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Books
1966:
The Year the Decade Exploded
by Jon Savage
(London: Faber & Faber, 2015)
Illustrated
672 pages
ISBN: 978-0-571-27763-6
Paperback
$17.95
Reviewed by Dr.
Kirk Bane
January 1, 2021 |
In
this superb pop culture history, Jon Savage, discussing the harrowing
Charles Whitman/UT Tower massacre of August 1, 1966, observes that
"Whitman's rampage in Texas was a shattering event, the sort of crime
that, once it has happened, spins the world on its axis. It was graphically
stark: the puffs of white smoke emanating from the neoclassical tower,
white against a blue summer's sky; the lightly dressed students, workers
and teachers clustering for cover behind the extravagant chrome tail
fins; the photographs of the dead and wounded laid out like tombstone
grids."
The former Marine's brutal and unprecedented attack is just one incident
in an important, unforgettable year. Certainly, 1966 was a period
characterized by violence: Whitman, race riots, escalation in Vietnam,
and the horror of Richard Speck. However, 1966 also gave rise to brilliant
and groundbreaking music, including such iconic LPs as Dylan's BLONDE
ON BLONDE, the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS, the Beatles' REVOLVER, and
the Rolling Stones' AFTERMATH.
Savage constructs his terrific volume around twelve landmark singles,
examining the social and political context in which these songs were
written, recorded, and released. "The premise throughout," he asserts,
"is that music did reflect the world during 1966; that it was connected
to events outside the pop culture bubble and was understood to do
so by many of its listeners; that there was something more than image
and sales at stake." Savage continues, "So much is packed into the
45s from this period: ideas, attitudes, lyrics and musical experimentation…Condensed
within the two-to three-minute format, the possibilities of 1966 are
expressed with an extraordinary electricity and intensity. They still
sound explosive today, fifty years later." The author focuses on such
significant singles as the Velvet Underground's "I'll Be Your Mirror,"
the Rolling Stones' "19th Nervous Breakdown," Staff Sergeant Barry
Sadler's "The Ballad of the Green Berets," Wilson Pickett's "Land
of 1000 Dances," the Tornados' "Do You Come Here Often?," Love's "7
And 7 Is," the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations," and the New Vaudeville
Band's "Winchester Cathedral."
Numerous players populate Savage's pages, including Timothy Leary,
Donovan, Joe Meek, Diana Ross, the Byrds, Andy Warhol, Nancy Sinatra,
Marvin Gaye, Jacqueline Susann, the Monkees, Brian Epstein, Otis Redding,
Gloria Steinem, the Who, MLK, Buffalo Springfield, Tom Jones, Marlo
Thomas, Joe Orton, Andrew Loog Oldham, Dusty Springfield, Ike and
Tina Turner, Grace Slick, Simon & Garfunkel, Twiggy, Berry Gordy,
Truman Capote, Charles Radcliffe, the Kinks, Sonny Bono, Martha and
the Vandellas, Stokely Carmichael, Edie Sedgwick, the Austin-based
psychedelic rockers the 13th Floor Elevators, and El
Paso-born "taboo-busting novelist" John Rechy. And, of course,
LBJ, "a Texan who combined crudity with a sharp intelligence, slippery
pragmatism with passionate beliefs," makes an appearance.
Savage presents a strong, thought-provoking argument: 1966 was the
peak of the Sixties, "the year when the decade exploded." Pop culture
enthusiasts will relish his impressive study. |
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