The early 1960’s symbolised the start of a period of great change throughout Britain mainly in the music and teenagers. Also much of the population were on high wages and low income tax. In 1950 the average wage was £6.40 and income tax was 0.47p in the pound this had change by 1959 to average wage of £11.12 and income tax of 0.38p in the pound. This meant that they could now afford new luxury items and live life to the full more. The advertising industry also grew in the 60’s as TV was more widely available and people were buying goods.
2) Why did groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones have such a great impact during the 1960’s?
The 1960’s was a period of great change and could be argued that the 1960s started in 1963 with the first Beatles number one. The Beatles had an amazing impact and were greater than any other popular artists. Other bands, like The Stones were also a major impact and there were a number of reasons why, these included teenagers, The Beatles themselves, The Stones themselves, The US influence, businesses, change in the media and it was an era of rebellion.
The Beatles and Stones made a big impact in the 60’s not only did they make an impact in music but also in fashion, TV, media and sport. Their music was rebellious which shocked the older generation of people whereas the teenagers love it. They had massive sales and a major impact on the British economy. TV changed with the growth of music programmes like, ‘Ready Steady Go’ which was very popular and at the time was a show not to be missed. Magazines at this time really took off like ‘melody maker’, ‘new musical express’ and ‘cosmopolitan’ were all very successful due to the new music of The Beatles and The Stones. Newspapers also changed as they started to be full of ‘celebrities’ from music, with people such as John Lennon and Mike Jagger regularly in the paper.
The Beatles and The Stones had a big impact on teenagers in the 1960’s. The teenagers started to wear clothes, which were unlike their parents, and they became more independent. The most important increase of spending, in the late 1950 was by young people. By 1959 British teenagers were spending £8.00 a week on clothes, records, cosmetics and entertainment. A whole new market for selling had been created. Increasing earnings meant that the young had money to spend and no longer had to follow the fashions and interests on their parents. The impact of The Beatles upon teenagers was almost unbelievable. They were not just performers, they became heroes. They represented the victory of youth over old age, of new against old. Source A shows how teenagers were obsessed with the Beatles, “no one was to be seen by the flower-stall, the newspaper stand” this show would a big impact they had on the teenagers of the 60’s.
The Beatles themselves made such a big impact in the 1960’s because unlike all the music around at that time they wrote their own music and played their own instruments. This meant that they were able to create a unique style, which was a mixture of rhythm and blues, rock and roll and Tamla Motown. The change came about under the guidance of Brian Epstein, who became their manager and then transformed them from a talented, but indistinguishable act, into the most famous pop group in history. Epstein made The Beatles wear suits with no lapels and cut their hair into pudding basin style. In so doing he invented the Beatle jacket and The Beatle hairstyle. The influence of The Beatles went far beyond the music that they wrote and performed. Their clothes, their hair, their accents, their offhand attitudes seemed to sum up the new age of the Sixties. They seemed, at first at least, just like the chap next door. The Beatles had such a big impact people like actress Joanna Lumley (source A) said, “It was very heaven to be alive” this sums up what The Beatles and The Stones achieved. Source C shows how The Beatles understood their fans so in doing this made good connections between them, “I felt like I understood what they were about” Paul Macartney talking in 1984.
The Stones made such a big impact in the 60’s because The Stones had a reputation as dirty and naughty boys which the youth loved as they were everything parents didn't want. The Stones cultivated a bad tempered image, with their deliberately longer than the, by now acceptable, mop-tops. They also like The Beatles wrote and performed their own music. The Stones unlike The Beatles were more rebellious and when The Stones played a gig at Blackpool there was a riot in which fifty people were hurt. There songs were also more connected to the world of drugs than The Beatles and had this bad image, which the youth loved and olds hated. Also at another Stones gig at Altamont Speedway, near San Francisco, The Stones hired the motorcycle gang Hell’s Angles as a security force at the free concert, attended by 300,000 people. But violence erupted throughout the day and was capped by the stabbing of an 18 year old (Meredith Hunter). This symbolised the image The Stones made for themselves, emphasising the impact they made.
