0:00:02 > 0:00:04This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12Let's take a trip through the most visionary period
0:00:12 > 0:00:14in British music history,
0:00:14 > 0:00:19five kaleidoscopic years between 1965 and 1970
0:00:19 > 0:00:23when a handful of dreamers reimagined pop music.
0:00:25 > 0:00:32In the mid-'60s, a counterculture swapped the white heat of technology
0:00:32 > 0:00:34for an older Britain
0:00:34 > 0:00:37of Edwardian fantasy
0:00:37 > 0:00:38and bucolic bliss.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45From out of the Bohemian underground,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48psychedelia took over the pop mainstream.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56So, let's go back through the secret gardens of childhood
0:00:56 > 0:01:01to a time when British pop found its first truly original voice.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15- STOCK FOOTAGE:- The Britain that is going to be forged
0:01:15 > 0:01:17in the white heat of this revolution
0:01:17 > 0:01:20will be no place for restrictive practices
0:01:20 > 0:01:24or for outdated methods on either side of industry.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26It's the mid-1960s,
0:01:26 > 0:01:28a new Britain is emerging.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31This is the era of the dishwashing machine.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35Touch-of-the-switch central heating, they say, will soon be universal.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39As soon as people got back on the right foot after the war,
0:01:39 > 0:01:45the primary objective was to have permanent jobs for ever
0:01:45 > 0:01:49and to be as conventional as possible
0:01:49 > 0:01:51in order to retain those jobs.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53In other words, not to rock the boat.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57"Well, we've survived the war. What do we do now?
0:01:57 > 0:01:59"Well, let's insure everything."
0:01:59 > 0:02:03We were expected to be architects or civil engineers.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06I had no idea what I wanted to do at all
0:02:06 > 0:02:08and it was only because my grandfather had been a solicitor
0:02:08 > 0:02:11I thought, "Oh, I'll try that, then."
0:02:11 > 0:02:14But not every post-war child could see their place
0:02:14 > 0:02:16in this brave new world.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20This idea that young people were kind of meant to be formed
0:02:20 > 0:02:23into either something academic or factory fodder,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26it still kind of hung around.
0:02:27 > 0:02:28I didn't care about the future.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31We didn't used to think about it in those days. I didn't.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35No career plans, no "Will it look good on my..." What's it called?
0:02:35 > 0:02:36VE something or other?
0:02:36 > 0:02:38- CV.- CV.
0:02:38 > 0:02:39You know, fuck.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41Too young to worry about that crap.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45MUSIC: I'm a Man by The Yardbirds
0:02:45 > 0:02:47# Now I'm a man
0:02:47 > 0:02:49# I spell M
0:02:49 > 0:02:51# A
0:02:51 > 0:02:52# N... #
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Teenage Britain had been borrowing the raw energy
0:02:55 > 0:02:57of American rhythm and blues
0:02:57 > 0:03:00but conventions were starting to be questioned.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02# You can't resist
0:03:02 > 0:03:04# I'm a man
0:03:04 > 0:03:05# I spell M... #
0:03:05 > 0:03:07We were doing blues covers.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10We were doing Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry,
0:03:10 > 0:03:12and it was all very predictable
0:03:12 > 0:03:15so we wanted to break out of that.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17MUSIC: Still I'm Sad by The Yardbirds
0:03:29 > 0:03:34In 1965, The Yardbirds released Still I'm Sad.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38It was the sound of British R&B loosening its moorings.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51# See the stars come falling down from the sky... #
0:03:53 > 0:03:56We used to listen to all sorts of classical music.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59You know, Stravinsky and all sorts of stuff,
0:03:59 > 0:04:05and then we got in the studio and we were just experimenting with it
0:04:05 > 0:04:09and, suddenly, we started to bring in a vocal chant.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13I think it was that sort of wish to make it something different.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21When we first heard The Yardbirds' Still I'm Sad,
0:04:21 > 0:04:23it certainly gave a whole new feeling
0:04:23 > 0:04:24to what The Yardbirds were doing
0:04:24 > 0:04:27and they stopped just being that blues group.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30# Still I'm sad... #
0:04:30 > 0:04:33The blues was being radically reimagined
0:04:33 > 0:04:36as a handful of groups began testing its limits.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55The early '60s, I got quite a reputation as a jazz drummer.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03One university gig, Eric come up to me and said,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05"I know you, Baker," he said,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08"You're not a hard nut at all."
0:05:10 > 0:05:13I said to him, "Look, I'm getting a band together.
0:05:13 > 0:05:14"Would you be interested?"
0:05:14 > 0:05:17And he said yes straightaway.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20MUSIC: I Feel Free by Cream
0:05:27 > 0:05:33In July 1966, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton formed Cream,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37a supergroup that combined blues, jazz and poetry
0:05:37 > 0:05:39to create a strange brew.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41The first time we played together,
0:05:41 > 0:05:43it just went bam.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50# Feel when I dance with you
0:05:50 > 0:05:55# We move like the sea... #
0:05:55 > 0:05:57Jazz takes you on journeys.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Ginger and Jack, they were both jazz musicians
0:05:59 > 0:06:01and they really would take you somewhere.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05# I feel free... #
0:06:05 > 0:06:09I never play the same two nights running.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11Nor does Eric, nor did Jack.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15Every night was a new adventure
0:06:15 > 0:06:17musically.
0:06:26 > 0:06:32The psychedelic element is that we were taking people on a journey
0:06:32 > 0:06:36in a different way from what they had been taken on before.
0:06:38 > 0:06:43By mid-1966, a new word was starting to catch on.
0:06:43 > 0:06:44- Psychedelic.- Psychedelic.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46- Psychedelic.- Psychedelic.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48- Psychedelia.- Psychedelic.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50Psychedelic...
0:06:50 > 0:06:51Thing.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54I mean, what does psychedelic mean?
0:06:54 > 0:06:58MUSIC: Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones
0:06:58 > 0:07:03# I see a red door and I want it painted black... #
0:07:03 > 0:07:06A strange exotic drone was building.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08Even the two most familiar bands in Britain
0:07:08 > 0:07:11were beginning to look and sound unfamiliar.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14I used to co-own a bookshop with a number of people,
0:07:14 > 0:07:16including Paul McCartney, in fact,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19and, one day, Paul and John came into the shop
0:07:19 > 0:07:24and John curled up on the settee with The Psychedelic Experience
0:07:24 > 0:07:26and, literally in Tim Leary's introduction,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29it says turn off your mind and drift downstream.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31So John took the book home
0:07:31 > 0:07:35and the idea's in the first Beatles psychedelic track.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37MUSIC: Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles
0:07:37 > 0:07:38# Turn off your mind
0:07:38 > 0:07:43# Relax and float downstream
0:07:43 > 0:07:47# It is not dying
0:07:47 > 0:07:51# It is not dying... #
0:07:51 > 0:07:54The Beatles, they were the world's most commercial
0:07:54 > 0:07:56of all time rock-and-roll band
0:07:56 > 0:07:58and yet they were producing totally far-out stuff
0:07:58 > 0:08:01that no-one could even imagine how they got those sounds.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03If you haven't heard of LSD,
0:08:03 > 0:08:04you will.
