1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:04,760 This programme contains some strong language. 2 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,360 Let's take a trip through the most visionary period 3 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:14,360 in British music history, 4 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:19,360 five kaleidoscopic years between 1965 and 1970 5 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:23,000 when a handful of dreamers reimagined pop music. 6 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:32,280 In the mid-'60s, a counterculture swapped the white heat of technology 7 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:34,840 for an older Britain 8 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,240 of Edwardian fantasy 9 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:38,920 and bucolic bliss. 10 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,720 From out of the Bohemian underground, 11 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:48,800 psychedelia took over the pop mainstream. 12 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:56,440 So, let's go back through the secret gardens of childhood 13 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:01,040 to a time when British pop found its first truly original voice. 14 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:15,480 - STOCK FOOTAGE: - The Britain that is going to be forged 15 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:17,680 in the white heat of this revolution 16 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:20,760 will be no place for restrictive practices 17 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,520 or for outdated methods on either side of industry. 18 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:26,560 It's the mid-1960s, 19 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:28,760 a new Britain is emerging. 20 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:31,960 This is the era of the dishwashing machine. 21 00:01:31,960 --> 00:01:35,480 Touch-of-the-switch central heating, they say, will soon be universal. 22 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:39,440 As soon as people got back on the right foot after the war, 23 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:45,880 the primary objective was to have permanent jobs for ever 24 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:49,600 and to be as conventional as possible 25 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:51,760 in order to retain those jobs. 26 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:53,880 In other words, not to rock the boat. 27 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:57,320 "Well, we've survived the war. What do we do now? 28 00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:59,800 "Well, let's insure everything." 29 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,680 We were expected to be architects or civil engineers. 30 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:06,080 I had no idea what I wanted to do at all 31 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:08,760 and it was only because my grandfather had been a solicitor 32 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:11,560 I thought, "Oh, I'll try that, then." 33 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,440 But not every post-war child could see their place 34 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:16,320 in this brave new world. 35 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:20,120 This idea that young people were kind of meant to be formed 36 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:23,320 into either something academic or factory fodder, 37 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:26,080 it still kind of hung around. 38 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:28,920 I didn't care about the future. 39 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:31,920 We didn't used to think about it in those days. I didn't. 40 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:35,080 No career plans, no "Will it look good on my..." What's it called? 41 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:36,560 VE something or other? 42 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:38,040 - CV. - CV. 43 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:39,800 You know, fuck. 44 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:41,840 Too young to worry about that crap. 45 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:45,880 MUSIC: I'm a Man by The Yardbirds 46 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:47,440 # Now I'm a man 47 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:49,560 # I spell M 48 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:51,200 # A 49 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:52,720 # N... # 50 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:55,600 Teenage Britain had been borrowing the raw energy 51 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:57,560 of American rhythm and blues 52 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,800 but conventions were starting to be questioned. 53 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:02,560 # You can't resist 54 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:04,160 # I'm a man 55 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:05,760 # I spell M... # 56 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:07,560 We were doing blues covers. 57 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,200 We were doing Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, 58 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:12,960 and it was all very predictable 59 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:15,560 so we wanted to break out of that. 60 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:17,680 MUSIC: Still I'm Sad by The Yardbirds 61 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:34,400 In 1965, The Yardbirds released Still I'm Sad. 62 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:38,200 It was the sound of British R&B loosening its moorings. 63 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:51,920 # See the stars come falling down from the sky... # 64 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,640 We used to listen to all sorts of classical music. 65 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,880 You know, Stravinsky and all sorts of stuff, 66 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:05,720 and then we got in the studio and we were just experimenting with it 67 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:09,520 and, suddenly, we started to bring in a vocal chant. 68 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:13,080 I think it was that sort of wish to make it something different. 69 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:21,600 When we first heard The Yardbirds' Still I'm Sad, 70 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:23,440 it certainly gave a whole new feeling 71 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:24,880 to what The Yardbirds were doing 72 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,160 and they stopped just being that blues group. 73 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:30,680 # Still I'm sad... # 74 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,440 The blues was being radically reimagined 75 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:36,640 as a handful of groups began testing its limits. 76 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:55,400 The early '60s, I got quite a reputation as a jazz drummer. 77 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:03,720 One university gig, Eric come up to me and said, 78 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:05,920 "I know you, Baker," he said, 79 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:08,160 "You're not a hard nut at all." 80 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,160 I said to him, "Look, I'm getting a band together. 81 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:14,800 "Would you be interested?" 82 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:17,480 And he said yes straightaway. 83 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,720 MUSIC: I Feel Free by Cream 84 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:33,240 In July 1966, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton formed Cream, 85 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:37,080 a supergroup that combined blues, jazz and poetry 86 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:39,360 to create a strange brew. 87 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:41,920 The first time we played together, 88 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:43,680 it just went bam. 89 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:50,720 # Feel when I dance with you 90 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:55,480 # We move like the sea... # 91 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:57,400 Jazz takes you on journeys. 92 00:05:57,400 --> 00:05:59,840 Ginger and Jack, they were both jazz musicians 93 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:01,960 and they really would take you somewhere. 94 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,840 # I feel free... # 95 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:09,080 I never play the same two nights running. 96 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:11,440 Nor does Eric, nor did Jack. 97 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:15,320 Every night was a new adventure 98 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:17,200 musically. 99 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:32,080 The psychedelic element is that we were taking people on a journey 100 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:36,560 in a different way from what they had been taken on before. 101 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:43,280 By mid-1966, a new word was starting to catch on. 102 00:06:43,280 --> 00:06:44,920 - Psychedelic. - Psychedelic. 103 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:46,280 - Psychedelic. - Psychedelic. 104 00:06:46,280 --> 00:06:48,040 - Psychedelia. - Psychedelic. 105 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:50,280 Psychedelic... 106 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:51,680 Thing. 107 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,880 I mean, what does psychedelic mean? 108 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:58,600 MUSIC: Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones 109 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:03,200 # I see a red door and I want it painted black... # 110 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,240 A strange exotic drone was building. 111 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:08,560 Even the two most familiar bands in Britain 112 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,840 were beginning to look and sound unfamiliar. 113 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,680 I used to co-own a bookshop with a number of people, 114 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:16,440 including Paul McCartney, in fact, 115 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:19,800 and, one day, Paul and John came into the shop 116 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:24,040 and John curled up on the settee with The Psychedelic Experience 117 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:26,640 and, literally in Tim Leary's introduction, 118 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,960 it says turn off your mind and drift downstream. 