Swinging 60’sBY MOLLY &NATHAN

RockersThe rocker subculture was centred on motorcycling, and their appearance reflected that. Rockers generally wore protective clothing such as black leather jackets and motorcycle boots.The common rocker hairstyle was a pompadour, while their music genre of choice was 1950s rock and roll. Rockers were very much a hang over from the Teddy Boy movement that had occurred in the 1950s, they shared the same hair styles and music taste whilst changing the style to one more centred on Motorcycling.

Mod - Ska Significant elements of the mod lifestyle included

pop music, such as African American soul, Jamaican ska, and British beat music and R&B; fashion (often tailor-made suits); and Italian motor scooters. The mod scene was also associated with all-night dancing at clubs. The mod scene developed when British teenagers began to reject the "dull, timid, old-fashioned, and uninspired" British culture around them, with its repressed and class-obsessed mentality and its "naffness". From the mid to late 1960s onwards, the mass media often used the term mod in a wider sense to describe anything that was believed to be popular, fashionable or modern.

Hippies Hippies felt alienated from middle-class society, which

they saw as dominated by materialism and repression, and they developed their own distinctive lifestyle. They commonly sought spiritual guidance from sources outside the Judeo-Christian tradition, particularly Buddhism and other Eastern religions, and sometimes in various combinations. Astrology was popular, and the period was often referred to as the Age of Aquarius. Hippies promoted the recreational use of hallucinogenic drugs, particularly marijuana and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), in so-called head trips, justifying the practice as a way of expanding consciousness. Both folk and rock music were an integral part of hippie culture. Singers such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and groups such as the Beatles, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Rolling Stones were among those most closely identified with the movement.

Political Unrest

With the emergence of an informed, opinionated British Youth there of course cam political unrest and protest en masse.

There were CND marches, Anti-War Protests in Trafalgar square and rather interestingly a protest from the students of the London School of Economics :

“More than 100 police, called in by the authorities at the London School of Economics last night, closed the school after students ran riot inside with pickaxes and crowbars.”“Militant students ripped out seven sets of protective gates installed last week to protect the building in the event of a sit-in. The gates were described as “anti-student and anti-freedom.”

SkinheadsSkinhead culture emerged as a result of two shifts in British culture and society in the early/mid 1960s. Firstly, the Mod scene which had been so popular amongst British youth had begun to split into different factions. While the middle class Mods were able to carry on pursuing the latest Carnaby Street clothes and fashionable haircuts, this was out of reach to most working class Mods. In a scene so heavily based on consumerism, this undermined the working class Mods' status and ability to take part in the scene. This led to the emergence of "hard Mods", who marked themselves off from their peers with shaved hair,  jeans, braces  and work boots. This style, based on the typical style of British workingmen at the time, served to separate them from the old Mods and the middle class hippies of their generation. It served as "a conscious attempt by working class youth to dramatise and resolve their marginal status in a class-based society."The 3 elements that the vast majority of 1960s skinheads indulged in were: Reggae ska and soul Music Football

Pirate Radio and MusicPirate radio is where a transmission is sent from a place where it is legal and then received somewhere where it is not. It came into affect in the UK with offshore radio broadcasters in the 1960’s, transmitting pop music from international waters on board anchored ships or abandoned sea forts. By 1967 ten pirate radio stations were broadcasting to an estimated daily audience of 10 to 15 million.Portable radio transistors, after there creation in 1954 and subsequent mass marketing in the 1960’s soon became owned by millions and changed music listening habits within British culture. Families no longer huddled around the one radio in the living room, teenage children could listen to their own music in their room. And this of course meant the youth of Britain could find their voice in music.

Record players became cheaper and so the number of singles went up from 5million in 1955 to 50million in 1960

Mini Skirts In the 1960s feminism began, In 1962, Betty Friedan's book The

Feminine Mystique captured the frustration and even the despair of a generation of college-educated housewives who felt trapped and unfulfilled. As one said, "I'm desperate. I begin to feel I have no personality. I'm a server of food and a putter-on of pants and a bed maker, somebody who can be called on when you want something. But who am I?“

People began to stand up for their beliefs to become more strong and independent. Fashion was a major way for women to be able to express themselves, compared to in the 1950s, where women were expected to wear long skirts below the knee. After the war there were more jobs open to women, allowing tem for feel more important.

Promiscuous SocietyAfter the legalisation of abortion and the availability of the pill in 1967 the younger generation of Britain was described by the media as a “promiscuous society” with thoughts of the youth of the late sixties running rampant, having sex with whoever wherever. This swathing generalisation is exactly that; a generalisation. As is common with the media, sure there were members of society that took on the full swing of the 60’s, as Virginia Wildside says (writing for the Daily Mail) “It often seemed more polite to sleep with a man than to chuck him out of your flat” but for others of the 60’s life just went on as usual.

Freak Scene – festivals, gay rights, changing of attitude

An intersectional gay rights movement came to light in the 1960s when the gay community joined with the momentum of the civil rights movement, anti-war protestors, and feminists. This allowed people to start accepting different types of people and different styles, including musicians. Zappa and his band The Mothers of Invention were central to the freak scene in the mid to late 1960s.  They kept their fashion undefined aligning themselves with an visual appearance which cannot be defined by fashion or political leanings. This way keeping a neutral stance. It is a bohemian styled culture that sits between post hippie and pre punk. The fashion included long hair, an abundance of hair dye, and often their fashion style often played on historical themes and tried to portray a group of characters. They explored elements of roleplay utilizing items such as headbands, cloaks, frock coats, cape like garments to emulate a romanticized period in history. Their attitudes were very relaxed and their social movements involved going to music festivals and alternative events.

The endCHEERSGOODNIGHT