Tuesday 8 June 2010

Yesterday's Papers

I bought a job lot of old books and magazines from a secondhand book shop this week and upon rummaging through the box in fevered excitement, I discovered a pile of music magazines from the early to mid Sixties.

"The Rolling Stones first burst onto the scene as the long haired London group with a twitch that was a kind of dance as demonstrated recently on television's Ready, Steady, Go." The New Musical Express August 1963.

"The Rolling Stones, I suspect, will not have the staying power of The Beatles, only on their second album and the quality is showing signs of worsening." Beatbox, date unknown.


Well The Rolling Stones are still with us but, "The Twitch" has long since vanished. Anyone know what exactly The Twitch was?

Cilla Does it, screams another headline - the first female chart topper since 1961.

The story goes onto tell that Cilla's Black's current hit, Anyone who had a Heart is the first No1 single for a female artist since 1961 (the article is dated 1964).

"I don't like sequins. I like simple dresses. I'm a simple kind of girl." Cilla helpfully pointed out in the body of the article when asked about her success - man, the drugs must have been good in those swinging times.

When asked about the future Cilla predicated that it would be full of hit singles and good times. Strange that she didn't foresee the bad television shows.

The Melody Maker from April 1964 reports on a riot in Clacton when a group of mods clashed with an unshaven band of rockers. The youth music was blamed to which Paul McCartney hit out - "Blame booze not the beat." McCartney said and then went off, no doubt, to write the frog song.

"The Rolling Stones do not incite violence.' Brian Jones. 'I deny that our music is anything to do with this.'

By far the best defence came when The Hollies (it's not made clear which one) commented - 'Our fans are not fighters. They're girls mainly and it's drink that starts the trouble not the music.'

Elsewhere a review of The Beatles For Sale states - is worth every penny. It's rip roaring, infectious stuff with the accent on the beat throughout.


"My magic flows in my blood." Says hippy hobbit, Donovan in an issue of NME from 1967. "The maharishi is straightening everyone out. He's going to heighten their intensity."

In the same issue reviewers are left confused by The Rolling Stones, album Satanic Majesties Request calling it a cut price Sgt. Peppers.

There's a single issue of NME from 1969 and it contains an interview with the great Elvis Presley whose comeback special had rocked the world and was about to return to live performance after the movie years.

"I think that when you do ten songs in a movie they can't all be good. Anyway I got fed up of singing to turtles." Elvis Presley.

When asked about his secluded life Elvis said, "I'm not secluded. I'm just sneaky."

I'm going to enjoy these old newspapers - I'm a huge fan of the 60's-70's music scene - these really were the years when popular music became an art form and much of it has never and will never be bettered. I was only five when the 60's ended and often think I was born maybe fifteen years too late. So expect some more looking back at these old newspapers here on the Archive soon.

UNTIL THEN - STAY FAB,GEAR AND GROOVY.

3 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

As a group the Stones certainly outlasted the Beetles, even though you'd think they'd all be dead by now.

Unknown said...

I look forward to seeing more from your treasure trove. Sadly, a lot of the people who run charity shops etc. just throw out such pre-decimal-currency stuff as soon as it reaches them. Your headline is apt indeed: "Who wants yesterday's papers? No one in the world." But clearly someone did and kept them 40+ years. What, I wonder, has happened to the person who put together the collection, or parts of it? There lies another story perhaps. My suspicion would be that the person is dead and his/her heirs see no value or interest in the items. A gloomy thought. So we have another reason for thanks to the Archive for sharing around the lost nuggets of pop culture!

Gary Dobbs/Jack Martin said...

Chap - it's great reading these with the gift of hindsight - I've just been reading of how The Rolling Stones shocked the nation on Juke Box Jury - maybe that's my next look at yesterday's papers.

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