119 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:31,560 So John took the book home 120 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:35,480 and the idea's in the first Beatles psychedelic track. 121 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:37,320 MUSIC: Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles 122 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:38,960 # Turn off your mind 123 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:43,240 # Relax and float downstream 124 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:47,440 # It is not dying 125 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:51,760 # It is not dying... # 126 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:54,080 The Beatles, they were the world's most commercial 127 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:56,160 of all time rock-and-roll band 128 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:58,600 and yet they were producing totally far-out stuff 129 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,160 that no-one could even imagine how they got those sounds. 130 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:03,320 If you haven't heard of LSD, 131 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:04,560 you will. 132 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:10,480 LSD 25, a legal substance introduced to Britain via America in 1965, 133 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:15,360 began rippling through the Bohemian underground in 1966. 134 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:19,880 I think part of the musical experimentation that was going on 135 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:23,720 was certainly driven by a lot of use of drugs. 136 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:25,960 Alcohol became not really cool. 137 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:28,480 When we're talking about psychedelia, 138 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:30,960 the definition of it is to do with drugs. 139 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:35,120 I mean, let's not be silly. People were experimenting. 140 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:43,880 We didn't think of it as a drug. 141 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:45,440 It was something you could take 142 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:47,720 and it expanded your mind 143 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:50,520 and I don't think there's many musicians at the time 144 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:53,280 that didn't have a go at this thing called LSD. 145 00:08:55,680 --> 00:08:58,280 In those days, it was a serious exploration. 146 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:01,000 You'd expect it to take a couple of days and wipe you out, 147 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,120 and, you know, you'd prepare the music 148 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:05,360 and have friends who were going to look after you 149 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:06,640 if you freaked out and stuff. 150 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:09,080 I mean, it was not something to take lightly. 151 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:12,280 - STOCK FOOTAGE: - These are acid heads who are going to take a trip. 152 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:13,600 Why? 153 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:15,320 To get high. 154 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:16,920 By which you mean what? 155 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:20,120 You can't explain it. You have to experience it yourself. 156 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:22,960 You expand your consciousness 157 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:26,280 and you get more aware of things. 158 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:31,400 Your senses are heightened. 159 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:34,040 If you have a record on, you're hearing things 160 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:37,080 that you wouldn't normally be attentive of. 161 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:41,400 The colours have become quite a lot brighter. 162 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:45,920 Also, I'm getting a slight paisley effect in the sky. 163 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:48,840 All of a sudden, you were like, "Hey, I've got hours." 164 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:51,480 Every second seemed to last, you know, ten minutes, 165 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:55,680 so you were kind of wound down into this slow rhythm. 166 00:09:55,680 --> 00:09:57,480 Once, when I took a little LSD, 167 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:01,240 I played the guitar for about ten hours continuously. 168 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:03,320 Seeing into people's eyes, 169 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:05,960 I saw all the universes. 170 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:07,600 I saw them being born. 171 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:09,200 I saw them die. 172 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:14,800 I would say it was the nearest I came to being able to see God. 173 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,280 LSD use was not widespread in 1966 174 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:27,440 but its effects catalysed an emerging counterculture 175 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:29,480 that questioned everything. 176 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:31,040 MUSIC: Do You Hear Me Now by Donovan 177 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:33,960 # Freedom fighters Speak with your tongues... # 178 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,560 Where ideas were being formed, people were experimenting. 179 00:10:37,560 --> 00:10:41,680 They were curious. What were the alternatives? What was happening? 180 00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:44,720 So there was an intellectual and almost philosophical 181 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:47,840 questioning of the past. 182 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:51,840 It was very obvious that capitalism, 183 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:54,120 it was sort of a monster. 184 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:57,360 We didn't like all that. You know, breadheads they were called. 185 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:02,560 What we liked was equality for all people, the world should be green, 186 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:05,240 not too many cities, don't use electricity, 187 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:07,840 that coal was revolting. 188 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:10,000 There was this sort of getting away 189 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,440 from the traditional notions of order. 190 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:17,720 All the traditional structures were in question. 191 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:21,840 What you're allowed to think, what you're allowed to be, 192 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:23,800 the lid got taken off. 193 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:29,640 While the underground questioned the establishment, 194 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:34,080 a former blues band were about to set fire to the 12-bar rule book. 195 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:36,760 MUSIC: Interstellar Overdrive by Pink Floyd 196 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:50,280 Up to then, it was all about playing the blues 197 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:52,240 and then playing blues guitar and... 198 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:56,080 I saw The Pink Floyd and I thought, "This is very avant-garde. 199 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:58,360 "This isn't like anything else I've heard." 200 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:08,560 The chords were very operatic. 201 00:12:08,560 --> 00:12:10,520 They were almost Wagnerian. 202 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:14,640 And there was a very European sensibility 203 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:16,520 that anchored everything 204 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:20,160 and I think definitely put a big separation 205 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:22,160 between them and the blues. 206 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:33,440 Syd and Rick were improvising together long... 207 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:37,280 what seemed like long improvisations all on one chord. 208 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:46,200 Interstellar Overdrive, because it was just a riff which kept going, 209 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:50,520 it went right away from that notion of verse, chorus, verse, chorus. 210 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:54,280 That traditional sort of music structure was gone. 211 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:19,360 Maybe the music we play isn't directed at dancing necessarily 212 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,680 like normal pop groups have been in the past. 213 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,680 But, whilst Pink Floyd were sonically progressive, 214 00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:38,920 Syd Barrett's lyrics harked back to a world of childhood fantasy. 215 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:41,320 # There was a king 216 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:43,560 # Who ruled the land 217 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:46,280 # His Majesty was... # 218 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:48,000 We lived in Cambridge, 219 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,640 in a town which had a lovely river running through it 220 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:52,840 with willows right along it. 221 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,240 Syd was certainly very keen on that. 222 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:57,360 It was very easy to avail yourself 223 00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:59,840 of an actual Wind In The Willows landscape. 224 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:04,080 All of Syd's early songs referred in passing 225 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:07,440 to fairyland and the world of goblins and gnomes 226 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:09,080 and an Arcadian world picture 227 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:11,160 derived from classic children's books. 