Citizendia

This is about the 1960s cultural movement. For the tube train system, see London Underground. The London Underground is a Metro system serving a large part of Greater London and neighbouring areas of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire

The UK underground was a countercultural movement in the United Kingdom linked to the underground culture in the United States and associated with the hippy phenomenon. Counterculture (also " counter-culture " is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a Cultural group, or The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Underground culture, or just underground, is a term to describe various Alternative cultures which either consider themselves different from the Mainstream The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Hippie Subculture was originally a Youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world Its primary focus was around Ladbroke Grove and Notting Hill in London. Notting Hill is an area in West London, England close to the north-western corner of Hyde Park, and lying within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Notting Hill is an area in West London, England close to the north-western corner of Hyde Park, and lying within the Royal Borough of Kensington and London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. It generated its own magazines and newspapers, bands, clubs and alternative lifestyle, associated with cannabis and LSD use and a strong socio-political revolutionary agenda to create an alternative society. Cannabis ( Cán-na-bis) is a Genus of Flowering plants that includes three putative species Cannabis sativa subsp

Contents

Beatnik influence

Many in the blossoming underground movement were influenced by 1950s Beatnik Beat generation writers such as William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, who paved the way for the hippies of the 1960s. William Seward Burroughs II ( – ˈbʌroʊz was an American Novelist, Essayist, Social critic, painter and Spoken word Irwin Allen Ginsberg (ˈgɪnzbɝg (June 3 1926 &ndash April 5 1997 was an American Poet. The Hippie Subculture was originally a Youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world During the 1960s, the Beatnik writers engaged in symbiotic evolution with freethinking academics including experimental Psychologist Timothy Leary. Mental health professional A psychologist is a practitioner of Psychology, the systematic investigation of the mind including Behavior, Cognition, Timothy Francis Leary ( October 22, 1920 &ndash May 31, 1996) was an American Writer, Psychologist, Futurist

An example of the cross-over of beatnik poetry and music can be seen when Burroughs appeared at the Phun City festival, organisedin 24-26 july 1970 by Mick Farren with underground community bands including the Pretty Things, the Pink Fairies, The Edgar Broughton Band and, from America, The MC5. Phun City was a Rock festival held at Ecclesden Common near Worthing, England from July 24 to July 26 1970. Michael 'Mick' Farren (born 3 September 1943, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) is an English journalist author and singer associated with the The Pretty Things are a Rock and roll band from London. They pioneered a raw approach to Rhythm and blues that influenced a number of key The Pink The Edgar Broughton Band, founded in 1968 in Warwick, England, is an English Progressive rock group. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The MC5 ( Motor City Five) was an American Hard rock band formed in Lincoln Park Michigan in 1964 and active until

History

The Underground movement in the UK was focused on the Ladbroke Grove/Notting Hill area of London, which Mick Farren said "was an enclave of freaks, immigrants and bohemians long before the hippies got there" (1). Notting Hill is an area in West London, England close to the north-western corner of Hyde Park, and lying within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Notting Hill is an area in West London, England close to the north-western corner of Hyde Park, and lying within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Michael 'Mick' Farren (born 3 September 1943, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) is an English journalist author and singer associated with the The freak scene was a term used by a slightly post- Hippie and pre- punk style of bohemian Subculture. Bohemians are the people of Bohemia, in the Czech Republic, inhabitants of the former Kingdom of Bohemia located in the modern day Czech Republic The Hippie Subculture was originally a Youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world It was depicted in Colin MacInnes' famous novel Absolute Beginners depicting street culture at the time of the Notting Hill Riots in the 1950s. Colin MacInnes (20 August 1914 – 22 April 1976 was an English Novelist. This article is about the book Absolute Beginners For the film see Absolute Beginners (film.

