Entertainment
Rock History Project, Episode 13 - 1967
In this episode of the Rock History Project, we dive deep into the transformative year of 1967, a pivotal moment in rock and roll history. Explore how music evolved from catchy pop singles to complex ...
Rock History Project, Episode 13 - 1967
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Interactive Transcript
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Welcome to the Deep Dive.
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For you who wanted to explore a year
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that truly stands apart in the history of rock and roll,
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today we're plunging into 1967.
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Ah, 1967, what a year.
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It really was.
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This wasn't just another year on the calendar.
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It felt like a pivotal, transformative period
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where everything was shifting and music was, well,
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right at the center of it all.
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That's absolutely right.
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It's often called the peak of the psychedelic era,
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the summer of love, all that.
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But it's much more profound than just those labels.
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It's really where popular music fundamentally changed.
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How so?
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Well, it gained new layers of artistic depth,
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you know, cultural resonance.
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And frankly, it just got a lot more interesting, more ambitious.
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This is the year rock and roll truly became rock.
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And over this deep dive, we're going to try and unpack
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exactly how that transformation happened.
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We'll dig into the groundbreaking albums,
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the ones that dared to redefine what a record could even be.
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And the iconic festivals, not just concerts,
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but genuine cultural happenings.
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Yeah, the wild evolution of sounds, how music
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and the burgeoning counter culture were so intertwined,
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the controversies, the fashion,
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all the incredible details that make these 12 months
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so vibrant and, well, consequential.
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It's a fascinating period because you can almost see the energy
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from the early 60s evolving, maturing maybe.
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The seeds planted a few years earlier were suddenly
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flowering into something really complex, diverse.
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And, well, totally unexpected in many ways.
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Okay, let's get into it.
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Where should we start to unpack this incredible year?
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We should probably start by you know, setting the stage a bit.
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The initial seismic shift in rock and roll arguably
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happened a few years before 67, around 1964, really.
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Ah, yes, Beetlemania, the British invasion hitting America,
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that first wave of energy, the raw excitement,
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it changed everything, didn't it?
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Absolutely, to bands like the Beatles,
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the Rolling Stones, the Kinks,
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who they brought a new sound, new attitudes
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and just kicked open the doors,
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changed the music business, what was possible on the charts,
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everything.
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But by 1967, as you said, something else was happening,
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that initial shockwave had settled, baby.
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And something deeper was growing.
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Exactly.
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Music was becoming so much more than just a catchy three-minute
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pop single for the radio or you know, for dancing.
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It was expanding outwards,
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becoming tied into lifestyle, fashion, art, even philosophy.
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It was reflecting and sometimes driving
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this whole new cultural movement.
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And you could see this evolution right from the get-go in 1967,
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the year opened with established artists
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really pushing their own boundaries
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and new sounds were bubbling up everywhere.
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Like the Rolling Stones releasing between the buttons
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early that year.
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I always thought that album had this sort of stripped down,
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almost punkier edge in places.
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It did, yeah, a bit of a departure for them,
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showing they were still experimenting, still searching,
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even as they were cementing their place as rock Titans.
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Meanwhile, the Beatles.
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Yeah.
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They were taking this crucial break, right?
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They had stopped touring in 1966.
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They had.
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They found the live shows had become,
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I think the word they used was a charade.
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Right.
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Because they're studio creations with all the layered arrangements,
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the orchestration, the weird instruments,
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it was becoming impossible to reproduce that lies.
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Just four guys on stage, screaming crowds,
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primitive PA systems.
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The technology just wasn't there yet.
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And they felt completely limited by it.
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Apparently, George Harrison even told Brian Epstein
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he was leaving the band during this time.
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Really?
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Yeah.
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But Epstein persuaded him to stay, assuring him
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the grueling tours were definitely over.
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So this break about three months was pivotal.
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It let them really pursue individual interests,
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which then fed back massively into their collective work.
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So what were the up to?
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Well, Harrison went deep into Indian music and Hindu philosophy,
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studying Sitar with Ravi Shankar in India.
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Paul McCartney was exploring the London art scene.
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He worked on a film soundtrack, The Family Way.
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John Lennon acted in the film, How I Won the War.
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And Met Yoko Ohno.
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And Met Yoko Ohno at an art exhibition,
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exactly, a fateful meeting.
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And Ringo Starr took time out with his family.
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This period of sort of individual exploration
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was absolutely viable for what came next, Sergeant Pepper.
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And even their approach to presenting the music was changing.
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They started filming these dedicated promotional clips,
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like for Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever.
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Right, moving beyond just turning up on a TV show and miming.
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These were more like short films, visual art pieces
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to accompany the music, a much more sophisticated way
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to reach audiences.
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It's funny though, you mentioned sophistication,
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but the technology was still catching up, wasn't it?
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I read that some early showings of those incredible films
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like on the BBC's top of the box were still broadcast
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in black and white.
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That's right.
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So all the clever lighting effects Peter Goldman
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was meticulously working on for the Strawberry Fields Forever,
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set things like that weird, tripeano thing
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and wires tied to branches.
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I remember reading The Wires kept breaking in the wind.
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Exactly.
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All that effort wasn't fully appreciated visually
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by everyone watching initially.
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It really shows that tension, you know.
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Boundless creativity rubbing up against the technical limits
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of the time.
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And speaking of the stones in film,
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Brian Jones was doing his own thing too,
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wasn't he a film soundtrack?
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He was.
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A degree of murder.
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A pretty quirky atmospheric instrumental score.
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It really showcased his more experimental side
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distinct from the stone's main sound, hinted at his own
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kind of evolving musical path, maybe a diverging one.
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And you also had totally new artists
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surviving on the scene.
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Like Engelbert Humperding having massive,
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massive mainstream ballad hits in 67.
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Which is a great reminder that the pop landscape
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wasn't all transforming rock.
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There was still a huge audience
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for that more traditional style.
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But beyond the superstars, 1967 was also the year
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the British underground scene really found his voice
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and started to poke his head above ground,
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gain wider attention.
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And the band most synonymous with that whole movement,
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the sort of house band of the UFO club
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and that whole scene has to be pink Floyd.
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Their whole approach seemed rooted in experimentation, didn't it?
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Especially with light and sound.
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Absolutely.