0:08:04 > 0:08:10LSD 25, a legal substance introduced to Britain via America in 1965,
0:08:10 > 0:08:15began rippling through the Bohemian underground in 1966.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19I think part of the musical experimentation that was going on
0:08:19 > 0:08:23was certainly driven by a lot of use of drugs.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Alcohol became not really cool.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28When we're talking about psychedelia,
0:08:28 > 0:08:30the definition of it is to do with drugs.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35I mean, let's not be silly. People were experimenting.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43We didn't think of it as a drug.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45It was something you could take
0:08:45 > 0:08:47and it expanded your mind
0:08:47 > 0:08:50and I don't think there's many musicians at the time
0:08:50 > 0:08:53that didn't have a go at this thing called LSD.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58In those days, it was a serious exploration.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01You'd expect it to take a couple of days and wipe you out,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03and, you know, you'd prepare the music
0:09:03 > 0:09:05and have friends who were going to look after you
0:09:05 > 0:09:06if you freaked out and stuff.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09I mean, it was not something to take lightly.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12- STOCK FOOTAGE:- These are acid heads who are going to take a trip.
0:09:12 > 0:09:13Why?
0:09:13 > 0:09:15To get high.
0:09:15 > 0:09:16By which you mean what?
0:09:16 > 0:09:20You can't explain it. You have to experience it yourself.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22You expand your consciousness
0:09:22 > 0:09:26and you get more aware of things.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31Your senses are heightened.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34If you have a record on, you're hearing things
0:09:34 > 0:09:37that you wouldn't normally be attentive of.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41The colours have become quite a lot brighter.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Also, I'm getting a slight paisley effect in the sky.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48All of a sudden, you were like, "Hey, I've got hours."
0:09:48 > 0:09:51Every second seemed to last, you know, ten minutes,
0:09:51 > 0:09:55so you were kind of wound down into this slow rhythm.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57Once, when I took a little LSD,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01I played the guitar for about ten hours continuously.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03Seeing into people's eyes,
0:10:03 > 0:10:05I saw all the universes.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07I saw them being born.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09I saw them die.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14I would say it was the nearest I came to being able to see God.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24LSD use was not widespread in 1966
0:10:24 > 0:10:27but its effects catalysed an emerging counterculture
0:10:27 > 0:10:29that questioned everything.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31MUSIC: Do You Hear Me Now by Donovan
0:10:31 > 0:10:33# Freedom fighters Speak with your tongues... #
0:10:33 > 0:10:37Where ideas were being formed, people were experimenting.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41They were curious. What were the alternatives? What was happening?
0:10:41 > 0:10:44So there was an intellectual and almost philosophical
0:10:44 > 0:10:47questioning of the past.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51It was very obvious that capitalism,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54it was sort of a monster.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57We didn't like all that. You know, breadheads they were called.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02What we liked was equality for all people, the world should be green,
0:11:02 > 0:11:05not too many cities, don't use electricity,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07that coal was revolting.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10There was this sort of getting away
0:11:10 > 0:11:13from the traditional notions of order.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17All the traditional structures were in question.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21What you're allowed to think, what you're allowed to be,
0:11:21 > 0:11:23the lid got taken off.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29While the underground questioned the establishment,
0:11:29 > 0:11:34a former blues band were about to set fire to the 12-bar rule book.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36MUSIC: Interstellar Overdrive by Pink Floyd
0:11:47 > 0:11:50Up to then, it was all about playing the blues
0:11:50 > 0:11:52and then playing blues guitar and...
0:11:52 > 0:11:56I saw The Pink Floyd and I thought, "This is very avant-garde.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58"This isn't like anything else I've heard."
0:12:05 > 0:12:08The chords were very operatic.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10They were almost Wagnerian.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14And there was a very European sensibility
0:12:14 > 0:12:16that anchored everything
0:12:16 > 0:12:20and I think definitely put a big separation
0:12:20 > 0:12:22between them and the blues.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33Syd and Rick were improvising together long...
0:12:33 > 0:12:37what seemed like long improvisations all on one chord.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46Interstellar Overdrive, because it was just a riff which kept going,
0:12:46 > 0:12:50it went right away from that notion of verse, chorus, verse, chorus.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54That traditional sort of music structure was gone.
0:13:14 > 0:13:19Maybe the music we play isn't directed at dancing necessarily
0:13:19 > 0:13:22like normal pop groups have been in the past.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33But, whilst Pink Floyd were sonically progressive,
0:13:33 > 0:13:38Syd Barrett's lyrics harked back to a world of childhood fantasy.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41# There was a king
0:13:41 > 0:13:43# Who ruled the land
0:13:43 > 0:13:46# His Majesty was... #
0:13:46 > 0:13:48We lived in Cambridge,
0:13:48 > 0:13:50in a town which had a lovely river running through it
0:13:50 > 0:13:52with willows right along it.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Syd was certainly very keen on that.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57It was very easy to avail yourself
0:13:57 > 0:13:59of an actual Wind In The Willows landscape.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04All of Syd's early songs referred in passing
0:14:04 > 0:14:07to fairyland and the world of goblins and gnomes
0:14:07 > 0:14:09and an Arcadian world picture
0:14:09 > 0:14:11derived from classic children's books.
0:14:11 > 0:14:12# Across the stream
0:14:12 > 0:14:15# With wooden shoes
0:14:15 > 0:14:19# Bells to tell the king the news... #
0:14:19 > 0:14:21It was English. It was Shakespearean, in a way.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23And I just thought that Syd Barrett
0:14:23 > 0:14:27was a little wild Puck-Ariel figure
0:14:27 > 0:14:32coming out of the woods with his, you know, curly hair and these eyes.
