As Britain emerged from post-war austerity, the 1960s offered a period of unprecedented materialism and affluence. Greater disposable income and the new teenage consumers meant that pop music could develop and grow.
Record sleeves for LPs (long-playing albums) and four-track EPs included important images. For EMI's Columbia label, Angus McBean took photographs for Cliff Richard's first five albums as well as for The Shadows. In Liverpool, the group that started the year as The Quarrymen ended it as The Beatles.
Impact of imagery used for icon designs in the sixties:
The start of a jazz boom was marked by hits from Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine. Brian Duffy photographed a fashion portfolio for the 1 October issue of Vogue called 'Evening looks and all that jazz', which, in addition to featuring jazz greats of the day, included pop stars The Shadows, with model Ros Watkins.
For the 15 September issue of Vogue, David Bailey posed model Jean Shrimpton with celebrities including The Temperance Seven. Bailey, Duffy and Terence Donovan were three photographers who helped to capture and set the visual agenda for the ‘Swinging London’ of the 1960s. They redefined not only the aesthetic of photography but also the place of the photographer within the industry.
Petula Clark was photographed by Tom Blau following her first No.1 hit with Sailor, meanwhile Billy Fury scored three Top 10 hits including Halfway to Paradise. 15-year-old Helen Shapiro made a major impact with You Don't Know and Walkin' Back to Happiness, both reaching No.1. She was photographed by Angus McBean in a session that produced album covers for the following year.
62-The year began with The Young Ones, the title song for Cliff Richard's third film and only the fourth record in chart history to enter at No.1. When Dezo Hoffmann, who worked for the pop press including Melody Maker and Record Mirror, photographed the singer with The Shadows in 1962, the photograph was part of an on-going series used to advertise Vox amplifiers.
Town magazine marked the success of Mike Sarne's first hit 'Come Outside' with a male fashion shoot by Brian Duffy. This showed the singer in a series of double exposures, taken in and around Camden Town and the Roundhouse. Under Joe Meek's direction The Tornados became the first British group to achieve a No.1 hit in both the British and American charts with his composition inspired by the launch of the communications satellite, Telstar.
In November and December The Beatles played the last of their residencies at the Star Club in Hamburg. During one trip photographer Astrid Kirchherr took a series of portraits of the group including Ringo Starr, who had recently replaced Pete Best as drummer.
63-This was the year that The Beatles and the Mersey Sound conquered Britain. Many commentators point to Fiona Adams's leaping image of The Beatles as being the one that defined their early look. Adams's image became widely known for its subsequent use on the EP cover for Twist and Shout in July 1963, although it was never credited to her. Another key moment was reflected in Michael Ward's shoot when he was sent byHoney magazine to Liverpool to photograph a day in the life of The Beatles.64-David Bailey took two of his most important early pop portraits this year. He photographed The Rolling Stones on 30 September, arranging the five members of the group in a square composition to fit the cover of a 12-inch square LP sleeve. Bailey’s photograph of Mick Jagger in a fur hood was taken in December and was to become the cover image of Bailey’s seminal publication Box of Pin-Ups (1965).
In 1965 Gered Mankowitz was invited by Andrew Loog Oldham to take a series of photographs of The Rolling Stones, and for the next two years would be their official photographer. The first session provided images for their American 'Satisfaction' tour programme and press advertisements for their third British album cover, Out Of Our Heads (September 1965) and their single, 'Get Off Of My Cloud' (October 1965).
Fashion permeated pop photography from the ultra-Mod clothes of The Small Faces, to Cilla Black's pleated mini-skirt and Petula Clark's full-length dress designed by Caroline Charles. Fabulous magazine (2 October 1965) ran a Carnaby Street fashion story featuring David Bowie (then Davie Jones) with model Jeanette (Jan De Souza). The Pop Art-inspired fashion of The Who was captured by Tony Frank against the tracks at Wembley Park Station.
