Max Décharné - Kings Road

Its at its best when uncovering the Fifties as when the road began to swing. - GQ

This is a love letter to the street the wealth of information he crams into his book wins you over, as he charts the streets rise and most timous moments, from John Osbornes Look Back in Anger, which opened at the Royal Court Theatre, to the boutiques such as Bazaar and Sex. - Metro

As a trawl through the glitz and the glamour of the Kings Road, this is hard to beat. Decharnes research, which takes in everything from political weeklies to underground pop magazines, is impressive and unimpeachable, and he whisks the reader along in brisk and witty prose. - Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

Decharne is a thorough researcher, with a charming enthusiasm for his raw material He has an ear for drollery in his many interview subjects, and there are some lovely quotes from the late John Peel Hes particularly authoritative on punk. - Andrew Martin, Sunday Telegraph

Its a brilliant evocation of Londons fashion history. - Alex Clark, Red

What makes Decharnes exploration so enjoyable is not just the sheer heavyweight of facts but the passionate way that they are delivered, capturing both their subjects volatile nature and creative spirit. - Lois Wilson, Mojo

[A] highly enjoyable book Max Decharne uses the long spine of the road, and the ribs of the adjoining streets, as a skeleton which he fleshes out with the artistic, musical and sartorial developments flourishing in these few squares of the London A-Z. - Jonathan Sale, Independent

Now that Chelsea is more Cartier and Tiffany than velvet loons and bondage gear, its good to have such an affectionate, spirited reminder of its more diversely flamboyant heritage. - Time Out

Exhilarating, informative, chatty and hip Decharnes frantic, fact packed book superbly captures all the buzz and lunatic frivolity of a street that has consistently been at the cutting edge of all that is new in theatre, fashion and film. - Daily Mail

Max Decharne was the drummer in the band Gallon Drunk and, since 1995, has been the singer in The Flaming Stars. He is a regular contributor to Mojo and lives in London.

By Max Decharne

Kings Road: The Rise and Fall of the Hippest Street in the World

Hardboiled Hollywood: The Origins of the Great Crime Films

Straight from the Fridge, Dad: A Dictionary of Hipster Slang

Kings Road

The Rise and Fall of the Hippest Street in the World

Max Decharne

A PHOENIX PAPERBACK

First published in Great Britain in 2005 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson

This paperback edition published in 2006 by Phoenix,

an imprint of Orion Books Ltd,

Orion House, 5 Upper St Martins Lane,

London WC2H 9EA

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Copyright Max Decharne

Map John Gilkes

Mott the Hoople, Saturday Gigs EMI Music Group

The right of Max Decharne to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN-13978-0-7538-2124-4

ISBN-100-7538-2124-9

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham plc, Chatham, Kent

The Orion Publishing Groups policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

www.orionbooks.co.uk

To my aunt Zola, skipping off school to see Bill Haley in 1957; my uncle Edmund, singing Elvis songs in the Slough pubs of the fifties; my father John, with his BSA Gold Star; my brother Derek, hitching across country following the Ramones; and to John Peel, who changed the world.

Contents

List of illustrations

Acknowledgements

Snapshot 1966

1 Swinging where, and in what direction?

Part 1: Lost Highway

2 Treading on a Prince of Wales

3 Two world wars and no world cup

Part 2: Everything but the Kitchen Sink

4 Edwardian suits, dance music and a dagger

5 Quantum leap

6 Anger is an energy

7 Cherry Red, Teak, or Mint Green Goat

8 A gold filling in a mouthful of decay

9 Indefensible drivel

10 A really enormous Cadillac with built-in dancing girls

Part 3: Granny Takes a Trip

11 Dost thou dig that nightly jazz?

12 A taste of money

13 Introverts, extroverts and perverts

14 Trend or tripe?

15 Girls haircuts and old-fashioned coats

16 A group of Chelsea layabouts

17 Thigh-high skirts for dolly-looking birds

18 Turn On, Tune In, Drop Dead

19 Mister Freedom, Sister George

20 Give booze a chance

Part 4: Oh Bondage Up Yours

21 Raking around in the gutter

22 The Female Eunuch Meets Tarzan

23 Cobblers to the world

24 Liberal dollops of sex and space travel

25 Everything we had was either home-made or stolen

26 Machine Bubble Disco

27 Its the buzz, cock

28 Cheat, lie and dress to win

Part 5: The Partys Over

29 Wheres Bill Grundy Now?

Bibliography

List of Illustrations

Mary Quant and her husband, Alexander Plunkett Greene, 1964 (HATAMI/ Rex Features)