0:14:32 > 0:14:37He seemed to me to be born of the English countryside.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39Syd was not alone.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41For a counterculture at odds with society,
0:14:41 > 0:14:46LSD and children's classics combined to create the perfect retreat
0:14:46 > 0:14:50inwards and backwards.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52We read a lot of those children's books, you know,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55like Alice In Wonderland, like Wind In The Willows.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59So there was a looking back to a sort of a golden age
0:14:59 > 0:15:01of childhood and innocence,
0:15:01 > 0:15:06because our childhood had been fractured, a lot of us, by the war.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10It was the last part of traditional British culture
0:15:10 > 0:15:13that people still trusted, because that's what they grew up with.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16This was something that they knew they could refer to
0:15:16 > 0:15:19which, in a way, set them apart from the adults, as it were,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21the grown-ups, the straights and the suits.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27These Arcadian worlds of imagination and innocence
0:15:27 > 0:15:30appealed to the new underground,
0:15:30 > 0:15:34but this band of idealists still lacked a home.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36In December '66, they'd find one.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41Ufo grew directly out of things that John Hopkins
0:15:41 > 0:15:42had been involved with -
0:15:42 > 0:15:46Hoppy, who was the kind of leader of the whole underground scene.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50We went and found this Irish dancehall in Tottenham Court Road.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53The first night at Ufo, we didn't know how many people were
0:15:53 > 0:15:56going to come, and a huge crowd turned up.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02We were surprised at how many people came, and I think the audience
0:16:02 > 0:16:06was surprised to see there were so many of us.
0:16:06 > 0:16:11It was like London freaks recognised each other like, "Wow! Oh!
0:16:11 > 0:16:14"There's more than just me and my friends."
0:16:14 > 0:16:18# Ridin' all around the streets
0:16:18 > 0:16:21# Four o'clock and they're all asleep
0:16:21 > 0:16:24# I'm not tired and it's so late
0:16:24 > 0:16:28# Movin' fast everything looks great
0:16:28 > 0:16:31# My white bicycle... #
0:16:32 > 0:16:33When you entered the club,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36you had to go down a very large, wide staircase.
0:16:36 > 0:16:37You could see these little bubbles,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40it looked like bubbles coming up into the street, almost.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42But they never quite made it into Tottenham Court Road.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45It was very much descending into another world.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48# My white bicycle... #
0:16:52 > 0:16:53There was a sense of chaos.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56When you got in there, you could do what the hell you liked.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58There wasn't any real restrictions.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Everywhere else you went, you sat down and shut up.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07I just bought it straightaway - incense burning,
0:17:07 > 0:17:11freak-out dancing, a little kind of theatre group,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14movies on this wall, another movie on this wall.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16It was an amazing experience.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21Ufo became the weekly meeting place.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25It was a kind of galvanising place.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28# My white bicycle... #
0:17:28 > 0:17:33While Ufo, LSD and Pink Floyd were galvanising the freaks,
0:17:33 > 0:17:36a group of musical misfits from Canterbury were developing
0:17:36 > 0:17:39a sound along parallel lines.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52Maybe if we'd lived in a big city we'd have known more people sooner
0:17:52 > 0:17:55and it would have been a wider, looser circle.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58In Canterbury, I was the only drummer they knew
0:17:58 > 0:18:01and Mike was the only keyboard player any of us knew,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03so despite the fact that we hadn't got much in common
0:18:03 > 0:18:06in terms of interest, we worked together,
0:18:06 > 0:18:08cos that's what there was.
0:18:08 > 0:18:14I think that made us have to be more inventive, stretch ourselves.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21John Coltrane, towards the end of his life,
0:18:21 > 0:18:23was doing very modal stuff,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25sometimes with just two or three chords.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28It was, "How deep can I get into the zone?"
0:18:28 > 0:18:31I think that sort of influenced us a lot -
0:18:31 > 0:18:35just getting into this zone, this modal zone, and just kind of...
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Just digging deep into that groove.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53The only thing that mattered about who you were playing with was,
0:18:53 > 0:18:55in my case - have they got anything original?
0:18:55 > 0:18:57Were they specifically themselves?
0:18:57 > 0:18:59What I like about Kevin is there's no other Kevin Ayers,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01there's no other Mike Ratledge.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03Mike's keyboard playing -
0:19:03 > 0:19:07I think even he was surprised at how it came out.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09Like a scientific experiment.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11Suddenly you put this acid with that acid and it goes boom.
0:19:11 > 0:19:12You think, "Blimey!"
0:19:24 > 0:19:28The Soft Machine's heady blend of modal jazz and improvisational rock
0:19:28 > 0:19:34needed an audience with an open mind, an audience they found at Ufo.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36The audience didn't have any expectations,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39so you could do what you liked. They were all stoned.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43If they hated it, they were too out of it to pick you up on anything.
0:19:43 > 0:19:44We found out what you mustn't do -
0:19:44 > 0:19:48if you stop, somebody will boo, so don't stop.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57# Say goodbye, watch the sky... #
0:20:05 > 0:20:07It wasn't on predictable tramlines,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09and neither were the trips people were having,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12so people could go along with us for the journey
0:20:12 > 0:20:14and they would go with it.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17We weren't a pop band, we weren't a jazz band.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19We weren't really a rock band.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22I can only say psychedelic because we weren't anything else.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25For a few hours one evening, together with the audience,
0:20:25 > 0:20:27you could really go to... another planet.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39The psychedelic underground was about more than never-ending space jams.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Art and fashion were also being re-cut.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47Carnaby Street was still pretty uptight in many ways.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50It was very sharp and smart.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54We were looking for a much more romantic, Bohemian idea of it all.
0:20:54 > 0:20:55# Kaleidoscope
0:20:55 > 0:20:57# Kaleidoscope, kaleido
0:20:57 > 0:20:59# Kaleidoscope, kaleidoscope
0:20:59 > 0:21:02# Kaleidoscope... #
0:21:02 > 0:21:04The first idea of Granny Takes A Trip was in tune with
0:21:04 > 0:21:08the ideas of people like Oscar Wilde.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10We were raiding vintage wardrobes
0:21:10 > 0:21:13and William Morris patterns for jackets.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17It's that idea of nostalgia, British nostalgia.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21Just like much of the music,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24psychedelic fashion was also channelling the past.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27I thought everybody looked like Renaissance paintings -
0:21:27 > 0:21:30masses of long hair, wearing robes and stuff.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32The girls wore long skirts.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35Everybody looked like John the Baptist.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38Some of us did walk around looking like dandies,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40with these Edwardian jackets.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42There was always a scarf.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46I broke down once on the side of the motorway and I had this...
0:21:46 > 0:21:48what looked like a nightshirt on.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51The AA man came up and he said,
0:21:51 > 0:21:53"What are you, one of them lords or something?"
0:21:53 > 0:21:56This sort of strange figure, you know.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02The psychedelic underground was even developing
0:22:02 > 0:22:05its own subterranean media network.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08We have our own publishers, our own film-makers, our own theatres,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12night clubs. It's a complete society.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17The scenes themselves are connected by the paper as an agency.
0:22:17 > 0:22:201966 we brought up the first issue of International Times,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23which was the first underground newspaper in Europe.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25International Times covered the areas that we thought that
0:22:25 > 0:22:27Fleet Street was completely ignoring -
0:22:27 > 0:22:31the anti-Vietnam war movement, for instance, the CND movement.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34We covered how much dope was costing.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Myself and a bunch of friends realised there were
0:22:36 > 0:22:39a constituency of young people who had no voice, basically.
