Jon Savage (born Jonathan Malcolm Sage; 2 September 1953 in Paddington, London) is an English writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, England's Dreaming, published in 1991. In 1979 he moved to Melody Maker, and a year later to the newly founded pop culture magazine The Face. Throughout the decade, Savage wrote for The Observer and the New Statesman, providing high-brow commentary on popular culture. Several compilation CDs based on his track lists have also been released, including England's Dreaming (2004) and Meridian 1970 (2005), the latter of which puts forward the argument that 1970 was a high-point for popular music, contrary to critical opinion. He curated the compilation Queer Noises 1961–1978 (2006), a collection of largely overlooked pop songs from that period that carried overt or coded gay messages. His most recent compilations have included the now deleted Fame, Jon Savage's Secret History Of Post-Punk 78-81 on Caroline True Records. His latest curated[when?] release on the same label is Perfect Motion, Jon Savage's Secret History Of Second Wave Psychedelia 1988–1993. Also a limited double-vinyl release, this collection posited late eighties/early nineties "Baggy" music as a slight return to the ethos of 60s psychedelia.
"1965 was the year of Dylan, folk-rock and protest, and the year when the post-beat bohemian subculture took over from traditional showbiz as the principal youth culture. Suits and group uniforms were out: denim, suede and long hair in. It was also a vintage Motown year. In the first week of 1965, the Supremes were at #2 US and three other Motown records were in the Billboard Top 40. Two weeks later the Supremes reached #1, the first of six Motown achieved that year – and, in March, EMI UK launched the Tamla Motown label with hits by the Supremes and Martha & the Vandellas. Harder core soul artists such as Wilson Pickett and James Brown also had US pop hits and, thanks to the pirate radio stations and inspired promotion by Decca PR Tony Hall, Pickett narrowly missed the UK Top 10.
The thing about the 60s, certainly for a media-scanning 12 year-old like me, was that it wasn’t like an Austin Powers film, with a three-CD set of top hits blasting out of an E-Type on Carnaby Street. To hear the record you wanted, you had to wade through what seemed like oceans of dreck – maudlin ballads by the Bachelors, Jim Reeves and Ken Dodd that seemed to last a lifetime – before you got to the Yardbirds, Dylan, James Brown or the Who. The experience of hearing those great records then was even more powerful in that relief.
These two CDs are an enhanced version of what I remember from 1965, based on regular exposure to Ready Steady Go!, Top Of The Pops and Radio Caroline South. The tracks are arranged along chronological lines, with a few deviations for the sake of flow. It’s not possible to be definitive, and if there are any major artists missing, there is usually a good reason. Some of the records here are very familiar: others were extremely obscure in 1965, and have only come to light in recent years. Part of the pleasure of pop fandom is in discovering lost and hidden singles and albums from a familiar period that expand your knowledge of what was going on at the time – in a period that you might have been too young to fully comprehend."
Jon Savage's 1966 The Year The Decade Exploded (2015)
The pop world accelerated and broke through the sound barrier in 1966. In America, in London, in Amsterdam, in Paris, revolutionary ideas slow-cooking since the late '50s reached boiling point. In the worlds of pop, pop art, fashion and radical politics — often fueled by perception-enhancing substances and literature — the 'Sixties', as we have come to know them, hit their Modernist peak. A unique chemistry of ideas, substances, freedom of expression and dialogue across pop cultural continents created a landscape of immense and eventually shattering creativity. After 1966 nothing in the pop world would ever be the same. The 7 inch single outsold the long-player for the final time. It was the year in which the ever lasting and transient pop moment would burst forth in its most articulate, instinctive and radical way.
Jon Savage's 1966 is a monument to the year that shaped the pop future of the balance of the century. Exploring canonical artists like The Beatles, The Byrds, Velvet Underground, The Who and The Kinks, 1966 also goes much deeper into the social and cultural heart of the decade through unique archival primary sources.
