Tuesday, November 04, 2008

1960s Playlist

I'm doing a lecture on the 1960s Cultural Revolution at the University of the West tonight.
It's taken me ages to write the lecture, and I have decided to hinge it all around music; there's no Dylan, Pink Floyd or Stones here, but quite a lot of revolution between the lines:
1960
Rod McKuen: Eros (gay male!)
Shirelles: Will You Love Me Tomorrow (first all-female rock group number one in Billboard chart)
Chubby Checker: The Twist
1962
The Tornadoes: Telstar
1963
Ruby and the Romantics: Our Day Will Come (well, I'm a DJ and I just like this one!)
1964
Pirate Radio Jingle: London My Home Town
Goldie and the Gingerbreads: Chew Chew Fee Fi Fum
1965
Rolling STones: I Can't Get No Satisfaction (we will just imagine this one, as i can't stand the Stones)
1966
David Bowie: London Boys
The Kinks: Dedicated Follower of Fashion (the Carnaby Street tracks)
1967
The Beatles: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
The Velvet Underground and Nico: All Tomorrows Parties (two different drug-fuelled tracks)
1968
Soft Machine: Hope for Happiness
Sly and the Family Stone: Dance to the Music
Food Glorious Food from 'Oliver!' (the allegory of the rise of the working class: see later postings for a riff on the Oliver! characters in British pop music!)
1969
Jimi Hendrix: The Star Spangled BAnner (from the Woodstock recording)
1970
Marvin Gaye: What's Goin' On

I have to recommend a book called White Bicycles by Joe Boyd. Apart from producing some of the best folk and rock artists of the decade, he set up the blues tour in 1964 that brought Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Reverend Gary Davis and Sonny Terry to these shores, where the young white musicians could see and hear them in the flesh. It's a brilliant read!

2 comments:

chimesey said...

Ooh, 'The London Boys'... my mum used to have that on vinyl - on the other side was a song called 'Love you till Tuesday' or something... We used to play it on the old Dansette on Sunday mornings. When I listened to it again, whilst approaching adulthood, I realised it was a warning.
Good stuff!

Anonymous said...

There's a programme about Joe Boyd's blues tour on Radio 4 tomorrow morning

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fbjw5