228 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:12,920 # Across the stream 229 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:15,200 # With wooden shoes 230 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,080 # Bells to tell the king the news... # 231 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:21,640 It was English. It was Shakespearean, in a way. 232 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:23,920 And I just thought that Syd Barrett 233 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:27,640 was a little wild Puck-Ariel figure 234 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:32,640 coming out of the woods with his, you know, curly hair and these eyes. 235 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:37,200 He seemed to me to be born of the English countryside. 236 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:39,040 Syd was not alone. 237 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:41,640 For a counterculture at odds with society, 238 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:46,880 LSD and children's classics combined to create the perfect retreat 239 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:50,000 inwards and backwards. 240 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:52,680 We read a lot of those children's books, you know, 241 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:55,680 like Alice In Wonderland, like Wind In The Willows. 242 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:59,440 So there was a looking back to a sort of a golden age 243 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:01,480 of childhood and innocence, 244 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:06,160 because our childhood had been fractured, a lot of us, by the war. 245 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,040 It was the last part of traditional British culture 246 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:13,680 that people still trusted, because that's what they grew up with. 247 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:16,280 This was something that they knew they could refer to 248 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:19,400 which, in a way, set them apart from the adults, as it were, 249 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:21,960 the grown-ups, the straights and the suits. 250 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:27,120 These Arcadian worlds of imagination and innocence 251 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:30,000 appealed to the new underground, 252 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:34,080 but this band of idealists still lacked a home. 253 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,760 In December '66, they'd find one. 254 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:41,120 Ufo grew directly out of things that John Hopkins 255 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:42,600 had been involved with - 256 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:46,200 Hoppy, who was the kind of leader of the whole underground scene. 257 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:50,600 We went and found this Irish dancehall in Tottenham Court Road. 258 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:53,840 The first night at Ufo, we didn't know how many people were 259 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:56,400 going to come, and a huge crowd turned up. 260 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:02,480 We were surprised at how many people came, and I think the audience 261 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,960 was surprised to see there were so many of us. 262 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:11,760 It was like London freaks recognised each other like, "Wow! Oh! 263 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:14,480 "There's more than just me and my friends." 264 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:18,040 # Ridin' all around the streets 265 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:21,280 # Four o'clock and they're all asleep 266 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:24,680 # I'm not tired and it's so late 267 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:28,000 # Movin' fast everything looks great 268 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,200 # My white bicycle... # 269 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:33,840 When you entered the club, 270 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:36,040 you had to go down a very large, wide staircase. 271 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:37,680 You could see these little bubbles, 272 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,200 it looked like bubbles coming up into the street, almost. 273 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,960 But they never quite made it into Tottenham Court Road. 274 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,560 It was very much descending into another world. 275 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:48,120 # My white bicycle... # 276 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:53,600 There was a sense of chaos. 277 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:56,440 When you got in there, you could do what the hell you liked. 278 00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:58,320 There wasn't any real restrictions. 279 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:01,200 Everywhere else you went, you sat down and shut up. 280 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,760 I just bought it straightaway - incense burning, 281 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:11,360 freak-out dancing, a little kind of theatre group, 282 00:17:11,360 --> 00:17:14,360 movies on this wall, another movie on this wall. 283 00:17:14,360 --> 00:17:16,120 It was an amazing experience. 284 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:21,320 Ufo became the weekly meeting place. 285 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:25,400 It was a kind of galvanising place. 286 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:28,640 # My white bicycle... # 287 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:33,000 While Ufo, LSD and Pink Floyd were galvanising the freaks, 288 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:36,440 a group of musical misfits from Canterbury were developing 289 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:39,200 a sound along parallel lines. 290 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:52,120 Maybe if we'd lived in a big city we'd have known more people sooner 291 00:17:52,120 --> 00:17:55,680 and it would have been a wider, looser circle. 292 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,120 In Canterbury, I was the only drummer they knew 293 00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:01,000 and Mike was the only keyboard player any of us knew, 294 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,760 so despite the fact that we hadn't got much in common 295 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:06,080 in terms of interest, we worked together, 296 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:08,520 cos that's what there was. 297 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:14,280 I think that made us have to be more inventive, stretch ourselves. 298 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:21,880 John Coltrane, towards the end of his life, 299 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:23,440 was doing very modal stuff, 300 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:25,760 sometimes with just two or three chords. 301 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:28,280 It was, "How deep can I get into the zone?" 302 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,680 I think that sort of influenced us a lot - 303 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:35,680 just getting into this zone, this modal zone, and just kind of... 304 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:40,480 Just digging deep into that groove. 305 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:53,360 The only thing that mattered about who you were playing with was, 306 00:18:53,360 --> 00:18:55,360 in my case - have they got anything original? 307 00:18:55,360 --> 00:18:57,440 Were they specifically themselves? 308 00:18:57,440 --> 00:18:59,800 What I like about Kevin is there's no other Kevin Ayers, 309 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:01,840 there's no other Mike Ratledge. 310 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:03,200 Mike's keyboard playing - 311 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:07,120 I think even he was surprised at how it came out. 312 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:09,040 Like a scientific experiment. 313 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:11,480 Suddenly you put this acid with that acid and it goes boom. 314 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:12,720 You think, "Blimey!" 315 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:28,720 The Soft Machine's heady blend of modal jazz and improvisational rock 316 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:34,200 needed an audience with an open mind, an audience they found at Ufo. 317 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:36,120 The audience didn't have any expectations, 318 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:39,040 so you could do what you liked. They were all stoned. 319 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:43,160 If they hated it, they were too out of it to pick you up on anything. 320 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:44,920 We found out what you mustn't do - 321 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:48,400 if you stop, somebody will boo, so don't stop. 322 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:57,560 # Say goodbye, watch the sky... # 323 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:07,480 It wasn't on predictable tramlines, 324 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:09,800 and neither were the trips people were having, 325 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:12,680 so people could go along with us for the journey 326 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:14,920 and they would go with it. 327 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:17,640 We weren't a pop band, we weren't a jazz band. 328 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:19,040 We weren't really a rock band. 329 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:22,320 I can only say psychedelic because we weren't anything else. 330 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,640 For a few hours one evening, together with the audience, 331 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:27,840 you could really go to... another planet. 332 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:39,720 The psychedelic underground was about more than never-ending space jams. 333 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,560 Art and fashion were also being re-cut. 334 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:47,400 Carnaby Street was still pretty uptight in many ways. 335 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:50,040 It was very sharp and smart. 336 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:54,360 We were looking for a much more romantic, Bohemian idea of it all. 337 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:55,400 # Kaleidoscope 338 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:57,280 # Kaleidoscope, kaleido 339 00:20:57,280 --> 00:20:59,840 # Kaleidoscope, kaleidoscope 340 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:02,000 # Kaleidoscope... # 341 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,920 The first idea of Granny Takes A Trip was in tune with 342 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,080 the ideas of people like Oscar Wilde. 