I moved to London in 1965 The Who had had a massive hit with "My Generation", that band was singing about us, they were idolised by the "mods", as were the Small Faces. Mods for those who don't know wore very fashionable clothing. Their 'scooters' normally the Italian Lambretta's or Vespa' came with chrome accessories, lights and mirrors - the more the better.
The other culture at that time were the "rockers" who were totally opposite to the mods, they wore leather jackets and rode powerful motor cycles, and the type of music much admired by them was the earthy sounds of Gene Vincent and Carl Perkins et al.
In the summer of 1965 the mods and rockers met up in Brighton every weekend to have their regular punch ups on the beach. I hasten to add I was not one of them, I was far more interested in the musical scene at the time.
June 1966 was one of those great occasions. England won the World Cup in football, we were top of the world.
Bobby Moore the England captain had picked up the Jules Rimet trophy, we had beaten West Germany in the final, it was also the year that Harold Wilson said that 'We had never had it so good'
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And me well I was 16 and all I could do was to sit in the backgarden sunning myself.
It was in the Autumn of 1966 when a band made up of 3 immensly talented musicians was formed. Cream as the name suggests, they were the cream of musicical talent of that time. The band members were Eric Clapton a guitar maestro. Jack Bruce on bass, and last but by no means least, the man who formed the band Ginger(Peter)Baker a colossus on drums. They were the first (and arguably) the best of the super groups.
I made a point of seeing them whenever I could. As the Autumn of 1966 was coming to an end, the music coming from both here and the States was changing.
The anti Vietnam War protest, burning of draft cards, the drug culture was going to lead to an explosion of musical sounds not seen or heard since. Bands like Love and The Doors were producing great sounds, and Love's 'Alone Again Or' was a sensational sound. While the British bands like Pink Floyd and Tomorrow were creating sounds unheard of. Whilst Cream was going down a storm in the States
1967, the age of Aquarius, a new age. This was the year that nearly every wall had a picture of Che Guevara on it.
This was the year the men became 'guys' and women became 'chicks'. In April that year was a 14 hour extravaganza at the Alexandra Palace called the 'Technicolor Dream' all the 'indie' bands of that time made an appearance there, the main attraction were Pink Floyd, but there were other very good bands playing there as well, bands like Brian Auger's Trinity, Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Pretty Things, Keith West and Tomorrow, it was a really good event. All of the Beatles attended too. The summer of 67 to be known as the "summer of love".
That summer was probably the best I have ever known, I was young, I had a reasonable job, I played bass guitar, I loved the music, and I had found my inner self as everyone of my age were doing. It was great, it was that year that I first went to Cornwall, I discovered really strong 'Scrumpy', it was also the first time that I got drunk. Scrumpy for those of you who don't know, is a very rough and a very strong cider. You have to go to Cornwall or Devon to get the best stuff. My it was potent. I was in a daze all that holiday, what with 'Scrumpy Punch' being a nightly experience, then bathing in the warm sea off Parr Sands, the home of 'China Clay'
1967, this was the year that everybody decided to make love and not war
it was also the year that America put more troops into Vietnam. 1967 was also the year that a little known (at the time) guitarist, who had served as a paratrooper in the US Army who had also played with Little Richard, who was discovered by the former 'Animals' bass guitarist Chas Chandler in 1966,this guitarist was probably the best ever technician of the instrument, and played in a most unorthodox of ways. His name was Jimi Hendrix, and with his band Experience, were to set clubs alight. I was only fortunate to ever see him play once. It was beautiful music, feedback the music was deafening, but was great.
Meanwhile my hair was getting longer and longer, and I was getting into all many of weird stuff. There wasn't one drug that I hadn't tried at least once, I feel now that looking back I feel lucky that I'm still here.
In 1968 my sister Jill was born, my mother got married a year or so previous, my mother decided in 1968 that she wanted to go to Australia, and wanted me to go with her. I declined, I was having far too much fun.
The 60's were coming to an end. The last big concert was Woodstock, this was in 1969, the stars of the show were the Who and Jimi Hendrix, it was probably the last peaceful event of the 60's alas the same year at Altamont the Stones were playing there, and a youth was killed by the heavy handed Hells Angels who put in on themselves to act as security.
Because I was having so much fun (or so I thought was fun) I didn't stay in much and watch TV, but there were a few programs I did like.
There was "Quatermass and the Pit" a really scarey black and white series and way ahead of its time.
"Lost in Space" with the cowardly Dr Smith and last but by no means least the surreal "Prisoner" series. I watched every one of those episodes and was totally captivated.
The next few pages are all about my favorite bands of the time. I will always like the Beatles and what they did for the music industry, but the following 3 bands are the ones I liked the most, the first being Cream