Jon Savage follows up last year’s “1966” set with a similarly packaged 2CD anthology of hits and rarities from 1967. There is no accompanying book this time – so you’ll have to buy this to read all about it in his sleeve notes. In a nutshell: Now typified as the year of flower power, 1967 was the year the 60s divided. During those 12 months, the revenues from LP sales in Britain finally overtook those from 45s. It’s also the year when the British singles charts suddenly revealed a vacuum that, in March 1967, was filled by a Top 10 that included Englebert Humperdinck, Petula Clark, Harry Secombe, Vince Hill, the Seekers and other mums and dads records that you will not be hearing on this compilation. Nevertheless, the single was still king … just. It took a while for albums to take over – this happened with the massive success of “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in the summer. Although outlawed on 14 August 1967, the Pirate Radio stations were still operating for much of the year, with their highly eclectic playlists: soul was rampant, and many psychedelicised acts still felt compelled to pour all their ideas into three or four-minute symphonies for the kids. The album might have been growing in popularity as a format but it was still in its comparative infancy. In 1967, singles cost 7/6d and albums 32/6d – a significant difference to many consumers that brought down volume as opposed to income sales. There were only four UK#1 albums during 1967: “The Sound Of Music”, “Monkees”, “More Of The Monkees” and “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. In the US there was a similar split: only seven albums, including three by the Monkees and one “Greatest Hits” by Diana Ross & the Supremes. The transatlantic split had begun to deepen, with America firmly in the driving seat. The UK chart might have been dominated by a succession of dreary ballads at #1 (‘Release Me’, ‘The Last Waltz’, ‘Silence Is Golden’, ‘Let The Heartaches Begin’, etc) but the US had chart-toppers such as ‘Light My Fire’, ‘Respect’, ‘Groovin’’ and, god bless the Strawberry Alarm Clock, ‘Incense And Peppermints’. The British equivalent of psychedelia had less of a look in at the top but resulted in fabulous Toytown hits like Simon Dupree’s ‘Kites’ and Traffic’s ‘Hole In My Shoe’. The big trend might have been the Love Generation and the new pop centre San Francisco, but beyond this illusory unity, however, pop was split into all sorts of factions – reflecting events in the outside world: severe race riots in the US (in Newark, Detroit, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Minneapolis) and deepening protest against the Vietnam war – climaxing in the Pentagon March of October 1967. In the UK, the economic situation worsened, culminating in the devaluation of the pound in November. The Civil Rights dream was over and Swinging London was long gone. The emerging drug culture was extremely divisive on both sides of the Atlantic, as was the increasing youth political consciousness. Pop culture was beginning to move beyond simple consumerism into an expression of a deep drive for change. In the UK, the establishment and the police woke up to the existence of the drug culture, with several high profile arrests including Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Their trial in July became the UK pop culture event of the year. Although its use within pop culture had begun in earnest during 1966, LSD was still an underground thing. In 1967, it burst open. You can hear it in some of the singles on this compilation: ‘Levitation’, ‘I’m Five Years Ahead Of My Time (“I’ve unlocked the door to life’s mystery”) and ‘Revolution’ (“All we want is peace to blow our minds”). At the same time, Rex Garvin’s ‘Believe It Or Not’ acts as a sharp warning against the drug’s dangers, while the Shag sarcastically resist the peer pressure to indulge. Reflecting this turbulent and riven time, the track listing for this version of 1967 ranges between Tamla, Stax soul and the beginnings of funk, as well as mainstream white pop, white soul, West Coast and psychedelia. There is an openness and expansiveness in many of these records: a good example is the Young Rascals’ ‘Groovin’’, a US #1 and a Pirate Radio favourite in the UK, with its easygoing feel and summery bird noises, or the Supremes’ mind expansion move, ‘Reflections’, with its weird oscillations and laidback groove.
During 1967, the single was still a vital pop form: you can hear in some of these records the complexity that would soon be spread over 40 minutes on an LP – as well as an earthy simplicity that was the reaction. Many of the 48 singles here were ones I heard on Radio Caroline South that year: I was an obsessive listener, making lists that were extremely helpful when putting together this compilation: I would never have remembered William E, the Picadilly Line or the Fortunes otherwise. These kind of records – half forgotten because outside of an obvious genre – remind me that even mainstream pop was infected by the expansive feel and musical experimentation of the more avant-garde, and that was what made 1967 great. The tension that made great pop was still there: by the next year, it would be dissipating further in the UK once the pirates were off the air and Radio 1 began its more restrictive playlist. By then, the cutting edge groups were concentrating on albums and standalone singles were falling by the wayside. The rock era had begun.
50 years ago, America was in turmoil. An ever-increasing public awareness of both the vast brutality and absolute futility of the Vietnam War stretched itself like a cinematic backdrop across all that was happening on home soil, with peace protests turning to riots, and riots to assassinations. In Europe, France was forever changed by nationwide general strikes and the May Paris student riots. The UK was in social conflict, playing uncomfortable host to Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech whilst younger generations campaigned for greater moral enlightenment. The bubble of hope had been burst worldwide and change was coming at a disturbing cost. Jon Savage’s choices for 1968 include reactions to the rise of feminism: we see Martha Reeves singing “One day I’m gonna get stronger/ And I won’t need you no longer” on ‘Honey Chile’ and Janis Joplin positively screaming ‘I’m gonna show you baby that a woman can be tough” on ‘Piece Of My Heart’ whilst the 5th Dimension are worrying that “she walks all over you” on ‘Carpet Man’. We also see nods to the spectre of Otis Redding’s death in December of 1967, a source of worldwide grief over the following months as well as many posthumous singles, and Eddie Floyd’s ‘Big Bird’, written at the airport on his way to pay tribute at the funeral. We have the deceptively simple, upbeat rock steady smash of Desmond Dekker’s ‘Israelites’ entering the mainstream US Top 10 with its singsong nursery rhyme feel masking the bittersweet lyrics about extreme poverty and dissatisfaction. This was also the year of James Brown’s civil rights anthem, ‘Say It Loud! – I’m Black And I’m Proud’ and Sly & the Family Stone’s call for harmony with ‘Everyday People’ - coiner of the phrase “different strokes for different folks”. It’s hard to imagine the Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s ‘Fire!’ in any other year – as Jon puts it, “the madness and the glory of 1968”. The year, and the album, finishes with the MC5’s ‘Kick Out The Jams’ – possibly the best version of it I’ve ever heard, and I only heard it when putting together this album with Jon. Given away as a free 7-inch at a gig in December 1968, it’s never been compiled before, and will leave you feeling fully ready for social change in 2019.
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