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It really took off when they provided music
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for a light sound workshop at Hornsey College of Art.
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They got deeply interested in that sensory relationship,
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what you heard, what you saw, how they interacted.
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Early on, they didn't have much money for fancy gear,
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but they kept doing these small experiments.
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Migmason the drummer talked about how
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initially disorganized it all was.
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Getting managers and especially getting a dedicated lighting man
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who felt like, quote, one of the group became essential
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because the music and the visuals were becoming inseparable for them.
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Yes, their sound was increasingly improvisational, electronic,
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what they sometimes vaguely called their interstellar music.
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Migmason noted how these improvised takeoff sections
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and their live shows got much, much longer.
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And the accompanying slides and light shows developed
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out of all proportion,
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becoming just fantastic as he put it.
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And Sid Barrett, who was the main creative force then,
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he felt their music came straight out of our heads, right?
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He didn't think it was too far out to understand,
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as long as they played a well-life.
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Their identity was completely tied up
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in exploring these new sonic territories.
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But interestingly within this emerging scene,
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you had really contrasting perspectives on what it all meant.
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Take the move, for example, another big band
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associated with the underground.
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Were they known for being much more outwardly outrageous?
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Yeah, yeah.
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Trouble-making.
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Riotous even.
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They were known for these performance art violent happenings,
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deliberately provocative acts,
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like smashing up television sets on stage.
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Sometimes it caused actual riots or property damage,
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very different vibe from pink Floyd's
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more abstract explorations.
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And their singer, Carl Wayne,
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he was famously quite blunt about the whole psychedelic thing,
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wasn't it?
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But Billy was, he was quoted just dismissing psychedelic music,
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point blank as a load of sheet.
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Said they'd get quite nasty with anyone who called them psychedelic,
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even though they were playing on the same bills
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as bands like Pink Floyd.
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So how did you see their band then?
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Well, Wayne saw the move almost like characters in a play.
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He described himself as the tough singer, the born leader,
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very opinionated about vocal harmonies,
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someone who'd learned to handle the shady side of the business.
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He had these little character sketches for the others too,
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the money lover, the teenage actor type, and so on.
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He highlights that even within this so-called psychedelic scene,
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there wasn't necessarily a unified philosophy.
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People were coming at it from different angles, weren't they?
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Absolutely, and not everyone felt part of some grand,
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unified cultural movement.
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Some were just playing music they liked and resisting labels.
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And all this experimentation, these changing lifestyles,
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it wasn't happening in a vacuum, was it?
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There was pushbacks, censorship was a recurring theme.
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Oh, definitely.
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And 1967 really inherited tensions from earlier years.
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You can look back and see events that set the stage for the clashes to come.
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Like that mayor in Cleveland banning rock concerts
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after a Rolling Stone show back in 65.
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Exactly.
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Mayor Ralph Locker.
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He notoriously banned all rock concerts,
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declaring that such groups do not add to the community's culture or entertainment.
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A pretty clear statement that this music was seen by some in authority as unwelcome,
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even disruptive.
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Yeah, and the stones faced it on the airwaves too.
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Satisfaction, they're a huge hit.
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Many stations wouldn't play it initially.
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That's right, back in 65.
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Because of the perceived sexual suggestiveness of the lyrics,
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that line about trying and trying, but not getting satisfaction,
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seems tame now, but it caused a stir then.
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And then there was a bizarre FBI investigation into Louis Louis.
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Incredible, isn't it?
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Starting in 1963, the FBI spent two years trying to decipher
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the Kingsman's completely mumbled lyrics to see if they were obscene.
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They couldn't figure it out.
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Nope.
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They eventually concluded they couldn't determine what was being said,
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so they couldn't classify it as obscene.
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It sounds almost comical now,
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but it shows the level of scrutiny and suspicion
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this music could attract from official quarters.
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Bob Dylan had his run in too on the Ed Sullivan show.
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Right, back in 63.
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He was booked, but then told he couldn't perform talking John
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Birch paranoid blues because the network sensors
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thought it was too controversial,
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mocking the anti-communist John Birch society.
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So what did Dylan do?
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He famously walked off,
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refused to appear at all rather than change the song,
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a real line in the sand moment about artistic freedom.
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So leading into 67, the climate was already charged,
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artists were pushing boundaries,
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and the establishment was often pushing back.
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Precisely.
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And Pink Floyd experienced this directly
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with their very first single Arnold Lane.
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The song about a transvestite
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whose deals women's clothes from washing lines.
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Not exactly typical pop chart material for 1967, no.
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And while some stations like the BBC did play it,
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others banned it,
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notably the influential pirate station radio London
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refused to play it.
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How did the band react to that?
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Sibarits take was interesting.
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He said it wasn't necessarily a direct personal attack on them,
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but reflected different policies among radio stations
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about what was acceptable.
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But he also wondered if opponents might object
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not just to the song's subject matter,
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but because they were against us as a group
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and against what we stand for.
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He recognized that broader cultural clash was part of it.
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It really underscores that point.
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The music wasn't just entertaining anymore.
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For some, it was seen as a genuine threat to establish values.
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It put the artists right on the front lines of cultural change.
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Absolutely.
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And this tension, this environment of challenging norms
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only amplified the significance of the cultural explosions
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that were about to happen
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as the year moved into spring and summer.
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Which brings us neatly to part two.
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The summer of love and of course the Monterey International Pop Festival.
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Yes, the summer of love.
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That phrase is just indelibly linked to San Francisco in 1967.
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It became the absolute epicenter of this cultural phenomenon.
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In San Francisco, it wasn't just a random location.
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Was it? It had this history.
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A long history of being a haven for non-conformists,
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for bohemians, beatmix artists,
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people looking for new ideas.
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And crucially, in the 1960s,
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areas like the hate-ashbury neighborhood
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still had relatively low housing costs
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compared to other big cities.
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So it became a magnet.
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A magnet for young people seeking alternative lifestyles,
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artistic communities, communal living,
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it all converged there.
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And this burgeoning counterculture
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had a sort of public coming out party
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early in the year didn't at the human being.
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That's right. January 1967 in Golden Gate Park.
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A massive gathering, maybe 50,000 people.
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Poets like Allen Ginsburg, spiritual leaders,
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musicians from the local scene,
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like the Great Full Dead, Jefferson Airplane.