Antonionis Blow-Up (1966) (Everett Collection /Rex Features)

Granny Takes a Trip, 488 Kings Road, circa 1969 (Mary Evans Picture Library)

The former site of Granny Takes a Trip, 2004 (Max Decharne)

Floor plan of Granny Takes a Trip, 1966

The Purple Gang, 1967

Mary Quant and her husband (Sharok Hatami / Rex Features)

Look Back in Anger; December 1958

Hotspur cover

Woodfall Street, Chelsea (Max Decharne)

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Alan Sillitoes 1958 novel

The Pheasantry, 152 Kings Road in 2004 (Max Decharne)

The former Six Bells pub, and Pucci Pizza (Max Decharne)

Cafe Picasso (Max Decharne)

April 1966 issue of Rave magazine

A Clockwork Orange (1972) (Rex Features)

A Clockwork Orange hits London, January 1972 ( Time Out)

Dracula 1972

Dracula 1972 party

The Partys Over (released 1965)

The Killing of Sister George (1968) (Everett Collection/Rex Features)

Snuff Rock Time Out, 1977 (Time Out)

Mr Freedom advert, 1968 anti-Vietnam war film

Reading Festival advert, 1963

Shop at 430 Kings Road in 1976 (David Dagley / Rex Features)

Worlds End 2004 (Max Decharne)

T-shirt from Evergreen Review, 1971

Vivienne Westwood retrospective at the Victoria and Albert Museum (Max Decharne)

Top Gear in 1967 (Brian Moody/ Rex Features)

Unless otherwise indicated all illustrations are reproduced courtesy of the authors collection.

Acknowledgements

Firstly, a heartfelt thank-you and a raised glass to my agent Lesley Thorne for all her support and advice and for having faith in me from the start, and to my editor Alan Samson for commissioning this book and for his many extremely helpful comments on the manuscript. Thanks also to Leah Middleton and everyone at Gillon Aitken Associates, and to Kelly Falconer, Emma Finnigan, Tom Graves, John Gilkes, Carole Green and everyone at Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

Its been said far too many times that if you can remember the sixties then you werent really there. On the other hand, a fair number of those who can remember the sixties (or indeed the early punk days) have been condemned to relive them for the benefit of interviewers many times over the years, and so Im doubly grateful to the following for sparing the time to share their memories with me: Roger Armstrong, Dave Barbarossa, Wolfgang Bold, Richard Dacre, Wolfgang Doebeling, Mick Farren, Paul Gorman, Bruce Grimes, Piri Halasz, Kenneth Hyman, Christopher Lee, Miles, Barry Myers, John Pearse, John Peel, Cynthia Plastercaster, Mary Quant, TV Smith, Spider Stacy, Nikki Sudden, Gary Valentine, Colin Wilson and Wreckless Eric. For their help and kindness during the writing of this book, Id also like to thank Janey Bain, Joe Boyd, Bruce Brand, Jenny Bulley, Dominique at John Pearse, Margaret Duerden, Tom Gilbey, Martine Grimwood at Mary Quant Ltd, Oliver Huzly, Michael Hyman, Lea and Uli from Wild At Heart, Andrew Male, Maren Meinhardt, Claire Munro, Sheila Ravenscroft, Sally Riley, Mark Rubenstein, Neil Scaplehorn, Phil Shoenfelt, Sven Severin, Chris Sheward, Sylvie Simmons, Carl Stickley, Huck Whitney and Damon Wise.