“The year of 1966 would be a causal one for rock music and popular culture as a whole. The Beatles released Revolver, an album filled with exotic sounds that reflected the group's LSD experiences; Cream, rock's first supergroup, began inventing Heavy Metal, while Jimi Hendrix was in London's Clubland with his dazzling approach to playing the guitar.” 1
In 1965 we were approaching the boundary, in 1966 we crossed it, and by 1967 we had established a new “sovereignty” of American (and world) culture. By 1970, the psychedelic period was over, but its after-effects are still felt to this day. The mid-1960s period has parallels with other milestones of world history (albeit not as revolutionary) such as the conquest of Alexander the Great and the rise of Hellenism, the Renaissance, and the internet boom of the late 20th century—whereby the world experiences a spike of intense cultural upheaval—dies out abruptly—and has a lasting influence on world culture. Alexander the Great conquered much of Asia Minor and North Africa in only seventeen years and introduced a completely different cultural blueprint; with completely new directions in art and architecture. Revolutions of this kind are seldom a sudden event and can take many years to reach full fruition. The mid-1960s were a time of profound shift in world culture, and on many fronts, 1966 seems to be a key year.
1966 was a year of rapid acceleration of technology, and an intensification of social rebellion against the escalating war in Vietnam and the consequent reinstatement of the Draft. The youth culture at that time was almost completely seduced by the headiness of world culture, and the sense of boundless frontier, yet the specter of being called into battle was becoming more of a probability. With this sense of freedom came a heightened interest in artistic endeavors, further intensifying the pacifistic ethos. An example of this innocent vulnerability can be seen in the film Apocalypse Now when Robert Duvall orders a Private into battle, and the pacifist Private resists saying, “[I can’t do that] I’m an artist!” It must have been quite shocking to become a lowly army private right out of the flower-child communes where finger painting and recreational drugs were a way of life.
The beginning of the psychedelic era seems to have been in the late 1950s, and it seems almost ironic that people were doing recreational drugs back then as well, vis-à-vis the Wonder Bread/suburbia post-World War II culture. Things came to a head at the “Wholly Communion” June 11, 1965 poetry reading with Allen Ginsberg at Albert Hall and the formation of the London Underground. In the first few months of 1966 the band Pink Floyd was experimenting in London clubs jamming on Junior Walker and Chuck Berry songs, deconstructing them with loud noisy feedback, and in effect “setting the controls” for the psychedelic era. At the October 1966 Pop Op Costume Masque Drag Ball at the Roundhouse, they played their usual blend of blues-on-acid; on the same bill with the band Soft Machine, doing very experimental, musique concrete, wiring a motorcycle with contact mics, and revving the engine over the P.A. It was really the beginning of the whole DIY movement, not only in pop music but also in education, with the formation of the London Free School, also in 1966.
It seems that everything in society was being turned inside-out, and there wasn’t much that wasn’t affected by the sea change. America had all these kinds of ideas bubbling below the surface, probably since the early 1900s, but the overall sense of shame in society kept it from surfacing.
In Joshua Meyrowitz’s book, No Sense of Place he refers to these behaviors as being “backstage” and in the mid-1960s these behaviors moved “onstage”.
“What delighted many ‘insiders’ was the public display of formerly back region features such as informal dress, obscenity, nudity, intimate self-disclosures, emotions, and admissions of vulnerability. The comfortable intimate sphere had suddenly been expanded. In a sense, the “flower children” went out into the streets in their pajamas and embraced strangers as if they were brothers and sisters playing in the family den. The disgust felt by “outsiders” at this display was based on the same dynamic: the movement of back region behaviors into the front region”. 2
Since TV is essentially a revealing medium, it created a “credibility gap” whereby visible behaviors had come into conflict with “front region” behaviors, i.e. those cultivated from family values and the church. When “back region” behaviors become visible, puritanical values get lost in the shadows and squelched by provocative action. Once the media simulate exciting new possibilities, there is no going back in some ways because it continues to propagate through the generations.
Lag of Culture
In meteorology, there is the phenomenon of the “lag of the seasons”, whereby the hottest temperatures in the summer usually occur a month or so after the time of maximum solar energy absorbed on the surface of the Earth. If we apply this metaphor to culture, (i.e. the “lag of culture”) we can theorize that once Beatle George Harrison started melding Indian culture into pop music with the use of the sitar, and Paul McCartney started to take an interest in the avant-garde, it took a while for it to reach the masses. In the lag of culture, it takes a year or so for something to ramp up to its maximum effects. By 1967 the psychedelic era was in full-tilt, partly as the result of this delayed effect. We now had underground newspapers, underground radio, and the influence of psychedelia had found its way into fashion, art, and literature. Early 1967 saw the debut releases by the Doors (Light My Fire, The End); Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow (White Rabbit, Somebody to Love); and by June 1967, The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper. Given that it may take three to six months to get an album of songs written, recorded, mixed, mastered, and pressed, may indicate that the actual creative work for these albums was taking place in 1966; with inspiration coming from the prevailing social climate at the time; as well as the experimentation with world music and psychedelic drugs.
