King's Road - Max Decharne

 

Obviously, anyone who has been interested in pop culture in England knows that King's Road has been one of the epicenters of Britishness for decades, and once I saw a review of this in Ugly Things (possibly, although the book is almost 20 years old, so it wouldn't have been a very current review), I figured I needed to pick it up to learn a bit more about this area.

Decharne is certainly British himself as he writes as if everyone knows the ins'n'outs of the areas, people, politics and so on that he is referring to. So, that assumption can be problematic for someone who is not intimate with the workings of the country, as the references and often the slang'n'sayings are meaningless to a midwestern boy like me.

There are several chapters dedicated to the earliest of times of the area, which can be a little tedious, although they are certainly informative and lay the groundwork and Max tries to keep the reader involved by informing that the area that once was a part of a king's land later became Malcolm McLaran's shop or something similar. Of course, the street is named for the fact that a king (Charles, I believe) used to use it to visit his mistress(es), and there is plenty of history in the area as well as luminaries that have lived there over the centuries.

But naturally, the reason to want to read about the area starts in the 60''s, and Max gets to it as quickly as he can, although the 50's are really when the area revved up with fashion (Mary Quant opened a boutique there), theater (Look Back in Anger debuts) and music (with coffee houses and skiffle evolving into rock'n'roll). He devotes a bit of time to the 50's, but it all feels like a prelude to the swingin' 60's.

As Decharne tries to be all encompassing for the area, there are bits'n'pieces that are NOT going to be interesting to part of his audience, although everything does intertwine somewhat, and movies, theater, food'n'fashion, art'n'music all intersect by way of location, if not direct interaction.

Surprisingly for me, anyway, is that the 70's era is even more interesting than the 60's, as glam lays the groundwork for punk, and fashion, films and theater all follow along with the wild, androgynous looks and uninhibited, anything goes sexual escapades. Even though I lived through the times (as a youngster), I do sometimes forget how the timelines of different events overlapped and how early certain looks'n'sounds evolved. I assume the author must be around my age as he obviously remembers this era most fondly, as well. 

After the 70's punk era, the street takes a downturn, at least in Becharne's eyes, and he kind of ties things up fairly quickly from there.

Definitely interesting, but I had hoped for something a little more captivating. Not bad, but not great either, although those with an interest in the area will certainly find things to dig.