Why do I hate the 1960s so much?

[Foofoogal]

http://www.americanidol.com/contestants/season_8/adam_lambert/

While we are disussing Elvis I will throw this in. fftopic:
You see this kid. He is the next Elvis. I nearly fell off my sofa the other night. There was a moment and he made a face where he looked identical to a very young Elvis. Sings pretty good and the girls are going nuts. He is openly gay though so not sure how that will work with the girls.
I was young in the 1960s and mostly remember the day Kennedy died and hippies.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

From Wikipedia:

The John Birch Society is a political education and action organization ..."

Um, there was a lot more to it in the early and mid 1960s. A Wikipedia entry written by a John Birch Society sympathizer doesn't scratch the surface.


Instead, I recommend reading something more scholarly. A good start is The World Turned Right Side Up: A History of the Conservative Ascendancy in America, by Godfrey Hodgson.



.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I discovered there was RED stripes on the American Flag … Red and white makes PINK.

Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues Bob Dylan

Well, I was feelin' sad and feelin' blue,
I didn't know what in the world I was gonna do,
Them Communists they wus comin' around,
They wus in the air,
They wus on the ground.
They wouldn't gimme no peace. . .

So I run down most hurriedly
And joined up with the John Birch Society,
I got me a secret membership card
And started off a-walkin' down the road.
Yee-hoo, I'm a real John Bircher now!
Look out you Commies!

Now we all agree with Hitlers' views,
Although he killed six million Jews.
It don't matter too much that he was a Fascist,
At least you can't say he was a Communist!
That's to say like if you got a cold you take a shot of malaria.

Well, I wus lookin' everywhere for them gol-darned Reds.
I got up in the mornin' 'n' looked under my bed,
Looked in the sink, behind the door,
Looked in the glove compartment of my car.
Couldn't find 'em . . .

I wus lookin' high an' low for them Reds everywhere,
I wus lookin' in the sink an' underneath the chair.
I looked way up my chimney hole,
I even looked deep inside my toilet bowl.
They got away . . .

Well, I wus sittin' home alone an' started to sweat,
Figured they wus in my T.V. set.
Peeked behind the picture frame,
Got a shock from my feet, hittin' right up in the brain.
Them Reds caused it!
I know they did . . . them hard-core ones.

Well, I quit my job so I could work alone,
Then I changed my name to Sherlock Holmes.
Followed some clues from my detective bag
And discovered they wus red stripes on the American flag!
That ol' Betty Ross . . .

Well, I investigated all the books in the library,
Ninety percent of 'em gotta be burned away.
I investigated all the people that I knowed,
Ninety-eight percent of them gotta go.
The other two percent are fellow Birchers . . . just like me.

Now Eisenhower, he's a Russian spy,
Lincoln, Jefferson and that Roosevelt guy.
To my knowledge there's just one man
That's really a true American: George Lincoln Rockwell.
I know for a fact he hates Commies cus he picketed the movie Exodus.

Well, I fin'ly started thinkin' straight
When I run outa things to investigate.
Couldn't imagine doin' anything else,
So now I'm sittin' home investigatin' myself!
Hope I don't find out anything . . . hmm, great God!

 

[jamespowers]

Saying what one will, long after we're gone and forgotten, James, John, George and Richard will be remembered for their cultural contributions much as Mozart and Oscar Wilde are remembered today. Every new generation of children pick up on it as soon as they can talk, singing na,na,na,na,na,na,na, or 'Yellow Submarine' with a natural glee. Like it or not, those four lads are the cultural standard bearers for the twentieth century (John Lennon was chosen by Time magazine as one of the top ten influential people of the century!)

In the words of James Paul McCartney, "Let It Be" :eusa_clap

-dixon 'beatle' cannon

You are reaching waaaaaaayyyyy far. If you go out and ask a child today who is say 15 who the Beatles were they would think you are refering to an insect. They may have thought they were more popular than Jesus but their popularity will pale and like Xerxes said of King Leonidas, your name will be stomped out and you won't be remembered for anything. However, we still remember Leonidas and movies are still made about the Spartans.
Mozart and Oscar Wilde will be remembered.

 

[just_me]

and if you want to hear Dylan sing it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I6Sa4zmoKE

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

So far no one in this thread has convinced me that anyone in the 20th Century was more important musically than the Beatles.

 

[just_me]

Mozart and Oscar Wilde will be remembered.

You are right, Mozart and Oscar Wilde will be remembered, but so will the Beatles (especially John Lennon), as will Gershwin and Cole Porter; though, none of them will be remembered by everyone.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

You are reaching waaaaaaayyyyy far. If you go out and ask a child today who is say 15 who the Beatles were they would think you are refering to an insect. They may have thought they were more popular than Jesus but their popularity will pale and like Xerxes said of King Leonidas, your name will be stomped out and you won't be remembered for anything. However, we still remember Leonidas and movies are still made about the Spartans.
Mozart and Oscar Wilde will be remembered.

JP, i fear you are out of touch. You are saying some quite foolish things (surprise). The Beatles are ubiquitous in youth culture. There is no-one, beyond the first year of high school (maybe 12 years old), who doesn't know The Beatles. Most of them know much earlier than that. You may not like them, you may think they are over-rated (i actually agree), but extrapolating from your opinions to society at large is never a good base for a line of argument.

