DVD, Blu-ray and TV
1971: THE YEAR THAT MUSIC CHANGED EVERYTHING
APPLE TV+ 7/10
Thrilling, enlightening but frustrating survey of the year they killed the ’60s. By Stephen Troussé
John & Yoko
TIna Turner
Angela Davis
Keith Richards
RIGHT now you can find a whole bookshelf of pop histories eager to contend that any year from 1966 to 1984 was the one true year when rock, soul, punk or pop changed the world forever. On the face of it, David Hepworth’s 1971: Never A Dull Moment might be the most plausible of these: it’s hard to dispute the glory of 12 months that gave us Blue, What’s Going On, Hunky Dory, Tapestry, Electric Warrior, Tago Mago, Maggot Brain and There’s A Riot Goin’ On – to name but a few.
Apple’s new eight-part documentary builds on Hepworth’s premise but with a keener sense of how the music was embroiled in the roiling currents of history: Vietnam, civil rights, Black Power, feminism and LGBT+ liberation, the Cold War and technological change.