Popular music in the 1960s

Background

Popular music flourished in Singapore during the 1960s, when a number of local bands became extremely popular with their cover versions of British and American songs as well as original compositions. These bands had a strong following and often played to crowds at events and places featuring live music. Some also recorded albums that proved to be commercially successful.¹ For various reasons, local music went into decline towards the end of the 1960s.²

Beginnings
In the mid-1950s, Radio Malaya started Talentime, a competition that showcased good singers and musicians. The successful show attracted a strong following in Malaya and Singapore. At the time, most music acts consisted of vocal groups.³ Then in late 1961, Cliff Richard and the Shadows played at the Happy World Stadium.⁴ Appearing with them was one of Singapore's earliest electric bands, The Stompers, formed in 1958 and led by Wilson David.⁵ This landmark performance introduced the format of a lead singer backed by an instrumental band featuring the electric guitar. It had a significant impact on local audiences at a time when electric music was becoming increasingly popular.⁶

Various other foreign acts performed in Singapore throughout the 1960s, including the Rolling Stones in 1965,⁷ but several local musicians cited the Cliff Richard performance as a turning point for them. As teens in the 1960s, these musicians often gathered with friends to listen to records released by British bands, and the performances inspired them to begin forming their own bands. Given that the music scene was still in its infancy, many local musicians did not have formal training in either playing musical instruments or reading music. However, most picked up music through trial and error, imitation, practice and experience.⁸ 

Height of popularity
Local bands had a strong following in the 1960s. Due to the presence of British servicemen in Singapore, and later American servicemen because of the Vietnam War, local bands often performed at military camps, mess halls and servicemen's clubs as well as at dance halls, and on television and radio. Other venues for live music were the Singapore Badminton Hall and the National Theatre.⁹ Popular nightclubs such as the Golden Venus at Orchard Hotel employed resident bands, among these The Checkmates, The Quests and The Trailers.¹⁰

Several local bands were signed on by recording companies. Most bands covered versions of popular British and American songs as these were in demand. Naomi and the Boys, The Quests, The Cyclones and The Trailers were among the first bands to release original compositions that did well on the local charts.¹¹ In 1964, “Shanty”, the original song by The Quests, became the first song by a local band to reach the top of the Singapore charts, displacing The Beatles' “I Should Have Known Better” at No. 1.¹² In 1963, The Crescendos’ first record, Mr Twister, outsold an imported record of the same song by Connie Francis. Its success showed the untapped business potential of local bands, prompting the record label Philips to sign more local acts, and other labels followed suit.¹³

While local 1960s music featured the sounds of what are referred to today as pop, rock and blues, it also demonstrated the multicultural diversity of Singapore and a blend of Western and Asian influences. Popular bands that performed in English included The Silver Strings, The Thunderbirds and The Crescendos.¹⁴ Malay bands included A. Ramlie and the Rhythm Boys,¹⁵ Mike Ibrahim and the Nite Walkers,¹⁶ and Ismail Haron and the Guys.¹⁷ P. Ramlee, besides being a talented film actor and director, also transformed Malay popular music by incorporating traditional Malay instruments and Western influences into his music.¹⁸ One of The Trailers' biggest hits was “Phoenix Theme”, an instrumental rendition of a popular Chinese New Year tune.¹⁹

At the height of their popularity, Singapore bands were well-known locally and regionally. Some bands went on overseas tours to countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines. The bands were greeted with hysteria by fans, and their appearances in some places caused near riots.²⁰

The end of an era
The close of the 1960s saw the decline of the local music scene. The independence of Singapore in 1965 and the withdrawal of British troops from 1968 meant a decrease in foreign troops and, correspondingly, the demand for local bands to perform. In addition, the government campaign that had begun in 1959 to create a Malayan culture and reject "yellow culture" or what were seen as degenerate external cultural influences began to have an impact.²¹ As local music was regarded as being heavily influenced by the West and associated with a culture of drug use and disorderliness, this led to the banning of, among other things, tea dances and other events featuring live music.²² 

In addition, technological advances in record production significantly reduced costs and led to the proliferation of piracy. In the late 1960s, many pirate labels sold direct copies and compilations of records by local and international artistes at marked-down prices, which severely affected the sales of original releases. Piracy persisted into the 1980s and extended to tape cassettes and vinyl cartridges.²³ 

Popular bands, including The Quests and The Trailers, disbanded towards the end of the 1960s for various reasons. Economic pressures and the unsustainability of a full-time career in music led many musicians to more conventional full-time jobs and families, while others moved overseas or were drafted into National Service.²⁴ 

Together, these developments signalled the end of an era. Some of the more popular bands continued to exist after the 1960s, but with a much lower profile. Although some musicians went on to perform at hotels and pubs, the music bands of the 1960s never regained their popularity or commercial appeal.²⁵ 



