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Our experiences walking to and from school were similar to those of most of our classmates. Their parents did not drive them to school or put them on a bus. They let them walk. That was not unusual in America in the 1960s and early '70s. But it is today. An article published in 2011 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine noted that 47.7% of students in kindergarten through eighth grade walked or biked to school in 1969. By 2009, that had dropped to just 12.7% of students. A survey published in this same journal in 2019 reported that...

The woman born Virginia Hensley, in Winchester, Virginia on September 8, 1932, came to be loved around the world.Virginia Hensley, born in Winchester, Virginia on September 8, 1932, came to be loved around the world as Patsy Cline. Patsy’s mainstream career, in what became her speciality of effortlessly stylish, crossover country, really only lasted six years, from when she hit No.2 on the country chart with “Walkin’ After Midnight” until her tragic death from multiple injuries in a plane crash at the age of 30 in 1963. But her music endures, as it always will. Young Virginia grew up...

Mark Volman, a cofounder of the Turtles and the cosinger on several of their hit songs, has died. He was 78. Over his five-decade career, Volman also performed with fellow Turtles cofounder and singer Howard Kaylan as Flo & Eddie, who released albums as a duo and also performed on songs by Bruce Springsteen, T. Rex and Frank Zappa. According to Variety, Volman died in his home in Nashville on Friday after a sudden illness. In 2023, Volman revealed he had dementia. He noted at that time that he was diagnosed in 2020, but did not discuss his illness as...

Authorities in Tennessee announced Friday that they believe a sheriff who inspired the movie "Walking Tall" is responsible for his wife's death in 1967. During a news conference Friday, officials with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said there were "inconsistencies" in statements from Sheriff Buford Pusser following the 1967 murder of his wife, Pauline. “It’s been said that the dead can’t cry out for justice. It is the duty of the living to do so. In this case, that duty has been carried out 58 years later,” said District Attorney General Mark Davidson for the 25th Judicial District. Blood splatter...

Written in Rishikesh, ‘Dear Prudence’ has transcended its original inspiration to become one of The Beatles’ best-loved songs.Over the end of the Esher demo of “Dear Prudence,” John Lennon can be heard explaining the origin of the song: “No one was to know that sooner or later she was to go completely berserk under the care of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. All the people around her were very worried about the girl because she was going insane. So we sang to her.” The girl in question was Prudence Farrow, the 19-year-old sister of American actress Mia Farrow. During the stay, Prudence...

The summer of 1969 saw the world united in hope, but by the end of the year, the death of the 60s dream left the world asking: What’s next? The summer of 1969 saw the world united in hope. By the end of the year, however, the death of the 60s brought with it the end of the hippie dream of a brighter future. But the music that united hundreds of thousands of people at mass gatherings throughout 1969 lives on today. So what happened to make 1969 such a beautiful yet shocking climax to the 60s? The answer...

Yesterday’s classic song of the day was the 5th Dimension’s recording of “Puppet Man.” Sticking with the puppet theme, today’s classic song of the day is “I’m Your Puppet” by James & Bobby Purify. Released in September of 1966, the single went to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on Billboard’s R&B chart. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance, losing to the now-forgotten “Hold It Right There” by Ramsey Lewis. James & Bobby Purify were a pair of singing cousins from Florida, James Purify and Robert Lee Dickey. They...

Chubby Checker will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Nov. 8, but the singer has made clear he won't be in attendance. And interestingly, the Rock Hall is on board with that. At Checker's July 27 concert in Des Plaines, Illinois, the organization presented him with his induction trophy early. Additionally, Checker then explained from the stage in an interview that he purposely had his manager book him a concert for the evening of Nov. 8. "I told my manager, 'Make sure when we go to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the...

The group followed ‘Surfin’ Safari’ with the first song Brian Wilson ever wrote.The Beach Boys caught a wave and rode it into the US Top 10 for the first time in May 1963, when “Surfin’ U.S.A.” reached No.3. After an earlier Top 20 single with “Surfin’ Safari,” Brian Wilson’s adaptation of Chuck Berry’s melody really established the group as nationwide names. But the choice of follow-up single was going to be crucial. By August, following some singles co-written with Mike Love, it was time for Brian to get his initial credit as a solo writer, and for the first time...

Based on a childhood memory, the song became one of the most popular pop country tracks of the late 1960s.Laying the foundations for Westward expansion through dangerous, highly skilled labor, the lineman – a gender-inclusive term within the industry – fills a similar cultural role to that of the cowboy. With a small band of brothers (and now sisters), linemen do what needs to be done to keep the lights on and the phones ringing in their communities. The position isolates this expert technician from family and friends, forcing them to take risks to complete the job, doing so...

