It was the epic, groundbreaking poem that tore down the cultural barriers of the 1950s and paved the way for everyone from Patti Smith to David Bowie. And, 60 years since it appeared, its influence shows no signs of fading
Sixty years ago this week, on 7 October 1955, Allen Ginsberg read Howl aloud for the first time, at the Six Gallery in San Francisco. It’s a poem with many anniversaries – Ginsberg began writing it in mid-1954, and it wasn’t published until 1956 – which may be why Hal Willner organised a 60th-anniversary celebration of it at the Ace hotel in Los Angeles in April of this year, with a lineup including Courtney Love, Beth Orton, Devendra Banhart, Nick Cave, Macy Gray and Peaches.
That lineup hints at just how Howl has permeated popular culture and, unlike almost any other piece of literature, helped shape music as it is today.
Related: Lawrence Ferlinghetti: ‘Most of the poets were on something, but somebody had to mind the shop’
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