Now, ask them to name an Oscar Wilde piece … other than The Picture of Dorian Gray. Or ask them to discuss the work of Oscar Wilde without reference to Green boutonniere flowers or his bisexuality. Good luck!

bk

 

[Marc Chevalier]

So far no one in this thread has convinced me that anyone in the 20th Century was more important musically than the Beatles.

I'll take you up on that.

Claude Debussy.
Igor Stravinsky.
Sergei Rachmaninoff.
And here in America, Aaron Copeland.

.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Duke Ellington.

bk

 

[just_me]

So far no one in this thread has convinced me that anyone in the 20th Century was more important musically than the Beatles.

I almost agree. I think the Beatles were the most important musically in the second half of the 20th century and one of the most important in the 20th century.

 

[Paisley]

It's like that song they play at Disneyland

The Beatles have been played very much, very often on radio stations here. There has been the Beatles for Breakfast, the Fab Four at Four, Beatles for Brunch, Beatles in your cocktail (OK, I made up the last one). Ubiquitous is right. To my mind, they weren't any better than the rest of the British Invasion. If I never hear the Beatles again, it will be too soon.

 

[jamespowers]

Hear! Hear!!... My sentiments exactly. It was the 'Golden Era' of Rock & Roll. I ask you this; In 1965, was it likely that you'ld turn on the radio and hear a song from 1925 or 1935 and recall it with vivid ideation and happiness?...not even likely. But today, it is not unusual at all to hear a song from 1965 and hear it as if it was brand new again, sing along and have vivid joyous emotional reactions. That is what defines the '60's... common people like you and me that were freed from the confines of earlier generations and created music (and film and literature and technology) that touched a common theme amongst us and plucked a common thread that binds us.

I was born in the mid-50's and experienced the fabulous '60's unfold everyday of my life. I love the sixties as I love life itself - it defines me! :eusa_clap

-dixon '68' cannon

Yeah right. Lets all sing along:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S9ecXWCBCc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKNTHjOjsvs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOjso0rPncc
Carson has fun with Tiny

Vivid ideation and happiness indeed. lol lol lol lol lol

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Tiny was a genius. And an extremely conservative homophobic racist.

No, honestly i'll leave it there.

bk

 

[LizzieMaine]

You are right, Mozart and Oscar Wilde will be remembered, but so will the Beatles (especially John Lennon), as will Gershwin and Cole Porter; though, none of them will be remembered by everyone.

Exactly. It all depends on where your fields of interest lie.

If you're an opera fan, Lennon and McCartney mean nothing. If your genre of choice is hotel dance bands or progressive jazz or European musette bands, or Applalachian fiddle music, you won't find much Beatle influence there. And so on. Their influence has been strong -- but it's a post-1960 rock-pop-centric influence. If that type of music isn't a significant part of your cultural life, you won't feel especially beholden to John, Paul, and Company.

And as for Tiny Tim, he stole his whole schtick from Nick Lucas, who did it much better. And was a nicer and more talented guy, besides.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Meh. Classical music is not very relevant these days. Duke Ellington= influential, but not like the Beatles.

(Before you get up in arms, please remember I'm a classically trained flute player and have a decent perspective on this type of thing.)

Perhaps we should all define "important." Also, I predict a thread hijack.

 

[just_me]

Yeah right. Lets all sing along:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S9ecXWCBCc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKNTHjOjsvs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOjso0rPncc
Carson has fun with Tiny

Vivid ideation and happiness indeed. lol lol lol lol lol

What does that prove, that the decade had some lousy music? Big deal. Every decade has lousy music.

 

[jamespowers]

JP, i fear you are out of touch. You are saying some quite foolish things (surprise). The Beatles are ubiquitous in youth culture. There is no-one, beyond the first year of high school (maybe 12 years old), who doesn't know The Beatles. Most of them know much earlier than that. You may not like them, you may think they are over-rated (i actually agree), but extrapolating from your opinions to society at large is never a good base for a line of argument.

Now, ask them to name an Oscar Wilde piece … other than The Picture of Dorian Gray. Or ask them to discuss the work of Oscar Wilde without reference to Green boutonniere flowers or his bisexuality. Good luck!

bk

Children are taught about Wilde and Mozart in school whether they like it or not in most cases. The Beatles? Not.
Out of touch, not likely. Having chlidren and interacting with people who have children has taught me a lot as to what children of today carry away from any situation and it isn;t that the Beatles are everywhere today. Maybe they were in 1967 but not today.
To equate them with people who around much longer and were involved in other mediums as well as music is a little far fetched. Pretty soon we are also going to discuss how the Monkees are ubiquitous in youth culture. Foolish indeed. :eusa_doh:

 

[jamespowers]

Tiny was a genius. And an extremely conservative homophobic racist.

No, honestly i'll leave it there.

bk

I knew I would get you to comment. lol lol lol lol lol

 

[jamespowers]

And as for Tiny Tim, he stole his whole schtick from Nick Lucas, who did it much better. And was a nicer and more talented guy, besides.

And he dressed better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6_EAnFlv70