0:22:41 > 0:22:46Even in the slightly garbled image of the International Times,
0:22:46 > 0:22:50there was some very serious thought and some very serious writing.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53I think Miles provided the underground scene
0:22:53 > 0:22:56with a very rigorous professionalism.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06As 1966 grew to a close,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09the counterculture that had centred around Ufo, It
0:23:09 > 0:23:12and Granny Takes A Trip was a growing force,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16but the psychedelic movement was little more than a whisper -
0:23:16 > 0:23:18a world away from booming Britain.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25MUSIC: Sunshine Superman by Donovan
0:23:25 > 0:23:26In December of '66, however,
0:23:26 > 0:23:32a harpsichord-drenched piece of psych pop hit number two in the UK charts.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36# Sunshine came softly through my
0:23:36 > 0:23:40# A-window today
0:23:40 > 0:23:42# Could've tripped out easy
0:23:42 > 0:23:46# But I've a-changed my ways... #
0:23:46 > 0:23:51And, perhaps sensing a rising tide, December '66 also saw the BBC
0:23:51 > 0:23:54broadcast Jonathan Miller's Alice In Wonderland.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11Was this just a coincidence?
0:24:12 > 0:24:14Or was there something in the air?
0:24:16 > 0:24:18Oh, that's the great puzzle.
0:24:18 > 0:24:19Who am I?
0:24:25 > 0:24:28MUSIC: Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles
0:24:34 > 0:24:40# Let me take you down cos I'm going to
0:24:40 > 0:24:42# Strawberry Fields
0:24:45 > 0:24:47# Nothing is real
0:24:48 > 0:24:51# And nothing to get hung about
0:24:52 > 0:24:56# Strawberry Fields forever... #
0:24:56 > 0:25:00By February 1967, Britain was beginning to suspect
0:25:00 > 0:25:04that The Beatles' catchy tunes and matching suits period was over.
0:25:05 > 0:25:12We'd started off as cheery chappies, Northern lads - fun, nice boys.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15We didn't really believe it, but we realised it was our image.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18But as time went by, we needed to develop.
0:25:19 > 0:25:24It was quite a heavy drug period for most of the people in our world,
0:25:24 > 0:25:27so I think all of that found its way into the music.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35# No-one I think is in my tree
0:25:35 > 0:25:38# I mean, it must be high or low... #
0:25:38 > 0:25:41Strawberry Fields was where The Beatles suddenly stopped
0:25:41 > 0:25:46being transatlantic and suddenly dealt with British subjects,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49childhood memories, feelings about death.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52They went in all sorts of interesting directions
0:25:52 > 0:25:55which popular songs had never gone to before.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57# Strawberry Fields
0:25:59 > 0:26:03# Nothing is real... #
0:26:03 > 0:26:08The potential of what you could do under the guise of making pop music
0:26:08 > 0:26:10was...the doors were being opened.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16Strawberry Fields Forever had a very universal message which was,
0:26:16 > 0:26:18basically, return to innocence.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21We were talking about the period when music moved
0:26:21 > 0:26:24from being part of the entertainment business to art.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32I think a lot of people have twigged they've shut themselves in a bit.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34They've got all these rules for everything -
0:26:34 > 0:26:37rules of how to live, how to paint, how to make music.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40It's just not true any more.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44Any new strange world, like psychedelic, drugs,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48the whole bit, freak-out music and all of that, don't immediately
0:26:48 > 0:26:53take it as that, because your first reaction has got to be one of fear.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Then, rather shockingly,
0:26:57 > 0:27:01Paul McCartney admitted to taking LSD on national television.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05Go on, how often have you taken LSD?
0:27:07 > 0:27:09About four times.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13Don't you believe that this was a matter which you should have kept private?
0:27:13 > 0:27:16I mean, you're spreading this now, at this moment,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19this is going into all the homes in Britain.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22I'd rather it didn't, you know, but you're asking me the question,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25you want me to be honest. I'll be honest.
0:27:25 > 0:27:26But as a public figure,
0:27:26 > 0:27:29surely you've got a responsibility to not...
0:27:29 > 0:27:32No, it's you who's got the responsibility.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35You've got the responsibility not to spread this now.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40I'm quite prepared to keep it as a very personal thing if you will too.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42If you shut up about it, I will.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47MUSIC: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles
0:27:47 > 0:27:52Society's darlings were becoming full-on psychedelic trailblazers.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54# It was 20 years ago today
0:27:54 > 0:27:57# Sgt Pepper taught the band to play... #
0:27:57 > 0:27:59We were all down the Speakeasy.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03At that time, George Harrison and John Lennon were in.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06They sent the roadie back up to Abbey Road to get
0:28:06 > 0:28:08a copy of Sgt Pepper.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10We put it on the big speakers at Speakeasy.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13I can remember George doing air guitar
0:28:13 > 0:28:15to the opening of Sgt Pepper.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21# We're Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band... #
0:28:21 > 0:28:25The power, the energy, it was like a kind of tidal wave,
0:28:25 > 0:28:27it just washed over you.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31# Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
0:28:31 > 0:28:35# Sit back and let the evening go... #
0:28:36 > 0:28:39I remember during the sessions that they were very concerned to
0:28:39 > 0:28:42not lose anybody, you know, not lose the mums
0:28:42 > 0:28:46and the aunties who bought the records for their teenage kids,
0:28:46 > 0:28:49but they also wanted to push the boundaries of rock and roll.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52A lot of what The Beatles were doing
0:28:52 > 0:28:56when you look at it was passing on this freedom.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00I think that was one of the great values of what we did.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04We kind of just showed what we were going through to the world.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07# Arnold Layne
0:29:08 > 0:29:11# Had a strange hobby
0:29:15 > 0:29:17# Collecting clothes
0:29:17 > 0:29:22# Moonshine washing line
0:29:23 > 0:29:27# They suit him fine... #
0:29:27 > 0:29:30While The Beatles had been creating their carnival of psychedelia,
0:29:30 > 0:29:33Pink Floyd went pop.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36The charts were getting weird.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39# Oh, Arnold Layne
0:29:39 > 0:29:42# It's not the same... #
0:29:42 > 0:29:45Arnold Layne is based on truth.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48Syd's mother took in lodgers.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51Laundry would get hung on the clothesline in the back yard.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54There was a case about a guy getting actually
0:29:54 > 0:29:57convicted for stealing underwear.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01This is just Syd reporting on his life.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06# Arnold Layne
0:30:06 > 0:30:11# Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne... #
0:30:11 > 0:30:14I think Arnold Layne was an example of rock and roll
0:30:14 > 0:30:17dealing with subjects which had not previously been covered -
0:30:17 > 0:30:22a pervert stealing underwear off of people's back-yard washing lines.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26Even two years earlier, nobody would have written a song about that.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32A second single, See Emily Play, soon followed.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36The kings of the underground were now appearing on Top Of The Pops.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41# Emily tries but misunderstands
0:30:43 > 0:30:49# She's often inclined to borrow somebody's dreams till tomorrow... #
0:30:49 > 0:30:51Steeped in a longing for childhood,
0:30:51 > 0:30:55the song was allegedly inspired by a teenage Emily Young.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58We used to sit around the same place smoking joints.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02I think that song was... It was about him. It was the two Syds.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07There was one who got on with his life and the other one who
0:31:07 > 0:31:10had become a star and was taking huge amounts of drugs.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13He was losing his grip.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17His muse, his poetic spirit, he called that Emily.
