The Sound of the Suburbs: A Case Study of Three Garage Bands in San Jose, California during the 1960s

The Chocolate Watchband, the Count Five, and the Syndicate of Sound were three garage bands from San Jose, California. During the 1960s, before the high‐tech economy transformed the Santa Clara Valley into Silicon Valley, San Jose was a culturally sleepy suburb. This paper will examine these three groups in the context of 1960s culture and society and will compare and contrast their image and musical output with that of the better‐known “hippie” music scene originating an hour north in San Francisco

Absence and Presence: Top of the Pops and the demand for music videos in the 1960s

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.Whilst there is a surprising critical consensus underpinning the myth that British music video began in the mid-1970s with Queen’s video for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, few scholars have pursued Mundy’s (1999) lead in locating its origins a decade earlier. Although the relationship between film and the popular song has a much longer history, this article seeks to establish that the international success of British beat groups in the first half of the 1960s encouraged television broadcasters to target the youth audience with new shows that presented their idols performing their latest hits (which normally meant miming to recorded playback). In the UK, from 1964, the BBC’s Top of the Pops created an enduring format specifically harnessed to popular music chart rankings. The argument follows that this format created a demand for the top British artists’ regular studio presence which their busy touring schedules could seldom accommodate; American artists achieving British pop chart success rarely appeared on the show in person. This frequent absence then, coupled with the desire by broadcasters elsewhere in Europe and America to present popular British acts, created a demand for pre-recorded or filmed inserts to be produced and shown in lieu of artists’ appearance. Drawing on records held at the BBC’s Written Archives and elsewhere, and interviews with a number of 1960s music video directors, this article evidences TV’s demand-driver and illustrates how the ‘pop promo’, in the hands of some, became a creative enterprise which exceeded television’s requirement to cover for an artist’s studio absence

"Doctor, I'm Damaged": Medical and Cultural Narratives of Nicky Hopkins and The Rolling Stones

Pianist Nicky Hopkins (1944-1994) was one of the most gifted and prolific session musicians of his generation, playing on recordings by artists including The Kinks, The Who, The Beatles, and most extensively, The Rolling Stones. This essay considers Hopkins’ legacy through the lens of disability studies, discussing how physical illness prevented him from joining bands because he was unable to tour. As a point of contrast against Hopkins’ image as an abstinent and (at the start and end of his career) teetotal musician, narratives of ‘rock & roll excess’ surrounding the Rolling Stones are critiqued as part of a cultural lineage dating back to Romanticism. Through these focal points, the essay also confronts the complex relationship between disability studies and addiction

John Lennon, “Revolution,” and the Politics of Musical Reception

The Beatles recorded two starkly different musical settings of John Lennon\u27s controversial 1968 song “Revolution”: One was released as a single, the other appeared on the White Album (as “Revolution 1”). Lennon\u27s lyrics express deep skepticism about political radicalism, and the single, with its lines “But when you talk about destruction/… you can count me out,” incited rage among critics and activists on the Left. Lennon appears less opposed to violent protest in “Revolution 1”—recorded first, though released later—where he sang “you can count me out—in.” The reception of “Revolution” reflected a focus on the words and their apparent political meanings, largely ignoring the musical differences between the two recordings of the song. Moreover, the response to “Revolution” had much to do with public perceptions of the Beatles. Their rivals the Rolling Stones, seen as a more radical alternative voice, released the equally political “Street Fighting Man” at virtually the same moment in 1968. The much more favorable public reaction to the latter had at least as much to do with the way the bands themselves were perceived as with differences between the songs

FROM BLUES TO THE NY DOLLS: THE ROLLING STONES AND PERFORMANCE OF AUTHENTICITY

Rock’n’roll has specific aesthetic — a set of invisible rules that each young rock musician accepts as a given. If one examines the history of rock’n’roll starting from 1950s, one will notice that there was a clear division in rock that separates the rock’n’roll of 1950s from rock of the second half of the 1960s and beyond—the rock that we know today. This thesis investigates how the visual aesthetic of rock’n’roll evolved from its origins in the 1950s blues tradition, how it was formed in the second half of the 1960s, and how it was modified in the first half of the 1970s. In particular, it focuses on the role played by the British band Rolling Stones as mediators between the 1950s early rock aesthetics rooted in the blues tradition and the Beats’ ideology and the subsequent generations of American rockers who emerged in the 1970s, such as the band New York Dolls. The final section of the thesis investigates how the New York Dolls adopted and transmitted the aesthetics of authenticity pioneered by the Stones to the new wave of punk and grunge bands. Although the thesis considers the music produced within this milieu, its primary focus is on the visual presentation and promotion of the new aesthetic through stage performances, publicity and the medium of television

