The Late 1960s

You can do what you want to

The mid 1960s was an opening up period, a time of creativity and rising awareness. Pop music could be anything you wanted it to be, and the years 67-70 saw a great diversity of styles and the taking of different style-strands to their extreme ends. Some key consideration here include: 1. Bob Dylan goes electric 2. Diversification of styles 3. Influence of Hippy culture, especially LSD 4. Developing technologies in recording, amplification, guitar FX. 5. Woodstock music festival 6. Motown development of Soul Music 7. Birth of Reggae Ska and Rocksteady

Rather than look at individual artists/bands it seems more relevant here to highlight some key events across the late 1960s 1965 LSD hits the streets Errant chemist Augustus Stanley Owsley III, completed his first batch of home-made LSD in May 1965. The hallucinogen would dramatically transform pop culture over the following two years, making San Francisco the centre of hippydom and begetting Sgt. Pepper's (The Beatles), Pet Sounds (Beach Boys) and an entire genre called acid rock. 1

A late 60s timeline

The Late 1960s

Bob Dylan releases 'Like a Rolling Stone' As momentous in its way as Presley's first single, Dylan's great stream-ofconsciousness song clocked in at six minutes and singlehandedly ended the era of the formulaic sub-three-minute pop single. Dense, elliptical and caustic, it marked the high point of Dylan's most intensely creative period - January 1965 to July 1966. The birth of the modern rock song as we know it. The Who: 'My Generation' The Who were the most aggressive - and the artiest - British pop group of the midSixties. Pete Townshend dressed in Union Jack suits, smashed his guitar and wrote songs that perfectly caught the rising tide of teen frustration. The stuttered teen snarl of 'My Generation' remains one of the key moments in British pop, and the most potent evocation of Mod elitism and amphetamine-fuelled aggression ever committed to vinyl. The Rolling Stones' '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' is released Keith Richards creates the most famous riff in rock and a still youthful Jagger sounds suddenly bored and petulant. The moment the group transcended their American influences and broke America. In retrospect, an omen of all the indulgence and dissolution that was to come. James Brown makes it FUNKY James Brown makes a startling and abrupt shift from pure soul to a rhythm-based new invention of his own making called "funk" with the hits "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" and "I Got You". 1966 The Beatles record 'Tomorrow Never Knows' Forget the inflated period piece that is Sgt. Pepper's - this was the moment when the Beatles went psychedelic. Tucked at the end of Revolver , 'Tomorrow Never Knows' was an acid trip turned into a pop song. It still sounds startling in its sonic invention. Brian Wilson makes Pet Sounds While the rest of the Beach Boys toured their greatest hits, Brian Wilson stayed at home in his studio and created pop's enduring masterpiece and his swansong. Sad songs tied to the most intricate arrangements, it baffled the rest of the band though their vocal harmonising has never sounded so sublime. It was followed by 'Good Vibrations' which still sounds as close to perfection as a pop single has ever come. 1967 The Redlands drug bust The Rolling Stones enshrined their reputation as rock'n'roll outlaws when Mick and Keith were arrested in the latter's Surrey mansion for possession of hash and amphetamines. In court, Richards was given a one-year jail sentence and Jagger three months, prompting the famous 2

The Late 1960s

Times editorial, 'Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?' On appeal, they were both acquitted. The Velvet Underground and Nico LP is released Recorded in new York in 1966 but released the following year, the Velvet Underground's debut album was the antithesis of the LSD-fuelled optimism that characterised West Coast rock. Musically, it merged avant-garde experimentalism with pummelling, repetitive rock, while the often graphic songs touched on outr subjects such as heroin use and sadomasochism. Produced by Andy Warhol and wrapped in his now famous banana sleeve, the album was reviled on initial release, but is now regarded by many as the most influential rock record ever made. Other key happenings: The Summer of Love San Francisco Hippie movement Monterey Festival Hendrix released Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold As Love Beatles released Sergeant Pepper Kinks released Waterloo Sunset Cream released Disraeli Gears The Stones released Satanic Majesties Request Velvet Underground released their eponymous debut Otis Redding released Dock of the Bay but was tragically killed in December Pink Floyd released Piper at the Gates of Dawn 1968 BIG YEAR FOR SOUL Soul music has its biggest year ever with all 20 R&B #1 hits that year falling into the "soul" category as the music takes on a greater overall prominence in society following the assassination of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. MOTOWN Motown responds to the growing influence of deeper soul and the psychedelic soul of Sly and The Family Stone by pushing its own artists towards a less pop-friendly style, resulting in major hits by Marvin Gaye (I Heard It Through The Grapevine) and The Temptations (Cloud Nine). Led Zeppelin formed Sly and the Family Stone released Dance to the Music The Faces released Ogdens Nut Gone Flake Hendrix released Electric Ladyland Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy assassinated Abbey Road studios installed 8 track recorders 3

The Late 1960s

1969 Jimi Hendrix Plays 'The Star Spangled Banner' at the Woodstock Festival Woodstock, which attracted half-a-million rock fans, was the most dramatic mass flowering of the hippy ideal and, as with all defining moments, the beginning of the end of that same ideal. Hendrix's startling assault on the American national anthem was interpreted at the time as a political statement against the Vietnam war but in retrospect can be read as a swan song for the era of peace and love, and for Hendrix himself. He died in his sleep the following year. The Rolling Stones play Altamont It seems somehow fitting that the Rolling Stones, by then the self-styled Satanic Majesties of rock indulgence and excess, should hold the wake for the death of the Sixties. Altamont was the antithesis of Woodstock, culminating with the murder of Meredith Hunter, a young black man who was bludgeoned to death by members of the Californian Hell's Angels who had been hired to provide security. The end of the hippy era. The Stooges' first album is released The greatest and most influential garage band ever, Detroit's the Stooges made stripped-down, dumb and dirty rock'n'roll like no one else. Fronted by Iggy Pop, the most outrageously self-destructive showman rock has yet thrown up, their debut album, though dismissed in its day, remains the template for punk rock in all its manifestations, from the Sex Pistols to the White Stripes. Other key events: The beginning of Prog Rock - King Crimson formed Led Zeppelin 1 released The Who released Tommy Black Sabbath formed 1970 Key events: Black Sabbath released 1st LP Santana released 2nd LP Abraxas The Beatles split up Isle of Wight Festival Hendrix dies Janis Joplin dies Miles Davis releases Bitches Brew