3) How do you remember the culture changing in general as the 60s went on from the Kennedy years to the Woodstock era?


It became more divided.



The hair thing became even more ridiculous.


Having the Kennedy Assassination as one of my earliest memories led to a cynicism beyond my years. Watching Vietnam, the Chicago
riots and the 1968 assassinations on the Huntley/Brinkley Report just fed it. Seeing all of the youthful, liberal leaders who spoke
to my developing idealism killed in the streets made me distrustful. The Sixties were crashing and burning. Seeing Nixon wind up in
the Presidency when the smoke cleared verified it - the fix was in.


And hair length remained crucial. When I got the
White Album for Christmas 1968, I didn't dare show
my dad how long John Lennon's hair was. Even my
mom clucked disapprovingly. The length of his hair
was positively vulgar.


The Stones went after extreme hair statements with a vengeance.

And so did I.

Finally back here....

My story is SO long, so I will try to do the Reader's Digest version. Born in '52--first exposure to R&R was when I was not quite 4 years old...hearing "Hound Dog" on the car radio, after Dad had come home railing about this awful new song... Both parents were in show biz, and Dad was a jazz pianist/composer, so R&R was a real downhill turn, as far as he was concerned...

Lived in Ark, Ind, So. Cal {'59-'63, the era of Phil Spector wall-of-sound groups and the beginning of the Beach Boys}, Ill. {'63-'early '68} the BEST years, and finally Va.

After Elvis was drafted, Little Richard found religion, Jerry Lee Lewis got in trouble marrying his 13 year old cousin, Carl Perkins was in a serious car accident, Buddy Holly/Richie Valens/the Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash,  and Eddie Cochran was killed in a car crash, "rock" became pretty lame stuff---Frankie Avalon, Paul Anka, Bobby Vinton, etc. Other than Spector's girl groups, and a few cool cats like Dion and Del Shannon, there wasn't much out there to love. I got my transistor radio on my 8th birthday in '60, and that bad boy stayed on, whenever possible, for the entire decade...

I was in S.W. Ill., outside of St. Louis, Mo. in '63. It was Nov. of that year, before Kennedy was assassinated, and I was listening to KXOK {out of St. Louis} in my bedroom. "Easier Said Than Done", typical '63 fare, had just finished playing, and the DeeJay came on, saying, "Ok kids, there is this band in England and they are BIG there! One of the member's has a sister who lives in Benson {about 100 miles away}, and she has been wanting me to play one of their songs for you. So, here they are....The Beatles!" He proceeded to play "Twist And Shout. I had never heard the Isley's version, and I just sat there with my mouth open. They sounded so---raw. And forbidden. And dangerous. I knew, then and there, that music would never be the same....

Heart Of Stone wrote on Dec 22^nd, 2011 at 6:02pm:



That's a pretty cool page, HOS. Thanks! Gotta watch it more in detail...

My # 956
I Loved the 60's
They were great...........

A wild thread.
My dad grew his hair long first sometime around 1970, age 16. By '74 it was shoulder length. Ironically, his father (my grandfather), who hated his long hair, had his hair slicked back in that '50s Greaser-esque style--which meant if his hair hung down in the front, it would go past his eyes--basically his hair was in it's own way long itself. But he always kept it slicked back with Vitalis. My dad was against the Vietnam War and had a poster which said War Is Not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things--which my grandfather, a pro-War hawk, tore off from his wall. Lots of tension over Vietnam, Hippies and Long Hair in his house--but in his neighborhood most of the other adults didn't care and most of the kids had long hair.

I find the long hair aspect of the 60s/early 70s very interesting. Keith in his book mentions how hair changed an entire culture. I'd love to hear more from people (or get a book recommended) about people who faced hardship and whatnot because of their long hair. I've read that a man having long hair in the 60s-early 70s wasn't just an aesthetic choice--it was a very strong statement.

I also find it interesting how the older folk tried to fit into the 1960s-1970s world. My maternal step-grandpa (born 1917) grew bushy sideburns which ended just below his ear, and wore poka dotted shirts.  My maternal grandpa (born 1920; died 1975) grew mid ear length sideburns and a close clipped mustache by 1972 and wore bell bottom slacks, white T-Shirts, Butterfly Collared Shirts (ala Disco) and generally didn't look "old"--He was dressing much the same as many of the younger guys, he just didn't have long hair. As a baby, though, his mother let his hair grow to long, shoulder length curls.

And my grandmother, his wife, who is and was very socially conservative, allowed my uncle (born in 1963)'s hair to grow about chin or shoulder length before it was chopped off. She idolized Jackie Kennedy and wore pill box hats and long gloves in the early 60s, and even by 1967 she was still wearing the elbow length gloves.

This was my dad's poster:


Interestingly enough, Lyndon Johnson, seen as THE ENEMY by most of the 60s and 70s youth, allowed his own hair to grow long after he left the White House. He never said why he let it grow himself but those around him felt his mind had changed a lot and he was showing solidarity for the youth--As growing your hair long was still in 1972 a big statement, especially by someone of Johnson's age and reputation. He unlike Nixon never felt the Hippies or youth were "bums" and actually related to them.

He said to an aide in private:

"I just don’t understand those young people. Don’t they realize I’m really one of them? I always hated cops when I was a kid, and just like them I dropped out of school and took off for California. I’m not some conformist middle-class personality."



http://willrabbe.com/storage/LBJ%20before%20and%20after.jpg__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVE...

I remember that poster well....

"  How do you remember the culture changing in general as the 60s went on from the Kennedy years to the Woodstock era?  "


http://media-center.knopfdoubleday.com/2011/11/01/robert-a-caros-the-passage-of-...


" In The Passage of Power, Caro focuses on five crucial years in the life of Lyndon Johnson – from late 1958 when he began campaigning for the presidency, to early 1964, after he was thrust into office following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Based on interviews with primary sources and on thousands of original documents, Caro describes the volatile relations between Johnson and John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. He writes of the years of frustration and humiliation Johnson endured as vice president. He tells the story of the Kennedy assassination from the viewpoint of Lyndon Johnson. And he shows how this master of politics grasped the reins of power in a time of great crisis and immediately ................ "

LBJOEY