Posted on 05/28/2007 3:25:01 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
The flowers that they wore in their hair have long since wilted, but the generation that came of age in the 1960s will spend the coming months recalling a summer four decades ago, when rock music, drugs and sexual liberation fused to create the Summer of Love.
From New York, where Janis Joplin's psychedelic Porsche is on display at the Whitney Museum of Art, to the Bay area, where Joplin's band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, will play at an anniversary tribute to the Monterey Pop music festival, the calendar will be flipped back to an earlier time that, in some ways, foreshadows the present:
*A Texan -- Lyndon Johnson -- was president.
*American troops were fighting an increasingly unpopular war.
*In California, the epicenter of the Summer of Love, an actor -- Ronald Reagan -- had recently been elected governor.
The events for the 40th anniversary -- a mark not usually celebrated as noisily as a 25th or 50th anniversary -- might reflect the fact that the Baby Boomers who were teenagers or young adults in the summer of 1967 are now well into their 50s or 60s, and they don't want to wait another 10 years to bask in the memories of their youth.
"It was a very special moment of optimism and idealism," said Amalie R. Rothschild, a photographer who amassed an archive of 20,000 photos of the era's rock musicians, mainly from their performances at the legendary Fillmore East concert hall in New York's East Village.
But the similarities between 1967 and 2007 could be an equally important factor, said Jason Fine, deputy managing editor of Rolling Stone, which published its first issue in November 1967 and is celebrating its anniversary with three issues, including one devoted to the Summer of Love ...
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
And a lot more communicable diseases.
I am not only refering to the main stars of that era, but also to all the thousands of garage bands all over this country and around the world. Every nook and cranny across the land produced bands who recorded a record to promote themselves. There was a lot of great music that was never even heard on the radio. And everything about that era wasn’t gloom and doom. Most of the music was about having a good time.
My memories of that time were quite good, in fact! One of the benefits of growing up in a rural community. Sure some folks messed up, but that happens in all eras of history. Remember Andy Gibbs,Len Bias, John Belushi? and many, many others. I wasn’t into the drugs or the politics of the sixties, but I was really into the music.
>>when rock music, drugs and sexual liberation fused to create the Summer of Love.<<
As one of their inheritors I can honestly say that only one of those three thinks is worth anything.
The Summer of Love? Great, thanks, now sex kills, not just itches.
>>The Summer of Love? Great, thanks, now sex kills, not just itches.<<
Let me amend this, I realize AIDS didn’t come about at that point, but the freedom = promiscuity attitude did.
Again, thanks.
Our country has suffered for 40 years from the arrogance and immaturity of this destructive generation (not all Boomers, but the ones who set the tone). They’re now at the height of their power. As a tail-end Baby Boomer, I regreat that I won’t live to see the passing of this generation, who will cling to life — and to power — for as long as they possibly can. What a thought.
Sheesh ... I was expecting a photo of a hot hippie mama? Helen Thomas AGAIN? Have you no decency, sir?
We '50 year olds' were only 10 in 1967 - and speaking for myself, I was never a hippie - I was just a kid climbing trees and riding my second-hand bicycle.
Please add me to the ping list.
On the first full day of summer that year (22 Jun 1967, and also the 26th Anniversary of Operation Barbarossa) I caught a MAC charter out of Tan Son Nhut and headed back to my base outside of Yokohama.
Re post 11: ditto. Rock began declining into noise by the late 1960’s. Before, we actually had songs with melodies one could remember.
I don’t even know what that means. You left combat in ‘67? God Bless ya and your friends.
sorry. the sixties died off for good in the 90’s.
Damn them for what they have done to our country.
When I wrote “60’s generation” I meant to say “Boomers.”
1967 = 14, and loved every minute of it! :-)
Charles Manson recruited his “family” from amongst those peaceful flower children in San Francisco circa 1966-67. That’s a fact frequently ignored.
Yep. And, boy, do I hate those Ameriprise ads that generally assume we all look back so longingly. BARF !
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