I think it’s a bit unfair that Ricky Nelson is often mentioned as one of those teeny-bopper acts of these times, I guess just for being a teen-star hit machine hyped by TV. His music had much more edge than those acts, and his R’n’B covers were much, much less watered down and sanitized than, say, Pat Boone and his ilk. And he had a secret weapon with James Burton. He later proved (as RICK Nelson) that he had genuine musical talent.
And Ricky Nelson. But you also had The Everly Bros, who certainly influenced The Beatles.
Is Baby Elephant Walk uncool? It won a Grammy in '62 for best instrumental arrangement.
When I hear ‘uncool’ anything, my eyeballs glaze over. Who, what is ‘uncool’, according to WHOM? Who says ‘grunge’, ‘rock’, Bob Dylan-unplugged-only is cool? All the cool kids mourning the oh-so-tragic dead at 27 club - yeah, so what?
Back in the early 60’s and beyond, all the tv stars making records, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Pat Boone, all the Bobbies - they were very popular for a reason. Young people liked them, identified with the younger ones, had crushes on them - and these entertainers were deemed ‘uncool’ by … who? Why? Not every teenager or 20 something in those days was a drunken, drugged up gang member, most were middle of the road solid citizens who fit in with society, went to church, went to school and work with no huge problems. There were your Janis Joplins and Jim Morrisons staggering around, and then there were blander types: Lesley Gore, Julie Andrews, Brenda Lee, The Monkees, Bobby Darin. All successes more or less, but wearing dirty jeans vs. a hat and white gloves didn’t mean one group was any better than the other.
Well, there’s a reason why I said ‘uncool’ instead of ‘bad’. Society is run by the boomer children at the moment, so the things that seemed wild or new during their childhood are the best remembered at the moment. Thus, I thought I’d find out what else there was on the staid side of things.
The idea of this thread came from a game I’ve been playing about the Vietnam war. We all know there’s this archetype Vietnam where the troops just want to survive and helicopters fly around while white rabbit or all along the watchtower plays in the background, but the game I was playing was set in 1965 - The music world just hadn’t really reacted to that war yet, so I wondered what sort of music they might have sung or listened to when on base or on leave, since troops come from all over society, might as well widen the scope out to the public in general.
Anyway, I really thank everyone for replying, I’ve listened to most of the names metioned in the thread thanks to the magic of youtube, which was very enjoyable (mostly. some real groaners in there.:D)
I have heard “We Gotta Get out of This Place” by the Animals was a popular number in Vietnam
I don’t think you understand the music of the time. Sinatra was a perfectionist. Bands actually rehearsed the music and hit the studio. Miles Davis recorded his classic albums in hours rather than days.