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It was a declaration, really.
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A gathering of the tribes, they called it,
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announcing this new way of thinking and living.
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And it's famously where Timothy Leary
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delivered the iconic phrase.
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Turn on, tune in, drop out.
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What did that actually mean in context?
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Well, turn on, generally meant using psychedelics
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like LSD or other methods
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to achieve new states of consciousness,
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perceive the world differently.
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tune in was about engaging with your inner self,
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connecting with the community,
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being more aware of the world around you,
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and drop out.
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That meant leaving behind conventional society,
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the nine to five consumerism,
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the rat race,
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to pursue a more meaningful, authentic existence.
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It was a conscious rejection of mainstream values.
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So the human being really built anticipation,
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set the stage for what became arguably
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the defining cultural event of the year,
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the Monterey International Pop Festival.
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Held just a few months later, June 16th, 18th, 1967,
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down at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in California.
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This three day festival is widely seen
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as the real kickoff event for the summer of love itself.
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It brought the hippie movement,
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flower power, flower children.
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All of that to a much larger, more public,
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even international audience.
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And its impact just resonated for years, didn't it?
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It wasn't the absolute first music festival,
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but its scale, its professionalism,
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the fact it was filmed.
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The documentary film by DA Pennebaker was huge.
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It cemented Monterey's legacy.
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It served as a direct inspiration and template
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for future massive festivals,
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most obviously Woodstock two years later.
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John Wetter, co-founder of Rolling Stone,
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put it perfectly.
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Monterey was the nexus.
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It's sprang from what the Beatles began
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and from it sprang what followed,
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a really crucial link in the chain.
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And the lineup they pulled together,
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just legendary.
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A real who's who of established stars
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and emerging talent from both the US and the UK?
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Critically, yeah,
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provided the first major American public appearances
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for several artists who were already huge in Britain,
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but maybe not household names yet in the States.
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Like the Jimmy Hendrix experience.
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Yeah, who?
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And Ravi Shankar bringing
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Indian classical music to this huge new audience.
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For American audiences unfamiliar
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with their explosive live reputations,
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Monterey was just a revelation, mind-blowing stuff.
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It was also the first really large-scale
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public performance for Johnis Chaplin, right?
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With Big Brother and the holding company.
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Yes.
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Her raw, bluesy, incredibly powerful voice.
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Yeah.
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It was unlike anything most people in that audience
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had ever heard.
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She became an overnight sensation, really.
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And it introduced the amazing soul singer,
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Otis Redding,
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to a massive, predominantly white,
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mainstream American audience.
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That was a conscious effort.
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Jerry Wexler, the legendary producer and executive
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at Atlantic Records,
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really championed his inclusion.
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He wanted to break Otis
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beyond the primarily black audiences he'd mostly
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played for up to then,
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apart from some success on the sunset strip.
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Monterey was meant to be his big crossover moment.
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Jefferson Airplane, we're already big on the West Coast,
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kids like somebody who love white rabbit.
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How do they go over?
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They absolutely prove themselves,
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masters of the whole psychedelic experience at Monterey.
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Their performance, back by one of those
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trippy liquid light shows projected behind them,
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was just mesmerizing.
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Grace Slick, swaying in her robe,
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singing as if possessed as one report put it.
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She really embodied that fusion of music
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and counterculture happening on stage.
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And Otis Redding said,
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people still talk about it.
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Electrifying, by all accounts.
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Came out in this brilliant lime green suit.
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He performed respect,
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which was actually topping the charts right then,
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thanks to Aretha Franklin's definitive version,
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but it was originally his song.
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And tri-a-little tenderness.
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Oh, a riveting,
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incredibly emotional performance of tri-a-little tenderness.
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The crowd was just ecstatic,
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standing, screaming for more by the end.
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If you watch the film,
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you can hear the sheer volume of the crowd response.
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They were completely blown away.
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He even did a powerful cover of the stone satisfaction.
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And tragically, as you mentioned earlier,
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Monterrey was one of his last major performances.
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He died only six months later.
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Yeah, December 1967, plain crash,
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only 26 years old.
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The loss sent shockwaves everywhere,
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tributes poured in Eric Berden of the animals,
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called him this generation's Ray Charles.
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Pete Townsend specifically mentioned
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his unforgettable performance at Monterrey
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as a high point of the whole festival,
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the whole year, such a loss.
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Who else stood out of Monterrey?
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Well, the Blues Project opened the final night
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with their really interesting Blues Rock Fusion sound.
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Big brother and the holding company came back specifically,
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so Yannis Joplin's performance of Ball and Chain
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could be filmed,
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that became one of the absolute standout moments in the documentary.
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Buffalo Springfield played, too, didn't they?
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Introduced by Peter Torque of the Monkeys.
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Yeah, which was an interesting connection
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between the sort of pop world
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and the burgeoning rock scene.
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Their set was described as competent and efficient.
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Their song Blue Bird was singled out as being particularly memorable
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from their performance.
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Not everyone who was supposed to be there made it.
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The Beach Boys famously cancelled last minute.
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They did.
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And that decision drew considerable criticism
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from the music press at the time.
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For some, especially within this new psychedelic rock narrative
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emerging at Monterrey,
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it was seen almost as an admission of defeat,
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a sign maybe they weren't keeping up.
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That seems a bit unfair,
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given their recent work like pet sounds.
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It was probably unfair, yeah.
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It definitely impacted their perception
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in the rock narrative of the late 60s.
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It reinforced that idea of Monterrey as the Nexus.
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If you weren't visibly part of that moment,
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it was easier to be sidelined in the story being written.
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Their cancellation was complicated,
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tied up with Brian Wilson's personal struggles
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and the band's uncertainty
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after shelving the ambitious smile album.
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But the effect on their image,
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right then, was pretty profound.
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So Monterrey really solidified the visual, the communal,
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the sheer diversity of the countercultures music, didn't it?
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And being it out to a global audience through the film.
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Absolutely.
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And that experience combined with everything happening
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in studios, back home, and across the pond
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brings us to maybe the most enduring legacy of 1967,
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the defining albums and songs that were released.
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This was the year the album truly, truly blossomed into an art form.
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Right. No longer just a collection of singles
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plus some filler tracks.