Contemporary film and art also influenced the pop scene. Gerry Marsden appeared alone, without his Pacemakers, outside his childhood home in Liverpool, in Whitaker'sfilm verité pose, while in London the photographer persuaded The Beatles to create auto-destructive art in a tableau built with the help of performance artist Stuart Brisley.
Some of the best photography from the 1960s was commissioned by the new colour supplements produced by Sunday newspapers. In 1966, Colin Jones, a staff photographer on the Observer, produced a colour photo-essay on The Who with a borrowed Union Jack flag for the background, which became one of the defining pop shoots.
Fashion and portrait photographer Cecil Beaton took colour and black-and-white images of The Walker Brothers, the American trio who found fame in Britain. Gered Mankowitz constructed a study of The Spencer Davies Group, lit from below by candlelight, but took The Yardbirds out of his studio to the nearby Ormond Yard to create a graphic image comprised of a low-angle, with cross-legged triangles.
One of the great press pop photographs of the period was taken by photographer Douglas Eatwell, who was covering Bob Dylan's press conference in London during his British tour. The official tour photographer, Barry Feinstein, who had created the famous cover portrait for Dylan's album The Times They Are A-Changin', captured Dylan trying on designer shoes in a Carnaby Street shop whose walls were decked out with pop photography.
67-The year was a time of rebellion and experimentation. It began with The Rolling Stones releasing 'Let's Spend the Night Together' on 13 January followed by their albumBetween the Buttons with Gered Mankowitz's deliberately fogged cover image of the group. The Beatles released Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, with its intricate cover on which Pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth collaborated.
68-Television brought into people's living rooms coverage of violent events, such as the assassination of Robert Kennedy and the horrors of the Vietnam War. A pan-European wave of protest and dissent was particularly violently expressed in France, while in London the 'Battle of Grosvenor Square' accompanied a protest march to the American Embassy. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones both reacted with songs that reflected world events.
Fashion and portrait photographer Cecil Beaton took colour and black-and-white images of The Walker Brothers, the American trio who found fame in Britain. Gered Mankowitz constructed a study of The Spencer Davies Group, lit from below by candlelight, but took The Yardbirds out of his studio to the nearby Ormond Yard to create a graphic image comprised of a low-angle, with cross-legged triangles.
One of the great press pop photographs of the period was taken by photographer Douglas Eatwell, who was covering Bob Dylan's press conference in London during his British tour. The official tour photographer, Barry Feinstein, who had created the famous cover portrait for Dylan's album The Times They Are A-Changin', captured Dylan trying on designer shoes in a Carnaby Street shop whose walls were decked out with pop photography.
67-The year was a time of rebellion and experimentation. It began with The Rolling Stones releasing 'Let's Spend the Night Together' on 13 January followed by their albumBetween the Buttons with Gered Mankowitz's deliberately fogged cover image of the group. The Beatles released Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, with its intricate cover on which Pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth collaborated.
68-Television brought into people's living rooms coverage of violent events, such as the assassination of Robert Kennedy and the horrors of the Vietnam War. A pan-European wave of protest and dissent was particularly violently expressed in France, while in London the 'Battle of Grosvenor Square' accompanied a protest march to the American Embassy. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones both reacted with songs that reflected world events.
The Rolling Stones' single Jumpin' Jack Flash, with David Bailey's picture sleeve, released on 24 May, put the group back at No.1 in the charts for the first time since 'Paint It Black' in May 1966. The group ended the year with the release of the much delayedBeggar's Banquet album, its inside gatefold depicting a scene of high decadence, photographed by Michael Joseph.
The Beatles spent much of the year recording a double album of thirty tracks, now known as the 'White Album'. In the middle of recording they spent a summer afternoon being photographed by noted war photographer Don McCullin, amongst others, at seven pre-arranged London venues, including Notting Hill Gate, Old Street, Highgate and McCartney's house in St John's Wood.
http://www.npg.org.uk/beatles/sixty.htm
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