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Just a thought here......Elvis Presley did not redefine music. Little Richard did but because he was black in that time period, he never got credit for what he did until later. Elvis capitalized on the Motown that no one else was paying attention to.
Elvis Presley could sing circles around little Richard. He was a dynamite performer on stage. His charisma and talent is what changed the music scene.
All absolutely true! I grew up during the fifties and trust me: For the average middle-class American family, any resemblance to TV shows like Leave it To Beaver, Father Knows Best, Ozzie and Harriet, Make Room for Daddy, The Donna Reed Show, etc. was only superficial -- appearance, cars, current slang. The same problems that beset people and families today were going on during the fifties; the only difference was that far more of an effort was made back then to keep such things hidden. "Never air your dirty laundry in public", as my mom always used to say!
As many have pointed out, life was far more difficult for many groups of people in the fifties than today; so the argument could even be made that in some respects the 1990s or 2Ks are the "better" decades for "more people" in terms of overall quality of life.
When I was in school during the mid-fifties to sixties, it was routine to have both Fire Drills and Air-Raid Drills; and people were encouraged to designate an area in their home's basement or other area as a fallout shelter and stock it with nonperishable goods. This, of course, was in the event of an attack by "The Reds". People who were born in the late 60s and afterwards are probably reading this and thinking "how ridiculous is that", but believe me it was a very serious worry back then.
In the fifties we worried about the Russians firing off nuclear missiles and listened to Kruschev banging his shoe on a lectern and declaring "We will bury your children!" Today we worry about Al Quaida and listen to threatening rants on CNN from Osama Bin Laden.
Utopia? That's only the title of a book, my friend.
But at least in the 1950's folks had morals. And you didnt have smut every where you turn around. Also most people went to church and read the Bible. And you didn't have people trying to ban Christianity all over the place.
It was a much nicer time to grow up.
Granted, I wasn't born until 1979. Most people tell me I was born in the wrong time period.
I just love the music, the attitudes, and the lifestyle of the 1950's.
My father said society went downward after 1965. Up until then it was all gravy. I agree !
"Yeah, the fifties were great. Except for you know, blacks, women, gays, Jews, Italians, women who wanted a career, people trapped in unhappy marriages, men who grew their hair long, people with polio......
I could continue on for some time. Leave It To Beaver was not real. It was a television show. The 1950s were not utopian by any means."
To all you 'warm glow' of nostalgia fans, here's a book for you to look for: 'The Good Old Days - They Were Terrible' by Otto L. Bettmann.
My mom hated the 50's. Just hated them. I've heard from other old timers who agreed with her.
To get a knock in here - I didn't ever care for Elvis. If I wanted to see & hear good rock-a-billy/R & B music performed give me the originators who Elvis stole it from. And that 70's rock n roll? Why watch some white guys with frizzled hair exposing their navels with that way over-amped sound playing 'Crosswords' or 'Good Morning Little Schoolgirl' when you can hear Howlin' Wolf or Junior Wells do it so much better? I don't understand why people settle for s__t. Worship Jimi Hendrix? Checkout T-Bone Walker and get back.
BTW - that moonwalk Michael Jackson did some years back? I've seen that same dance move performed by 50's black performers on old celluloid, and they were better at it and had a more original routine IMO.
Myself, I hated most of the ugly 70's. To me, the 70's were the line of demarcation where many Americans lost the ability to tell the difference between talent and mediocrity. Have we turned the tables toward enlightenment? I don't think so, not by a long shot. We did reelect Bush. Right? So maybe the slide into mediocrity continues with even more fervor than in the past.
Elvis did not steal. He was an original. He had his own style and voice. He might have been inspired by some some Memphis sounds, but in many ways he re-invented and made that his own.
Some folks say Elvis stoled music from the blacks. That isn't true. He just had so much talent and charisma that naturally made him a Star.
But at least in the 1950's folks had morals. And you didnt have smut every where you turn around.....
My father said society went downward after 1965. Up until then it was all gravy. I agree !
IMHO there wasn't any greater number of "moral" people in 1950 than there are today. Or than there were in 1940 or 1930 or 1890 for that matter. Just MHO, you understand! Because there's no way to prove that with statistics; just as there's no way to prove the truth of your assertion that most people in 1950 were "moral" (however that's defined!) and those in the late 1960s and onward are "less moral".
Smut has always been there, even in Victorian times. The only difference is that it used to be delivered in plain brown wrappers.
I'm curious as to what your dad believes was the turning point for society/morality/common decency in 1965. Not just "the sixties" but a specific year; that's interesting. Do you happen to know what prompts him to think that? Something in particular that happened that year?
How about you buy yourself a music history book, then come talk about what Elvis didn't steal.
