1960: A Retrospective in One Part
Whilst the universe is organised in rhythms of orbits, seasons and rotations most of everything is tone deaf to its pulse. Mountains and squirrels know nothing of the past or the future or their place in it. It's uniquely human to hear and attribute significance to the groove of reality and divide it into beats and bars to mark time.
A rotation is a day. Eight days a week. 52 weeks a year. Ten years a decade. In this movement we imagine an end and a beginning. Each day starts fresh and neat. Each week a crotchet of a month yet still distinctly ending and beginning verses to the chorus of years. The turning of a decade the ultimate division neatly marking the end of side one; turn the record; begin again; side two.
Unfortunately history is rarely this neat and doesn't easily observe the days and the decades. As 1960 begins what we really want is a nice neat block of time to discuss. January 1st 1960 Jimi Hendrix is born, records Are You Experienced and then dies. There was evening, and there was mourning, the 1960's. If only history was so accommodating. 1960 starts on a Friday, daring to be contiguous in a wholly unsatisfactory narrative way; 19510 if you will. Even the Beatles, the quintessential 60's band, are stuck in the 50's playing skiffle tunes in Hamburg night after night after night. What's more 60's than Vietnam? Well not Vietnam - that war began in the 50's. 1960 is undoubtedly not in the 60's.
The biggest artists of 1960 are still the ones from the 50's. Elvis has the two biggest hits with It's Now or Never and Are You Lonesome Tonight. Chubby Checker has third place with The Twist which is actually a cover of a song released in 1958. Jonny Preston takes fifth with Running Bear which was actually recorded in 1959 and invented cultural appropriation.
The charts are full of novelty songs from Alvin and the Chipmunks extolling the virtues of bull fighting and dunking on the Japanese because they don't have bananas. Brian Hyland body shames an unnamed woman in Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini and Andy Stewart gives a small penis energy to flashing young ladies with Donald Where's Your Troosers? Other than the Chipmunks most of these novelty songs were performed by credible artists who weren't ashamed to have fun. The Beatles would eventually corner this market before the form devolves into Mr Blobby.
The enduring qualities of these novelty songs are best exemplified by The Twist. This song predates TikTok dance crazes by over 60 years and directly led to the emancipation of women. No more would a woman need to be led by a man when they danced. With The Twist the lady partner was free to traverse the dance floor herself with wild abandon. What's true on the dance floor is true in life. Whilst Elvis' hips caused women to swoon Checkers woke them up and freed them. Name any other song with that power.
Revolution is not just restricted to the dance floor. It is in the rich jollof flavoured winds of Africa. 19 African nations declare independence in 1960 and left the western world wondering if it snows in Africa at Christmas time. I attempt to display my virtue by including a reference to jollof but really demonstrate the paucity of my small existence. Watch as I confidently assert that Apache by the Shadows invented hip hop. The Shadows invented hip hop in 196081. Musicians across America had a weird obsession with Native Americans in 1960 although it would take until 1981 for that to reach its height of racial insensitivity as the Sugarhill Gang chant "unga unga unga". (It has been pointed out to me since that The Shadows were British)
This is the hidden beauty of 1960. The things that happened didn't become significant for a couple of years. One half of U2 (Bono and the Edge) were born in 1960 so that's a thing. Slightly more significant to how culture was shaped later in the 60's was the canonisation of Che Guevara. That photo, often considered the most famous in the world, was taken by Alberto Korda in March 1960. This image invented the rock star and showed those coming that you could get away with anything as long as you looked cool whilst doing it. Also kind of significant but not as significant as it would become was the election of JFK as President in November 1960.
Arguably the most enduring song of 1960 is At Last by Etta James. Although originally written in 1941 I'm counting it as a 1960 classic - 3 minutes of earthy sexy magnificence that has been oversung by many in the years since but never bettered. A couple of other songs to highlight are I Fought The Law by The Crickets and I'm Shakin by Little Willie John just because I really like them.
1960 might mark the beginning of the evolution of rock but it many ways it also represents a high point. In the small window of time between the heroin pretention of jazz and the cocaine excess of rock we have a perfect moment. We are just a Dancing Queen away from a perfect family disco.
In truth my approach to 1960 is largely inspired by Sam Cooke's What A Wonderful World. As 1960's greatest ode to ignorance like Cooke himself I don't know much about history.
