Rock: London 1960s Overview

London’s music scene was transformed during the early 1960s by an explosion of self-described rhythm-and-blues bands that started out in suburban pubs and basements where students, former students, and could-have-been students constituted both the audience and the performers. In short order many of these bands were making records and replacing the jazz bands in jazz clubs in the middle of town. Their high-profile managers proceeded to change the character of the British music business, often showing a greater flair for entertainment and controversy than their artists. Several went on to form successful independent labels, notably Andrew Oldham (manager of the Rolling Stones), who formed Immediate Records and persuaded a couple of successful acts to leave the labels that had launched them (the Small Faces, Fleetwood Mac); Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert (managers of the Who), who signed the Jimi Hendrix Experience to their Track label; Robert Stigwood (manager of the Bee Gees), who launched Cream on his Reaction label; and Chris Wright and Terry Ellis (managers of Jethro Tull), who launched Chrysalis, initially licensed through Chris Blackwell’s Island Records, the pioneer independent label of the era.