Summer in the Sixties
Snapshot of the era
- Music
The Sixties were an era of memorable events, fads and fashions. To
jog your memory, we have highlights for art,
social/political moments,
sport, music,
TV, films,
style and toys
along with information about related programming in the Â鶹Éç FOUR season.
Music
programmes and in the Â鶹Éç FOUR season:
Vivian Stanshall:
The Canyons of His Mind
Other music related programmes are to be confirmed but scheduling includes
the film A Hard Day's Night and archive programmes such as The Sounds
of the Sixties and The Stones in the Park
The Beatles clashed with The Stones and people across
the country got hooked on a new dance craze called the Twist…
• The biggest band of the 1960s - and probably of all
time - was undoubtedly The Beatles. They had their
first minor hit in 1962 with Love Me Do but 1963 was their breakthrough
year.
They split in 1970 but only get more and more popular
as the years roll on.
• Originally known as the Ravens, The Kinks
formed at the end of 1963 and hit the big time with their third single
You Really Got Me.
One of the biggest bands of the 1960s they had everyone
rocking along to tunes such as All Day and All of the Night, Dedicated
Follower of Fashion and Waterloo Sunset.
• As famous for their trashing tendencies as their
music, the bad boys of rock The Who first made it big
with My Generation.
However, quite remarkably they never had a number one
single either side of the Atlantic.
• Although marketed as rivals for the Beatles, the
Rolling Stones ironically had their first top 20 hit with a
Lennon and McCartney song I Wanna Be Your Man.
But these drug-taking, gyrating rock 'n' roll icons
went on to set the UK charts on fire in 1965 with three number ones
- Get Off My Cloud, The Last Time and the unforgettable I Can't Get
No Satisfaction.
• The Beach Boys and The Beatles competed
throughout the 1960s to be the most experimental band in the world.
As part of the battle, American mavericks The Beach
Boys brought out the album Pet Sounds in 1966. Containing classics such
as Wouldn't It Be Nice and God Only Knows (the first time the word God
had been used in a pop song), the album left an important legacy behind.
• 1967 was a magic year for The Monkees,
the first manufactured boy band: their ditty I'm a Believer picked up
a transatlantic number one.
• Now probably the biggest guitar icon in the world,
Jimi Hendrix became a big star in 1968 with album Electric
Ladyland and the hit All Along The Watchtower.
• The folky sound of Simon and Garfunkel
captivated audiences in the late 1960s and with groovy tunes such as
Sound of Silence and Mrs Robinson on the soundtrack
for The Graduate they helped make the film a massive hit.
• Chubby Checker released The Twist
in 1960 and Let's Twist Again in 1961 - teenagers all over the country
went wild.
• Helen Shapiro scooped two number
ones in 1961 with Walkin' Back to Happiness and You Don't Know.
• Cliff Richard managed to hit the
singles charts every year of the 1960s.
• Cilla Black had her only two number
one hits in 1964: Anyone Who Had a Heart and You're My World.
• Dusty Springfield's I Only Wanna
Be With You was in the top 10 everywhere in 1963. When it became a hit
in the US, Dusty became the first British female singer to chart in
America.
Then in 1966 she out-did even herself: You Don't Have
To Say You Love Me became an even bigger hit.
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