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Artists started creating cohesive statements
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sometimes of conceptual themes,
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exploring new sounds across a whole LP side,
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paying unprecedented attention to production,
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sequencing, even the artwork.
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And the absolute undeniable epicenter of that shift,
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the album everyone still talks about when you mentioned 1967
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has to be the Beatles Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
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It's almost impossible to overstate its cultural impact, isn't it?
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It's seen as this monumental milestone in music history,
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but also for some, maybe a millstone,
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because of the sheer weight of its legacy, the debates around it.
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Its creation was directly tied to them stopping touring.
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Free from having to reproduce songs live,
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the studio itself became their instrument, their playground,
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especially during that crucial break we talked about.
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They spent an unprecedented amount of time,
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hundreds of hours experimenting with sounds,
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arrangements, effects in Abbey Road Studios.
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And the album wasn't just the music, was it?
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It was the whole package.
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An immersive experience, they printed the lyrics right there on the back cover,
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which was totally novel for a rock LP then.
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It encouraged you to really engage with the words.
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And the inner sleeve wasn't just plain paper,
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it had that vibrant abstract artwork
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by the Dutch design collective, the Foul.
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And of course, they famously included those fantastic cardboard cutouts.
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The little portrait of Sergeant Pepper, the fake mustaches.
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The sergeant stripes, lapel badges,
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and that stand-up cutout of the band themselves.
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It was all about inviting the listener into the world of the album,
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letting fans literally pretend to be in the band.
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It was conceived as an artifact, not just a record to be played.
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And the music inside was just as innovative and imaginative as the packaging.
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The songs were incredibly diverse, weren't they?
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Moving from pretty straight rock to musical pasties
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to Indian classical influences.
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Absolutely. Take Lucian the Sky with Diamonds.
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Forget the later drug interpretations for a moment,
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lyrically, it presents this incredibly vivid,
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imaginative imagery, tangerine trees, rocking holes people,
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newspaper taxis.
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It creates the surreal dream-like landscape.
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And musically.
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Musically, it's got that distinctive,
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lowery organ sound, that hazy vibe.
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There's a tampera drone providing that exotic Indian influence.
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And George Harrison's guitar doubles Lenin's vocal line
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in a way that evokes Indian music.
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The whole sound seems designed to blur the lines
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between the material world and the mythical as one writer put it.
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And then you have something completely different like what I'm 64.
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Totally different mood.
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It's this charming song aimed squarely at their parents' generation,
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drawing directly from old English musical traditions.
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George Form B, that kind of thing.
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It evokes seaside postcards,
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an nostalgic, simpler life.
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Very sparse arrangement too.
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Clarinet's, Chimes, Piano.
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And placing it right after within you, without you.
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George Harrison's beautiful, pure Indian classical pop fusion piece
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just emphasized the album's incredible range,
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the sheer audacity of it.
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They even used very speeding on Poma Carton's vocal for what I'm 64.
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What's very speeding?
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It's altering the tape speed during recording or playback
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to change the pitch and timber.
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In this case, they sped the tape up slightly on playback,
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making Paul sound a bit younger,
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fitting that nostalgic, slightly whimsical vibe.
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It's maybe thematically disconnected from the fictional band concept,
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which some critics pointed out,
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but it worked within the album's eclectic, almost kaleidoscopic structure.
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And the album famously closes with the epic,
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a day in the life.
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A stunning conclusion.
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It segues seamlessly from the Sargent Pepper reprise.
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The song structure itself is unique.
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You've got John Lennon's verses,
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inspired by detachedly reading newspaper reports.
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The potholes in Blackburn, Linkisher.
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The death of their friend, Turo Brown.
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Exactly.
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Then there's a bridge,
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those iconic, chaotic, orchestral crescendos,
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achieved by basically telling classically trained musicians
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to just slide from their lowest note to their highest
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over a set number of bars, pure, organized chaos.
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And then Paul McCartney's contrasting,
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interpolated middle section,
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about a mundane morning routine waking up,
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having a smoke rushing for the bus.
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It creates this incredible juxtaposition
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between grand sweeping, almost abstract tragedy,
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and the concrete details of everyday life.
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And then of course that final earth shattering,
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slowly decaying piano chord, legendary.
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One critique mentioned this sarcastic brass retort
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ending the dream sequence,
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highlighting the complex layered emotions in the track.
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Sargent Pepper was met with just overwhelming,
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critical and commercial success.
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Wasn't it when the Grammys were album of the year?
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It did.
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And notably, it was one of the few times then
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that a rock album won the top Grammy prize,
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usually reserved for traditional pop, classical or jazz.
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It showed how it was being perceived beyond just the rock world
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as serious art.
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Ravi Shanker and Duke Ellington also won that year,
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sharing the honor, which is interesting context.
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But the reception wasn't universally positive forever,
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and opinions have shifted, have it they?
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Definitely.
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Some early critics, maybe unfamiliar with rock music's potential,
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gave it what later seemed like excessive, almost naive praise.
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Perhaps overlooking equally boundary pushing work
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happening elsewhere, from bands like The Mothers of Invention,
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or The Who Sell Out.
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And later, even members of the Beatles express some reservations.
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George Harrison filled it paled,
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compared to Rubber Soul and Revolver,
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said he only really liked about half the songs.
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And John Lennon publicly disparaged it quite strongly years later,
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which apparently surprised some of the studio team who worked on it with such intensity.
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But its influence on other artists at the time was undeniable, immediate.
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Oh, absolutely.
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Folks singer Sandy Denny heard it, and was so inspired,
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she largely abandoned pure folk for the electric folk rock of Fairport Convention.
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David Crosby, then, with the birds,
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filled it was incredibly inspiring,
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but also that the Beatles were just so far ahead of everybody,
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creatively at that moment, almost intimidatingly so.
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Its legacy is so complex, it even came back into the charts during those bizarre,
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Paul is dead, rumors in 69.
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Right, fans were obsessively scrutinizing the artwork for supposed clues.
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Like the introduction of Billy Sheer's,
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the fictional band leader being interpreted as a stand-in for his supposed replacement, Paul,
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all sorts of elaborate theories spent out of that cover.
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Critics still debate its quality,
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compared to Rubber Soul and Revolver.