The 60's was an era of rebellion and The Stones in particular encouraged this. There hit song, ‘Street Fighting Man’ was greatly associated with demonstrations like the Vietnam demonstrations in 1968 and 1989, these were an era of major street protests. Another Stones song which caused great conversely was, ‘Lets Spend The Night Together’ many thought it was a symbol of promiscuity and sex, so the BBC banned it on their shows. The Beatles also were seemed be on the act of rebellion when they released, their white album – Revolution that seemed to encourage revolution. There was also massive drug taking and The Stones in particular were always being arrested for drug related incidents. Keith Richard was also heavily into drugs and he is the symbol of 60’s rebellion like the Kurt Cobain of the 90’s. Others like Janis Joplin, ‘she was a rebellious teenager’, ‘always given to excess’ and Jim Morrison were not always careful, they died of drugs overdose. Perhaps here we can see the impact of The Stones and The Beatles drug taking to the extreme logic.
In the US at this time, ideas from the UK were spreading to there bringing Joplin Morrison and Jimi Hendrix who made it in the UK first and famously at Woodstock played the stars and stripes which was an insult to the flag. The Beatles who made it in the US before the UK were the band who inspired many great US bands of the 60’s, which were founded on rebellion. They were great singers and songwriters and Bob Dylan would be said to be as important as The Stones and The Beatles. A symbol of the 1960’s in the US was Woodstock, where 400,000 young people gathered for the event of the 60’s as it was the symbol of the 60’s of peace, sex & rock ‘n’ roll. It was a decade of dynamic change of the nation’s youth, the new generation to whom JFK said “the touch has been passed.” Long hair, mod dress, drugs, sexual freedom and anti-establishment ideas were hard to find ten years ago; now they are everywhere, as affluent kids embrace a counterculture fuelled by rock music and a sincere yearning for brotherhood and peace.
As the 1960’s progressed big business saw opportunities to make big amounts of money. Record companies were now emerging from the 60’s these included Island Record Company owed by Chris Blackwell and Richard Branson also came about in the late 60's and formed Virgin who went on to sign The Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols and made him a very rich man. The development of this culture owed much to The Beatles who were in many ways the symbol of the 1960’s and made a tremendous impact on all of western culture.
3) To some people the 1960’s were the best of times, to others it was a period when many things went wrong in society. Why do people have such different ideas about the 1960’s?
People have such different opinions about the 1960's because some people liked change and some didn't, some people would just go with the flow whereas others didn't want to. It mainly depend on their age and if they liked change because they either liked the sixties or hated it. There are many things, which could regard the sixties as a good decade, and many things, which could regard the sixties as a time when society went wrong. As one person put it, 'it was very heaven to be alive' and other people had different opinions on where the sixties were going, 'The whole drug scene scared me. I think I thought, if I get into this at all, I’ll get into it in a deep, deep way. And I don’t like losing control. The people I knew in the drug scene were kind of scary people; criminal underground rather than alternative underground', this was an opinion which many people in 60’s had. The 60's was a period of major change that invited many different feelings and emotions. There are a number of reasons for these differences; music, fashion, media to name just a few. For some the sixties was a time when the west began to look for a different way of living to others and a time when changes created problems to last for years.
A key focal point of the 1960's was the new music by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, etc. These were great developments of British music and protest/folk music was epitomised by Bob Dylan. The music too many was new, exciting and your parents didn't like it so it was even more great. The West coast sounds symbolised the hippie image and great event was the Woodstock festival which promoted peace, sex, drugs & rock 'n' roll. Source B describes what a big influence the music had on the youth of the 60's, "We had dancing tickets, which meant we could get really close. I doubt if The Stones ever played so near their audience again. I can remember their terrified faces, when they were trying to get off the stage, surrounded by the heaving, maniacal, screaming mob", this show how big the new music was but others see the music scene of the 60's as drug influence and corrupting society. The teenagers during the 60’s were loving the new music and experimental times as they had more money than ever so could go out with friends to gigs and have a great time. Also it annoyed the oldies so it may it even better. Bands like The Beatles, The Stones and The Who often came under criticism for their choice of lyrics and stage performances. 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' by The Beatles was said to be openly suggesting the use of LSD and The Beatles changed dramatically as well. The clean cut, cheerful boys of 1963 became the weird and wonderful followers of the Maharishi, an Indian guru. They began to dress in psychedelic clothing, take drugs and adopt a more and more outlandish pose. The Stones also came under attack of their stage act that became more and more wild, as did their behaviour and the lyrics of their songs. ‘Satisfaction’ carried obvious sexual undertones and later ‘Brown Sugar’ explicitly suggested drug taking. But even more rebellious and violent were The Who. They not only wrote and performed what appeared to socially dangerous music, but they also smashed up their instruments on stage. They were part of the Psychedelic movement, which encouraged experimentation with drugs. Many people, especially the old hated this new music/drug scene not only because represented wrong and bad behaviour but mainly because they didn’t like change and didn’t want it. People had different opinions because of their age, "The music was suddenly much more exciting. The oldies hated it, so there must have been something really good there. It’s endured hasn’t it. It’s stood the test of time. It’s still being played and bought by young people, thirty or forty years on. Cream, Led Zeppelin, all the stuff we baby boomers were brought up on." Also their social positions often affected peoples opinions and most of all people were scared of change and didn't like want they saw or heard.