Under the Influence of India
“It’s impossible to overstate the importance and influence of [Ravi Shankar’s] long-term presence has had for Western music as a whole”. —Phil Glass
This rediscovered interest in ancient, spiritual traditions seems to have influenced a host of artists, writers, and musicians at this time. The time was right for something to change, as the bubble-gum sound of pop music was beginning to reach critical mass; and pop culture was delving deeper into the psyche.
The boundary of 1966 was actually being drawn in 1965. The Beatles were sent in for the “invasion,” with the first “salvo” when Harrison and Lennon unwittingly took LSD in spiked coffee at a dinner party in early 1965. Around the same time, Harrison met Indian Sitar player Ravi Shankar in London and subsequently made a six-week visit to Delhi, India. While there, he bought a sitar, brought it back to England, and used it in the Rubber Soul and Revolver recording sessions. In those days, recording studios were archaic by today’s standards; and were only equipped for 2 and 4-track recording. Having such a simple operation, with minimal overdubbing made it possible to record and release records with greater frequency. Therefore it was possible for Harrison to quickly incorporate this new sound and release it to the masses within months. He opened the first door of perception, as it were. The West perhaps found itself isolated from the rest of the world and was curious about other cultures. It was this initial introduction to Indian culture (at least superficially) by George Harrison that broke the invisible boundaries around American culture and opened it to a greater sense of globalism, and increasing interest in ancient spiritual traditions. The limited choice of being either in an R&B band or a bubblegum band had suddenly disintegrated as musicians were absorbing a wider range of world styles, partly because of new recording studio technology, which meant that more records could be listened to and emulated, including those of master Indian musicians.
And so the Beatles entered the new phase of their career. No longer the tidy, smiling 'Fab Four', singing boy/girl pop songs on stage. Now they were casually dressed, sometimes mustachioed, smiling-when-they-wanted-to-be-Beatles who would make the greatest ever batch of rock recordings at and for their merest whim, strictly not for performing on stage. “Strawberry Fields Forever” captured in one song everything the Beatles had learned in the four years spent inside recording studios, especially 1966, with its backward tapes, its use of vari-speed, and its use of uncommon musical instruments. And it could only have been born of a mind (John Lennon's) under the influence of outlawed chemicals. 3
London at the Epicenter
London was ground-zero of the mod scene in 1966, and also had a large contingent of Indian people. Indian culture had a similar effect on the British as black people had on American culture: We were fascinated by it and wanted to embrace it as our own. In April 1966, London was hailed in Time Magazine as “the swinging city”, and within a year’s time, there were thousands of boutiques and clubs where the “beautiful people” hung out, new trendy restaurants and the first skyscrapers were popping up--in a city which had since had a skyline largely dominated by chimney pots. This was an ironic shift for London, as the city was known for its historical architecture and still-smoldering ruin from World War II. Pop fashion favored the skinny look, striped jersey dresses, trench coats, “Dutch Boy” caps, vinyl vests, and lots of yellow. (You see some of this in the Get Back film, essentially paisley, which seems to never go out of style as a style statement. I was wearing paisley shirts in the 90s).
“A new group of people is emerging into society creating a kind of classlessness and verve that was not seen before.”—Sociologist Richard Hoggart
Crossing Boundaries in Cinema
Bold shifts in cinema also seemed to occur in 1966. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (“Woolf”) was quite shocking when it was released, as no other film dared to cross boundaries of the more “wholesome” social mores which prevailed at the time. Woolf was adapted from the Edward Albee play by producer-screenwriter Ernest Lehman, and directed by Mike Nichols. Ironically, Lehman had just finished adapting The Sound of Music; and it seems jarring that a movie studio would green-light a film such as Woolf on the heels of such as a family-oriented movie. It makes one suspect that there was a palpable change in the air in the world. The film is full of never-before-heard profanity on film such as “screw you”, “up yours” and “hump the hostess”; set against a lost evening of drunken bacchanalia and corrosive diatribe. Of course, such profanity had been heard on stage before, but 1966 was the year in which Hollywood introduced it in mainstream cinema, and crossed the boundaries of censorship. The rationale was that since the “credibility gap” was being bridged by making certain behaviors “onstage”, there really was no harm done by releasing this type of movie. It now seemed that the world was ready for the raw and obscene performance of the then jejune Elizabeth Taylor, who at that time was seen as not a very skillful actress, and incapable of pulling off such a cauldron-of-hate performance. One can see why the rules were being relaxed amidst a social environment of free sex and free drugs. What harm is there in saying “hump the hostess” when society was in fact engaging in a more obvious sexual display, with sex orgies becoming commonplace, with the phrase “up yours” now serving as double entendre.
