>1967 was undeniably an important year for gay rights. The change in the law however came too late for some.

On 3 February of that year, the pioneer record producer and songwriter, Joe Meek killed himself, aged 37. Arguably he was mentally ill, suffering from paranoia. His homosexuality, at a time when it was illegal, and the police’s interest in him in respect of the “suitcase murder” (that of Bernard Oliver whom Meek had known) were probable factors in his decision to end his own life.

PopMatters, an online magazine of cultural criticism, celebrates Meek, who released 245 singles, as some sort of warped musical genius, doing its best to avoid his disappearance in the sound archive of history.

[...] he built the first TV in his town, was an RAF radio engineer, a technician with the Midlands Electricity Board, and before branching out on his own was a BBC sound engineer. He did not last at the BBC because his methodology of altering recordings was completely at odds with tradition. So, in his rooms above a leather goods store at 304 Holloway Road in London, Meek became Britain’s first independent record producer, pioneering special effects, tape reversal, direct imput of the bass guitar, close-mic’ing, and multi-tracking.

Read the full article here:
Carry on Compressing!: Joe Meek and 1960s Britain