AS Film Studies Textbook Chapter
Swinging London
Mod Culture
Youth Culture
The Who : My Generation (1965)
The original Mod anthem, a put-down of the morals and values of the older generation and a glorious celebration of British youth culture before Woodstock and the birth of the hippie.
Bob Dylan : Subterranean Homesick Blues (1965)
The template for all protest songs - in less than three minutes Dylan debunks the myths surrounding the American Dream.
Barry McGuire : Eve Of Destruction (1965)
A pop cash-in riding on the coat tails of Dylan, this song reads like a bunch of headlines torn from the front pages of the popular press.
Pink Floyd : Arnold Layne (1967)
An early example of British psychedelia which leans heavily on the writings of Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll.
The Beatles : Hello Goodbye (1967)
The Fab Four decked out in their full Sgt. Pepper finery. They had their first hit in December '62, but already the signs of discontent are there. Having ditched their boy-band past ( see ' A Hard Days Night ' ) their music was becoming increasingly experimental. In 1969 John Lennon announced that he was quitting, and by 1970 they were gone, leaving a massive footprint on the face of popular culture.
The Small Faces : Itchycoo Park (1967)
A classic piece of British psychedelic pop which merges English sensibility with American hippie idealism. The Small Faces, along with The Beatles, The Kinks,Pulp and Blur, can be described as quintissently ' English ' in their outlook.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJzcF0v1eOE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJzcF0v1eOE
The Rolling Stones : Street Fighting Man (1968)
Inspired by student demonstrations in Grosvenor Square and the Paris riots of '68. The writer of this lyric is now Sir Mick Jagger. Draw your own conclusions.
John Lennon : John Sinclair (1970)
A song protesting about the imprisonment of John Sinclair, manager of The MC5, a proto-punk political band from Detroit. At the time Lennon was under investigation from both the FBI and CIA. Heavy !!!
T.Rex : Get It On (1971)
The turn of the decade saw a younger generation begin to influence the direction of popular music, with T.Rex spearheading a movement labelled ' Glam Rock '. Check out a young Elton John on piano ! Glam was a direct response to the boring hippie music listened to by the elder brothers and sisters of the kids who were teenagers in 1971.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XspsJACj8WY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XspsJACj8WY&feature=related
Mott The Hoople : All The Young Dudes (1972)
The ultimate Glam Rock anthem, this tune casts aside the values of the '60's generation and looks forward to the dawn of a new era. During the course of this song ( written by David Bowie), they dismiss The Beatles and The Stones while extolling the virtues of T.Rex.
David Bowie : Drive In Saturday (1973)
The single most important musical artist to come out of the UK, Bowie drew heavily on Stanley Kubrick films such as 2001 and A Clockwork Orange. Listen carefully and you'll hear him name check Twiggy in the chorus, along with Carl Jung and The Rolling Stones. This song draws on the work of Philip K. Dick, William Burroughs and employs a kind of future nostalgia in looking forward to a world where humans have lost the means of one to one communication and so look to technology in order to enrich their lives. In other words...a bit like today.
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