Ah, the 60s. In the second part of our series, Scant Regard argues the case for one of the Fabs most out-there tracks defining the decade. Must have just pipped ‘Needles and Pins’.
So the 60s have become synonomous with the dawning of a new musical outlook – the movement from rock n roll to, well, everything we know as mainstream music, happened in the decade that if you remember, you weren’t there. Could anyone alive in 1960 have predicted the power of music that made 500,000 people descend on a rural NY farm 9 years later to do drugs, have sex, oh and watch some cool bands?
It’s not just the music that came out of the 60s that is so astounding, it’s the pace of change which is staggering.
The living embodiment of this change were, of course, the fab four themselves, The Beatles. Now, a lot of you popular music bashing philistines will criticise me for being obvious, but, frankly, I don’t give a shit. Cliches become cliches for a reason. For me, nothing embodies this change, and gives a clearer indication of things to come for all of our ears than ‘Helter Skelter.’
This song is a revelation whenever you listen to it – it’s noisy, and rambunctious and fucking good. But think about where it came from: released in 1968, just 8 years after the band were formed to play rock n roll covers, and marks, for me, the sheer force of the talent brought together so advantageously to make up what would become the best band in the world.
Helter Skelter is raw, it’s loud and it’s visceral.
Think back to the fact that 5 years earlier, these four mop tops were playing Buddy-Holly-light to teenage girls. And forward to the fact that it in another 9 short years we’d be spitting and calling the Queen a fascist on Top of the Pops.
It is cited by some bands as the beginning of heavy rock, and it was written by a balladeer, apparently. And for me, it’s the best example of how the 60s changed our musical landscape forever.
Filed under: General Stuff | Tagged: 60s, Beatles, helter skelter, rock n roll, white album | 10 Comments »