Richardcyoung.com

The Online Home of Author and Investor, Dick Young

  • Home
  • How We Are Different
  • Debbie Young
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • Your Survival Guy
  • The Great Reset
  • The Swiss Way
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • COVID-19
  • Dick Young
  • Key West
  • Paris
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Work to Make Money/Invest to Save Money
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • US Treasury Yield Curve: My Favorite Investor Tool

Music of the 1960’s: What Was It???

February 19, 2010 By Dave Hammer

In the four decades that followed the First World War, each calendar decade had only a couple types of music that were really popular, and usually one of those was so predominant that it defined the decade. But, by the time the 1960’s rolled around, there were so many genres of popular music, none became synonymous with the decade. It’s no wonder! The country was in turmoil due to racial strife and the unpopular Viet Nam War. Every major city was lit on fire and peace demonstrations were continuous. Even my very old high school, built next to the American Revolution’s Springfield Armory, was destroyed by racial violence soon after I graduated. Young folks around the country were burning not only buildings but also their draft cards and even the American flag. Hard drugs (including psychedelics) abounded. JFK, MLK and RFK were assassinated. This country’s individual beliefs were a mish-mash and so was the popular music.

The 1960’s began with Golden Rock-and-Roll and some big bands still doing well. I saw Duke Ellington once or twice a year and remember how his great tenor sax player, Paul Gonsalves, always knew me and let me stand three feet in front of him while he played (probably because I gave him a Camel cigarette between songs). I even spent a while talking with Cab Calloway one summer. I remember being invited to Bill (Count) Basie’s house in Connecticut for a weekend (as a result of being friendly with his nephew). What a thrill! My brother got a dirty look from Lionel Hampton for trying to imitate his antics while we were standing less than six feet from his vibraphone. I spent an hour, one-on-one, with Carl Perkins (of “Blue Suede Shoes” fame) before a concert. I was part-time stage manager at an auditorium where Dave Brubeck told me he was the only Jewish rancher left in California. In the same job, as a prank during a concert, I dropped a home-made stink bomb into the Boston Symphony’s cello section. I met many of the great Country musicians at the Bushnell Auditorium in Hartford where I stood next to Ernest Tubb when, during the break, he let a blind girl come back-stage and read a poem she had written for him. I met the Kingston Trio when they performed at my university’s student union, met Peter-Paul-and-Mary in Hampton Beach, met the Platters’ Herb Reed back-stage when my brother played with them, spent a long time with Glen Campbell in his dressing room (thanks to his drummer being my brother’s good friend), had dinner (at my parents’ house) with Gladys Knight’s guitar player, listened to Dave Van Ronk (the great, white blues singer) up close and personal in a Boston coffee-house, and so on. The point is: all the musicians I met during the 1960’s represented different music genres.

After the British Invasion in 1963, popular music moved in many directions. By the mid-60’s, audiences were applauding The Who’s guitarist, Pete Townshend, smashing his instruments on stage. By the end of the decade, Janice Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison all died from drug overdoses. When you think about the stars of the 60’s, they would have to include everyone from the Beatles (British rock) to Temptations (Motown) to Ray Stevens (humor) to John Fogerty (swamp-rock) to Marty Robbins (country-crossover) to The Beach Boys (clean-cut rock) to Bob Dylan (protest poetry) to Ray Charles (gospel-R&B-country crossover) to Loretta Lynn (pure country) to Miles Davis (free jazz) to The Mamas & The Papas (folk-rock). I could go on and on. The music of the 1960’s was as diverse, and sometimes as radical, as the country’s racial and political views.

Related Posts

  • Dave Hammer: Way Down on the Swanee
  • Dave Clark’s Signature Sound
  • Dave Hammer's Rock Around the Clock
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Dave Hammer
David A. Hammer is a Managing Partner at Hammer Asset Management, LLC in Auburn, CA.
Latest posts by Dave Hammer (see all)
  • Chuck Berry – The #1 Pioneer of Rock and Roll - March 22, 2017
  • Dave Hammer: Way Down on the Swanee - July 1, 2015
  • So Easy When You Know How - June 4, 2015

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • Florida: Enjoy Certain Freedoms and Individual Liberties
  • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • Can Ginger Combat Heart Disease and Improve Circulation?
  • Your Life on Main Street will Never be the Same
  • Can Curcumin Help in Fighting Cancer?
  • BEYOND RUSSIA: America Strengthens India Ties to Counter China
  • The Forgotten America
  • Who Is Alex Jones?
  • The Masters of the Universe Align Themselves with CHINA Using YOUR Money?
  • My Battle-Hardened Stock Market Strategy for the Worst of Times

Our Most Popular Posts

  • Freefalling at Stanford
  • Is Vanguard Voting Against Your Political Beliefs?
  • The Forgotten America
  • Does Anyone Still Think Ron Paul Was Wrong?
  • Rand Paul Surprises Moderna CEO with Inside Information about Myocarditis Risk
  • “You Just Have to Be Willing to Move Defensively”
  • Biden's Fake Democracy Summit: Hungary and Turkey Snubbed
  • Your Survival Guy’s #1 Habit of Fairly Successful People
  • Dick & Debbie: Over Three Decades in Key West
  • Gstaad and the Swiss Way

Disclosure

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • Schwab Down 30%, Fidelity, Vanguard, BlackRock, and You
  • BEWARE: The Road to Digital Currencies
  • Another Habit of Highly Successful and Fairly Wealthy People
  • The Greatest Threats to the American Economy
  • Your Survival Guy’s #1 Habit of Fairly Successful People
  • New Regulation Coming for CDS Market?
  • “You Just Have to Be Willing to Move Defensively”
  • Americans Are Fleeing Bank Deposits
  • If You’re a Highly Effective Person, We Should Talk
  • Trouble Now Brewing at Deutsche Bank

RSS Yoursurvivalguy.com

  • Schwab Down 30%, Fidelity, Vanguard, BlackRock, and You
  • Why Your Survival Guy Eschews Annuities
  • Government Debt Service a Growing Burden for Americans
  • BEWARE: The Road to Digital Currencies
  • Bad Guys Have Guns, Targets Must be Hardened
  • Another Habit of Highly Successful and Fairly Wealthy People
  • The Greatest Threats to the American Economy
  • Is America about to Deploy Star Wars-like X-Wings on the Battlefield?
  • Your Survival Guy’s #1 Habit of Fairly Successful People
  • Western Real Estate: From Zoom to Bust

Our Friend from Hungary Holding Court at “Thirsty”

Schwab Down 30%, Fidelity, Vanguard, BlackRock, and You

My Grandkids All Own Guns

Globalism Has Made America Dependent on Foreign Countries

The County Sheriff: America’s Last Hope

Is Modern Warfare Causing Cancer?

Copyright © 2023 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives