Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

1966 - 50 Years Ago Today

Documentary marking the year pop music and popular culture ripped up the rule book, as restless experimentation and the search for new forms of expression took hold.

Based on Jon Savage's book 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded, Arena marks the year pop music and popular culture ripped up the rule book in articulate, instinctive and radical new ways.

This was the year of Jonathan Miller's Alice in Wonderland, Morgan - A Suitable Case for Treatment, and the year that Strawberry Fields Forever was recorded. Television was still in black and white, but the world outside was bursting with colour and controversy. In America, in London, in Amsterdam, in Paris, revolutionary ideas slow-cooking since the late 1950s reached boiling point. In popular culture and the mass media, 1966 was a year of restless experimentation and the search for new forms of expression - particularly in pop music.

Written by Savage and director Paul Tickell, Arena's film takes viewers back to that moment in a vivid celebration of the music, films and TV that shaped the 1960s.

1 hour

Last on

Thu 15 Nov 2018 23:00
±«Óãtv Four

More episodes

Previous

All the World's a Screen - Shakespeare on Film

Next

The Roundhouse - The People's Palace

See all episodes from Arena

Clips

See all clips from 1966 - 50 Years Ago Today (4)

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:03

    Brian Eno

    Another Green World

  • 00:21

    Japan

    All Tomorrow's Parties

  • 00:27

    Plastic Bertrand

    Sha La La La Lee

  • 00:40

    The Byrds

    Eight Miles High

  • 00:56

    The Kinks

    Dead End Street

  • 01:02

    The Beach Boys

    Good Vibrations

  • 01:04

    The Jimi Hendrix Experience

    Stone Free

  • 10:00

    Brian Eno

    Another Green World

    • Another Green World.
    • Island Records.
  • 10:00

    The Beatles

    Strawberry Fields Forever

    • Single.
    • Parlophone.
  • 10:04

    The Rolling Stones

    Get Off of My Cloud

    • December's Children (And Everybody's).
    • Decca.
  • 10:05

    The Rolling Stones

    19th Nervous Breakdown

    • Single release.
    • Decca.
  • 10:07

    Love

    Mushroom Clouds

    • Love.
    • Elekra.
  • 10:09

    The Ugly's

    The Quiet Explosion

    • The Quiet Explosion.
    • Sanctuary Records Group.
  • 10:10

    Weston Gavin

    I Am A Rock

  • 10:11

    Al Stewart

    Pretty Golden Hair

    • To Whom It May Concern.
    • Universal Music Group.
  • 10:15

    Mick Softley

    The War Drags On

    • Songs for Swingin' Survivors.
    • Columbia EMI.
  • 10:17

    The Velvet Underground

    All Tomorrow's Parties

    • Explosive Rock.
    • Polydor.
  • 10:22

    The Kinks

    I'm Not Like Everybody Else

    • Single release.
    • Sanctuary Records Group.
  • 10:23

    Small Faces

    Sha-La-La-La-Lee

    • Single release.
    • Warner Music UK Ltd..
  • 10:26

    Sandie Shaw

    Nothing Comes Easy

    • Single release.
    • EMI.
  • 10:27

    Sandie Shaw

    Tomorrow

    • Single release.
    • EMI.
  • 10:28

    Norma Tanega

    Walkin' My Cat Named Dog

    • Single release.
    • EMI.
  • 10:29

    Dusty Springfield

    Little By Little

    • You Don't Have To Say You Love Me.
    • Mercury Records.
  • 10:31

    J.J. Barnes

    Day Tripper

  • 10:32

    The Great Society

    White Rabbit

    • Conspicuous Only In Its Absence.
    • Columbia EMI.
  • 10:36

    The Byrds

    Eight Miles High

    • Fifth Dimension.
    • Sony Music.
  • 10:37

    The Who

    Substitute

    • Single release.
    • Polydor.
  • 10:39

    The Who

    I'm A Boy

    • Single release.
    • Polydor.
  • 10:40

    Velvet Underground

    Love At Psychedelic Velocity

  • 10:42

    The Yardbirds

    Happenings Ten Years Time Ago

    • Single release.
    • Columbia EMI.
  • 10:43

    Jim Reeves

    Distant Drums

    • Distant Drums.
    • Sony Music.
  • 10:44

    James Brown & The Famous Flames

    Tell Me That You Love Me

    • James Brown Sings Raw Soul.
    • King Records.
  • 10:46

    The New Vaudeville Band

    Winchester Cathedral

    • Single release.
    • Mercury Records.
  • 10:47

    James Brown

    I Got You (I Feel Good)

    • I Got You (I Feel Good).
    • King Records.
  • 10:47

    Wilson Pickett

    Land of 1000 Dances

    • Single release.
    • Atlantic.
  • 10:48

    Otis Redding

    (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

    • Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul.
    • Universal Music Group.
  • 10:48

    Four Tops

    Reach Out I'll Be There

    • Reach Out.
    • Motown.
  • 10:52

    The Kinks

    Dead End Street

    • Single release.
    • Pye.
  • 10:53

    Dusty Springfield

    Goin' Back

    • Single release.
    • Mercury Records.
  • 10:56

    The Rolling Stones

    Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow

    • Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass).
    • Decca.
  • 10:58

    The Beach Boys

    Good Vibrations

    • Single release.
    • Capitol records.
  • 11:00

    Jimi Hendrix

    Stone Free

    • Single release.
    • Polydor.

Credits

Narrator Paul Tickell
Director Paul Tickell
Series Editor Anthony Wall
Writer Jon Savage
Writer Paul Tickell

Broadcasts

Featured in...

  • My Generation

    Charting the history of pop music across the decades starting with the mid-50s to mid-60s

  • Music Stories

    Get the inside track on some of music's most influential songs, albums and personalities.

±«Óãtv Music: My Generation

Programmes, playlists and features charting the history of pop music across the decades.