page_title: Denmark Street
section_title: 1960s
hierarchical_section_title: Denmark Street / History / Music industry / 1960s
caption_attribution_description: Music Ground, 27 Denmark Street, Covent Garden, London
context_page_description: Denmark Street is a street on the edge of London's West End running from Charing Cross Road to St Giles High Street. It is near St Giles in the Fields Church and Tottenham Court Road station. The street was developed in the late 17th century and named after Prince George of Denmark. Since the 1950s it has been associated with British popular music, first via publishers and later by recording studios and music shops. A blue plaque was unveiled in 2014 commemorating the street's importance to the music industry.
  The street was originally residential, but became used for commercial purposes in the 19th century. At first, metalwork was a popular trade but it became most famous as Britain's "Tin Pan Alley" housing numerous music publishers' offices. This market declined in the 1960s to be replaced by music shops and independent recording studios. The Rolling Stones recorded at Regent Sound Studio at No. 4 and popular musicians, including David Bowie and the Small Faces, often socialised in the Gioconda café at No. 9. Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote songs at offices on the street in the 1960s, while the Sex Pistols lived above No. 6, and recorded their first demos there.
context_section_description: The music publishing trade on Denmark Street began to decline during the 1960s, as the traditional producers lost touch with changing tastes and groups like the Rolling Stones showed it was possible to write their own material. For example, Paul Simon was based in London at this time but Mills Music, at No. 20, told him that his songs "Homeward Bound" and "The Sound of Silence" were uncommercial.
  Recording studios began to be operated in the street. Regent Sound Studio at No. 4 was founded in July 1961 to serve as a unit for publishers to record their songs. The studio was based above the offices of Essex Music and was frequently used by then Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham. The band recorded their first album at Regent in 1964 and the single "Not Fade Away" became their first major hit to be recorded there. Oldham liked the atmosphere in the studio as he could "stretch out a bit, experiment and learn from our mistakes". The studios eventually expanded and moved into new premises on Tottenham Court Road, while the Denmark Street premises became the sales office. They were subsequently bought by Eddie Kassner at the end of the 1960s. Publishers Box and Cox had their offices at No. 7.  Their greatest hit was "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts". Southern Music, at No. 8, also had a studio in the ground floor, which was used to record Donovan's hit, "Catch The Wind".
  The Carter & Lewis songwriting partnership evolved when John Carter and Ken Lewis arrived in London in 1959 and decided "if you want to be in the music business, that [Denmark Street] was the place to be, that was the rule". Session musicians such as Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones regularly played in Denmark Street studios. In 1964, The Kinks recorded "You Really Got Me" in one of the basement studios.
  Musicians often socialised in the Gioconda café at No. 9. David Bowie recruited his first backing band, The Lower Third, in the bar, while the Small Faces formed after the original members socialised at the Gioconda. Other regular patrons included David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix. Top Gear Music was the first guitar store on the street, opening in 1969 and became a hub for major guitarists of the day. In April 2014, a number of music industry figures, including disc jockey Mike Read, unveiled a blue plaque above the premises that included a QR Code to access a multimedia presentation about the history of music.
caption: Music shops grew in popularity on Denmark Street after the decline of music publishers in the 1960s.
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