16 Years of Fabulous: The Pop Culture Revolution

The youth of the 1960’s faced a new era of freedom and leisure. Fashion, music, nightclubs and liberation, the young generation had time, money and energy to do what they wanted. Meaning that they could enjoy their early adulthood. The sixties represent a revolution of the popular culture. This is aided through the use of music, fashion and important issues. They are clearly portrayed in the nostalgic British pop magazine, Fabulous (later renamed Fabulous 208, in the 1970’s).

Fabulous’ first issue on January 18^th, 1964, was based solely around The Beatles. Fab saw the chance to lure in the youth with fanatics of celebrities and musicians through the form of media. Magazines were a significant way to communicate, for example, Fabulous magazines were a cave of knowledge on music, pin-ups, and soft politics. This shows a true reflection of the youth culture in the sixties, allowing us to understand the global rebranding of a static, class bound and sexist country. Fabulous issued 900 magazines from 1964 until 1980. There were numerous magazines of a similar nature, for example, Rave, which included the same topics and questioned the same modern issues.

The audience of these magazines were young people, who were easily influenced by new fashions, new music and new ideas. Fashion became a new and exciting part of culture and society. In 1966, fashion was aimed only 10 percent at the younger generation, but by 1967, advertising fashion aimed towards youth, had risen to 40 percent. Magazines such as these, avoid the popular adult notion of youths as ‘dangerous’ and ‘trouble.’ In Britain during the sixties, positive attitudes towards youths were at a continental high, at 59 percent. The writers and editors of Fab encouraged ideas of equality but never explicitly states a political stance. This illustrates that the magazine covering topics to promote logical interest, whilst still approaching informative traditions of magazines.

The characteristic of pop culture magazines was to gossip about celebrities and music artists. In the first two years of the issuing of Fab, there was at least one spread dedicated to The Beatles per issue. Interviews and updates on the lives of stars, for example in the Fab issue from June 6^th, 1964, colour photographs of Adam Faith, Cliff Richards, and Frankie Vaughan. These kinds of updates would have included concert dates, radio times, and international news. This appeared to be the beginning of the internationalisation of the pop cultural world. This progress recognises a wider revolution and not just a teen phase.

The nostalgia of magazines like these, are based on the content – the ideas, the news, and the styles. They are still loved, even today, with fond memories of poster infested bedrooms, of the fashions of the decade, and of the newly created freedom. These aspects are all shown throughout the magazines and infiltrated into the lives of the young generation. The rise of magazine companies in the sixties was due to the rising influence of music and fashion on the youth.

By Adele