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Some argue those earlier albums were maybe more intuitively brilliant,
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less self-consciously conceptual,
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perhaps less tinged with conceit, as one critic later put it.
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And in a fascinating, almost perverse contrast to its usual high rankings,
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there was a 1998 poll I think in the UK.
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I had that actually voted it the worst album ever made.
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Yeah, seen by many as a deliberate contrarian backlash
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against decades of perceived overhyping of the Beatles,
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and Sergeant Pepper in particular.
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Yet it consistently ranks at or near the very top
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of nearly every greatest albums of all time list,
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like Rolling Stones.
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And you can't talk about its creation
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without acknowledging the influence of the Beach Boys' pet sounds from 66.
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That's crucial.
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George Martin, the Beatles producer, was very open about it.
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He said Sergeant Pepper was, in part,
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a direct attempt to equal the sonic and compositional achievements
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of Brian Wilson's masterpiece.
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That friendly rivalry really pushed creativity forward
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on both sides of the Atlantic.
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You even see controversies surrounding it decades later,
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like Disney editing out drug references in a documentary about the album.
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Right.
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And it's worth remembering the huge contribution of the sound engineer Jeff Emrick.
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He did groundbreaking work on that record,
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but didn't get a credit on the original sleeve,
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despite George Martin pushing for it.
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He did win the Grammy for Best Engineer'd Album,
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though, which was richly deserved.
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The album's enduring presence is just undeniable, isn't it?
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All the tribute albums, the radio specials,
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it's a cultural touchstone.
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Absolutely.
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But while Sergeant Pepper understandably
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dominates the conversation about 1967 albums,
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the year was incredibly rich with other defining sounds,
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other important records.
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Like Poco Haram singled a wider shade of pale.
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That just seemed to come out of nowhere and take over the world.
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It really did.
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Stormed the charts globally.
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It had the sound,
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haunting, classical influence, deeply melancholic,
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that just instantly captivated listeners.
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That famous swirling Hammond organ melody borrowed from Box Air on the G-string
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and another cantata, combined with those incredibly cryptic poetic lyrics.
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We skipped the light-sandango,
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Vespel Virgins, the ceiling flew away.
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It created something utterly unique.
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Pete Townsend of the Who had a great description of its sound.
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He said it comes right down and sits next to you,
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highlighting its immediate immersive quality.
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And the production story is interesting too, isn't it?
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About using pirate radio.
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Yeah, the producer, Denny Cordell,
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actually took an acetate of the song
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to the pirate station, Radio London,
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the same station that banned Pink Floyd,
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ironically, just to gauge the DJ's reaction before its official release.
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They loved it so much, the response was so overwhelmingly positive
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that the record label rushed the single out incredibly quickly.
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And the band.
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Co-composer Keith Reed, who wrote those famously Dylan-esque lyrics
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and was described as the group sort of non-performing creative director,
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said he was surprised at how fast it all happened,
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but he always had faith it would be a hit eventually.
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He knew they had something special.
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Okay, across the Atlantic, what else was happening album-wise?
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Well, the rascals really came into their own creatively with their album Groven.
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They'd started as more of a blue-eyed soul and garage rock band doing a lot of covers,
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but on Groven, they wrote all the songs themselves.
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And the title track Groven became this huge summer anthem.
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A perfect ballad for the summer of love that relaxed,
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soulful vibe, the harmonica lead.
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It just captured the mood perfectly.
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Groven on a Sunday afternoon.
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Folks, singer Judy Collins also made a significant move with her album Wildflowers.
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Yes, she was primarily known as a traditional folk interpreter,
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but Wildflowers saw her incorporate much richer, more orchestrated arrangements.
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And crucially, she took on material from this new generation of songwriters
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who were blurring the lines between folk and pop rock.
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It famously featured her definitive cover of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now.
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Which became a massive hit for Collins and really launched Mitchell's song into the stratosphere.
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The album also featured three early songs by Leonard Cohen, like Suzanne,
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introducing his incredible songwriting to a much wider audience.
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It really showcased that cross-pollination of genres happening.
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And out on the west coast, you had Country Joe and the Fish releasing their debut album,
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Electric Music for the Mind and Body.
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The quintessential trippy first statement from that Bay Area psychedelic rock band.
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They were known for mixing folk, blues, political commentary, and serious psychedelia.
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Their most famous song is probably, I feel like I'm fixing to die rag,
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the Vietnam War protest song.
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Right, but that was actually on their second album, which was released later in 67,
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but recorded earlier. Electric Music for the Mind and Body is considered by many fans to be
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their most musically cohesive and purely psychedelic work. Full of swirling organ,
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fuzz guitar, extended jams, really experimental structures, a defining document of the San Francisco sound.
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Back in Britain, the Rolling Stones, having already put out between the buttons,
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they ended the year with their satanic majesty's request.
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Ah, yes. The great anomaly in the Stone's core discography, highly experimental,
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very spacey, full of studio effects, melatrons, African rhythms.
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It got compared to Sergeant Pepper a lot at the time, often unfavorably, called a rip off by some.
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It did. The similar gatefold sleeve with the elaborate photo didn't help those comparisons.
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Some critics and fans definitely dismissed it as a clumsy attempt to jump on the psychedelic bandwagon.
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But over the years, others have come to really love it because it's so unique, so weird,
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sometimes awkward, but totally unlike anything else they ever did.
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It definitely showed they were paying close attention to what the Beatles were doing,
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and were willing to try something radically different, even if it wasn't entirely in their
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wheelhouse, maybe. What about Cream? They released Disraeli Gears in 67.
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They did. The Power Trio. Eric Clapton on guitar, Jack Bruce on bass and vocals,
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Ginger Baker on drums. Clapton himself apparently viewed it as a good record, a great LP,
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but also felt it was recorded relatively quickly back in May, and maybe wasn't fully representative
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of where their sound was currently at, especially live. Because it lacked the extended improvisation.
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Exactly. They were becoming legendary for these long, fiery improvisations in concert.
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Disraeli Gears is much more concise, song-focused. They saw themselves as heavy musicians,
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constantly pushing boundaries, exploring new intervals, chords, combinations, and their playing.
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They felt their true power was unleashed live. They were already planning their next album,
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Wheels of Fire, aiming to record parts of it live in America to capture that energy.
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And the title, Disraeli Gears, that came from the stake.
