For those who are old enough to remember:
What do you remember of America in terms of pop culture between 1959 to 1964, just before the British Invasion began? What do you remember of the popular music or underground music from the era after the "Day the Music Died" to just before the Beatles landed in New York? Who were the biggest movie stars and what were the biggest movie genres? What were some of the clothing trends--What did guys, older and younger wear, same with women? The era of Marilyn Monroe hitting her peak in popularity, and legends such as Errol Flynn and Clark Gable experiencing their last rides. The tail end of the Eisenhower years leading up to the beginning of the LBJ years, before Vietnam would play a role.

Were the Greasers and Rockers still around in America, or had they faded with the Big Bopper, Richie Valens and Buddy Holly's deaths, Jerry Lee Lewis' affair with his cousin exposed, and Elvis shipped off to the Army?

Were there any stirrings even in the underground of what would become the Hippie subculture? Men growing their hair long, etc? Was there any sense of the disconnect between the older and younger generations showing yet, or did it take Vietnam to bring their differences to the surface?

I read a news article from 1962 from the NY Times which declared Rock Music dead; that it was a passing, interesting fad which had had it's day. I find it a very interesting period in history.

Having been born a week after the Beatles first Ed Sullivan appearance...

I can onl;y say for certain that there has always been an underground subculture...no matter what the decade...

As far as the time period you are mentioning, i would have to say that the Beats, Beatniks, and Folkies would
be the preface to the Hippies...Drinking Wine, reading poetry, smoking grass, maybe even opium, cerebral literature and opposing all things "square"...

http://thestarryeye.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341cdd0d53ef0133ec8bd614970b-120wi

Well, I'm old, maybe one of the oldest around here, but not that old. My memories about music, fashion, worldpolitics, etc, begin around the great years 1963/1964, when I was 12/13 years old.
Maybe there are really old guys or girls here who remember. LOL

Paranoid Android wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2012 at 4:44pm:

I can onl;y say for certain that there has always been an underground subculture...no matter what the decade...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6MGVpl5ux8

In those days a new great song was coming out every few days....At night on my transistor radio (remember those?..lol) from Canada I could get all the top US rock stations from NYC/Chicago etc and they always had the new releases first. The DJs then were the kings of information and I would wait hoping to hear about a new Stones tune on its way. One time CHUM the big Toronto AM station supposedly sent a guy on a plane to London to bring back 2 new 45's....Strawberry Fields and Ruby Tuesday....waited all day until the songs arrived and were played.(im sure the 45's were already there...but the constant plane updates kept us mesmerized...what marketing!)...then debated like hell that Ruby was better with all my friends!.....lmaoo...great times then!

The Best time of My Life.....The  AM Radio was King when it came to Music!
Big spats in the car always over, turn it up, change the station, or I love it, or it's not the same or as good as.........
I grew up with 6 female cousins, each with a different heart throb in mind from Elvis, Beatles, The Stones, Roy,Mark Lindsay and The Raiders,  It was something to grow up with these beautiful girls. They made my youth during these times. The long debates over  who was Better and Why.
The shows, the albums, the TV shows and The Movies seem to be more of a Big thing.........It was always a big build up not by the promo machine but by Our own design. We created the Mystique for ourselves it was not as much as a store bought thin. Thank god. IMO we did a better job! :)

Born in 1953 my first rock records were Dead Mans Curve and Elvis Golden Hits. Then Of ccourse The Beatles on Sullivan changed everything and I gravitated from The Beatles to The Stones and KINKS who I preferred.

From 59 to 64 there were those manufactured rock singers like Fabian.  But The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean were kind of bringing Rock Music back to the roots of Chuck Berry.

Thats my recollection.

Oh yes there were the greasers, as ray davies puts it, The Survivors.

"Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio?"

Rock'n, rock'n'roll radio Let's go
Rock'n, rock'n'roll radio Let's go
Rock'n, rock'n'roll radio Let's go
Rock'n, rock'n'roll radio Let's go

Do you remember Hullabaloo,
Upbeat, Shinding and Ed Sullivan too?
Do you remember rock'n'roll radio?
Do you remember rock'n'roll radio?

Do you remember Murray the K,
Alan Freed, and high energy?
It's the end, the end of the 70's
It's the end, the end of the century

Do you remember lying in bed
With your covers pulled up over your head?
Radio playin' so no one can see
We need change, we need it fast
Before rock's just part of the past
'Cause lately it all sounds the same to me
Oh oh oh oh, oh oh

Will you remember Jerry Lee,
John Lennon, T. Rex and OI Moulty?
It's the end, the end of the 70's
It's the end, the end of the century

-----------------------------------------------------------

Radio, Radio  - Elvis
I was tuning in the shine on the light night dial
Doing anything my radio advised
With every one of those late night stations
Playing songs bringing tears to my eyes
I was seriously thinking about hiding the receiver
When the switch broke 'cause it's old
They're saying things that I can hardly believe
They really think we're getting out of control

(CHORUS) Radio is a sound salvation
Radio is cleaning up the nation
They say you better listen to the voice of reason
But they don't give you any choice 'cause they think that it's treason
So you had better do as you are told
You better listen to the radio

I wanna bite the hand that feeds me
I wanna bite that hand so badly
I want to make them wish they'd never seen me

Some of my friends sit around every evening
And they worry about the times ahead
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference
And the promise of an early bed
You either shut up or get cut up, they don't wanna hear about it
It's only inches on the reel-to-reel
And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools
Tryin' to anaesthetise the way that you feel