Regal Zonophone 2
Definitely a big change from 1964 when I first started listening to music and 1969. Everything moved so quickly in that period.
Hello Nick,
Yes,i get what you're meaning,and i agree,it was certainly a privileged few who did think they could change the systems and attitudes of society,but i DO feel there was a lot of positivity but enormous naivete in how easy it would be to change things,as you have to remember those who where involved in any type of psychedelic/underground movement,where in their own wee bubble,and many where in a privileged position in NOT having to work a 9-5 job,so their reality was certainly different from the vast majority of people in the uk.
Many of those privileged few just happen to be involved in the arts,movies,music,fashion,and had a HUGE influence on the young,remembering that before the 50s teenagers dressed like their mum and dads,and had the same attitudes as their mums and dads.......by the time the 60s came,attitudes of the young changed as in the uk,the economy was booming so for the first time teenagers HAD their own money,giving them much more freedom than their parents ever had,as they had more leisure time too,plus it was only 15-20 years since the end of WW2,so in the UK there was STILL bomb sites from that war.
Plus the explosion of TV in the home,influenced the vast majority of the young,of course there was the Teddy Boys in the late 50s,but during the 60s the Mod culture which started with a few in London,became massively commercial,in London and outside London,and of course the drug culture outwith smoking weed,became popular among the mods,mainly amphetamine,or speed in street terms,but again,movies and TV make it sound like this was widespread,but in reality it was the few.
You had bands like The Action,The Creation,Zoot Money Big Roll Band,Graham Bond Organisation,The Alan Bown Set,The Birds,The Attack,Georgie Fame,The Who/High Numbers,Small Faces,The Yardbirds,The Untamed et al,ALL playing London,ALL getting record deals,ALL playing RnB,blues,Soul & Jazz but with a UK twist,plus the UK pop market was big in the USA,with the likes of Hermans Hermits,Beatles,Rolling Stones,Animals,Hollies,DC5, et al,while in the USA folk,folk rock and garage was beginning to take hold and along with that the smoking of hash,and popping pills.
Around 65 into 66,UK pop music became a bit more adventurous,with US influences drifting over to the UK,and someone like Donovan was an anomaly and different ,but The Beatles,arguably the biggest band in the world at the time,took folk influences from the likes of Dylan,and the smoking of cannabis had a real influence on their sound with Rubber Soul,and The Stones found the fuzz box and The Yardbirds where experimenting with early psychedelia,while the likes of Sonny and Cher appeared in the UK with their cool California hippie like garb,NOT seen in the UK at that time,but had a HUGE influence on fashion.
Of course Ready,Steady,Go TV programme was a huge influence on British teens,featuring all the big bands and acts,but also new artists like Donovan.Plus guests from the USA,like Motown acts appearing.All the Pirate radio stations playing all the new records had a big influence.
As 66 progressed,ALL those influences had an effect on music and fashion,and the likes of The Beatles showed what could be done in the studio,and the appearance of Ken Kesey and the merry Pranksters in the USA with their acid tests as LSD was STILL legal,but was soon to be illegal.Also with the growing music scene in LA and San Francisco,was gaining media attention,but also add the civil rights movement,the rise of the left of politics in the USA,and the escalation of US involvementin Vietnam,gave birth to a anti government movement,so this was ALL brewing with music,movies,fashion and drugs in certain parts of the USA.
In the UK,in London,the Mod sounds of the soul,RnB,jazz and blues was shrinking as mod bands like Small Faces,The Who,The Action,The Creation started developing their sound outwith those mod idioms,as the influence of the change of drugs and other sounds starts to make more way out sounds.This was ALL happening in a vacuum,in a bubble,as LSD was being written about in newly printed underground mags,and things about the scenes in Sanfrancisco etc.
The underground Scene did start developing in London,an actual scene,with LSD being a part off it,and Donovan becoming a BIG star,and being in the USA a lot.
Former Mod bands became freaks,like Zoot Money forming Dantalians Chariot,and new bands on the underground scene like The Pink Floyd and Soft Machine improvising with long jams with light shows,and ex US pat,Joe Boyd becoming a important part of that scene,with UFO club,and acid became the drug of choice for many bands,artists,fashion designers and the crowd that followed those people.
The Beatles had totally embraced psychedelia,which had a BIG influence on the UK pop scene,and before ya know it,there are 2 scenes happening miles apart in London and the USA.
Acid gave people the attitude they could change things,they saw beyond the human form and its limitations,this along with equal rights in the UK,and the campaign to legalise Marijuana among other things made this london undergroud scene solid as the authorities attempted to kill it,with the closing of UFO,the jailing of main undeground pioneer Hoppy,the crooked police raids on pop stars homes,in particular Rolling Stones,the prosecution for OZ magazine for indecency,the making of LSD illegal the previous year,the zero tolerance of ANY illegal substances found on person.
In the USA,communes began appearing,living on the land,Timothy Leary and other intellectuals highlight what they thought was the miracle of LSD,the starting and continuation of Human Be Ins,free music,the hippie culture mixed with anti government sentiment,anti war demos,pro drug taking,garage and folk bands turning on with LSD and becoming psychedelic bands all over the enormous land that is the USA.and record companies eager at signing ANY psychedelic band they could find.Which of course led to the commercialising of the so called underground scene and sounds.
The riots of 68,in various cities of the USA,the assasination of prominent figures,and the love generation becoming anarchists,demonstrators,revolutionaries,anti government,anti war,the summer of love was gone,it was time to attempt real change,but in doing so it came at a price,as harder drugs became common,and harder more political sounds became common place,and things got more violent,as the government railed against people like Timothy Leary,the LSD guru.
The scene became fractured,and over run with opportunists,pimps and dealers,and young runaways still only 16 or so,were taken advantage of.The bands had become big,and the community spirit had slowly vanished,pop music started having its first festivals,manufactured and packaged to the young.
The hippie optimism of 66 and 67 was dead,replaced by bitter disappointment,sell outs,grifters,drug addiction,the changes they had hoped for where still a few years away,but they had made an impression that society had to change,like equality for women,gay rights,racism acts,ALL given publicity by the more liberal attitudes of the hippies,but many who were revolutionaries,returned to normal life,got a job,acted resposible,got married ,had a family,some got involved in politics,and became the politicians they once hated.
Three BIG negatives from this time was the mass introduction of Heroin,which made it out into mainstream land,and high numbers of addiction,which lasts to this day,causing huge problems and issues to society,the more permissive and promiscious actions of this time,resulted in many unplanned pregnancies,even though the female pill was made more available,the explosion of STDs,and the later appearance of AIDS,and its spread through needle sharing while injecting drugs,through sex,BOTH homosexual and heterosexual,through blood transfusions.The breakdown of traditional 2 parent families,the increase of divorce rates,the explosion of technology and materialistc goods made cheaper and easily available.
TODAY those ambitions,attitudes,principles seem hollow,as yesterdays hippies became businessmen and politicians,pushing the stuff they once railed against,the vietnam war continued for some years,the same political sides STILL rule to THIS day,
In the UK,Musicians who where once looked upon as anti establishment,accepted knighthoods and honours from the system they disliked,to prove that ego was never lost,many still play today in their 70s and 80s,charging ridiculous prices,sponsored by big corporations ...so much for hoping to die before they get old.
DISAPPOINTING.