343 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:10,160 We were raiding vintage wardrobes 344 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:13,400 and William Morris patterns for jackets. 345 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:17,040 It's that idea of nostalgia, British nostalgia. 346 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:21,120 Just like much of the music, 347 00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:24,000 psychedelic fashion was also channelling the past. 348 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:27,920 I thought everybody looked like Renaissance paintings - 349 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,800 masses of long hair, wearing robes and stuff. 350 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:32,920 The girls wore long skirts. 351 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:35,440 Everybody looked like John the Baptist. 352 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,080 Some of us did walk around looking like dandies, 353 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:40,800 with these Edwardian jackets. 354 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:42,240 There was always a scarf. 355 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,120 I broke down once on the side of the motorway and I had this... 356 00:21:46,120 --> 00:21:48,240 what looked like a nightshirt on. 357 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:51,200 The AA man came up and he said, 358 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,960 "What are you, one of them lords or something?" 359 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,240 This sort of strange figure, you know. 360 00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:02,520 The psychedelic underground was even developing 361 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:05,440 its own subterranean media network. 362 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,760 We have our own publishers, our own film-makers, our own theatres, 363 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:12,600 night clubs. It's a complete society. 364 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:17,440 The scenes themselves are connected by the paper as an agency. 365 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,360 1966 we brought up the first issue of International Times, 366 00:22:20,360 --> 00:22:23,240 which was the first underground newspaper in Europe. 367 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:25,800 International Times covered the areas that we thought that 368 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:27,720 Fleet Street was completely ignoring - 369 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,480 the anti-Vietnam war movement, for instance, the CND movement. 370 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:34,080 We covered how much dope was costing. 371 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,360 Myself and a bunch of friends realised there were 372 00:22:36,360 --> 00:22:39,800 a constituency of young people who had no voice, basically. 373 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:46,080 Even in the slightly garbled image of the International Times, 374 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:50,440 there was some very serious thought and some very serious writing. 375 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,720 I think Miles provided the underground scene 376 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,200 with a very rigorous professionalism. 377 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:06,200 As 1966 grew to a close, 378 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,680 the counterculture that had centred around Ufo, It 379 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:12,600 and Granny Takes A Trip was a growing force, 380 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:16,280 but the psychedelic movement was little more than a whisper - 381 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:18,400 a world away from booming Britain. 382 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,240 MUSIC: Sunshine Superman by Donovan 383 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:26,960 In December of '66, however, 384 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:32,120 a harpsichord-drenched piece of psych pop hit number two in the UK charts. 385 00:23:32,120 --> 00:23:36,560 # Sunshine came softly through my 386 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:40,040 # A-window today 387 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,280 # Could've tripped out easy 388 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:46,480 # But I've a-changed my ways... # 389 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:51,600 And, perhaps sensing a rising tide, December '66 also saw the BBC 390 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,560 broadcast Jonathan Miller's Alice In Wonderland. 391 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:11,080 Was this just a coincidence? 392 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:14,080 Or was there something in the air? 393 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:18,760 Oh, that's the great puzzle. 394 00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:19,800 Who am I? 395 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:28,560 MUSIC: Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles 396 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:40,040 # Let me take you down cos I'm going to 397 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:42,720 # Strawberry Fields 398 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:47,240 # Nothing is real 399 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:51,480 # And nothing to get hung about 400 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:56,920 # Strawberry Fields forever... # 401 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:00,600 By February 1967, Britain was beginning to suspect 402 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:04,600 that The Beatles' catchy tunes and matching suits period was over. 403 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:12,040 We'd started off as cheery chappies, Northern lads - fun, nice boys. 404 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:15,960 We didn't really believe it, but we realised it was our image. 405 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,520 But as time went by, we needed to develop. 406 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:24,520 It was quite a heavy drug period for most of the people in our world, 407 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:27,520 so I think all of that found its way into the music. 408 00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:35,080 # No-one I think is in my tree 409 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,960 # I mean, it must be high or low... # 410 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,880 Strawberry Fields was where The Beatles suddenly stopped 411 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:46,720 being transatlantic and suddenly dealt with British subjects, 412 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,680 childhood memories, feelings about death. 413 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:52,400 They went in all sorts of interesting directions 414 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:55,640 which popular songs had never gone to before. 415 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:57,400 # Strawberry Fields 416 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:03,200 # Nothing is real... # 417 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:08,360 The potential of what you could do under the guise of making pop music 418 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:10,840 was...the doors were being opened. 419 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:16,800 Strawberry Fields Forever had a very universal message which was, 420 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:18,880 basically, return to innocence. 421 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:21,320 We were talking about the period when music moved 422 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:24,000 from being part of the entertainment business to art. 423 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:32,400 I think a lot of people have twigged they've shut themselves in a bit. 424 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,520 They've got all these rules for everything - 425 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,560 rules of how to live, how to paint, how to make music. 426 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:40,720 It's just not true any more. 427 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:44,240 Any new strange world, like psychedelic, drugs, 428 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:48,720 the whole bit, freak-out music and all of that, don't immediately 429 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:53,760 take it as that, because your first reaction has got to be one of fear. 430 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:57,000 Then, rather shockingly, 431 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:01,960 Paul McCartney admitted to taking LSD on national television. 432 00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:05,440 Go on, how often have you taken LSD? 433 00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:09,560 About four times. 434 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:13,400 Don't you believe that this was a matter which you should have kept private? 435 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,160 I mean, you're spreading this now, at this moment, 436 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,400 this is going into all the homes in Britain. 437 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,920 I'd rather it didn't, you know, but you're asking me the question, 438 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:25,000 you want me to be honest. I'll be honest. 439 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:26,840 But as a public figure, 440 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,040 surely you've got a responsibility to not... 441 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,520 No, it's you who's got the responsibility. 442 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:35,600 You've got the responsibility not to spread this now. 443 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:40,560 I'm quite prepared to keep it as a very personal thing if you will too. 444 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:42,600 If you shut up about it, I will. 445 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:47,080 MUSIC: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles 446 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:52,120 Society's darlings were becoming full-on psychedelic trailblazers. 447 00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:54,680 # It was 20 years ago today 448 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:57,400 # Sgt Pepper taught the band to play... # 449 00:27:57,400 --> 00:27:59,160 We were all down the Speakeasy. 450 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:03,480 At that time, George Harrison and John Lennon were in. 451 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:06,560 They sent the roadie back up to Abbey Road to get 452 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:08,240 a copy of Sgt Pepper. 