Fashion in the sixties was changing with the times as well, greatly influenced by music, fashion went where it had never gone before. Mary Quant is regarded as one of the most important people in the changes that took place in the Sixties. Mary Quant opened her shop 'Bazaar' in King's Road, which sold simple clothes unlike what people were wearing at the time, she basically started a new era of fashion. What Mary Quant and other designers were doing was challenging traditional ideas. They were producing clothes for young people. Clothes that allowed young people to be themselves, rather than miniature versions of their parents. As Mary Quant describe the new fashions, "It grew out of something in the air which developed into a serious effort to break away from the Establishment. It was the first real indication of a complete change of outlook. This change gathered speed much more quickly than anyone ever imagined." The fashions though did cause tension especially the mini era of fashion, which lasted for a few years. This provoked many strong reactions, as this account shows, "I was at a party early in 1966 and at one stage I was completely surrounded by men, who were trying to measure how far up my knees my skirt came. I think it was about four and a half inches (11 cms). Some of the older men were just about apoplectic. Luckily I was there with my parents, otherwise I probably wouldn’t be here to tell the tale." Everyone had different opinions on the fashion and like music the oldies hated it and didn't like the change, whereas it was new and exciting for the youth and also it cause tension between the generations which the youth got a thrill out of. Many different fashions came out of the sixties, the mini, trouser suits and later by hippie and flower power styles. It became increasingly difficult to distinguish between women’s and men’s fashions this led to the word 'unisex' being used as women's and men's fashion boundaries were blurring together this meant that men and women could wear the same clothes and go to the same hairdressers.
Music and fashion during the 60's directly influenced the change media like wise media affected music and fashion as well. The newspapers appeared to create big stars like when in 1964 Sunday newspapers began to publish colour supplement of Mick Jagger who was know for bad behaviour from The Rolling Stones and his girl friend Marianne Faithful, they were often featured and not always good thing wrote about them. This is also a period when super models, fashion also being featured in magazines and footballs, the first being George Best began to take off. Television was also a big issue in the 60's as it gave people new way of communicating with the nation and gave them an outlet to use the more freedom of speech they gained during the sixties. This new way of communicating was one very important aspect of the Sixties, which was a total lack of respect for traditional ideas and values. Politics, the Church, the Monarchy all became targets for comedy. In 1962 a weekly programme called ‘That was the week that was’ (TW3) was broadcast every Saturday night. It made fun of news items and was soon being watched by 12,000,000 people. They were produced by young people who were tired of being told what to do by their elders. They created an atmosphere, in which people began to think, say and do things that they would not have done only a few years earlier. These new forms of media created a new form of entertainment and new ways for the young to express their ideas and feelings with others. The 60’s saw the growth of teenager magazines in particular. Programmes like TW3 produced strong reactions. Many people complained and it was nearly banned. Eventually it was saved by the personal intervention of the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, despite the fact that he was one of the show’s most popular targets. In 1963 the attacks seemed to have been completely justified when John Profumo who was a cabinet minister, the Secretary of State for War, was discovered to have been having an affair with a nineteen year old girl called Christine Keeler. The Profumo Affair also seemed to suggest that there was something seriously wrong with the British government and perhaps with British society. The feeling that things were wrong, and had been wrong for a long time, and needed to be changed, was to play an important part in the development of Sixties culture. The media was also able to reach more people, as it became simpler with the growth in tabloids, TV and radio. Many disliked the drumming down of culture, from Coronation Street to plays about he working class. Many campaigns were launched to try and force it to control what was produced. One of the leading campaigners was Mrs Mary Whitehouse, who objected to the immorality of programmes. Source F shows how her campaigning made it to the newspapers and shows how people didn’t like change, "it became necessary because of the built-in censorship, which the BBC exerts against, much which is good and clean in out national culture". Other people didn't mind it and thought of it as some fun whereas it disturbed many others.