I never said Elvis didn't have talent. But yes, he did rip it off from Motown.
Um, no. He was inspired by it. There's a difference. You could say The Beatles ripped off Elvis (which actually they did) if you wanna get technical.
Because Elvis grew up in Memphis, he was influenced by the Blues and Rockabilly and Country music around him. Naturally, he will sound somewhat like that.
I have his Sun Studios on LP and its a very experimental and cutting edge sound for that time. He and Sam Phillips were not sounding like anyone else at the time. Neither did Buddy Holly and The Crickets.
I guess he's trying to stimulate conversation, but I must admit, my head is staring to spin, trying to keep up with all the questions he asks, bless his heart.
VASINGER, I don't believe DULLNBORING was being cynical. It's called reality. Although, there was much good in the fifties, it was not Utopia. Such a thing does not exist, nor is it likely to, people being what they are, a mixture of both good and bad. One can look back, with nostalgia, (if one lived during that particular era), or one can look at that time with some wonderment, maybe even a little envy, (I used to love my mother's era of music ), but one cannot be naive about the things that were wrong with any era, be it the fifties, or any other time. I love history, but I can tell you, especially as a woman, I would not want to live in any of those times., including the fifties. Women were treated like the scarlett woman, if they were pregnant and unwed, though the men were simply "sewing wild oats" ; blacks had few rights, (would you like someone to tell you where you could sit on the bus? Or, which water fountain to drink from? Etc.); American Indians couldn't practice their own religion, legally, (that right wasn't given to them until the 70's, my era!). Every time in history had it's good points, but none of them had Utopia. I think that DULLNBORING was simply trying to remind you not to look into the past with rose-colored glasses.
Exactly. It's no coincidence that the few people longing for life in the fifties are almost always straight white men. Why? Because at the time, they were the kings of the castle. Life is good when you're king, but now that the playing field has been made more equal and many have to share what they were once "entitled" to just by virtue of being born of their race and gender, with other groups of people, a lot of them long for the days when just by virtue of being born, they were put on mile 20 of a marathon while everyone else was back at the starting line. It's no coincidence that women, minorities, people with diseases, non-conformists and a litany of other groups (including the majority of straight white men as well who recognize the multitude of problems in the era, not just regarding Civil Rights, which many posters have touched on) aren't exactly longing for the fifties.
There of course were certain benefits to life in the fifties. Bhaalspawn touched upon perhaps one of the biggest ones, in the affordability of a single family home oftentimes on one income and oftentimes, achievable even for those who lacked a higher education but had a strong work ethic. However, being experienced with vasinger on this board (while you all may just be getting a taste of him and his style of "debating" on the main board, he and I have been butting heads for months on the Virginia board), I know what he meant by this and where he was going with this thread. No one knew what Crack or Meth or AIDS was. Communities tended to be tighter-knit, with less technological distractions inhibiting personal relations, and with neighborhoods designed for the pedestrian rather than the car.
I can certainly understand admiring certain aspects of life in the fifties but to call the time period utopian is just laughable. There was so much glaring injustice and inequality in the fifties, that I can't just gloss over it just because it wasn't shown on Leave It To Beaver.
There of course were certain benefits to life in the fifties. Bhaalspawn touched upon perhaps one of the biggest ones, in the affordability of a single family home oftentimes on one income and oftentimes, achievable even for those who lacked a higher education but had a strong work ethic.
Absolutely dead-on! If I had to choose the single most positive characteristic of the 1950s, that would be it.
I would even say "most times" rather than "oftentimes" on one income, in fact. Remember, many many women were at home taking care of all those products of the postwar Baby Boom, especially during the first half of the 'fifties.
As for TV portrayals of real life, also keep in mind the censorship that was in effect for television programming. Remember the huge flap about whether scenes could show a married couple in anything other than twin beds? By contrast, watch some of the movies that were made in the 1930s and 1940s. Things that were allowed in movies (such as a man verbally and/or physically abusing his wife) were never permitted to be shown on TV. In fact the history of censorship in movies over the decades is a fascinating subject in itself!
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), but one cannot be naive about the things that were wrong with any era, be it the fifties, or any other time. I love history, but I can tell you, especially as a woman, I would not want to live in any of those times., including the fifties. Women were treated like the scarlett woman, if they were pregnant and unwed, though the men were simply "sewing wild oats"
; blacks had few rights, (would you like someone to tell you where you could sit on the bus? Or, which water fountain to drink from? Etc.); American Indians couldn't practice their own religion, legally, (that right wasn't given to them until the 70's, my era!). Every time in history had it's good points, but none of them had Utopia. I think that DULLNBORING was simply trying to remind you not to look into the past with rose-colored glasses.