453 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:10,800 We put it on the big speakers at Speakeasy. 454 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,600 I can remember George doing air guitar 455 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:15,240 to the opening of Sgt Pepper. 456 00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:21,760 # We're Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band... # 457 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:25,440 The power, the energy, it was like a kind of tidal wave, 458 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:27,040 it just washed over you. 459 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:31,520 # Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 460 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:35,160 # Sit back and let the evening go... # 461 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,200 I remember during the sessions that they were very concerned to 462 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:42,280 not lose anybody, you know, not lose the mums 463 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:46,080 and the aunties who bought the records for their teenage kids, 464 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:49,560 but they also wanted to push the boundaries of rock and roll. 465 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:52,280 A lot of what The Beatles were doing 466 00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:56,240 when you look at it was passing on this freedom. 467 00:28:56,240 --> 00:29:00,280 I think that was one of the great values of what we did. 468 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:04,800 We kind of just showed what we were going through to the world. 469 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,080 # Arnold Layne 470 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,880 # Had a strange hobby 471 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:17,800 # Collecting clothes 472 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:22,920 # Moonshine washing line 473 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,040 # They suit him fine... # 474 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,960 While The Beatles had been creating their carnival of psychedelia, 475 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:33,160 Pink Floyd went pop. 476 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,000 The charts were getting weird. 477 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,400 # Oh, Arnold Layne 478 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:42,920 # It's not the same... # 479 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,560 Arnold Layne is based on truth. 480 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:48,160 Syd's mother took in lodgers. 481 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:51,560 Laundry would get hung on the clothesline in the back yard. 482 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:54,800 There was a case about a guy getting actually 483 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:57,840 convicted for stealing underwear. 484 00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:01,720 This is just Syd reporting on his life. 485 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:06,040 # Arnold Layne 486 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:11,840 # Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne... # 487 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,560 I think Arnold Layne was an example of rock and roll 488 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:17,440 dealing with subjects which had not previously been covered - 489 00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:22,440 a pervert stealing underwear off of people's back-yard washing lines. 490 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:26,360 Even two years earlier, nobody would have written a song about that. 491 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:32,920 A second single, See Emily Play, soon followed. 492 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:36,920 The kings of the underground were now appearing on Top Of The Pops. 493 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:41,080 # Emily tries but misunderstands 494 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:49,200 # She's often inclined to borrow somebody's dreams till tomorrow... # 495 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:51,120 Steeped in a longing for childhood, 496 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:55,240 the song was allegedly inspired by a teenage Emily Young. 497 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,840 We used to sit around the same place smoking joints. 498 00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:02,640 I think that song was... It was about him. It was the two Syds. 499 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:07,160 There was one who got on with his life and the other one who 500 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,200 had become a star and was taking huge amounts of drugs. 501 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:13,320 He was losing his grip. 502 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:17,640 His muse, his poetic spirit, he called that Emily. 503 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:22,240 It was the feminine part of him, it was the creative part of him. 504 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:24,680 That side really needed help. 505 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:30,200 # See Emily play. # 506 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:33,560 While pop was getting trippy, by the spring of '67 507 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:37,440 LSD had been illegalised and the psychedelic movement started 508 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:40,680 feeling the effects of an establishment clamp-down. 509 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:44,720 The police was starting to get upset with the underground. 510 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:46,800 I mean, they used to come to Ufo 511 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:50,400 and search people in the queues for drugs and arrest people. 512 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:52,600 The fact that a lot of people were taking drugs 513 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:55,840 meant that the police had easy targets, basically. 514 00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,240 By the middle of the year, The Rolling Stones were busted. 515 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,160 International Times also was busted by the police. 516 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:05,680 We thought we were going to have a major lawsuit, 517 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:10,920 so we needed to put on some benefits to raise money to fight the case. 518 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:15,200 Something like 40, 42 bands, I think, offered their services. 519 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:17,200 It was absolutely fantastic. 520 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:19,280 MUSIC: She's A Rainbow by The Rolling Stones 521 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:23,280 In April 1967, 10,000 people poured into Alexandra Palace 522 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,480 to attend the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream. 523 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:30,240 It was the moment the summer of love opened its gates to the masses. 524 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:33,240 # She comes in colours everywhere 525 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:35,400 # She combs her hair 526 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:39,440 # She's like a rainbow 527 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:41,920 # Coming, colours in the air 528 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,480 # Everywhere 529 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:46,520 # She comes in colours... # 530 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:49,840 You walked inside and the scale of it 531 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:52,600 and the whole thing was just wonderful. 532 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,360 It was like the UFO club magnified. 533 00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:58,200 It was a wonderful place to be at that time and to be performing. 534 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:00,960 # She comes in colours everywhere 535 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:03,200 # She combs her hair 536 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:06,440 # She's like a rainbow... # 537 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:08,800 I decided that it would be a good idea to take a trip to 538 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:10,600 get into the spirit of the event. 539 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:12,040 I think Syd did as well, 540 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:16,640 so we both dropped a tab or whatever one did at that time. 541 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:19,040 You went in and it was this huge place. 542 00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:22,480 This huge room with people climbing up, lots of scaffolding, 543 00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:24,840 the old Ally Pally organ. 544 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,480 Lots of lights and smoke. 545 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:30,240 It was just an extraordinary experience, because everybody was 546 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,200 out of their heads, wandering around looking at other people who were 547 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:36,960 out of their heads who were doing things whilst out of their heads. 548 00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:41,320 Some came and found enlightenment. 549 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,520 We're letting our imagination flow with the rhythm of music. 550 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:48,000 That's like the rhythm of the sea or the rhythm of creation. 551 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:49,680 All you can do is dig it. 552 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:54,120 You just go where it's going and flow with it. 553 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:56,960 Others were left scratching their heads. 554 00:33:56,960 --> 00:33:59,280 Do you know what the evening is really about? 555 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:01,360 No, I don't think anybody does. 556 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:03,480 I feel rather sorry for them, personally. 557 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:05,200 To me, they're looking for something, 558 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:07,840 but they don't even know themselves what they're looking for. 559 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:10,800 - Did you come here to enjoy yourself this evening? - Yeah, and I haven't. 560 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:13,600 - What did you expect? - Something better than this. 561 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:35,440 We walked out and lay on the grass 562 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:39,720 and saw one of those great English spring dawns. 