0:31:17 > 0:31:22It was the feminine part of him, it was the creative part of him.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24That side really needed help.
0:31:24 > 0:31:30# See Emily play. #
0:31:30 > 0:31:33While pop was getting trippy, by the spring of '67
0:31:33 > 0:31:37LSD had been illegalised and the psychedelic movement started
0:31:37 > 0:31:40feeling the effects of an establishment clamp-down.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44The police was starting to get upset with the underground.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46I mean, they used to come to Ufo
0:31:46 > 0:31:50and search people in the queues for drugs and arrest people.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52The fact that a lot of people were taking drugs
0:31:52 > 0:31:55meant that the police had easy targets, basically.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00By the middle of the year, The Rolling Stones were busted.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03International Times also was busted by the police.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05We thought we were going to have a major lawsuit,
0:32:05 > 0:32:10so we needed to put on some benefits to raise money to fight the case.
0:32:10 > 0:32:15Something like 40, 42 bands, I think, offered their services.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17It was absolutely fantastic.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19MUSIC: She's A Rainbow by The Rolling Stones
0:32:19 > 0:32:23In April 1967, 10,000 people poured into Alexandra Palace
0:32:23 > 0:32:26to attend the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30It was the moment the summer of love opened its gates to the masses.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33# She comes in colours everywhere
0:32:33 > 0:32:35# She combs her hair
0:32:35 > 0:32:39# She's like a rainbow
0:32:39 > 0:32:41# Coming, colours in the air
0:32:41 > 0:32:44# Everywhere
0:32:44 > 0:32:46# She comes in colours... #
0:32:46 > 0:32:49You walked inside and the scale of it
0:32:49 > 0:32:52and the whole thing was just wonderful.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55It was like the UFO club magnified.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58It was a wonderful place to be at that time and to be performing.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00# She comes in colours everywhere
0:33:00 > 0:33:03# She combs her hair
0:33:03 > 0:33:06# She's like a rainbow... #
0:33:06 > 0:33:08I decided that it would be a good idea to take a trip to
0:33:08 > 0:33:10get into the spirit of the event.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12I think Syd did as well,
0:33:12 > 0:33:16so we both dropped a tab or whatever one did at that time.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19You went in and it was this huge place.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22This huge room with people climbing up, lots of scaffolding,
0:33:22 > 0:33:24the old Ally Pally organ.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27Lots of lights and smoke.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30It was just an extraordinary experience, because everybody was
0:33:30 > 0:33:33out of their heads, wandering around looking at other people who were
0:33:33 > 0:33:36out of their heads who were doing things whilst out of their heads.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41Some came and found enlightenment.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44We're letting our imagination flow with the rhythm of music.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48That's like the rhythm of the sea or the rhythm of creation.
0:33:48 > 0:33:49All you can do is dig it.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54You just go where it's going and flow with it.
0:33:54 > 0:33:56Others were left scratching their heads.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59Do you know what the evening is really about?
0:33:59 > 0:34:01No, I don't think anybody does.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03I feel rather sorry for them, personally.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05To me, they're looking for something,
0:34:05 > 0:34:07but they don't even know themselves what they're looking for.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10- Did you come here to enjoy yourself this evening?- Yeah, and I haven't.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13- What did you expect? - Something better than this.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35We walked out and lay on the grass
0:34:35 > 0:34:39and saw one of those great English spring dawns.
0:34:39 > 0:34:44Hundreds of people streaming out of Alexandra Palace downhill.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48I remember thinking to myself, this whole movement, this whole thing
0:34:48 > 0:34:52that we're all a part of, is way bigger than I thought.
0:34:55 > 0:34:56Now, it's unstoppable.
0:34:59 > 0:35:04The summer of 1967 saw psychedelia become a mass phenomenon.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08I remember seeing all these people with Afghan coats,
0:35:08 > 0:35:12long hair and bells walking up the straight.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15My God, they've all become hippies, within months.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19We're talking about something which just exploded.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28It was the beginning of the end in terms of its naked purity
0:35:28 > 0:35:31as an artistic movement and statement.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34On the other hand, it was the beginning of it spreading in
0:35:34 > 0:35:40a more watered down way throughout the whole of English culture.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45Now every band in Britain seemed to be writing songs about toy shops,
0:35:45 > 0:35:47toffee apples and rainbows.
0:35:47 > 0:35:52A psychedelic tsunami was about to wash over the singles charts.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54MUSIC: Whiter Shade Of Pale by Procol Harum
0:35:59 > 0:36:03With Whiter Shade Of Pale, we were trying to do something different.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05It was a direct influence
0:36:05 > 0:36:08from Jacques Loussier's Air On A G String.
0:36:08 > 0:36:13I'd thought that classical music can be part of contemporary music.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18# We skipped the light fandango
0:36:20 > 0:36:24# Turned cartwheels cross the floor
0:36:27 > 0:36:30# I was feeling kind of seasick
0:36:33 > 0:36:37# And the crowd called out for more... #
0:36:38 > 0:36:40Psychedelia really gave the freedom
0:36:40 > 0:36:44and made you float off places that you hadn't been.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46We didn't really know if it would be a hit,
0:36:46 > 0:36:49but it all happened so quickly.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52I think it got released about three weeks after we'd made it.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56It was number one the week after that.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01# That her face at first just ghostly
0:37:01 > 0:37:06# Turned a whiter shade of pale... #
0:37:09 > 0:37:12Now even baroque could be number one.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16# But it's too late to say you're sorry
0:37:16 > 0:37:19# How would I know? Why should I care? #
0:37:19 > 0:37:22Bands that had only recently been knocking out R&B hits
0:37:22 > 0:37:26were being caught up in the moment.