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The classic rock anecdote, apparently a rhodi named Mick Turner was talking about bicycle gears,
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derailleur gears, but Clapton misheard him as saying, Disraeli gears. The band thought it sounded
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and secretly weird and psychedelic, so they kept it. Named after a 19th century British Prime Minister.
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Also in 67 Dave Davies, the lead guitarist of the Kinks, had a big solo hit with Death of a Clown.
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Yeah, technically credited to the Kinks, but it was really his song and largely his recording.
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It was a significant moment for him, a chance to step out from his brother Ray Davies's shadow
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and prove himself as a separate creative talent. How did he feel about that success?
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He apparently found the newfound attention quite refreshing. Contrasted it with past negative
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experiences like getting kicked out of a pub because his long hair might embarrass the locals.
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He said that while older people might have just heard it as a novelty record,
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the song had a very personal meaning for him about feeling out of place, like a performer who's
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act is over, that feeling of being a clown. He did another melodic track, apparently about a girl
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he described as a lunatic. His success showed that individual members within these big establish
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bands could definitely emerge with their own distinct voices, and his songs were featured on the
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next Kinks album, something else by the Kinks, also from 67. And then there were the Beegies,
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rising the huge international fame in 1967. Right, they'd moved from Australia back to Britain,
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signed with manager Robert Stigwood, and after struggling with some flop singles down under,
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they just exploded in the UK and the US in 67. Their distinctive three-part harmony vocals,
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brothers, Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb were instantly recognizable.
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It's like New York mining disaster in 1941 to love somebody. Yeah. And the huge one, Massachusetts.
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Reach number one in many countries. Their sound was unique, those close harmonies,
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Barry's falsetto starting to emerge. Robbins' emotive lead vocals. What were they like as people then?
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The report suggests quite a mix. Apparently so. Robin was described as temperamental,
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highly creative, but also a bit of a hypochondriac, neurotic, apparently quite lazy in the mornings,
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but with a very dry sense of humor. Maurice, on the other hand, was supposedly quite interested
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in spiritualism, holding sayances, trying to contact the dead for advice using a glass in the alphabet.
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Seriously. Yeah, apparently trying to reach a mysterious English guy named Noel,
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even a German Baron for advice and prophecies. They apparently believed in putting their individual
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impressions and feelings directly into their songs and felt that how people perceived them
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often didn't match the reality of who they were, a complex dynamic behind those beautiful harmonies.
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You also had traffic emerging that year. Steve Winwood's band after leaving the Spencer Davis group.
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Right. They had their debut single paper son, followed by the big whimsical hit Hole in My Shoe.
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They famously retreated to a rural cottage in Berkshire to write and rehearse, cultivating this
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image of seclusion and mystery. Was that image planned? They claimed it just grew naturally out of
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their desire to focus on the music away from the London scene, not as some deliberate marketing
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strategy, but it certainly added to their mystique. And we absolutely have to talk more about Jimmy
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Hendrix. His impact in 67 was just colossal. Colossal is the word. He'd landed in London late 66 and
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just stunned everyone. Clapton, Townsend, The Beatles with his guitar playing. By 1967,
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propelled by singles like Hey Joe, Purple Hayes, The Windcries Mary, and that incredible performance
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at Monterey. His star was exploding internationally. He apparently had some reservations about returning
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to America after finding success in Britain. He did. He expressed a fear that America might be less
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accepting, more narrow-minded, compared to the relatively open scene he'd found in London.
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He specifically mentioned his single Hey Joe, the song about a man planning to shoot his
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cheating woman being stopped by some US disc jockeys because of the lyrics. He sensed that
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cultural resistance. He seemed fiercely determined to just play his music, didn't he?
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Avoid being purely commercial. Absolutely. His ambition was just to play and record whatever
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gave him pleasure or whatever felt right to him musically. He was described as being quite moody
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when he was deep in thought about music, with ideas sometimes hitting him suddenly out of the blue.
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And the story is about him, or legendary, like setting his guitar on fire at Monterey.
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Accidentally, apparently, during the climax of Wild Thing, which led to that bizarre but iconic
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moment when a stagehand or maybe even a real fireman unexpectedly rushed out to put it out.
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Pure rock and roll theater, planned or not. He also had that brief ill-fated tour opening for
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the monkeys in the US. Yeah, total mismatch of audiences. The screaming teeny boppers who
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came from the monkeys just didn't know what to make of Hendrix's loud psychedelic blues.
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It didn't last long. But he had this personal charm too. By many accounts, yes.
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Could make friends quickly. There are details like journalists picking him up at his London flat
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and him immediately wanting to go ransack secondhand bookstalls for sci-fi novels before doing
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anything else. Just follow his own interests. And his manager, Mike Jeffrey, quite a character.
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A complex and controversial figure. X-Army drove a Rolls Royce known for being quite
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controlling. There's that anecdote about him dictating instructions, even apparently asking Brian
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Jones to give Hendrix back his record player at one point. Hendrix also seemed amused by things like
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the piped in music channels on airplanes, just observing the world around him.
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All these individual stories, these groundbreaking albums, they weave together into this larger
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picture of 1967 as a year of just incredible cultural and musical fermentation, don't they?
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Absolutely. Which brings us nicely to part four. Thinking about the broader cultural impact and
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the evolution of rock itself during this period, because 1967 wasn't just about new sounds in
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isolation, those sounds were completely inseparable from the massive cultural shifts happening all
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around them. Psychedelic rock, for instance. It wasn't just about drug use, was it? Although
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that was certainly part of the context for some. No, not solely. Musically, it was more a stylistic
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approach, an aesthetic. It aimed to somehow replicate or evoke altered states of consciousness,
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to transcend the listeners everyday experience. It often used studio effects like reverb, phasing,
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backwards tapes. Improvisation was key, non-traditional song structures, drawing influences from jazz,
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folk, Indian music, avant-garde sounds. It was music designed to expand the mind, whether you
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were chemically aided or not. And the summer of love brought the whole flower power and hippie
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culture into much broader public visibility. Massively so. The music was their soundtrack, their
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banner, their voice. And the visual symbols became instantly recognizable, the fashion trends.
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Bell-bottom jeans, love beads, long hair for men and women, tie-dye shirts, paisley patterns.
