The swinging sixties arrived in a world still waking up from post war drudgery. There were no mobile phones or internet and few opportunities for travel. The rich flew no further than Spain for a holiday. The most popular 'gadgets' were radiograms and twin tub washing machines.
Black and white TV was starting to catch on. Most people liked their fags - 70 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women smoked and most went down the pub or club for a night out. Eating out in restaurants was far too expensive - fish and chips on holiday was the nearest most families got.
Lager was beginning to catch on and wine was drunk only by the very well off. James Bond made his mark in the cinema along with spaghetti westerns and the Carry On films. And in the world of pop rock and roll was becoming mainstream. As America took the hippy trail, Britain was not far behind.
1960
Boom, boom, Freddy Cannon, a rocker to the bone, opened up the decade with his one-hit, one-hot wonder album The Explosive Freddy Cannon before the relentless waves of South Pacific washed him away from the number one album spot forever. It was Bali Ha'i back on top another 27 weeks - and this a musical that opened on Broadway in 1949!
They knew how to stay the course in those days. Elvis managed a brief foot ashore in July with Elvis is Back but only lasted a week. And the one other album that managed the top spot that year for an impressive five weeks? One Hundred And One Strings with their memorably forgettable Down Drury Lane To Memory Lane. Didn't they realise this was the 60s?
1961
This was the year of black, white and blue. The black and white was the The Black And White Minstrel Show , at the top for 15 weeks. Blue was courtesy of Elvis, his stint in the Army over, and his smash movie GI Blues in the cinemas. The soundtrack album kicked the year off and hit the target on and off for 22 weeks.
The album was, at best, a trite rehash of old songs with the slight 'Wooden Heart' the standout track. But the first inkling that a band, rather than a solo singer, could make the big time came in September when the UK backing group The Shadows made number one, joined by their lead singer in November, one Cliff Richard, top dog for a week with I'm 21 Today.
1962
It's the battle of the Atlantic as Elvis and Cliff Richard fight it out with Blue Hawaii and The Young Ones. The Young Ones turns out to be one of the highest grossing homegrown musical films in British cinema history but a bigger knockout musical West Side Story makes a move before Elvis lands his own knockout blow with the potboiler Pot Luck. Then it's like musical chairs.
Hardly anyone is top for more than a week - almost unheard of in staid album land. The Shadows, Cliff Richard, George Mitchell Minstrells and even Kenny Ball, Chris Barber and Acker Bilk. Meanwhile, four moptops from Liverpool cut their first single called Love Me Do . . . and didn't we just.
1963
It reads like this - West Side Story, top for one week, the Shadows back for two weeks and Cliff Richard set to steal the show with the album spin-off from his latest film Summer Holiday with a number one ranking for 14 weeks. Then The Beatles release their first album Please Please Me in May. They will stay top for virtually the rest of the decade.
The debut is toppled after 30 weeks by their follow-up With The Beatles in December. They stay top for a further 21 weeks before their next album takes over. And in the singles charts, 'From Me To You' triggers an unprecedented and unequalled 11 consecutive number ones from the Fab Four.
1964
Hard to believe but there are only two bands in it all year. The Beatles, of course, kick off in January with With The Beatles, follow it up with songs from the film A Hards Day's Night and finish off the year with Beatles For Sale in December.
The only other band to take a turn at the top are The Rolling Stones, with their eponymous album at number one from May to July. The crooners and musicals are virtually banished from the album charts just as Top Of The Pops gets it first BBC broadcast with Jimmy Saville.
1965
The giants slug it out this year as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles go head to head, the Stones with Rolling Stones No. 2 and the Beatles with a stunning flood of Beatles For Sale, Help and Rubber Soul.
Only one other pop artist can break the chain, a young troubadour with folk guitar and harmonica from over the pond. Cheeky-faced Bob Dylan makes pop sound serious with his Freewheelin Bob Dylan and Bringing It All Back Home. Oh, and arguably the tritest musical ever made - yes it's the singalong Sound Of Music at the top for 20 weeks.
1966
Like yin and yang, chalk and cheese, toast and Marmite it's a dichotomy of the soul, a pull of the tides, a bull and a bear - it's The Sound of Music for 10 weeks, the Rolling Stone's Aftermath for eight weeks, The Sound of Music back for seven weeks and the Beatles top for the next seven weeks with their masterpiece Revolver. And then .. . and then . . . Julie Andrews is back up that bloody mountain for 18 weeks. Some may have considered suicide. They may have been the lucky ones.
1967
This was the famous Summer of Love, with half the civilised world on dope and free love the order of the day. And the pop album year began with . . . The Sound of Music. But its not all does and deers.
The marketing men are on the move. The Monkeys burst on the scene in February and stay top for seven weeks. Julie hits back and the two trade blows until June when they both get blown away by the best-known album cover of all time. The band strikes up on Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and the world regains its sanity. It stays top for 23 weeks, then a voice from the grave - She's back for a week before the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper sweeps all before it to finish the year off.
1968
They should have known it was going to be a strange year when Val Doonican Rocks But Gently opened at number one. No one dominated as chart toppers swung from pop to Motown, from ballad to blues. The Four Tops Greatest Hits was followed in February by Diana Ross & The Supremes Greatest Hits before Bob Dylan's balladeering John Wesley Harding kept the top spot for 11 weeks.
But they couldn't keep the crooners down as Scott Walker, Andy Williams, Tom Jones and Simon abd Garfunkell all had their week of fame. Otis Reading was in there too and the Small Faces were smokin' for six weeks in June with their classic Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. The Hollies too made the big time with The Hollies' Greatest before the big time Beatles were back with their White Album.
1969
The album charts saw the decade out with another see-saw year. More seeing than sawing was The Best Of The Seekers that popped up at the top for five separate weeks between January and May, alternating first with the Beatles then with Diana Ross & The Supremes Join The Temptations and finally with The Cream.
There followed a mish mash of hit albums with Moody Blues and On The Threshold Of A Dream, Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline, Ray Conniff and his orchestra, Jim Reeves, Jethro Tull, Elvis and Blind Faith. It wasn't until October that things settled down with The Beatles, back for 17 weeks with Abbey Road with the Stones snatching a brief week at Christmas with Let It Bleed. As the Beatles' album was to show - it was the end of an era.
Thanks for reading about the music I have enjoyed reviewing whilst I have been a travel writer with SavvyNetworks.
Article Source: http://www.orbitaloc.com/
Bob Cartwright is a short break travel writer for SavvyNetworks: Europe City Breaks.
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