0:37:26 > 0:37:28# Well, let me tell you 'bout the way she looked
0:37:28 > 0:37:30# The way she acted
0:37:30 > 0:37:32# The colour of her hair... #
0:37:32 > 0:37:34We always thought we were just being a beat group.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37There were a lot of Zombies tracks we did which, you know,
0:37:37 > 0:37:41a lot of blues and jazz influence in those things, but apart from that, I
0:37:41 > 0:37:43was listening to a lot of classical music and I wasn't the only one.
0:37:43 > 0:37:48That European influence really came into our music as well,
0:37:48 > 0:37:50without being conscious of it.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53I mean, Time Of The Season I would say at the time was
0:37:53 > 0:37:55affected by that zeitgeist.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00# It's the time of the season
0:38:02 > 0:38:05# When love runs high
0:38:05 > 0:38:07# In this time
0:38:07 > 0:38:09# Give it to me easy
0:38:12 > 0:38:16# And let me try with pleasured hands
0:38:16 > 0:38:21BOTH: # To take you in the sun to promised lands
0:38:21 > 0:38:24# To show you everyone
0:38:24 > 0:38:29# It's the time of the season
0:38:29 > 0:38:32# For loving... #
0:38:37 > 0:38:40The whole "summer of love" thing, in inverted commas,
0:38:40 > 0:38:42was something that we were very suspicious of in a way,
0:38:42 > 0:38:44because it felt very naive
0:38:44 > 0:38:49and people paid lip service to it to some degree, but in another way,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53there was a really genuine upsurge of feeling there.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56You couldn't help but be captured by it.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00# It's the time of the season
0:39:00 > 0:39:02# For loving... #
0:39:02 > 0:39:06Even kings of Carnaby Street The Small Faces
0:39:06 > 0:39:08were trading in their mod suits for kaftans
0:39:08 > 0:39:11and creating psychedelic music hall.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14# Over bridge of sighs
0:39:14 > 0:39:18# To rest my eyes in shades of green
0:39:18 > 0:39:22# Under dreaming spires
0:39:22 > 0:39:24# To Itchycoo Park, that's where I've been... #
0:39:24 > 0:39:28The great thing about The Small Faces, we were experimenting.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30Most bands were - The Beatles, The Stones, everybody -
0:39:30 > 0:39:33they were desperately trying to lose that teenybopper image.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35LSD, right, songwriters in the band
0:39:35 > 0:39:37would be looking for other expressions,
0:39:37 > 0:39:41so they're writing songs about their experience of taking it.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45# It's all too beautiful... #
0:39:45 > 0:39:49Itchycoo Park was the first time we'd discovered phasing.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53# I feel inclined to blow my mind
0:39:53 > 0:39:55# Get hung up, feed the ducks with a bun... #
0:39:55 > 0:39:58We looped a piece of tape around the tape machine
0:39:58 > 0:40:02and looped it around the back of a chair and just let it run.
0:40:02 > 0:40:03There was that drum fill...
0:40:03 > 0:40:05HE IMITATES DRUMS
0:40:08 > 0:40:11- # Tell you what I'll do - What will you do?
0:40:11 > 0:40:15# I'd like to go there now with you... #
0:40:15 > 0:40:18The best way to listen to it is smoke a bit of weed
0:40:18 > 0:40:20and lay back and enjoy it.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24# It's all too beautiful
0:40:24 > 0:40:28# It's all too beautiful
0:40:28 > 0:40:31# It's all too beautiful... #
0:40:31 > 0:40:35The psych craze was even permeating the no-nonsense bands
0:40:35 > 0:40:37of working-class Birmingham.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42The bands that played in Birmingham just played in pubs
0:40:42 > 0:40:43and working men's clubs.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46Flower power, psychedelia and all that,
0:40:46 > 0:40:49I don't think it meant a great deal to the people of Birmingham.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52We were a working-class band,
0:40:52 > 0:40:57but you're influenced by whatever else is going on around you because
0:40:57 > 0:41:02you think it might make whatever song you write more up-to-date.
0:41:02 > 0:41:07In 1967, the ubiquitous sound of psychedelia was the sitar
0:41:07 > 0:41:10but, without access to such an instrument, Roy Wood
0:41:10 > 0:41:14set about creating his own DIY take on that exotic Eastern sound.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27In those days, you had to make the best of what was there.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30I wanted to try and make it like a sitar kind of thing
0:41:30 > 0:41:32with the drones and then...
0:41:34 > 0:41:37..you know, that kind of stuff going on.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40I thought, "Well, wouldn't it be nice to include that in a song?"
0:41:40 > 0:41:43That ended up being I Can Hear The Grass Grow.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56# See the people all in line
0:41:56 > 0:42:00# What's makin' them look at me?
0:42:00 > 0:42:03# Can't imagine that their minds
0:42:03 > 0:42:06# Are thinkin' the same as me
0:42:06 > 0:42:09# I can hear the grass grow
0:42:09 > 0:42:13# I can hear the grass grow
0:42:13 > 0:42:17# I see rainbows in the evening... #
0:42:18 > 0:42:20The Move, they were psychedelic
0:42:20 > 0:42:22but they were a beer drinker's psychedelia.
0:42:22 > 0:42:28# Can't seem to puzzle out the signs... #
0:42:28 > 0:42:32Roy Wood was picking up stuff that was coming up from the underground.
0:42:32 > 0:42:34Cos he's so brilliant musically,
0:42:34 > 0:42:38he was just turning it into whatever he wanted to
0:42:38 > 0:42:42without necessarily having to take acid to get there.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49While psych was invading the singles charts, post-Sgt Pepper,
0:42:49 > 0:42:52the artistic scope of the LP was exploding.
0:42:59 > 0:43:05The four of us decided that we were going to drop acid,
0:43:05 > 0:43:09and it opened a door in my mind.
0:43:09 > 0:43:14I could see the world as it really was for the first time.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17We were searching for some kind of enlightenment.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22Having seen the light,
0:43:22 > 0:43:26The Moody Blues set about writing an album of cosmic proportions.
0:43:27 > 0:43:33Days Of Future Passed we'd written around the story of Everyman
0:43:33 > 0:43:39and a day in his life, but he had a magical mystic side.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41# Who's there?
0:43:41 > 0:43:45# Afternoon
0:43:47 > 0:43:50# I'm just beginning to see
0:43:51 > 0:43:54# I'm on my way... #
0:43:54 > 0:43:58The scope of Days Of Future Passed was unprecedented, and cemented
0:43:58 > 0:44:02the concept of the concept album in the popular imagination.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08One song and a strange new instrument would combine to create
0:44:08 > 0:44:09the album's break-out hit.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14I wanted to do a song about the night.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19I was at the end of one big love affair, at the beginning of another.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22So I sat on the side of the bed and I wrote the two verses
0:44:22 > 0:44:24on this big old 12-string.