Author
Joanna Tan



References
1. “It’s Rough, Tough at the Top and Unlike Real Life Felines These Have Only One Life Not Nine,” Straits Times, 21 May 1967, 11. (From NewspaperSG)
2. Joseph C. Pereira, Beyond the Tea Dance: The Story of Singapore Sixties Music, Volume Two (Singapore: Select Publishing, 2014), 11 (Call no. RSING 781.64095957 PER); “Music Scene Alive and Thriving Since the '30s,” Straits Times, 6 February 1996, 3. (From NewspaperSG)
3. “Music Scene Started With Talentime,” Straits Times, 16 October 1993, 31. (From NewspaperSG)
4. Joseph C. Pereira, Legends of the Golden Venus (Singapore: Times Editions, 1999), 7, 60. (Call no. RSING q781.64095957 PER)
5. Joseph C. Pereira, Apache Over Singapore: The Story of Singapore Sixties Music, Volume One (Singapore: Select Publishing, 2011), 11. (Call no. RSING 781.64095957 PER)
6. Kannan Chandran, “Those Were the Days,” Straits Times, 14 March 1986, 1 (From NewspaperSG); Henry Chua, Call It Shanty: The Story of The Quests (Singapore: BigO Books, 2001), 22 (Call no. RSING 781.66 CHU); Pereira, Legends of the Golden Venus, 7.
7. “1965: Those Were the Days,” Straits Times, 6 July 1990, 4. (From NewspaperSG)
8. Pereira, Legends of the Golden Venus, 7, 15, 23, 43, 60.
9. “1965: Those Were the Days.”
10. Pereira, Legends of the Golden Venus, 7–9; Chandran, “Those Were the Days.”
11. “1965: Those Were the Days”; “What's New? Seven Pussycats Who've Clawed Their Way to Stardom,” Straits Times, 21 May 1967, 11. (From NewspaperSG)
12. “The Quests Beat Beatles To Reach Top of Hit Parade,” Straits Times, 20 November 1964, 4 (From NewspaperSG); “Seven Pussycats Who've Clawed Their Way to Stardom.”
13. Ross Laird, From Keroncong to Xinyao: The Record Industry in Singapore, 1903-1985 (Singapore: National Archives of Singapore, 2023), 163–211 (Call no. RSING 338.4778149095957 LAI); Ross Laird, “Local Music Reaches a Crescendo: The Singapore Record Industry in the 1960s,” BiblioAsia 19, no. 2 (July–September 2023).
14. Ismail Haron, oral history interview by Joseph C. Pereira, 19 December 2005, transcript and MP3 audio, 58:40 (National Archives of Singapore, accession no. 003001); “1965: Those Were the Days.”
15. A. Kadir Pandi, “A. Ramlie Kembali Dengan Album Baru,” Berita Harian, 28 October 1996, 6 (From NewspaperSG); Pereira, Beyond the Tea Dance, 38.
16. Grey Past Records, “Steam Kodok,” 1960, audio, 01:12:10 (From National Archives of Singapore accession no. 2005001747)
17. Pereira, oral history interview; Pereira, Beyond the Tea Dance, 170.
18. Loretta Marie Perera, P. Ramlee: A Champion Composer, August 2010, National Library Board (From MusicSG);  Jun Zubillaga-Pow and Ho Chee Kong, eds., Singapore Soundscape: Musical Renaissance of a Global City (Singapore: National Library Board, 2014), 152. (Call no. RSING 780.95957 SIN)
19. Andy Young, “The Trailers: Phoenix Theme: Seeing Double” Singapore 60’s: Andy’s Pop Music Influence (blog), 3 February 2011, https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2011/02/trailers-phoenix-theme-seeing-double.html.
20. “1965: Those Were the Days.”
21. “Lim Warns of Flower People, Yellow Culture,” Straits Times, 13 January 1968, 4; “Light On Yellow,” Straits Times, 25 June 1959, 8 (From NewspaperSG)
22. Pereira, Legends of the Golden Venus, 9: Pereira, Beyond the Tea Dance, 11; “Music Scene Alive and Thriving Since the '30s.”
23. Laird, From Keroncong to Xinyao: The Record Industry in Singapore, 1903-1985
24. Jeffrey Low, “Pop Goes the Band but the Beat Goes On,” Straits Times, 24 October 1970, 7 (From NewspaperSG); Robert Conceicao, To Be a Rock but Not To Roll: A 40-Year Odyssey (1966–2006) of a Singapore Pop Musician, Jerry Fernandez (Singapore: Comdesign Associates, 2009), 8. (Call no. RSING 781.64092 CON)
25. Pereira, Beyond the Tea Dance, 11; “Music Scene Started With Talentime”; Chandran, “Those Were the Days.”



Further resources
Andy Chen and Mosman Ismahil, eds., No Finer Time To Be Alive: Voices of Singapore’s English Music (Singapore: Simpleman Books, 1996). (Call no. RSING 781.63095957 NO)

Lim Teck Kheng et al., 100 Greatest Singapore 60s, Universal Music Pte Ltd, 2009, compact disc 5. (Call no. RSING 782.42164 ONE)

Vernon Cheong, Recollecting Singapore 60s, EMI Music Singapore, 2007, compact disc. (Call no. RSING 782.42163 REC)



The information in this article is valid as of July 2023 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.