563 00:34:39,720 --> 00:34:44,520 Hundreds of people streaming out of Alexandra Palace downhill. 564 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:48,960 I remember thinking to myself, this whole movement, this whole thing 565 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:52,680 that we're all a part of, is way bigger than I thought. 566 00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:56,560 Now, it's unstoppable. 567 00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:04,440 The summer of 1967 saw psychedelia become a mass phenomenon. 568 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:08,120 I remember seeing all these people with Afghan coats, 569 00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:12,560 long hair and bells walking up the straight. 570 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:15,960 My God, they've all become hippies, within months. 571 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:19,000 We're talking about something which just exploded. 572 00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:28,560 It was the beginning of the end in terms of its naked purity 573 00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:31,560 as an artistic movement and statement. 574 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,800 On the other hand, it was the beginning of it spreading in 575 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:40,320 a more watered down way throughout the whole of English culture. 576 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:45,440 Now every band in Britain seemed to be writing songs about toy shops, 577 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:47,920 toffee apples and rainbows. 578 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:52,280 A psychedelic tsunami was about to wash over the singles charts. 579 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:54,760 MUSIC: Whiter Shade Of Pale by Procol Harum 580 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:03,360 With Whiter Shade Of Pale, we were trying to do something different. 581 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:05,240 It was a direct influence 582 00:36:05,240 --> 00:36:08,640 from Jacques Loussier's Air On A G String. 583 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:13,120 I'd thought that classical music can be part of contemporary music. 584 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:18,760 # We skipped the light fandango 585 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:24,240 # Turned cartwheels cross the floor 586 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:30,280 # I was feeling kind of seasick 587 00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:37,000 # And the crowd called out for more... # 588 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:40,960 Psychedelia really gave the freedom 589 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:44,480 and made you float off places that you hadn't been. 590 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:46,840 We didn't really know if it would be a hit, 591 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:49,360 but it all happened so quickly. 592 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:52,680 I think it got released about three weeks after we'd made it. 593 00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:56,160 It was number one the week after that. 594 00:36:56,160 --> 00:37:01,360 # That her face at first just ghostly 595 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:06,440 # Turned a whiter shade of pale... # 596 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:12,600 Now even baroque could be number one. 597 00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:16,000 # But it's too late to say you're sorry 598 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:19,320 # How would I know? Why should I care? # 599 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:22,720 Bands that had only recently been knocking out R&B hits 600 00:37:22,720 --> 00:37:26,160 were being caught up in the moment. 601 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:28,760 # Well, let me tell you 'bout the way she looked 602 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:30,160 # The way she acted 603 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:32,280 # The colour of her hair... # 604 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:34,600 We always thought we were just being a beat group. 605 00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:37,600 There were a lot of Zombies tracks we did which, you know, 606 00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:41,040 a lot of blues and jazz influence in those things, but apart from that, I 607 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,840 was listening to a lot of classical music and I wasn't the only one. 608 00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:48,280 That European influence really came into our music as well, 609 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:50,960 without being conscious of it. 610 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,560 I mean, Time Of The Season I would say at the time was 611 00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:55,480 affected by that zeitgeist. 612 00:37:56,720 --> 00:38:00,880 # It's the time of the season 613 00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:05,760 # When love runs high 614 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:07,880 # In this time 615 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:09,920 # Give it to me easy 616 00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:16,680 # And let me try with pleasured hands 617 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:21,520 BOTH: # To take you in the sun to promised lands 618 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:24,280 # To show you everyone 619 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:29,680 # It's the time of the season 620 00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:32,280 # For loving... # 621 00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:40,560 The whole "summer of love" thing, in inverted commas, 622 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:42,920 was something that we were very suspicious of in a way, 623 00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:44,920 because it felt very naive 624 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:49,680 and people paid lip service to it to some degree, but in another way, 625 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:53,440 there was a really genuine upsurge of feeling there. 626 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:56,240 You couldn't help but be captured by it. 627 00:38:56,240 --> 00:39:00,720 # It's the time of the season 628 00:39:00,720 --> 00:39:02,920 # For loving... # 629 00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:06,160 Even kings of Carnaby Street The Small Faces 630 00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:08,840 were trading in their mod suits for kaftans 631 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:11,560 and creating psychedelic music hall. 632 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:14,360 # Over bridge of sighs 633 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:18,840 # To rest my eyes in shades of green 634 00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:22,200 # Under dreaming spires 635 00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:24,960 # To Itchycoo Park, that's where I've been... # 636 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:28,040 The great thing about The Small Faces, we were experimenting. 637 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:30,400 Most bands were - The Beatles, The Stones, everybody - 638 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:33,440 they were desperately trying to lose that teenybopper image. 639 00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:35,480 LSD, right, songwriters in the band 640 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,760 would be looking for other expressions, 641 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:41,160 so they're writing songs about their experience of taking it. 642 00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:45,280 # It's all too beautiful... # 643 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:49,560 Itchycoo Park was the first time we'd discovered phasing. 644 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:53,040 # I feel inclined to blow my mind 645 00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:55,920 # Get hung up, feed the ducks with a bun... # 646 00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:58,440 We looped a piece of tape around the tape machine 647 00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:02,280 and looped it around the back of a chair and just let it run. 648 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:03,880 There was that drum fill... 649 00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:05,200 HE IMITATES DRUMS 650 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:11,520 - # Tell you what I'll do - What will you do? 651 00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:15,520 # I'd like to go there now with you... # 652 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:18,080 The best way to listen to it is smoke a bit of weed 653 00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:20,680 and lay back and enjoy it. 654 00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:24,240 # It's all too beautiful 655 00:40:24,240 --> 00:40:28,160 # It's all too beautiful 656 00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:31,720 # It's all too beautiful... # 657 00:40:31,720 --> 00:40:35,320 The psych craze was even permeating the no-nonsense bands 658 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:37,280 of working-class Birmingham. 659 00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:42,280 The bands that played in Birmingham just played in pubs 660 00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:43,720 and working men's clubs. 661 00:40:43,720 --> 00:40:46,040 Flower power, psychedelia and all that, 662 00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:49,520 I don't think it meant a great deal to the people of Birmingham. 663 00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:52,800 We were a working-class band, 664 00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:57,120 but you're influenced by whatever else is going on around you because 665 00:40:57,120 --> 00:41:02,880 you think it might make whatever song you write more up-to-date. 666 00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:07,280 In 1967, the ubiquitous sound of psychedelia was the sitar 667 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:10,080 but, without access to such an instrument, Roy Wood 668 00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:14,920 set about creating his own DIY take on that exotic Eastern sound. 669 00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:27,520 In those days, you had to make the best of what was there. 