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These weren't just clothes. There were declarations of identity, badges of belonging to this alternative
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culture, a defiance of mainstream button-down norms. And musically, this creative explosion led
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to this rapid branching out of genres, didn't it? It was a real diversification. From the core
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of rock and roll, you saw the evolution and solidification of distinct sub-genres. Folk rock was
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still strong, but then you had psychedelic rock, psychedelic folk, psychedelic soul-emerging,
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psychedelic pop. More intense forms like acid rock, explorations into space rock, the very
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beginnings of progressive rock with its complex arrangements and conceptual themes,
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rock-or-rock, consciously incorporating Indian classical elements. Like the Beatles Within You
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Without You, or even the Stones, Paynet Black from 66, which was still influential. Exactly.
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And a broader embrace of what we now call world music influences, the palette just expanded
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exponentially. This period also really solidified a changing perception of popular music itself,
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didn't it? Some people started seeing it as a genuine art form. Yes, elevating it,
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potentially, to be comparable with established forms like classical music or jazz. And artists
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like the Beatles, especially with Sergeant Pepper, were often held up as the prime example of this
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new artistic legitimacy for rock music. But alongside that, you had this ongoing debate about
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manufactured versus authentic music, didn't you? And the monkeys were right at the center of that
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discussion. They really were. A group explicitly created for a television show,
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cast-like actors, initially not playing their own instruments on their records. Yet they were
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incredibly popular. Huge hits. Emense popularity. But there was always that tension between their
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manufactured origins and their own desire, particularly from Mike Nismith and Peter Torque,
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to be taken seriously as actual musicians. Their transition to playing live and touring was part
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of that struggle for legitimacy. And by all accounts, it could be pretty chaotic sometimes.
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Nismith, being a songwriter himself, seemed particularly vocal about it.
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He was. He had this unique perspective, often Riley commenting on the manufactured nature of the
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TV show, while defending their live performances and later songwriting contributions. He told
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him using anecdotes about the chaos, like apparently blowing peanuts out of his guitar during one show,
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just this moment of absurdity that highlighted the surreal disconnect between the TV image and the
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reality of being a touring band. What were their business arrangements like? Reflected their
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unusual situation. They apparently received a flat salary for the TV show, but got a percentage
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of the profits from the live stage shows after expenses. Views on their authenticity really varied.
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Some in the industry saw them simply as a natural, if accelerated step in the evolution of the
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pop business model. Arguing they were maybe better than expected. Yeah, arguing they were
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better musicians than maybe they were given credit for initially and that they could potentially
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last if they maintained quality and kept connecting with the public. The argument went that fans
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weren't fools and wouldn't accept pure trivia forever. They had to deliver something real eventually.
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The year also saw some really significant high profile legal troubles that seemed to underscore
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that societal tension around the counter culture, especially drug use. The rolling stones arrests.
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Right. The infamous Redlands drug bust at Keith Richards Country Home, West Wittering, in February
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67, led to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards being arrested, tried, and initially sentenced to
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imprisonment later that summer. What were the specific charges again? Jagger was charged with
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possession of four benzadrine-type tablets and fenamine pills, which he'd apparently legally
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obtained in Italy, but didn't have a British prescription for. Richards was charged with the more
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serious offence of allowing cannabis to be smoked on his property. And the sentences were quite
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harsh, weren't they? Remarkably so for the time, especially for Jagger's offence. Three months
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in prison for Jagger, a whole year for Richards, it caused a huge public outcry. The media
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reaction was intense, but crucially, the Times newspaper, very much part of the British establishment,
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ran that surprisingly objective, even sympathetic, leading article.
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Tidled. Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel? Exactly. Questioning the severity of the sentences,
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particularly for Jagger, comparing his situation to, say, an archbishop importing pills without the
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paperwork. That editorial was really significant in shifting some mainstream opinion and putting
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pressure on the legal system. Music papers like Melody Maker were hugely grateful for it.
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And the appeal, right, got bailed. They did. Both appealed and were granted bail,
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pending the appeal, which they eventually won, getting their sentences overturned or reduced.
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But the whole affair was incredibly stressful and highlighted their status as targets.
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Around this time, the band was also filming a promotional clip for their song We Love You.
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Yes, which featured backing vocals from John Lennon and Paul McCartney, a show of solidarity.
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The song itself and the accompanying film which had an Oscar-wild theme,
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was widely interpreted as a gesture of thanks for the support they received during the trial,
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a sort of defiant statement. Bill Wyman, the Stones bassist, had a funny quote about We Love You,
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didn't he? Something about it being last month's message for this month. He did.
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Highlighting just how rapidly things were moving, how quickly sentiments could change in the music
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scene that year. Their studio habits around this time were famously nocturnal too,
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often recording late into the night, working on what would become their satanic majesty's request.
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What about Brian Jones during all this? His role seemed to be changing.
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It was. Creatively, he was becoming more peripheral within the Stones' core songwriting
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partnership of Jagger and Richards. He was pursuing his own interests more, like digging into old
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blues records, world music. And he actually met with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian
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spiritual leader who would become very influential for the Beatles later that year.
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Jones apparently even questioned Mick Jagger about the Maharishi's teachings.
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And Keith Richards' hat badges. I remember seeing photos.
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Yeah, they often represented this eclectic mix of interests, badges for equal rights,
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one depicting a Russian cosmonaut like Yuri Gagarin, and even one saying lovely Rita,
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the title of a song from Sargent Pepper. A real blend of political awareness,
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fascination with the space race, and immersion in contemporary pop culture.
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Despite all the legal drama, the atmosphere around the band was described by some insiders,
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maybe ironically, as the year of the nice, suggesting a certain internal camaraderie and resilience
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amidst the external chaos. Cream also had some strong views on the music business in the culture,
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didn't they? Eric Collaptin especially. Collaptin in particular expressed some pretty strong,
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maybe slightly counter-culture cliche opinions and interviews around then,
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contrasting what he saw as the apathy and materialism of the middle-class American slob,
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with the potential for love, consciousness, and authentic expression through music.
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And their focus, as we mentioned, was heavily on performance on improvisation.
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Very much so. Feeling constrained by the limitations of studio albums like
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Disraeli Gears, which they felt didn't fully capture their live energy and interplay.
