THE FACTS OF POP LIFE
RAVE takes a long, hard look at the pop world and the people who make it tick. What's it all about, this real yet so close to fantasy world, where overnight you can either become famous or forgotten? Here then are for you the facts of life, the facts of pop life...Every time you spin a brand new single, that little black circle of pleasure cost 7s 6d. Just under half a crown a minute! Add up all those minutes and half-crowns and you have a giant record industry making around £25,000,000 a year. Each month the giant offers you stacks of discs―157 singles in April, 218 in May, 166 in June―and asks, ''Do you dig this?, Would you go for that?'' But only once in forty times do enough of you say ''Yes'' for the record to break even on the cost of making it. The question is: What happens to that money of yours? Who gets it? Who profits? Who are the men and the machines behind the stars? You are entitled to know, so RAVE has tried to find out...
![]( "Sweet Jane blog: The Facts of Pop Life - Rave Magazine (1966)")
![]( "Sweet Jane blog: The Facts of Pop Life - Rave Magazine (1966)")
![]( "Sweet Jane blog: The Facts of Pop Life - Rave Magazine (1966)")
![]( "Sweet Jane blog: The Facts of Pop Life - Rave Magazine (1966)")
![]( "Sweet Jane blog: The Facts of Pop Life - Rave Magazine (1966)")
![]( "Sweet Jane blog: The Facts of Pop Life - Rave Magazine (1966)")
★★★ THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE STARS ★★★
![]( "Sweet Jane blog: The Facts of Pop Life - Rave Magazine (1966)")
![]( "Sweet Jane blog: The Facts of Pop Life - Rave Magazine (1966)")
IMAGE CREDITS & LINKS
All images scanned by Sweet Jane from Rave Magazine, August 1966. All illustrations by Barry Fantoni. Discover more about Barry Fantoni, Private Eye writer and cartoonist, author, designer of pop art backdrops for Ready, Steady, Go, sometimes actor, musician, and presenter of the BBC Television show A Whole Scene Going - Part one (of two), midway through this particular show he speaks to three club owners―Ray McFall of the Cavern Club, Liverpool, Allan Williams of The Blue Angel, Liverpool, and Paddy McKearnon of Mister Smith's, Manchester, who give their opinions on the direction they think pop music will go in 1966. Read 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded by Jon Savage reviewed by Robert Christagu. Music Moguls: Masters of Pop: Money Makers, the 2016 BBC documentary narrated by Simon Napier-Bell, featuring contributions from Andrew Loog-Oldham amongst others. Watch Expresso Bongo, a 1959 film satire of the music industry, directed by Val Guest. Read a piece by Ray Connolly on the Origins of the films That'll Be The Day and Stardust, and then watch That'll Be The Day (1973) and Stardust (1974). Yvonne buys her way into the charts―she can't sing but she's young! Smashing Time (1967). Lambert and Stamp the 2015 documentary about The Who's managers, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. Pop, power, populism and propaganda…How Peter Watkins’ futuristic satire Privilege (1967) predicted a time when mass media would be subverted to the needs of those in power. And finally, the three most important things a manager does, according to 'Supermensch' Shep Gordon is to “Get the money, always remember to get the money, and never forget to always remember to get the money!''
WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES...
WHAT THE POP STAR EARNS...
★★★ THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE STARS ★★★
IMAGE CREDITS & LINKS
All images scanned by Sweet Jane from Rave Magazine, August 1966. All illustrations by Barry Fantoni. Discover more about Barry Fantoni, Private Eye writer and cartoonist, author, designer of pop art backdrops for Ready, Steady, Go, sometimes actor, musician, and presenter of the BBC Television show A Whole Scene Going - Part one (of two), midway through this particular show he speaks to three club owners―Ray McFall of the Cavern Club, Liverpool, Allan Williams of The Blue Angel, Liverpool, and Paddy McKearnon of Mister Smith's, Manchester, who give their opinions on the direction they think pop music will go in 1966. Read 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded by Jon Savage reviewed by Robert Christagu. Music Moguls: Masters of Pop: Money Makers, the 2016 BBC documentary narrated by Simon Napier-Bell, featuring contributions from Andrew Loog-Oldham amongst others. Watch Expresso Bongo, a 1959 film satire of the music industry, directed by Val Guest. Read a piece by Ray Connolly on the Origins of the films That'll Be The Day and Stardust, and then watch That'll Be The Day (1973) and Stardust (1974). Yvonne buys her way into the charts―she can't sing but she's young! Smashing Time (1967). Lambert and Stamp the 2015 documentary about The Who's managers, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. Pop, power, populism and propaganda…How Peter Watkins’ futuristic satire Privilege (1967) predicted a time when mass media would be subverted to the needs of those in power. And finally, the three most important things a manager does, according to 'Supermensch' Shep Gordon is to “Get the money, always remember to get the money, and never forget to always remember to get the money!''