The Underground paper International Times (IT) started in 1966 and Steve Abrams founder of Soma summarised the underground as a "literary and artistic avant-garde with a large contingent from Oxford and Cambridge. The International Times ( it or IT) was an underground paper started in 1966 in central London, UK John Hopkins (Hoppy) a member of the editorial board of International Times for example, was trained as a physicist at Cambridge"

Police harassment of members of the underground (often referred to as "freaks", initially by others as an insult, and later by themselves as an act of defiance) became commonplace, particularly against the underground press. John "Hoppy" Hopkins (born 1937 is a British photographer journalist researcher and political activist who was a highly influential figure in the UK underground According to Farren, "Police harassment, if anything, made the underground press stronger. It focused attention, stiffened resolve, and tended to confirm that what we were doing was considered dangerous to the establishment. "

Key Underground (community) bands on the time who often performed at benefit gigs for various worthy causes included Pink Floyd (when they still had Syd Barrett), The Soft Machine, Hawkwind, The Deviants (featuring Mick Farren), Pink Fairies, other key people included, in the late '60s Marc Bolan who would leave 'the Grove' to find fame with T Rex and his partner Steve Peregrin Took who remained in Ladbroke Grove and continued to perform benefit gigs in the 'anti-commercial' ethos of the UK Underground. Pink Floyd are Syd Barrett (born Roger Keith Barrett; 6 January 1946 - 7 July 2006 was an English singer songwriter guitarist and artist The Soft Machine is the title of a Novel by William S Burroughs, first published in 1961 and was Burroughs' first novel after the groundbreaking Hawkwind are a British rock band, one of the earliest Space rock groups Michael 'Mick' Farren (born 3 September 1943, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) is an English journalist author and singer associated with the The Pink Marc Bolan (born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English singer songwriter and Guitarist TRex (occasionally spelled T Rex or T-Rex) were an English rock band fronted by guitarist singer and songwriter Marc Bolan. Steve Peregrine Took ( 28 July 1949 &ndash 27 October 1980) was an English musician This is about the 1960s cultural movement For the tube train system see London Underground. Sci-Fi writer and sometime Hawkwind member Michael Moorcock remembers:

"everything happened in Ladbroke Grove in the sixties and seventies. Hawkwind are a British rock band, one of the earliest Space rock groups Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939, in London) is an English writer primarily of Science fiction and fantasy who has also I mean it was just nice and I happened to live in Ladbroke Grove and it all happened around me. You couldn’t actually move for bloody Rock and Roll bands. " (Reference - personal communication with author Fee Mercury Moon)

Within Portobello Road stood the Mountain Grill greasy spoon (working man's) café which in the late 1960s and early 1970s was frequented by many UK Underground artists such as Hawkwind featuring, at the time, Lemmy. Portobello Road is a road in the Notting Hill district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London, England. Greasy spoon is a Colloquial term used in Britain and North America for archetypal Working class eateries Lemmy (born Ian Fraser Kilmister, December 24 1945) also known as Lemmy Kilmister, Ian Willis or Lemmy von Motörhead It was of sufficient import to the members of the UK Underground that in 1974 Hawkwind released an album titled Hall Of The Mountain Grill and Steve Peregrin Took wrote Ballad of the Mountain Grill. Hawkwind are a British rock band, one of the earliest Space rock groups Steve Peregrine Took ( 28 July 1949 &ndash 27 October 1980) was an English musician [1]

Commentators

Mick Farren said,

“My own feeling is that, not just sex, but anger and violence, are part and parcel of rock n' roll. Michael 'Mick' Farren (born 3 September 1943, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) is an English journalist author and singer associated with the The rock concert can work as an alternative for violence, an outlet for violence. But at that time there were a lot of things that made us really angry. We were outraged! In the U. S. the youth were sent to Vietnam and there was nothing we could do to change the way the government did it. Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially Smoking marijuana and doing things to get thrown in jail were our own way of expressing our anger, and we wanted change - I believed that picking up a guitar, not a gun, would bring about change". MidwakhJPG|thumb|A screened single-toke utensil such as the Midwakh (shown here or Kiseru, permits 25-mg Cannabis, also known as marijuana or marihuana, or ganja (from Hindi / Sanskrit: गांजा gānjā hemp) is a A prison, penitentiary, or correctional facility is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned and usually deprived of a range of The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles [2]

It's like Germaine Greer said about the Underground - it's not just some sort of scruffy club you can join, you're in or you're out. Germaine Greer (born 29 January 1939 is an Australian born Writer, Academic, Journalist and Scholar of early modern English literature . . it's like being a criminal. [3]

”

Lifestyle

The Underground Movement was also symbolised by the use of drugs. Recreational drug use is the use of Psychoactive drugs for Recreational purposes rather than for work, medical or spiritual purposes The types of drugs used were varied and in many cases the names and effects were unknown as The Deviants/Pink Fairies member Russell Hunter, working at International Times (part of the Underground press at the time), recalled. The Pink The International Times ( it or IT) was an underground paper started in 1966 in central London, UK The phrase underground press is most often used to refer to the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the Counterculture of the "People used to send in all kinds of strange drugs and things, pills and powders, stuff to smoke and that. They'd always give them to me to try to find out what they were! (Laughs)".