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They saw themselves fundamentally as heavy musicians, dedicated to pushing musical boundaries
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in the moment, exploring new intervals, chords, rhythmic combinations spontaneously on stage.
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Amidst all this creation and cultural appeal, 1967 also brought some significant losses,
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some real sorrow to the music world. It did. The death of the jazz titan John Coltrane in July
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was a monumental loss, not just for jazz but for music globally. His later more experimental work
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was already influencing adventurous rock musicians, exploring improvisation and modal sounds.
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And Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington's collaborator.
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Yes, Billy Strayhorn, the brilliant composer and arranger who was Duke Ellington's indispensable
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right-hand man for decades, passed away in May after battling cancer. Ellington was apparently
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devastated. Strayhorn's contribution to American music was just immense. He wrote standards like
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Take the A Train, Lush Life, Chelsea Bridge, but he often preferred to work behind the scenes
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characteristically shunning individual credit during his nearly 30 years with Ellington.
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His death really marked the end of an era for Ellington's orchestra.
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And as we've sadly noted already, the tragic death of Otis Redding in that plane crash in December.
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Just devastating. At 26, right as he was achieving that major crossover success after Monterey,
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his life and career cut short. The triodes poured in from everyone's sole artists,
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rock stars, pop singers, recognizing the immense talent and the sheer potential that was lost.
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A huge blow to soul music and popular music in general. Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager,
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also gave some interesting interviews at your Dindey, offering insights into the band and the scene.
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He did. He reiterated the practical reasons for the Beatles stopping
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touring the terrible sound quality at concerts. The fact they couldn't hear themselves play,
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their lack of interest in just repeating the old hits live when their studio work was becoming
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so complex. Did he talk about their individual activities during the break?
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Yes, he discussed what they were up to, Harrison in India, McCartney's soundtrack work,
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Lenin's acting and his thoughts on the band's future. He confirmed he didn't expect any more
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traditional concerts, but was looking towards new avenues like television specials.
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Like the all-unite is love worldwide broadcast, which happened later in 67.
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Exactly. That was a prime example. And film projects that was even talked then of a potential
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sergeant pepper film, though it didn't happen in that form.
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He seemed quite humble about his own role in their success.
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He often was, publicly at least. He expressed the belief that the Beatles weren't successful
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solely because of him, famously saying he felt he was showered with talent by having them.
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He also clarified his management share started at 25%, later adjusted to around 20%
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split five ways, including himself, and acknowledged that Lenin and McCartney likely earned more
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due to their songwriting royalties. He also denied accusations that he sometimes used the Beatles
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fame to unfairly promote other artists he managed. He emphasized their mutual faith,
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their shared ideals as being crucial. Yes, he believed that bond was fundamental to their success
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in longevity. And his management style was often recognized for allowing his acts,
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like the cream, as well as the Beatles, a significant degree of creative freedom,
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which wasn't always the case with managers back then. Did he comment on the whole flower
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periscene itself? He did. He called it a cliche, perhaps seeing the media hype around it,
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but he also acknowledged that underneath the surface there was a genuinely positive core
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attitude focused on love, peace, and progress. He expressed a hope that it wouldn't become too
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commercialized, saying he could already see signs of both the sincere ethos and the potential
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for commercial exploitation appearing. A pretty astute observation. So 1967, it really was this
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incredible crucible, wasn't it? Creation, cultural explosion, controversy, loss, fundamental shifts,
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all happening at once, all intertwined with rock and rolls evolution into something bigger,
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more complex, and far more influential than ever before. It fundamentally changed the trajectory,
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the possibilities, the meaning of popular music for decades to come. No question. Which brings us,
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I suppose, to part five, thinking about the legacy and offering some concluding thoughts on this
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truly remarkable year. When you try to summarize it, 1967 didn't just add another chapter to the story
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of rock music. It fundamentally rewrote the book. It cemented rock's place not just as popular
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entertainment, but as a significant, powerful, artistic, and cultural force, a force capable of
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expressing and sometimes shaping the complexities of a rapidly changing world. And the key shifts we've
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talked about were just immense, weren't they? The rise of the album as a cohesive, artistic statement,
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moving beyond just singles. The deep and incredibly varied influence of psychedelia,
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touching everything from pop to soul to folk. The power in the template set by music festivals
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like Monterey, creating these communal, almost tribal cultural experiences centered around music.
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And that undeniable, visible intertwining of the music with the counter-culture movements,
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they fed off each other constantly. We saw established giants at the Beatles and the rolling
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stones, daring to push their creative boundaries in completely new, sometimes risky directions.
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While at the same time these explosive new voices like Jimmy Hendrix, Janice Joplin,
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or Dysredding burst onto the global stage, really defining the soundscape of the year alongside
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those iconic ubiquitous hits like a wider sheet of pale or grooven.
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It feels like this wasn't just a year that happened. It was a year that actively laid the
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groundwork for so much of what followed in popular music. You can trace lines from 1967
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to the progressive rock epics of the 70s, maybe even to the energy of punk as a reaction
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against some of that complexity to the independent spirit of later decades.
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Absolutely. It sparked this ongoing evolution. It encouraged experimentation,
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it challenged conventions, musical, social, cultural, and it radically expanded the possibilities
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of what popular music could be, what it could sound like, and what it could mean in people's lives.
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So for you listening, after delving into all this rich material with us,
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maybe let's leave you with this thought to consider. How did this sheer, almost unbridled
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creativity, the cultural, appeal, and the sonic experimentation packed so densely into those 12
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transformative months of 1967? Truly set the stage for it. Well, for almost everything that
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followed in popular music, influencing genres and artists you might not even immediately connect
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back to this specific era. And maybe think about how we still see echoes of that pivotal year
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today. Perhaps in the way ambitious concept albums are still conceived, or the importance
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placed on the visual presentation of artists, or even in the persistent idea sometimes fulfilled,
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sometimes debated of music as a potential force for cultural commentary and even social change.
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Are those echoes still strong? Or have they faded? Where do you hear 1967 now? Perhaps in unexpected
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places? Reflect on how those core ideas that burst forth so vividly in 1967, the album as a
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complete world to explore. The immersive audio-visual experience, music is a catalyst for something
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bigger than itself. How those ideas continue to inform, inspire, and shape music and culture,
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even decades later.