-eyed soul duo the Righteous Brothers (Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield) with “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” and “Unchained Melody.”

      While the new rock and soul sounds were already dominating AM radio, the network TV shows “Shindig” and “Hullabaloo” brought the music to an even wider audience.

      Blues-rock also took off in 1965, which saw the release of the self-titled debut album of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band (featuring guitarist Michael Bloomfield); the emergence in New York City of the Blues Project (featuring Danny Kalb and Al Kooper) and John Hammond Jr.’s “So Many Roads.” On the other side of the Atlantic, guitarist Eric Clapton left the Yardbirds to join John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (though the band’s first album didn’t come out until the next year).

      In addition, traditional African-American blues performers began receiving more attention from the new, largely white blues-rock audience of the mid-‘60s. Among the timeless blues songs released in 1965 were Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor,” Jesse Fuller’s “San Francisco Bay Blues,” Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Bring It On Home,” Elmore James’ “It Hurts Me Too” and John Lee Hooker’s “Big Legs, Tight Skirt.” Outstanding albums were released by B.B. King (“Live at the Regal” and “Confessin’ the Blues”), Junior Wells (“Hoodoo Man Blues,” featuring Buddy Guy on guitar) and Son House (“Father of Folk Blues”). While the legendary Chicago bluesman Muddy Waters didn’t put out any major records in 1965, he headlined at the New York Folk Festival in Carnegie Hall, the Newport Jazz Festival (jamming with Dizzy Gillespie!) and at Harlem’s Apollo Theater.

      Even in the realm of folk music, where some fans were reeling from the departure of Dylan, 1965 saw the release of two of the most eloquent anti-war songs: Phil Ochs’ “I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore” and Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Universal Soldier.” Among the stellar folk albums and songs of the year were Joan Baez’s “Farewell Angelina,” Donovan’s “Catch the Wind,” Richard and Mimi Farina’s, “Pack Up Your Sorrows,” Tom Paxton’s “The Last Thing on My Mind” and Ian & Sylvia’s “Early Morning Rain.” And the most popular folk group, Peter, Paul & Mary, released two big-selling albums, “A Song Will Rise” and “See What Tomorrow Brings.”

      Rock and R&B may have dominated the pop charts, but other genres had some stellar moments. Soundtracks to the movies “Mary Poppins” and “The Sound of Music” both topped the charts. Old reliables like Frank Sinatra and Nat “King” Cole” had major hits with “It Was a Very Good Year” and “Unforgettable,” respectively, while the young reliable Barbra Streisand released two hit albums, “My Name Is Barbra” and “My Name Is Barbra, Two.”

      In jazz, this was the year of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father,” the Ramsey Lewis Trio’s “The ‘In’ Crowd” and Nina Simone’s “I Put a Spell on You” and “Pastel Blues.” Country music hits included Roger Miller’s “King of the Road,” Buck Owens’ “I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail,” George Jones’ “The Race is On” and Eddy Arnold’s “Make the World Go Away.”

      Finally, this account must include “That Was the Year That Was” by the piano-playing social satirist Tom Lehrer, which featured such timeless gems as “Pollution,” “National Brotherhood Week,” “Send the Marines” and “The Vatican Rag.”

      To paraphrase the Beatles, when I look back at the great music of 1965, in my life, I loved you more.