I've always gone along with that David Bailey quote about it all being over by 1965. The second half of the 60s just gets uglier and uglier and by the time the 70s arrived good taste and focused modernist-oriented creativity was virtually over. Since then we've just limped along. The 20 years after the war was the most amazing in terms of creativity, especially a cultural energy which improved the world for all classes, not just the privileged : cinema, fashion, better housing, affordable travel, great music. We still dip into that period endlessly for inspiration. We've never improved on it. We have lost our way.

g.g.

I have mixed feelings over this.  The sixties over by '65 - obviously that's an overstatement and generalisation, however in terms of style and music then I agree.  In fact the latter half of the 50s was also outstanding in these respects - ivy ubiquitous and jazz, blues, rnb, proto soul (Brother Ray and Sam Cooke), mambo and whatever else highly creative.

But I also regard the 70s as a wonderful decade, despite the lack of the sort of clothes I love.  For music, film, interior design, style and other things, the 70s were pretty good.  Even though I don't wear 70s style, I love to admire it in films - the clothes then appear considerably better than the designer led overpriced crap that has become the norm nowadays.  I'm sure most of you would disagree, but I do recall someone else around here expressing a similar sentiment around a year or so ago (possibly related to Clint Eastwood, I don't have time to use the search function at present).

Also, I think the (better) 70s fashions were very flattering to females.

Whatever floats your boat I suppose, I consider 70s and even very early 80s fashion to have a certain class and boldness that has been missing ever since then.  I'm not referring to the stereotypical 70s fancy dress/bad taste style, I'm referring to the sort of clothes that are seen in numerous films and programmes from that decade.

On saying that, if I'd been wearing ivy in the 60s then in the 70s I would have been gutted to have to choose between looking a decade out of date or sticking with the style I love.

Last edited by Yuca (2010-07-22 07:55:20)

In terms of music, I often turn to the 40s - Louis Jordan, Joe Liggins, early Spoon, etc - a lot more subtlety than a lot of the 50s stuff.  Just my personal taste of course . . .

Last edited by Yuca (2010-07-22 07:59:48)

I can't remember who said "the 60's never began until 1963", but they weren't looking in the right place. The 60's thing had its roots in the late 50's.

Has anybody read Dominic Sandbrook's books on the Sixties in Britain, Never Had It So Good and White Heat?