The freak scene was a term used by a slightly post-hippie and pre-punk style of bohemian subculture. It referred to an overlap between politicised pacifist post-hippies and generally non-pacifist progressive rock fans moving between rock festivals, free festivals , happenings and alternative society gatherings of various kinds. The name comes, at least partly, from a tongue-in-cheek reference to the beat scene.

The freak scene was a stepping-stone between the hippie era and punk. The dissatisfaction with society's labelling of its subcultures had become self-parodying. The scene evolved from the growing awareness that sexism and homophobia, which still existed to a significant extent in hippie behaviour patterns, were unaccceptable. The taking on of the derogatory word freak represented an embracing of identity politics.

Contents

1 Hair and clothes 2 Music 3 See also 4 External links

Hair and clothes

The hairstyles were mostly long and unkempt but people were experimenting with other possibilities. Rock stars of the era such as David Bowie and Roxy Music were trying shorter styles and hair dye. Roy Wood of the pop group Wizzard had hair down to his knees with odd colours dyed in. These musical icons were influential. Shaven heads were seen occasionally but were not yet as common as they would become when punk began. There was a reluctance to make hair too short for fear of looking like skinheads (who at that time were still thought of by the freaks as associated with neo-nazism).

The clothing of the freaks used elements of roleplay such as headbands , cloaks, frock coats, kaftans etc. which suggest either a romantic historical era or a distant place travelled to. These were combined with cheap hardwearing clothes such as jeans and army surplus coats. The effect was to make a group of freaks look like a gathering of characters from a fantasy or science fiction novel, like time-warped refugees out of Middle-earth. All of these appearances were intentional and enjoyed by the participants of the freak scene.

Music

Music was an eclectic mixture around a progressive rock base. There were crossover bands bridging rock and jazz, rock and folk, rock and sci-fi (space rock) and experimentalism in all directions.

A BBC radio presenter, John Peel, presented a nightly show which played the music the freaks were mainly interested in.

Some of the major musical artists listened to on the scene were:

• Hawkwind
• Pink Fairies
• The Edgar Broughton Band
• Stomu Yamashta
• Joni Mitchell
• David Bowie
• Joan Armatrading
• Pink Floyd
• Steeleye Span
• Crosby, Stills and Nash
• Weather Report
• Miles Davis
• Alice Cooper
• ACDC
• Janis Joplin
• Frank Zappa
• Gong
• T Rex
• Plastic Ono Band
• Fairport Convention
• Third Ear Band
• Quintessence

See also

• Protopunk
• Underground culture
• UK Underground

External links

• Facsimile and excerpt from We are the people our parents warned us against by Nicholas Von Hoffman (historically interesting particularly for its demonstration of homophobia within a hippy social context preceding the freak scene's more enlightened attitude
• An excerpt from Richard Neville's book Playpower on the author's website - Richard Neville was one of the founders of Oz magazine.