If you want to see changes in advertising over the 1960s (as well as the decades before and after), Google magazines has almost the full run of Life Magazine available for viewing online. If you want to see how advertisers tried to appeal to mainstream America, there’s probably no better source than Life.
For anyone interested in a historical treatment of some key changes in the advertising industry during the 1960s, i recommend Thomas Frank’s book The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism. It is, i believe, based on his University of Chicago PhD dissertation, although i can’t seem to find my copy right now to confirm that. A few chapters are about attempts to make men’s fashion more marketable, and the rest focuses on the ways in which the advertising industry dealt with the social and cultural changes of the 1960s.
Even 1990s print adverts seem to have a lot more text in them than present day ones. Apart from disclaimers and copyright notices you don’t typically get that tiny text that’s omnipresent in older ads.
Of course. The cover for Revolver was not exactly psychedelic. Since we were talking Cream, compare the covers of Fresh Cream and Disraeli Gears.
My F&SFs are easily available as a trailing indicator. The first remotely interesting cover was May 1967, then a slightly edgier one in November 1967. By March 1968 for Evelyn E. Smith’s “Callope and Gherkin and the Yankee Doodle Thing” we have bands of bright colors and blobs of blue in them.
As I said, it was an indicator of the future. Nothing like that in 1966 culture.
I own the April 5 1968 issue with its spread on 2001. That is an interesting indicator of the change - when the last sequence was made, there was no intention of it being psychedelic, but by the time the movie came out that was how it was seen.
I argue that the Revolver album cover WAS psychedelic. Not neon day-glo perhaps, but quite similar to Disraeli Gears, just in black & white. But I digress.
In my opinion, the champion of psychedelic Cream albums is the silver foil Wheels Of Fire with the neon eyeball inside.
Bear in mind that, prior to Sgt. Pepper, the Beatles commanded the general level of respect among adults and males that N’Synch did ten years ago. Don had worked with celebrities before, like the abrasive comedian from (I think) season 2, and had no reason to expect top rock bands to be any different. And, as he pointed out earlier, the Stones did a Rice Krispies commercial early in their career.
As far as quality of music, sure. But the impact of their trips to NY was much greater. Not just the Ed Sullivan event, but WABC renamed themselves W A Beatles C when they were in NY. And kids screaming for a band was new back then, not counting Frank Sinatra at the Paramount which my mother told me was a bit similar (not that she went.)
Remember Don got tickets to Shea for Sally.
Bands did some ads. The Cream boxed set has a beer ad they did. But the Beatles (and Stones) were well beyond this by 1966. The other bands mentioned as pseudo-Beatles were really good choices. Paul Revere and the Raiders for instance did a guest spot on Dick van Dyke.
This is reinforced by the fact that Don scored Beatles tickets for his daughter in a previous season. So it’s not as if he’s totally oblivious. He knows enough to know she loves them but not enough to know or care what’s so great about them.
I’m confused though as to how old he’s meant to be. I have that same problem with lots of the characters. Pete seems to yoyo from being a young critter to a very old soul indeed.
That Dick van Dyke appearance is actually a pretty good indicator of what real life was like then. Remember that he was the head writer for a variety show. It was based on the old Sid Caesar shows, but the audience would immediately think of Ed Sullivan. Therefore he was professionally obligated to be aware of the new music.
Yet he’s shown as being amazed and confounded by the screaming girls and the adulation and the whole new world that was miles away from his vaudeville tradition. And this was with Chad & Jeremy, the mildest, cleanest cut pair of guys with guitars that England could offer, who incorporated many old standards into their act. (Full disclosure: I’m hopelessly in love their original, “A Summer Song,” and like much of their other stuff. But they’re shining examples of why today’s audiences can’t believe we called the music “rock”. We did and it was. Just not today’s rock.)
Ed Sullivan could get away with the Stones and raunchier groups in 1966. Network tv got away - just barely and to plenty of protest - with The Monkees, almost as mild and clean-cut, but with electric guitars. And That Girl, with Marlo Thomas as an aspiring actress who moves to New York and has “a fantastic wardrobe and a fabulous apartment.” Hmm.
Clean cut rock was acceptable in small doses by 1966. Which is why so many groups immediately rebelled against that.
Remember Megan’s birthday party she threw for him that he didn’t want? That was his 40th.
I think 40 was emotionally older then- people didn’t have the extended adolescence that seems ubiquitous these days, plus he’s been abused, impoverished, gone to war, lived in secret etc etc. It’s not the years, but the miles.
Yes, after forcing them to change “Let’s Spend the Night Together” to “Let’s Spend Some Time Together.” Ed was smart enough to know edgy performers gave his show an audience beyond the core - remember he put Elvis on also. And Dylan was booked, but walked when they wouldn’t let him do “Talkin’ John Birch Society Blues.”
No argument here. But back then “clean cut” groups doing drugs weren’t blatantly advertising it either. Or being very subtle. Consider the difference between “Spider and the Fly” and “Stray Cat Blues” - more or less about the same subject. Of course the Stones niche was to not be that clean cut.
In any case, in the context of the show they wanted the songs, not the band. And they wanted what the client wanted. The moral character of the band, or the quality of the music, seemed to play little part in it. Though it would be funny if the older admen went after a temporarily popular but crappy group.
The copywriters are the young employees who are supposed to keep up with societal trends. Partners and vice-presidents of accounts, not so much. Ken, Ginsberg et al. would be told how much they can spend and they would choose the band. I think the Tradewinds are available.