Part of the sense of humour of the Underground, no doubt partly induced by the effects of both drugs and radical thinking was an enjoyment at "freakin' out the norms". Humour or humor (see spelling differences) is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke Laughter and provide Amusement Mick Farren recalls actions sure to elicit the required response. Michael 'Mick' Farren (born 3 September 1943, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) is an English journalist author and singer associated with the "The band's baroque House of Usher apartment on London's Shaftesbury Avenue had witnessed pre-Raphaelite hippy scenes, like Sandy the bass player (of the The Deviants and Pink Fairies), Tony the now and again keyboard player, and a young David Bowie, fresh from Beckenham Arts Lab, sunbathing on the roof, taking photos of each other and posing coyly as sodomites". The Pink David Bowie (ˈboʊiː born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947 is an English Musician, actor producer, and arranger. (2)

Aesthetics

The image of the underground as manifested in magazines such as OZ and newspapers like International Times was dominated by key talented graphic artists, particularly Martin Sharp and the Nigel Waymouth–Michael English team, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, who fused Alfons Mucha's Art Nouveau arabesques with the higher colour key of psychedelia. Martin Sharp (born 1942 is an Australian artist underground cartoonist songwriter and film-maker Hapshash and the Coloured Coat were a British graphics Alphonse Maria Mucha ( 24 July, 1860 &ndash 14 July, 1939) was a Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative Art Nouveau ( nu vo anglicised /ˈɑːt nuːvəu/ ( French for 'new art' also known as Jugendstil ( German for 'youth style' is an international

The overground

There was a smaller, less widely spread manifestation from the UK Underground termed the "Overground", which referred to an explicitly spiritual, cosmic, quasi-religious intent, though this was an element that had always been present. At least two magazines— Gandalf's Garden (6 issues, 1968–72) and Vishtaroon—adopted this "overground" style. Gandalf's Garden was a mystical community which flourished at the end of the 1960s as part of the London Hippie /underground movement running a shop and a magazine of the same Gandalf's Garden was also a shop/restaurant/meeting place at World's End, Chelsea. Chelsea is an area of south-west London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along The magazines were printed on pastel paper using multi-coloured inks and contained articles about meditation, vegetarianism, mandalas, ethics, poetry, pacifism and other subjects at a distance from the more wild and militant aspects of the underground. Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes Meat (including game and slaughter by-products Fish (including Shellfish and other sea Mandala ( Sanskrit maṇḍala मंड "essence" + ल "having" or "containing" Ethics is a major branch of Philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" The first issue of Gandalf's Garden urged that we should "seek to stimulate our own inner gardens if we are to save our Earth and ourselves from engulfment. " It was edited by Muz Murray who is now called Ramana Baba and teaches yoga.

These attitudes were embodied musically in The Incredible String Band, who in 2003 were described as "holy" by Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, in a foreword for the book Be Glad: An Incredible String Band Compendium (Helter Skelter Books). The Incredible String Band (abbreviated as ISB were a psychedelic folk band formed in Scotland in 1965 Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the Rowan Douglas Williams, PC, DD, DCL, FBA, (born 14 June 1950 in Swansea, Wales) is an Anglican He had previously chosen the band's track The Hedgehog's Song as his only piece of popular music on the radio programme Desert Island Discs). Desert Island Discs is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme It was first broadcast on 29 January 1942 and is said by the Guinness The late critic Ian MacDonald's had stated "much that appeared to be profane in Sixties youth culture was quite the opposite". Ian MacCormick ( October 3, 1948 – August 20, 2003) who wrote under the Pseudonym Ian MacDonald, was a British A youth subculture is a Youth -based Subculture with distinct styles behaviours and interests

References

  1. ^ Steve Took's DomainRetrieved Aug. 8, 2004
  2. ^ Mick Farren - The Strange Days interview Retrieved 26 April 2006
  3. ^ Mick Farren interview Retrieved 26 April 2006

See also

External links

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