Benjamin Judge's judgements

1946-1975

Rock and roll, Elvis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Woodstock, film noir, the Beat Generation, New Hollywood, Kitchen Sink Realism, James Bond. Forget all that. This is the real shit…

In 1946, Annie Get Your Gun debuted on Broadway. You’ll want to find the Original Broadway Cast recording, because otherwise you won’t get Ethel Merman. It turns up quite a lot in charity shops. Side one, track one, Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly. Absolute filth, mate.

Jumping ahead a bit, while you are in those charity shops looking for Merman, keep an eye out for Vikki Carr’s Love Story (1971) which is a corker.

In 1947, The Walker Art Center opened Idea House II, designed by Hilde Reiss. The idea houses are fascinating glimpses into what another generation envisioned suburban living could/would be like. If that’s the sort of thing that you’re interested in, have a click on this.

And while we are on architecture, let’s spare a moment for two misunderstood giants that are no longer with us. Mathematics Tower, Manchester and Birmingham’s Central Library. Two buildings that were inspired by the optimism of the sixties but forever associated with the economic malaise of the seventies. Unloved and (wrongly) proclaimed as ugly. We’ll miss you, guys.

In 1948, the New Yorker published The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.

And if you are going to extend your reading list from a story to a novel, may I recommend Figures in a Landscape by Barry England. Shortlisted for the very first Booker Prize in 1969 [which had an incredibly strong shortlist btw, although the winner was (in my opinion only of course) an absolute dog]. It is the story of two prisoners of war trying to escape their captors across an unforgiving tropical landscape. It’ll change you. Makes Hemingway look like Enid Blyton.

Also, as we are talking about literature, Webster’s Dictionary claims that the first recorded use of the word ‘wanker’ was in 1950. I imagine it is actually a bit older than that but a fascinating landmark nonetheless for one of the greatest words in the English language.

Okay, the fifties in four things…

1954, Johnny Guitar.

1955, this painting by Valtýr Pétursson.

1957, What’s Opera, Doc?

1958, the invention of instant noodles

Boom.

Ask me again in a week and I’ll give you a different answer, but the two best songs of this era are probably Freight Train by Elizabeth Cotten and Girl You Need a Change of Mind by Eddie Kendricks.

But enough of good music. What about the bad stuff. Well… You need to find yourself copies of two albums from the early seventies: Beyond the Blue by The Christian Astronauts and Windborne by Merv and Merla. The term ‘outsider art’ has (correctly, I think) fallen out of favour  nowadays, but if you are looking for music that a major record label would never have touched, slightly amateurish, but heartfelt and authentic and weird, these two won’t steer you wrong. I adore them both.

What else? You know those 2p machines at the arcade? They were invented in 1964. Weird to think they all sat empty for seven years, waiting for decimalisation. But they did.

Finally, if I win the euro lottery tonight, I’ll be buying a full set of these.