The group’s self-titled album represented the antithesis of 60s protest rock.The Bloomington, Illinois, quintet Spanky And Our Gang took their name from Hal Roach’s 30s comedies Our Gang, known in latter-day times as Little Rascals. That escapist implication suited their music, which was commonly referred to as “sunshine pop”: a hybrid of close-control harmony singing with elements of nostalgic show tunes and a whiff of sweet bubblegum pop. Step forward Elaine “Spanky” McFarlane, Nigel Pickering, Paul “Oz” Bach, Malcolm Hale, and John “The Chief” Seiter. In a way they represented the antithesis of 60s protest rock: at a time when...

The song delivered a jolt of reality to pop music listeners all around the world.It was 1965: A year in which Malcolm X was assassinated, American combat troops were sent to Vietnam, anti-war protests erupted, and civil rights demonstrators were attacked by Alabama State Troopers. A collective sense of uncertainty and doom hung in the air. But that July, as “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers and “Do You Believe in Magic” by The Lovin’ Spoonful were rising in the charts, “Eve of Destruction,” a missive written by P.F. Sloan and recorded by Barry McGuire, delivered a jolt of reality...

The Billboard Hot 100 dated July 4, 1964 showed the Beach Boys climbing to the top of the chart with ‘I Get Around.’It’s one of those lovely poetic facts that the band who have come to represent the spirit of America had their first US No.1 on Independence Day. The Billboard Hot 100 dated July 4, 1964 showed the Beach Boys climbing to the top of the chart with “I Get Around.” The song that it replaced at the summit was one of the early non-Beatles bestsellers from the British Invasion of that year, Peter & Gordon’s “A World...

ANTI WAR PROTESTERS FLYING THE NORTH VIETNAMESE FLAG, RED WITH GOLD STAR; THE FLAG OF THE VIET CONG IS THE ONE THAT’S RED ON TOP AND BLUE ON BOTTOM WITH GOLD STAR

As we age, our balance, stability and coordination can decline. One way to counteract this is to build strength with functional workouts. Functional exercises mimic everyday actions and strengthen the muscles we use regularly, which can help us move well for longer. And when we keep our bodies strong and agile, we are less prone to injury and chronic health conditions. But this doesn’t mean spending hours in the gym or doing complicated workouts.

The Hag’s seventh No.1 featured such great players as James Burton and Jim Gordon.Merle Haggard’s reputation as the champion of the working class was further cemented on May 16, 1969. That day, he was at Capitol Records’ studios in Hollywood with an A-list of musicians that comprised the Strangers, recording the great “Workin’ Man Blues.” It went on to become the seventh in an incredible total of 24 country No.1s amassed by “The Hag” in just ten years. Haggard’s tough upbringing, including time in San Quentin for a robbery conviction, and his unshakeable principles as a man of the people,...

This BBC film examines the myth behind the sixties, which was itself created before the decade was even out but has since lingered in all of our minds. What we have lived with however is merely a mirage and this documentary sets about exposing the truth, suggesting that we are living on borrowed time as a result of those who indulged whilst an unchecked Britain experienced an industrial decline. Looking back on old archived footage and the political atmosphere of the time a case is built against the decade we all consider to be filled with dreams

Dusty Springfield made her way into the heart of 1960s swinging London with the British trio The Springfields. Her solo hits include "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (1966) and "Son of a Preacher Man" (1969). After a bout with drugs and alcohol, she saw her career resurrected with the 1987 Pet Shop Boys song "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" and the soundtrack to the 1988 film Scandal.

The quartet were missing the warmth of Los Angeles, but turned that into a gold-certified classic.By the spring of 1966, the Mamas and the Papas were big news in the United States. They’d gone Top 5 with “California Dreamin’’’, released the previous December 8, and were climbing fast with the follow-up, ‘Monday, Monday.’ That was on its way to a three-week stint at No.1 in the US when, on the chart for April 28, the vocal quartet appeared on a British chart for the first time. “California Dreamin’’’ made a tentative first showing in the Top 50 that week at...

In 1966, the remote Spanish village of Palomares found that the "nuclear age had fallen on them from a clear blue sky". Two years after the terrifying accident, BBC reporter Chris Brasher went to find what happened when the US lost a hydrogen bomb. On 7 April 1966, almost 60 years ago this week, a missing nuclear weapon for which the US military had been desperately searching for 80 days was finally found. The warhead, with an explosive power 100 times that of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, was carefully winched from a depth of 2,850ft (869m) out of the...