670 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:30,640 I wanted to try and make it like a sitar kind of thing 671 00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:32,680 with the drones and then... 672 00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:37,480 ..you know, that kind of stuff going on. 673 00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:40,720 I thought, "Well, wouldn't it be nice to include that in a song?" 674 00:41:40,720 --> 00:41:43,280 That ended up being I Can Hear The Grass Grow. 675 00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:56,480 # See the people all in line 676 00:41:56,480 --> 00:42:00,400 # What's makin' them look at me? 677 00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:03,320 # Can't imagine that their minds 678 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:06,720 # Are thinkin' the same as me 679 00:42:06,720 --> 00:42:09,840 # I can hear the grass grow 680 00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:13,200 # I can hear the grass grow 681 00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:17,200 # I see rainbows in the evening... # 682 00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:20,320 The Move, they were psychedelic 683 00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:22,920 but they were a beer drinker's psychedelia. 684 00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:28,600 # Can't seem to puzzle out the signs... # 685 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:32,600 Roy Wood was picking up stuff that was coming up from the underground. 686 00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:34,560 Cos he's so brilliant musically, 687 00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:38,720 he was just turning it into whatever he wanted to 688 00:42:38,720 --> 00:42:42,120 without necessarily having to take acid to get there. 689 00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:49,920 While psych was invading the singles charts, post-Sgt Pepper, 690 00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:52,720 the artistic scope of the LP was exploding. 691 00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:05,600 The four of us decided that we were going to drop acid, 692 00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:09,560 and it opened a door in my mind. 693 00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:14,400 I could see the world as it really was for the first time. 694 00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:17,640 We were searching for some kind of enlightenment. 695 00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:22,200 Having seen the light, 696 00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:26,400 The Moody Blues set about writing an album of cosmic proportions. 697 00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:33,680 Days Of Future Passed we'd written around the story of Everyman 698 00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:39,240 and a day in his life, but he had a magical mystic side. 699 00:43:39,240 --> 00:43:41,760 # Who's there? 700 00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:45,320 # Afternoon 701 00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:50,080 # I'm just beginning to see 702 00:43:51,240 --> 00:43:54,960 # I'm on my way... # 703 00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:58,680 The scope of Days Of Future Passed was unprecedented, and cemented 704 00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:02,760 the concept of the concept album in the popular imagination. 705 00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:08,120 One song and a strange new instrument would combine to create 706 00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:09,720 the album's break-out hit. 707 00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:14,400 I wanted to do a song about the night. 708 00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:19,480 I was at the end of one big love affair, at the beginning of another. 709 00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:22,480 So I sat on the side of the bed and I wrote the two verses 710 00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:24,040 on this big old 12-string. 711 00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:31,840 I played it to the other guys and they weren't that taken by it. 712 00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:34,360 # Nights in white satin... # 713 00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:41,760 # Never reaching the end... # 714 00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:46,120 Mike, our keyboard player, had found an instrument called the mellotron. 715 00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:49,800 Mike said, "Play it again." I went, "Nights in white satin." He went... 716 00:44:49,800 --> 00:44:52,040 HE IMITATES MELLOTRON MELODY 717 00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:56,560 # Beauty I'd always missed 718 00:44:56,560 --> 00:44:59,800 # With these eyes before... # 719 00:44:59,800 --> 00:45:03,920 And when he did that and he put the big chord on it... 720 00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:05,280 # Cos I love you... # 721 00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:07,640 HE IMITATES MELLOTRON 722 00:45:07,640 --> 00:45:10,760 ..everybody else was interested. 723 00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:14,040 # Yes, I love you 724 00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:22,040 # Oh, how I love you... # 725 00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:31,280 There's another element in that song that I haven't talked about, 726 00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:34,560 because the other element is death. 727 00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:40,360 Love, when it's over, is a form of death. It's close to grief. 728 00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:44,520 That mellotron, the mysticism in the song, put that all together 729 00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:48,480 and it starts to create a beautiful magic. 730 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:52,840 # Yes, I love you 731 00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:59,440 # Oh, how I love you... # 732 00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:04,160 In the wake of Days Of Future Passed, the concept album became de rigueur. 733 00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:07,800 The LP was surpassing the single as pop's ultimate expression. 734 00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:21,600 Meanwhile, away from the glare of the pop industry, 735 00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:26,720 the traditionally conservative world of folk music was also mutating. 736 00:46:26,720 --> 00:46:30,960 We thought the kind of music that we want to be listening to is 737 00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:33,600 not really around, so we'd better make it. 738 00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:35,800 That's how the String Band started, really. 739 00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:39,360 We thought, "Let's make the kind of music that we'd like to listen to." 740 00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:42,840 # My cave was bright with sulky gems 741 00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:46,640 # That paved the stars like diadems 742 00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:50,160 # Silver lost and buried gold 743 00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:55,760 # Such was my home in days of old... # 744 00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:59,680 Robin went to Morocco and he came back with lots of instruments, 745 00:46:59,680 --> 00:47:02,320 Moroccan instruments and African instruments 746 00:47:02,320 --> 00:47:03,760 that he'd got over there - 747 00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:06,480 flutes and gimbris and ouds and all that kind of stuff. 748 00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:22,560 The Incredible String Band, they were travelling to Morocco 749 00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:26,800 and travelling to Turkey and travelling to India and coming back. 750 00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:30,920 You know, there was this real thirst for cultures that were really 751 00:47:30,920 --> 00:47:33,640 different from England and Britain. 752 00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:36,200 I just thought it was brilliantly original. 753 00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:42,320 The band's exotic sound was honed on a heady combination of LSD 754 00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:45,360 and the isolation of the Scottish countryside. 755 00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:49,680 Maybe ten miles out of Glasgow was Temple Cottage. 756 00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:51,200 It was just a retreat. 757 00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:53,800 We were away from the obligations of the town and, you know, 758 00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:56,920 we didn't have to bother about any of that stuff. 759 00:47:56,920 --> 00:48:01,000 We would just completely be immersed in developing this music. 760 00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:05,440 In 1968, the band released The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, 761 00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:11,120 which included a 13-minute song about life, love, amoebas and acid. 762 00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:14,960 # Lay down, my dear sister 763 00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:18,640 # Won't you lay and take a rest? 764 00:48:18,640 --> 00:48:26,240 # Won't you lay your head upon your saviour's breast? 765 00:48:26,240 --> 00:48:29,840 # And I love you 766 00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:32,440 # But Jesus loves you the best 767 00:48:32,440 --> 00:48:35,040 # And I bid you good night 768 00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:36,680 # Good night 769 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:38,760 # Good night... # 770 00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:40,640 With acid, you went on a trip. 771 00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:45,280 You went to experience a slightly different reality and bring it back 772 00:48:45,280 --> 00:48:49,960 to the world and the world would be sparkly and new with a bit of luck. 773 00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:52,280 Cellular Song is just a trip. 774 00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:56,360 It's my attempt to write a kind of timeless hymn 775 00:48:56,360 --> 00:48:59,200 that would relate to everyone. 776 00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:02,280 # May the long time sun shine upon you 777 00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:04,560 # All love surround you 778 00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:07,400 # And the pure light within you 779 00:49:07,400 --> 00:49:09,960 # Guide you all the way home 780 00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:12,880 # Oh, may the long time sun shine upon you 781 00:49:12,880 --> 00:49:15,400 # All love surround you 782 00:49:15,400 --> 00:49:17,880 # And the pure light within you 783 00:49:17,880 --> 00:49:20,160 # Guide you all the way home... # 784 00:49:20,160 --> 00:49:24,000 The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter hit number five in the charts 785 00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:27,320 and the band became the unlikeliest of stars. 786 00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:29,640 When The Incredible String Band released 787 00:49:29,640 --> 00:49:32,800 Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, and by that time I had become 788 00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:37,240 their manager, I said, "You're not playing folk clubs any more. 789 00:49:37,240 --> 00:49:39,480 "You're going to open for the Floyd." 