This course will explore U.S. popular culture of the 1960s through five of the decade’s seminal albums: The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds , James Brown’s Live at the Apollo , Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited , Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland , and Velvet Underground & Nico . Our texts will include each album’s counterpart from the 33 ⅓ book series. The final project will be a similar close reading of another 1960s album. Students interested in expanding their final projects into a major piece of music writing—à la the 33 ⅓ series—can develop Individual Learning Contracts for additional credit during second session.