The 1960s are known to have been the time of the rise of popular music in the country with groups like The Beatles and the Rolling Stones among many others, taking the lead in the drive for supremacy.
In the early 1960s teenagers had to travel to The Gaumont Theatre in Southampton to see acts like Billy Fury, Cliff Richard and Joe Brown which was often out of reach financially.
It might seem on the surface that Basingstoke did not take part in the early Pop scene but that would be far from the truth.
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Many groups that have since become famous, cut their teeth in the clubs and venues of Basingstoke, promoted, no doubt, by the disc jockeys of the day, the most well-known in the town being John Finden (aka Johnny Prince) who ran discos at numerous venues in the town such as Brinkletts Centre in Winchester Road, which was also the home of The Basingstoke Youth Centre.
These discos were known as the (short-lived) Ricky Tick Club, Blue Room and Twist and Trad to mention just three.
The Galaxy Club, who held 45 events in the town, was mainly based at the Town Hall before a limit was imposed on the numbers attending.
Following this, the organisation had various venues and supported many local groups as well as those more well-known.
The Troggs from Andover with singer Reg Presley (Reg Ball) and originally called The Troglodytes, frequented the venues of Basingstoke as a support band in 1964 and 1965.
They entered the charts in May 1966 with Wild Thing which reached number two, following up in July with their first number one, With A Girl Like You.
The group was managed by Larry Page who also managed The Kinks.
Chris Farlowe (John Deighton), an ex-member of the John Henry Skiffle Group, transferred his interests to R&B and Rock ‘n Roll and, following several ‘misses’, achieved his only number one with Out of Time in 1966, one of three hits in that year.
Farlowe performed in The Haymarket Lounge in 1964 at an entry fee of 8/6.
Likewise, Long John Baldry (named after his 6’ 7” height), who appeared in The Town Hall (now the Willis Museum), in 1964, achieved his only number one in the charts Let The Heartaches Begin in 1967.
His next ‘hit’ that reached number 15 was Mexico the following year.
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He previously was a member of the Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated and later formed the Hoochie Coochie Men.
Following the breakup of this group, he joined The Steampacket with Rod Stewart, Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll.
The world-famous Who, with members Pete Townshend, Roger Daltry, John Entwistle and Keith Moon started life in Acton Grammar School in 1959 when the group The Confederates was formed by Townshend and Entwistle.
They achieved their first entry I Can’t Explain into the charts at number eight in 1965 and had only performed in The Town Hall the previous year, but they were also in The Carnival Hall the same year as the chart entry.
The first entry fee was 6/- but that increased to 12/6 in 1965, perhaps reflecting their popularity.
Surprisingly Who did not achieve a number one over the 20 years they were in the charts, only reaching two number twos; My Generation in November 1965 (which remained in the charts for thirteen weeks), and I’m A Boy in September the following year.
However, they did achieve 14 ‘hits’ in the top 10 between 1965 and 1981, the last being You Better You Bet.
There were also a number of groups that visited Basingstoke after they had risen to fame.
The ‘one-hit-wonder’ Little Eva performed at The Town Hall in 1964 when the entrance fee was 5/- having made number two in the charts with Loco-motion in 1962.
Also Georgie Fame (Clive Powell) and the Blue Flames, part of the Larry Parnes stable, The Yardbirds with five ‘hits’ in the top 10 including For Your Love and Heart Full Of Soul, The Spencer Davis Group (two number ones – Keep On Running and Somebody Help Me), The Four Pennies (Juliet at number one), The Moody Blues (number one with Go Now), The Byrds (Mr Tambourine Man and All I Really Want to Do), The Small Faces (eight hits in the top ten with one number one – All Or Nothing) and The Animals ( House Of The Rising Sun the only number in eight hits) all appeared in 1964-65 at The Town Hall and St Joseph’s Hall in Western Way, which was a very popular venue in the 1960s.
In 1966 Martha and The Vandellas, Stevie Wonder and David Bowie all appeared in Basingstoke, Bowie (David Robert Jones), three years before he achieved fame and reached number five in the charts with Space Oddity in 1969.
He went on to gain twenty-three songs in the top ten with five number-ones up to 1986. He died in January 2016 having suffered from cancer for 18 months.
Although not having performed in Basingstoke one of the most historic visits made by a famous group is that of The Beatles stopping off at the Pied Piper restaurant in 1967, (when the ‘Summer of love’ and ‘flower power’ was at its height).
Situated opposite the Stag and Hounds pub on Winchester Road, the ground is now occupied by the Home Bargains store.
A few months later John Lennon and Yoko Ono also called in for a visit.
Since then, the Anvil theatre, which opened in 1994, and became a leading theatre in the South of England, has continued to bring world-famous acts and leading talent to the town, but those of us who experienced the heady and raw days of the live groups of the 60s will always think they were the best.
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