GUERRA E HEROÍSMO: FREUD E A CANÇÃO “C’ERA UN RAGAZZO CHE COMO ME AMAVA I BEATLES E I ROLLING STONES”

This paper aims to analise Italian pop song C’era un ragazzo che come me amava i Beatles e i Rollings Stones (LUSINI; MIGLIACCI) — arranged by Ennio Morricone — and the ideas of war, death and heroism developed by Sigmund Freud. The symbolism of the Hero is a manifestation of unconscious fantasies of the subject, being that hero real and flawed or fictional and virtuous, and is from Freud’s works (1908a, 1915) and our preview thesis (SARMENTO, 2019) that we will seek aid for our comparison.Neste artigo, vamos trabalhar a canção pop italiana arranjada por Ennio Morricone C’era un ragazzo che como me amava i Beatles e i Rolling Stones (LUSINI; MIGLIACCI) e a noção de guerra, morte e heroísmo elocubradas por Sigmund Freud. A imagem do herói é uma manifestação das fantasias inconscientes do sujeito, seja ele real e falho ou fictício e virtuoso, e é a partir de Freud (1908; 1915) e dos nossos estudos anteriores (SARMENTO, 2019) que buscaremos fazer esta análise sobre o herói da guerra da canção e a psicanálise. Palavras-chave: Herói. Trauma. Guerra. Psicanálise

“Helter Skelter” and Sixties Revisionism

In the late sixties rock music was typically seen as an important aspect of the revolutionary counterculture ; but the Beatles’ ‘White Album’ was ambivalently received, amidst allegations of reactionary nostalgia. The song ‘Helter Skelter’ was difficult to classify at the time; its subsequent associations with cult murderers the Manson Family made it notorious. Largely overlooked for several years, the few early covers usually rendered it as hard rock. Later, more generically diverse and deviant renditions would reinflect the song as a critique of the sixties’ countercultural project. Patterns of reclamation and contestation have made covers of the song a telling index of revisionist attitudes to the 1960s and their legacies.À la fin des années 1960, on considérait le rock comme un aspect important de la contre-culture révolutionnaire. Mais le White Album des Beatles fut reçu de façon ambivalente – on l’accusa notamment de nostalgie réactionnaire. La chanson « Helter Skelter » était difficile à catégoriser à l’époque ; le fait qu’on l’associe par la suite avec les meurtres commis par la Famille Manson la rendit tristement célèbre. Les premières reprises du morceau en firent un canon du hard rock naissant, avant que le heavy metal ne prenne la relève. Plus tard, des versions plus éclectiques la détournèrent pour en faire une critique du projet culturel des années 1960, en invoquant la figure menaçante de Charles Manson. D’autres tentèrent plus tard d’exorciser ce spectre maudit, pour la réinscrire dans la grande tradition du rock. Analyser « Helter Skelter » par le prisme ses innombrables reprises, c’est faire l’histoire de l’héritage polémique des années 1960

“Wir streiken!”: Music and Political Activism in Cold War Germany

Using print media such as band biographies, books, and journals that address youth, popular culture, and music in the German context, this thesis analyzes how music and musicians influenced political protest movements in West Germany during the Cold War and how, in turn, protest movements fostered the career of musicians. The relationship between music and social change in Germany throughout the Cold War is complicated and contains many aspects. This thesis focuses mainly on the effect American and British music had on divided Germany and examines how these influences helped shape the cultural climate in which political protests emerged. It further addresses the question of how we understand the fact that the success of the bands often outlived the political protest movements

The Cowl - v.31 - n.6 - Oct 30, 1968

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 31, Number 6 - October 30, 1968. 10 pages