0:44:26 > 0:44:31I played it to the other guys and they weren't that taken by it.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34# Nights in white satin... #
0:44:36 > 0:44:41# Never reaching the end... #
0:44:41 > 0:44:46Mike, our keyboard player, had found an instrument called the mellotron.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49Mike said, "Play it again." I went, "Nights in white satin." He went...
0:44:49 > 0:44:52HE IMITATES MELLOTRON MELODY
0:44:52 > 0:44:56# Beauty I'd always missed
0:44:56 > 0:44:59# With these eyes before... #
0:44:59 > 0:45:03And when he did that and he put the big chord on it...
0:45:03 > 0:45:05# Cos I love you... #
0:45:05 > 0:45:07HE IMITATES MELLOTRON
0:45:07 > 0:45:10..everybody else was interested.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14# Yes, I love you
0:45:14 > 0:45:22# Oh, how I love you... #
0:45:25 > 0:45:31There's another element in that song that I haven't talked about,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34because the other element is death.
0:45:34 > 0:45:40Love, when it's over, is a form of death. It's close to grief.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44That mellotron, the mysticism in the song, put that all together
0:45:44 > 0:45:48and it starts to create a beautiful magic.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52# Yes, I love you
0:45:52 > 0:45:59# Oh, how I love you... #
0:45:59 > 0:46:04In the wake of Days Of Future Passed, the concept album became de rigueur.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07The LP was surpassing the single as pop's ultimate expression.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21Meanwhile, away from the glare of the pop industry,
0:46:21 > 0:46:26the traditionally conservative world of folk music was also mutating.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30We thought the kind of music that we want to be listening to is
0:46:30 > 0:46:33not really around, so we'd better make it.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35That's how the String Band started, really.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39We thought, "Let's make the kind of music that we'd like to listen to."
0:46:39 > 0:46:42# My cave was bright with sulky gems
0:46:42 > 0:46:46# That paved the stars like diadems
0:46:46 > 0:46:50# Silver lost and buried gold
0:46:50 > 0:46:55# Such was my home in days of old... #
0:46:55 > 0:46:59Robin went to Morocco and he came back with lots of instruments,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02Moroccan instruments and African instruments
0:47:02 > 0:47:03that he'd got over there -
0:47:03 > 0:47:06flutes and gimbris and ouds and all that kind of stuff.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22The Incredible String Band, they were travelling to Morocco
0:47:22 > 0:47:26and travelling to Turkey and travelling to India and coming back.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30You know, there was this real thirst for cultures that were really
0:47:30 > 0:47:33different from England and Britain.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36I just thought it was brilliantly original.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42The band's exotic sound was honed on a heady combination of LSD
0:47:42 > 0:47:45and the isolation of the Scottish countryside.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49Maybe ten miles out of Glasgow was Temple Cottage.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51It was just a retreat.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53We were away from the obligations of the town and, you know,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56we didn't have to bother about any of that stuff.
0:47:56 > 0:48:01We would just completely be immersed in developing this music.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05In 1968, the band released The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter,
0:48:05 > 0:48:11which included a 13-minute song about life, love, amoebas and acid.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14# Lay down, my dear sister
0:48:14 > 0:48:18# Won't you lay and take a rest?
0:48:18 > 0:48:26# Won't you lay your head upon your saviour's breast?
0:48:26 > 0:48:29# And I love you
0:48:29 > 0:48:32# But Jesus loves you the best
0:48:32 > 0:48:35# And I bid you good night
0:48:35 > 0:48:36# Good night
0:48:36 > 0:48:38# Good night... #
0:48:38 > 0:48:40With acid, you went on a trip.
0:48:40 > 0:48:45You went to experience a slightly different reality and bring it back
0:48:45 > 0:48:49to the world and the world would be sparkly and new with a bit of luck.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52Cellular Song is just a trip.
0:48:52 > 0:48:56It's my attempt to write a kind of timeless hymn
0:48:56 > 0:48:59that would relate to everyone.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02# May the long time sun shine upon you
0:49:02 > 0:49:04# All love surround you
0:49:04 > 0:49:07# And the pure light within you
0:49:07 > 0:49:09# Guide you all the way home
0:49:09 > 0:49:12# Oh, may the long time sun shine upon you
0:49:12 > 0:49:15# All love surround you
0:49:15 > 0:49:17# And the pure light within you
0:49:17 > 0:49:20# Guide you all the way home... #
0:49:20 > 0:49:24The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter hit number five in the charts
0:49:24 > 0:49:27and the band became the unlikeliest of stars.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29When The Incredible String Band released
0:49:29 > 0:49:32Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, and by that time I had become
0:49:32 > 0:49:37their manager, I said, "You're not playing folk clubs any more.
0:49:37 > 0:49:39"You're going to open for the Floyd."
0:49:39 > 0:49:42# May the long time sun shine upon you
0:49:42 > 0:49:44# All love surround you
0:49:44 > 0:49:46# And the pure light within you
0:49:46 > 0:49:48# Guide you all the way home... #
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Joe arranged for us to do big concert halls.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54The promoters said, "Oh, there's no way we can do this."
0:49:54 > 0:49:56And they all sold out.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59# Oh, may the long time sun shine upon you
0:49:59 > 0:50:01# All love surround you
0:50:01 > 0:50:04# And the pure light within you
0:50:04 > 0:50:14# Guide you all the way home. #
0:50:16 > 0:50:19This new breed of folk music resonated with
0:50:19 > 0:50:23a generation of urban Bohemians that distrusted modernity
0:50:23 > 0:50:27and yearned to get back to the garden.
0:50:27 > 0:50:32A lot of British music is fascinated and devoted to the countryside,
0:50:32 > 0:50:34whether it's Cecil Sharp
0:50:34 > 0:50:38and Vaughan Williams walking down a byway in Norfolk to collect
0:50:38 > 0:50:44a song in 1908 or whether it's Mike Heron and Robin Williamson
0:50:44 > 0:50:49tripping out on, you know, a Scottish Highland.
0:50:49 > 0:50:53There's a sense of wonder of nature, awareness of nature.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59The late '60s saw a wave of musicians turn their backs on the city
0:50:59 > 0:51:01and head for the country.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04# The rainbow river
0:51:04 > 0:51:07# Is a loving stream
0:51:07 > 0:51:10# Down in a valley by a mountain
0:51:10 > 0:51:11# That is pine tree tall... #
0:51:13 > 0:51:18I'd grown up in London and I knew London and I love London,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21but it wasn't where I could be.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24I couldn't understand it, I couldn't make any sense of anything,
0:51:24 > 0:51:28of the way that the world appeared to be.
