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Ready Steady Go! by Andy Neill

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Ready Steady Go! by Andy Neill (BMG Books, 2020)

As the 1960s dawned and the era of post-World War II austerity was fading away in Britain, many things in society started to change. One of those areas of change was manifested in the culture of the youth. Rock and pop music had started to blossom and teenagers would spend their pocket money on the latest records.

While there had already been programmes featuring music on TV, there seemed to be a need for something better. And in 1963, Associated-Rediffusion (the commercial competition to the state-owned BBC) decided to test the waters with something new.

The brainchild of Elkan Allan, the music programme Ready Steady Go! was prepared to start broadcasting in August of 1963. This was certainly good timing as it coincided with the pop music phenomenon of The Beatles.

Initially, the artists featured on the show would mime to their most recent release. As time went on, the bands played to backing tracks with live vocals. Eventually, the music was totally live.

The show started in a tiny, cramped studio space located in Rediffusion’s headquarters building in London. The bands were positioned in the space on tiny stages surrounded by an audience of enthusiastic young dancing teens. The space was crowded and the massive TV cameras would weave among the crowd.

What was unique about the programming of the show was that it did not just feature artists that were already well known. It was a springboard for new and exciting acts which the production staff (like Vicki Wickham) would often spot at clubs.

The show helped to launch the careers of The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Animals, The Kinks and a host of others. One regular performer on the show was Dusty Springfield. It was through her knowledge of the American R&B and soul scene that RSG soon started to feature the likes of Otis Redding, The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas and James Brown. In fact, an entire episode was devoted to Motown groups.

While a number of hosts went in front of the cameras, the person who became synonymous with RSG was Cathy McGowan. Although not the most professional of hosts, her personality and sense of style won over the teenage audience. Initially paired with the older and more professional Keith Fordyce, this team is the most remembered.

In this book, Andy Neill has created an exhaustive document which put the reader straight into the vortex of a programme which was destined to change the face of how popular music was presented on television.

First-hand accounts of the action have been provided by almost every surviving person associated with the show including the most of the people responsible for getting the show on the air each week to the performers and members of the audience.

Fascinating insights are provided from the likes of the show’s creator Elkan Allan to Michael Lindsay-Hogg who directed many of the episodes.

Through its run, the series had its ups and downs. It eventually moved to a large stage housed at Wembley in order to accommodate live performances by the groups as well as a larger crowd. But, by December 1966 with the show still very popular, it ended its run.

The book ends with updates about many people who were associated with the programme over the years as well as a comprehensive list of the artists featured on each show.

As with many TV programmes of the era, most of the shows were not archived and just a smattering of shows survive. What did manage to remain was purchased by Dave Clark (yes, he of the Dave Clark Five). In the 1980s, a few compilations of surviving material were issued on home video. In those pre-youtube days, that is where I finally got to see this legendary programme.

Ready Steady Go! is a massive tome in a 12 x 12″ format weighing in at nearly six pounds. It is packed from cover to cover with incredibly detailed information and hundreds of wonderful photographs. If this era of music is of interest to you, it is well worth the investment.

In 2019, the BBC put together a documentary about the programme. Thanks to the power of youtube, here it is…

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1966 by Jon Savage

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For hit latest tome, British music writer Jon Savage has chosen to zoom in on the year 1966. The reason for this is revealed in the subtitle – The Year the Decade Exploded. That’s a pretty  bold statement. So, the question is – Does he have the evidence to back it up?

The book is presented in a series of twelve chapters which each represent a month as it progresses through the year. If you were expecting a book about music, you will get that plus a great deal more.

Savage deconstructs events leading up to the year 1966 in order to put things into proper perspective. He divides his views over events happening on both sides of the Atlantic. Since the relationships in both the UK and the US can have a different effect, this approach works well as a way to compare and contrast the social, political and cultural developments.

As with many British writers, he spends some time relating the changes in the UK since the end of the Second World War. This was a touchstone for many areas of social progress for the last half of the twentieth century. By the 1960s, its atmosphere was seeming more distant to the current day youth and they had their own issues and problems to deal with.

In the area of music, many of the usual suspects are sited including  The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, Bob Dylan etc… He also includes Dusty Springfield, The Velvet Underground, The Grateful Dead, Motown, Stax plus a host of references to quite obscure groups like The Ugly’s.

Each chapter reveals more events which would influence the direction of music and possibly vice versa. There are stories about the CND movement in the UK as well as race demonstrations and riots in the US. The war in Vietnam was also a large factor in the ideologies of many people. The feelings about these and many other subjects managed to inform the music of the youth culture of the day.

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Of course, there is also quite a bit of discussion about the widening pervasiveness of drugs within the youth culture. This spans the use of amphetamines to pot to LSD. In fact, at the beginning of 1966, LSD was not an illegal substance in either the UK or US. However, this did change before the end of the year.

The juxtaposition of social and political events analysed alongside the music that was happening in the radio charts and in the clubs shows in interesting cultural correlation. At times it may seem difficult to distinguish which is having an influence on which.

In the end, Savage’s case is well stated. Through a vivid word painting of the times, he succeeds in creating a portrait of a year which hold a special place within an era.