The 60's was also the start of when women rights were changing although most of the decision making was still dominated by men and most changes were about men, even music. TV though was a starting point of where women were beginning to become more important e.g. Joan Bakewell who was very important during the 60's. Fashion was also an important step by women as Mary Quant was in way expressing what women could do and was very popular. There was also the change in politic, with the role of Barbara Castle. A further influence came with the Feminist Movement, which developed during the 1960s and became very influential at the end of the decade. It began to challenge all traditional ideas of women’s role in society, the economy and the family. Eventually, in some cases, leading to the total rejection of men altogether. There was also the introduction of many more self-help groups the biggest one being The National Housewives’. These were not revolutionary, but they were signs that women wanted to establish a role for themselves in British society and that they were not prepared to wait for one to be given to them by men. Many people though hated the changes and had this fear of women gaining too much power but on the other hand there were many that supported the changes. The 60's was important era for women's rights as it saw the beginning of a more equal society with the introduction of equal pay for women.
Industry in the 60's was a like a roller coaster it was a period when British industry had great problems unlike the music industry which was booming. The British industry had problem because at the start of the sixties everyone was buying new goods as they could now afford them but then there had to be a point when everyone had everything they wanted meaning the less good need to be produced, this meaning workers having to be laid off and the British economy suffering. Many feel it was a time when union power was destroying British Industry on the other hand there were some great developments, which came out of the sixties from the UK. The production of the mini being one of these and it showed, the number of cars on the road increased rapidly from the late 1950s. In 1938 there had been 2,000,000 cars in Britain. By 1955 this number had increased to 3,500,000, but by 1965 it was 9,000,000. In 1960, the down payment (deposit) on a new car could be as little as £5.00. Also the sixties was the start of the British computer industry and development of improved service industries. The attitudes of the public depended on whether the problems with industry were due too the workers demanding more pay or that management were expecting the workers to work too longer hours for little pay. Either way the 60's overall was not a 'good' time for industry mainly due to poor management and workers attitudes.
The 60's was run by a labour government who were more radical than most seen this century and they were completely different compared to the labour party of today. This labour party introduced major changes, with the growth of more comprehensive schools as well as rise in universities. They nationalised industries and help the women's rights movement by introducing equal pay. The 60's government caused those who are left wing a time of beneficial change, but not over much and those who were right wing created the problem of 70's. The worst aspect of the labour party in the 60's was that of in 1967 of the 6-day war against Israel, which increased, their power and size and many people see this to be the worst aspect of the sixties. Also the Vietnam War caused great criticism with many protests. The changes during the labour government are view different but it depends on your political view.
The sixties was a symbol of great change in many forms, and you either like it or didn't. The 60's caused changes, which created many different reactions. The drug culture, which was in many aspects of the sixties, was a crucial change as it caused great tension in the older generation of people. There was also a great alter in peoples perceptions of what is important in life and the 60's was a period when many challenged status quo and establishment. The increase in importance of youth culture was very important with the music, mods, rockers and hippies which not only appear to reject all forms of confrontation, but their behaviour suggested a weakening of society and the family in particular, but it was just harmless fun to many. There was also a great decline in conservatism and a growth of racial ideas. Source H shows how the olds didn’t like the change of youth culture, "Today youth has money, and teenagers have become a power. In their struggle to impose their wills upon an adult world, young men and women have always been blessed with energy, but never until now, with wealth." This sums up the attitudes of many old people on the youth during the sixties. The sixties and seventies were decades of the young, unlike now where the olds have gain status back, this was properly due to the population pyramid as the number of young people born after the war was very high meaning more people to help causes change.