The production of Woolf was difficult, as judgment calls had to be made as to whether the dialog should be altered, and ultimately none of it was changed. It is interesting to note that there was some trepidation as to whether the Catholic Church’s rating board would censure it, which now seems wildly ironic given the Catholic Church’s track record over the sexual impropriety of its priests.
Ultimately all this “honesty” that has appeared on screens over the last forty years has had little or no effect on accomplishing its goal (however nebulous) to bring repressed sexual feelings to the surface. Just because something shocking appears in media or in art, does not have any immediate effect, or any ultimate effect on culture. It seems it was in fact having an effect circa 1966, although it is uncertain when the shift actually took place. The shifts were probably in small increments over a 10-15 year period, with a more tectonic shift when the Beatles came on the scene as the catalyzing factor.
Architectural Shifts
The mid-1960s also saw a shift in architecture, where buildings were built skinny and tall, mimicking the skinny look in fashion at the time. One can assume that architects, being more open to influence from other disciplines, might have been influenced by 60s fashion.
The World Trade Center, with groundbreaking in August of 1966 is a prime example of this style, with its skin being its main structural element.
The effects of cultural upheaval can be insidious, and like a hot explosion, can burn out quickly. In September 2001, one could posit that the licentious after-effects of the 60s were still being felt, then abruptly extinguished on September 11. Perhaps when we look back on the year 2001 from the year 2041, we can again examine how another threshold was crossed, and examine its effects on American and world culture.
I predict that there will be another 1966 phenomenon, another Beatles, another heady zeitgeist. The human spirit is ultimately moving towards the same place that the 60s came from—a time and place from which to depart, and a time and a place at which we arrive, and always on the threshold.
1966@50 in 2016
Two generations into the future we will be in 2046, the same time increment from 1886 to 1966. It is difficult to conceive that history could be symmetrical, which would imply that for every period of a human life, there are enough resources to keep repeating the 1945-1964 zeitgeist. David Bowie (among many 60s and 70s artists) was born at a perfect time in human history.
In 2046 apparently, we tried to repeat the zeitgeist, but still, only a small tribe experienced it. There will always be more than enough resources for a small tribe (or tribes) of earth inhabitants. But they will not necessarily be friendly to each other. If I'm here, and I want to be where you are, but you don't want me there, there will be conflicts.
I chose 1966 as a watershed, give or take a year. Like Ziggy Stardust, it lasts for about 18 months, before a change is imposed.
Takeaways:
Modern culture starts to seem newer when the oldest people are no longer saying."I saw that a long time ago."
The emergence of Rock 'n' Roll in the 1950s probably happened many times before in history—just in different forms. The trope or cultural narrative is the same: an oppressed culture influencing the young through unique expressions of art.
Revisiting the past in the purest sense means to return to an older technology, paper, ink, graphite. Those things don't necessarily have to include art at all.
Every decade is a 'vessel' that can be filled with the present. For example, you can say "China is experiencing their 1970s", "Millennials are experiencing their late 1940s", "Ukraine is living its 1989". Once a culture uses up its past decades, it can then use 'today's yesterdays', which is what western culture has been doing since the 1990s. Once the rest of the world experiences their 90s it will all be recycled material, the 'gray water' of culture. It will still look like the future to some people, but it won't matter if it came from "yesterday's tomorrows" or "today's yesterdays". (See The Future of the Future)
Contemporary art and culture always pass through the world of fashion, and probably can't be avoided—and is probably more interesting that they have aspects of fashion.
The 1960s rewired a generation for free creative thinking, which persists to this day.
It is always a 1960s zeitgeist in some sense, with people doing things without formal training and being successful. VR and AR are the present-day pop art, in terms of what people are excited about.
It may appear that only the carcass of American culture remains, but the guts are still there.
Blake, Mark. Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd. United Kingdom, Hachette Books, 2008.
Meyrowitz, Joshua. No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior. New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Pr, 1985. Print.
Lewisohn, Mark. The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962-1970. United Kingdom, Octopus Publishing Group, 2021. (November 24, 1966)