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Pop music began in 1960, suddenly replacing dance music, jazz and the tuneful
lyricists such as Crosby, Sinatra and their imitators. Prior to 1960 young
people were either adolescents or young adults, but then the 13-19 year group
became a new class, the teenagers. They were the fashionable group, and at
that time of full employment in the USA and the UK, the group with the spare
money, since they had high wages and few outgoings. Thus they became the market
for the pop industry.
Parental discipline, school rules and wartime restrictions had hitherto kept this age
group in place. Now, in 1960 their instinct was to break loose, become totally independent,
discard the society which produced them and ignore its social sanctions. They succeeded,
aided by two groups of cynical adults; the money-makers and the drug pushers. Left-wing
activists provided a third group.
The music began with 'skiffle'; the drummer, the electric guitar, the vocalist, but this
quickly changed to rock n roll, with Elvis Presley as its afficionado, and his titles such as
'Rock around the clock' reaching international heights of popularity among teenagers. The
focus became the star rather than the group. In Liverpool a group of four fresh-faced tidy
young men with neat hair, began to produce original themes which reflected the innermost
feelings of teenagers; calf-love, loneliness, insecurity, 'doing one' own thing', the misunderstanding of the adult world and a few curiously alien themes. 'Beatlemania' swept Britain
and many other countries. But the sinister initial letters of 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'
suggested the drug scene. The Beatles made millions, but millions more for their promoters.
The world knows about the end of Presley, who has now become a cult figure.
The pop cult grew in the late 60's and early 70's into a major industry. This was the
heyday of the top twenty; getting into this ensured rich rewards. Successful single makers
cut LPs. Those selling over a million records entered the golden disc bracket; large country
houses, Rolls-Royce motor cars, yachts, world-wide travel spread before the eyes of young
hopefuls. And because a few made it, everybody tried, whether they really had talent
or not. The money, the fame, the adulation proved irresistable.
The real money was made in the industry associated with the stars. For many years Carnaby Street set teenage clothing fashions, and, although Carnaby Street is no longer
the centre, the denim jeans, and T shirt uniform has persisted. Perhaps the biggest money
was made by pop concert and festival promoters. From time to time these festivals have
caused trouble because of noise, litter, insanitary camp conditions and drug abuse. The
problem has abated because of careful police monitoring.
However the deepest effect of the pop scene on affluent young society was upon
teenage attitudes to life. The establishment, by which is meant regular hours, hard work,
morality, a worthwhile job and, in general, a sense of responsibility, was condemned as
square. There is no doubt that the pop scene was orchestrated and manipulated by cynical
adults, some of whom were villains. It has taken massive youth unemployment in England
to destroy the pop market, and while there is still money in it for the few it is no longer
possible today to buy an electric guitar and make your fortune in a month.
Musically, pop stars never had the slightest influence in the real world, though in the
old days they made more money than the virtuosi.
Today the euphoria has largely gone, and with it the acclaim and the overnight fortunes. Perhaps the twenty years or so of pop fever provided a safely valve for the young
who were none the worse for it providing they kept out of drugs and crime, unless one
counts the partial deafness which results from long hours in a discotheque. |