790 00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:42,320 # May the long time sun shine upon you 791 00:49:42,320 --> 00:49:44,720 # All love surround you 792 00:49:44,720 --> 00:49:46,920 # And the pure light within you 793 00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:48,360 # Guide you all the way home... # 794 00:49:48,360 --> 00:49:51,160 Joe arranged for us to do big concert halls. 795 00:49:51,160 --> 00:49:54,480 The promoters said, "Oh, there's no way we can do this." 796 00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:56,000 And they all sold out. 797 00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:59,760 # Oh, may the long time sun shine upon you 798 00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:01,680 # All love surround you 799 00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:04,360 # And the pure light within you 800 00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:14,440 # Guide you all the way home. # 801 00:50:16,960 --> 00:50:19,640 This new breed of folk music resonated with 802 00:50:19,640 --> 00:50:23,680 a generation of urban Bohemians that distrusted modernity 803 00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:27,160 and yearned to get back to the garden. 804 00:50:27,160 --> 00:50:32,240 A lot of British music is fascinated and devoted to the countryside, 805 00:50:32,240 --> 00:50:34,160 whether it's Cecil Sharp 806 00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:38,800 and Vaughan Williams walking down a byway in Norfolk to collect 807 00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:44,520 a song in 1908 or whether it's Mike Heron and Robin Williamson 808 00:50:44,520 --> 00:50:49,040 tripping out on, you know, a Scottish Highland. 809 00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:53,080 There's a sense of wonder of nature, awareness of nature. 810 00:50:55,440 --> 00:50:59,600 The late '60s saw a wave of musicians turn their backs on the city 811 00:50:59,600 --> 00:51:01,040 and head for the country. 812 00:51:02,800 --> 00:51:04,960 # The rainbow river 813 00:51:04,960 --> 00:51:07,160 # Is a loving stream 814 00:51:07,160 --> 00:51:10,000 # Down in a valley by a mountain 815 00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:11,800 # That is pine tree tall... # 816 00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:18,920 I'd grown up in London and I knew London and I love London, 817 00:51:18,920 --> 00:51:21,480 but it wasn't where I could be. 818 00:51:21,480 --> 00:51:24,760 I couldn't understand it, I couldn't make any sense of anything, 819 00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:28,240 of the way that the world appeared to be. 820 00:51:28,240 --> 00:51:30,200 # Sit by the lantern 821 00:51:30,200 --> 00:51:33,280 # Watch as the years turn 822 00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:36,200 # Slowly bringing truth 823 00:51:36,200 --> 00:51:39,160 # For every child to learn... # 824 00:51:39,160 --> 00:51:41,440 Donovan told us about these islands 825 00:51:41,440 --> 00:51:43,880 he'd bought off the west coast of Skye. 826 00:51:43,880 --> 00:51:46,080 It just sounded perfect. 827 00:51:47,520 --> 00:51:52,560 I left London with a horse and a wagon and a boyfriend and a dog. 828 00:51:52,560 --> 00:51:54,280 We set off on this journey. 829 00:51:55,960 --> 00:51:58,080 We don't exactly have an aim. 830 00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:01,320 We want to set up a croft, a community. 831 00:52:01,320 --> 00:52:03,640 But we want to keep travelling as well. 832 00:52:03,640 --> 00:52:08,840 # The stone-built farmhouse is a rough-stone cottage 833 00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:14,160 # Hiding close against the hillside of a winding track... # 834 00:52:14,160 --> 00:52:16,960 I just wanted to learn how to live 835 00:52:16,960 --> 00:52:21,240 without the internal combustion engine. 836 00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:25,080 Without electricity, without running water, 837 00:52:25,080 --> 00:52:27,520 without all the trappings of modernity. 838 00:52:29,280 --> 00:52:32,200 It was possible to get out to the country 839 00:52:32,200 --> 00:52:34,400 and have nothing and just live. 840 00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:39,280 # Just another diamond day 841 00:52:39,280 --> 00:52:42,720 # Just a blade of grass 842 00:52:42,720 --> 00:52:45,960 # Just another bale of hay 843 00:52:45,960 --> 00:52:49,320 # And the horses pass... # 844 00:52:49,320 --> 00:52:53,160 There were neat little haystacks and neat little houses 845 00:52:53,160 --> 00:52:55,440 and beautifully ploughed fields. 846 00:52:56,520 --> 00:52:59,120 I just felt that everything could be so simple 847 00:52:59,120 --> 00:53:02,240 if I could just get back to that kind of way of being. 848 00:53:02,240 --> 00:53:04,800 # Just another field to plough 849 00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:08,080 # Just a grain of wheat 850 00:53:08,080 --> 00:53:10,920 # Just a sack of seed to sow 851 00:53:10,920 --> 00:53:15,360 # And the children eat... # 852 00:53:15,360 --> 00:53:17,920 For me, the road took on a personality, 853 00:53:17,920 --> 00:53:21,920 the mountains took on a personality, the grass, everything. 854 00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:25,840 I was creating my own world. I made a bubble for myself. 855 00:53:27,120 --> 00:53:30,480 # Just another life to live 856 00:53:30,480 --> 00:53:31,800 # Just a word to say... # 857 00:53:33,000 --> 00:53:36,840 But while Bohemia was getting its head together in the country, 858 00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:40,520 as the '60s drew to a close, the innocence and idealism that 859 00:53:40,520 --> 00:53:44,680 had blossomed in the psychedelic revolution was wilting. 860 00:53:44,680 --> 00:53:48,920 A lot of the amateur idealism of the '60s was being 861 00:53:48,920 --> 00:53:52,040 absorbed by commercial success. 862 00:53:52,040 --> 00:53:55,160 You know, suddenly we were grown up and having to do business. 863 00:53:55,160 --> 00:53:57,480 You know, had to get to gigs on time. 864 00:53:57,480 --> 00:53:59,600 That was one of the problems with Syd. 865 00:54:02,040 --> 00:54:04,960 Being in a band and having to deal with all these things 866 00:54:04,960 --> 00:54:06,920 became too much for him. 867 00:54:06,920 --> 00:54:09,720 Reality kicked in and you couldn't just be. 868 00:54:10,960 --> 00:54:14,680 Syd Barrett's increasing LSD use and erratic behaviour 869 00:54:14,680 --> 00:54:18,280 meant that he had to leave Pink Floyd in April 1968. 870 00:54:19,760 --> 00:54:23,240 A lot of the ideas had been usurped, 871 00:54:23,240 --> 00:54:27,840 had gone in the wrong direction, had been atrophied by drugs. 872 00:54:27,840 --> 00:54:30,240 The counterculture went very, very sour. 873 00:54:32,960 --> 00:54:34,640 After all the warmth of '67, 874 00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:37,000 musicians must have felt like I did - 875 00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:38,640 like there was a new coldness. 876 00:54:38,640 --> 00:54:40,800 I think that had an effect on the music. 877 00:54:40,800 --> 00:54:44,840 # Oh, fire 878 00:54:44,840 --> 00:54:49,440 # I'll take you to burn 879 00:54:49,440 --> 00:54:52,520 # Oh, fire 880 00:54:54,040 --> 00:54:56,400 # I'll take you to learn... # 881 00:54:56,400 --> 00:54:59,800 Musically, the child-like optimism of psychedelia 882 00:54:59,800 --> 00:55:02,920 was giving way to a darker trip. 883 00:55:02,920 --> 00:55:06,080 I am the god of hellfire and I bring you... 884 00:55:06,080 --> 00:55:07,480 # Fire 885 00:55:08,520 --> 00:55:10,680 # I'll take you to burn 886 00:55:12,880 --> 00:55:15,080 # Fire 887 00:55:15,080 --> 00:55:18,200 # I'll take you to learn... # 888 00:55:18,200 --> 00:55:22,360 Fire itself was part of a reflection of a change in mood, 889 00:55:22,360 --> 00:55:27,960 because that innocence had met with money, political resistance, 890 00:55:27,960 --> 00:55:29,800 police resistance. 891 00:55:29,800 --> 00:55:34,600 There was a sense of, "Well, either we just turn tail, join them, 892 00:55:34,600 --> 00:55:36,200 "or we resist them." 893 00:55:36,200 --> 00:55:40,040 Before I knew it, this shy, long-nosed boy 894 00:55:40,040 --> 00:55:44,880 from Whitby in Yorkshire became the god of hellfire. 895 00:55:44,880 --> 00:55:47,400 # Fire 896 00:55:47,400 --> 00:55:49,560 # To destroy all you've done 897 00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:54,160 # Fire 898 00:55:54,160 --> 00:55:57,080 # To end all you've become... # 899 00:55:58,360 --> 00:56:00,280 Things were toughening up. 900 00:56:00,280 --> 00:56:03,040 Enoch Powell giving the "rivers of blood" speech, you know. 901 00:56:03,040 --> 00:56:05,880 This was all stuff that was going on. 902 00:56:05,880 --> 00:56:09,280 You know, it's all very well, the idea of love and peace, 903 00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:12,280 but realisation isn't going to come from just sitting back 904 00:56:12,280 --> 00:56:15,400 and smoking and listening to Sgt Pepper. 905 00:56:15,400 --> 00:56:18,720 No. It's going to come because you want those changes 906 00:56:18,720 --> 00:56:20,360 but you have to work for them. 907 00:56:31,040 --> 00:56:34,360 The National Front, the growing troubles in Ulster 908 00:56:34,360 --> 00:56:36,640 and the Grosvenor Square protests 909 00:56:36,640 --> 00:56:39,800 were demanding a different cultural response. 910 00:56:39,800 --> 00:56:43,160 There's no doubt that there was a martial atmosphere. 911 00:56:43,160 --> 00:56:44,880 The world was changing. 912 00:56:44,880 --> 00:56:47,520 Some of our music was a bit dark at the end of the '60s, 913 00:56:47,520 --> 00:56:50,880 because we knew that a lot of the stuff was ridiculous, 914 00:56:50,880 --> 00:56:55,040 and claims people were making about changing the world were farcical. 915 00:56:55,040 --> 00:56:57,040 We were a bit cynical, I think. 916 00:57:20,280 --> 00:57:25,080 By 1970, the golden age of British psychedelia was over. 917 00:57:25,080 --> 00:57:27,000 The commercialism of peace and love 918 00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:30,080 was such that everyone had moved on to something else by then. 919 00:57:30,080 --> 00:57:33,680 Reality was right in your face. Just like, "Wake up! 920 00:57:33,680 --> 00:57:34,920 "It's time to wake up." 921 00:57:37,040 --> 00:57:40,760 In just five kaleidoscopic years, British music 922 00:57:40,760 --> 00:57:43,520 and culture had been totally shaken up. 923 00:57:44,720 --> 00:57:47,680 The freedom that psychedelic music gave us, it was totally free. 924 00:57:47,680 --> 00:57:49,680 You did what you bloody well liked. 925 00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:56,280 It was an enlightenment. Yes, this was a time... A new enlightenment. 926 00:57:57,720 --> 00:58:01,920 The years between '65 and '70 were among the most open, 927 00:58:01,920 --> 00:58:05,800 the most tolerant in British music. 928 00:58:05,800 --> 00:58:07,680 They were times of opportunity. 929 00:58:09,080 --> 00:58:12,200 One thing that I learnt from going from the '60s into the '70s - 930 00:58:12,200 --> 00:58:14,240 that there are no barriers. 931 00:58:16,320 --> 00:58:20,400 It was a period of just tremendous concentration of ideas. 932 00:58:20,400 --> 00:58:23,080 But it had been taken to its limit 933 00:58:23,080 --> 00:58:25,280 and had its influence on future music. 934 00:58:26,560 --> 00:58:28,640 Which way ought I to go from here? 935 00:58:29,680 --> 00:58:32,640 (That depends a great deal on where you want to go to.) 936 00:58:34,880 --> 00:58:37,360 MUSIC: The Great Gig In The Sky by Pink Floyd 937 00:59:19,320 --> 00:59:21,360 (Amoebas are very small.)