0:51:28 > 0:51:30# Sit by the lantern
0:51:30 > 0:51:33# Watch as the years turn
0:51:33 > 0:51:36# Slowly bringing truth
0:51:36 > 0:51:39# For every child to learn... #
0:51:39 > 0:51:41Donovan told us about these islands
0:51:41 > 0:51:43he'd bought off the west coast of Skye.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46It just sounded perfect.
0:51:47 > 0:51:52I left London with a horse and a wagon and a boyfriend and a dog.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54We set off on this journey.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58We don't exactly have an aim.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01We want to set up a croft, a community.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03But we want to keep travelling as well.
0:52:03 > 0:52:08# The stone-built farmhouse is a rough-stone cottage
0:52:08 > 0:52:14# Hiding close against the hillside of a winding track... #
0:52:14 > 0:52:16I just wanted to learn how to live
0:52:16 > 0:52:21without the internal combustion engine.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25Without electricity, without running water,
0:52:25 > 0:52:27without all the trappings of modernity.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32It was possible to get out to the country
0:52:32 > 0:52:34and have nothing and just live.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39# Just another diamond day
0:52:39 > 0:52:42# Just a blade of grass
0:52:42 > 0:52:45# Just another bale of hay
0:52:45 > 0:52:49# And the horses pass... #
0:52:49 > 0:52:53There were neat little haystacks and neat little houses
0:52:53 > 0:52:55and beautifully ploughed fields.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59I just felt that everything could be so simple
0:52:59 > 0:53:02if I could just get back to that kind of way of being.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04# Just another field to plough
0:53:04 > 0:53:08# Just a grain of wheat
0:53:08 > 0:53:10# Just a sack of seed to sow
0:53:10 > 0:53:15# And the children eat... #
0:53:15 > 0:53:17For me, the road took on a personality,
0:53:17 > 0:53:21the mountains took on a personality, the grass, everything.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25I was creating my own world. I made a bubble for myself.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30# Just another life to live
0:53:30 > 0:53:31# Just a word to say... #
0:53:33 > 0:53:36But while Bohemia was getting its head together in the country,
0:53:36 > 0:53:40as the '60s drew to a close, the innocence and idealism that
0:53:40 > 0:53:44had blossomed in the psychedelic revolution was wilting.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48A lot of the amateur idealism of the '60s was being
0:53:48 > 0:53:52absorbed by commercial success.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55You know, suddenly we were grown up and having to do business.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57You know, had to get to gigs on time.
0:53:57 > 0:53:59That was one of the problems with Syd.
0:54:02 > 0:54:04Being in a band and having to deal with all these things
0:54:04 > 0:54:06became too much for him.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09Reality kicked in and you couldn't just be.
0:54:10 > 0:54:14Syd Barrett's increasing LSD use and erratic behaviour
0:54:14 > 0:54:18meant that he had to leave Pink Floyd in April 1968.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23A lot of the ideas had been usurped,
0:54:23 > 0:54:27had gone in the wrong direction, had been atrophied by drugs.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30The counterculture went very, very sour.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34After all the warmth of '67,
0:54:34 > 0:54:37musicians must have felt like I did -
0:54:37 > 0:54:38like there was a new coldness.
0:54:38 > 0:54:40I think that had an effect on the music.
0:54:40 > 0:54:44# Oh, fire
0:54:44 > 0:54:49# I'll take you to burn
0:54:49 > 0:54:52# Oh, fire
0:54:54 > 0:54:56# I'll take you to learn... #
0:54:56 > 0:54:59Musically, the child-like optimism of psychedelia
0:54:59 > 0:55:02was giving way to a darker trip.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06I am the god of hellfire and I bring you...
0:55:06 > 0:55:07# Fire
0:55:08 > 0:55:10# I'll take you to burn
0:55:12 > 0:55:15# Fire
0:55:15 > 0:55:18# I'll take you to learn... #
0:55:18 > 0:55:22Fire itself was part of a reflection of a change in mood,
0:55:22 > 0:55:27because that innocence had met with money, political resistance,
0:55:27 > 0:55:29police resistance.
0:55:29 > 0:55:34There was a sense of, "Well, either we just turn tail, join them,
0:55:34 > 0:55:36"or we resist them."
0:55:36 > 0:55:40Before I knew it, this shy, long-nosed boy
0:55:40 > 0:55:44from Whitby in Yorkshire became the god of hellfire.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47# Fire
0:55:47 > 0:55:49# To destroy all you've done
0:55:52 > 0:55:54# Fire
0:55:54 > 0:55:57# To end all you've become... #
0:55:58 > 0:56:00Things were toughening up.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03Enoch Powell giving the "rivers of blood" speech, you know.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05This was all stuff that was going on.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09You know, it's all very well, the idea of love and peace,
0:56:09 > 0:56:12but realisation isn't going to come from just sitting back
0:56:12 > 0:56:15and smoking and listening to Sgt Pepper.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18No. It's going to come because you want those changes
0:56:18 > 0:56:20but you have to work for them.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34The National Front, the growing troubles in Ulster
0:56:34 > 0:56:36and the Grosvenor Square protests
0:56:36 > 0:56:39were demanding a different cultural response.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43There's no doubt that there was a martial atmosphere.
0:56:43 > 0:56:44The world was changing.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47Some of our music was a bit dark at the end of the '60s,
0:56:47 > 0:56:50because we knew that a lot of the stuff was ridiculous,
0:56:50 > 0:56:55and claims people were making about changing the world were farcical.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57We were a bit cynical, I think.
0:57:20 > 0:57:25By 1970, the golden age of British psychedelia was over.
0:57:25 > 0:57:27The commercialism of peace and love
0:57:27 > 0:57:30was such that everyone had moved on to something else by then.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33Reality was right in your face. Just like, "Wake up!
0:57:33 > 0:57:34"It's time to wake up."
0:57:37 > 0:57:40In just five kaleidoscopic years, British music
0:57:40 > 0:57:43and culture had been totally shaken up.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47The freedom that psychedelic music gave us, it was totally free.
0:57:47 > 0:57:49You did what you bloody well liked.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56It was an enlightenment. Yes, this was a time... A new enlightenment.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01The years between '65 and '70 were among the most open,
0:58:01 > 0:58:05the most tolerant in British music.
0:58:05 > 0:58:07They were times of opportunity.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12One thing that I learnt from going from the '60s into the '70s -
0:58:12 > 0:58:14that there are no barriers.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20It was a period of just tremendous concentration of ideas.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23But it had been taken to its limit
0:58:23 > 0:58:25and had its influence on future music.
0:58:26 > 0:58:28Which way ought I to go from here?
0:58:29 > 0:58:32(That depends a great deal on where you want to go to.)
0:58:34 > 0:58:37MUSIC: The Great Gig In The Sky by Pink Floyd
0:59:19 > 0:59:21(Amoebas are very small.)