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International Times |
 (it Jan–Feb '69) |
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| Editor | Tom McGrath |
|---|---|
| Categories | Newspaper, Music Magazine |
| First issue | 1966 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Website | international-times.org.uk |
The International Times (it or IT) was an underground paper started in 1966 in central London, UK. Editors included John Hopkins, Barry Miles, Jim Haynes, and playwright Tom McGrath. Jack Moore, avant-garde writer Bill Levy, and Mick Farren, singer of the The Deviants, were also involved. Paul McCartney donated to the paper.1 The name International Times was changed to just "it" for a time after objections from The Times newspapercitation needed.
The iconic logo for IT was a black and white photo of Theda Bara, vampish star of silent films. The original idea had been to use an image of actress Clara Bow because she was iconically known as The IT girl - but an image of Theda Bara was used accidentally and once deployed, it was never changed.
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International Times was launched on 14 October 1966 at The Roundhouse at a gig featuring Pink Floyd. The event promised a 'Pop/Op/Costume/Masque/Fantasy-Loon/Blowout/Drag Ball and featured Soft Machine, steel bands, strips, trips, happenings, movies. The launch was described as "one of the two most revolutionary events in the history of English alternative music and thinking. The IT event was important because it marked the first recognition of a rapidly spreading socio-cultural revolution that had its parallel in the States" by Daevid Allen of Soft Machine.2
A benefit gig, "The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream," was organised by IT and held on 28 April 1967 at the Alexandra Palace in London which demonstrated the importance of the quickly developing UK Underground. Bands who appeared included Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things, Savoy Brown, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Soft Machine, The Move, and Sam Gopal Dream.
The newspaper was printed throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s. It was relaunched in 1986. There have been a total of 205 issues. It was a contemporary of other radical underground London magazines, Oz, Friends and Ink.
Many people who became prominent UK figures wrote for IT, including feminist critic Germaine Greer, poet and social commentator Jeff Nuttall, and DJ John Peel. There were many original contributions from underground writers such as Alexander Trocchi; William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.
Leading editorial contributors to the late 1970s IT were Heathcote Williams, Max Handley, Eddie Woods (Amsterdam editor), and Chris Sanders.
In 1986 IT was passed on to performer Tony Allen and writer Chris Brook.
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