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But a substantial 12 per cent would consider communal living. And one lifestyle choice that many people certainly still have in common with the hippies is drugs. A third of poll respondents have used cannabis—14 per cent in the last five years—and eight per cent have tried LSD.
For many, this is one legacy we shouldn’t thank the hippies for. “I’ve worked with the mentally ill and a lot of people’s problems have been caused by drugs,” says Jean Crowther. “It’s people’s choice to take something, but the hippies popularised the scene.”
Of course, the Sixties are arguably most famous for music—the most common reason given in our poll for why this was the best period in which to be a teenager. When presented with a list of late-Sixties classics, 92 per cent could hum or recite at least part of one of them. Around three-quarters of respondents could sing “Puff the Magic Dragon” and 84 per cent knew “Yellow Submarine” by The Beatles. Most impressively, a quarter of 18–30s could recall Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)”.
“The music from that time casts a long shadow because it was such a change from previous mainstream pop,” says Rita Gayford, a London gallery owner. “I remember hearing The Byrds’ ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ for the first time and thinking it was a whole new direction.”
After drugs and the Vietnam war, the clothes are seen as the third worst thing about the Sixties by our poll respondents. Yet a remarkable proportion arguably wear fashions introduced by the hippies. A third of us like to wear our hair long—including 19 per cent of men. Almost a quarter like colourful, idiosyncratic or tie-dyed clothes, half like sandals, a third have, or would consider having, incense at home.
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