Spector’s famous “Wall of Sound” changed the recording industry (for better or worse is another question) forever. Instead of employing the usual three or four-piece Rock & Roll combo (in the Buddy Holly mold), Phil added extra guitarists, backup singers, strings, brass, reed, percussion and keyboard players, in fact, just as many musicians as could fit into the largest recording studio available. This gave the music dramatic new dimensions at first, but after a while, the songs became the “Wall of sounds-a-lot-like-Spector’s-last-record” music. Boomers liked it anyway because they had grown accustomed to mass production mediocrity. Real R & R intimidated them at the time… the kids just wanted a few Teen Dreams.
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Dreams sold wholesale on TV in 1962 and many of them reflected the image of our young President: “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (a young, idealistic politician), “Going My Way” (Catholic), “Ensign O’Toole (Irish Naval Officer) and “The Gallant Men (displaying grace under pressure). Other reflections were subtle; for instance, a conniving Capt. McHale (Navy) replaced a conniving Sgt. Bilko (Army) on the tube.
One popular new show mocked the old version of the American Dream. “The Beverly Hillbillies” were an extremely poor, backwoods clan who by dumb luck became instant multimillionaires. But, the Clampets never did adjust to the rich city life, and longed to return to their poor, but happy life in a Tennessee shack. For the first time TV admitted, “Perhaps money cannot buy happiness”.
The big screen revealed new problems like Lolita. This twelve-year-old Boomer bombshell drove old Humbert wild. Little girls grow up fast, and in 1962 there were twice as many high school freshmen femme fatales as in the previous year.
Many Boomers now had an extended bedtime curfew, and America needed a late night sitter to keep millions of young night owls company. On October 1, 1962, “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson” filled the job.
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President Kennedy scared the hell out of us on October 22nd, when the networks interrupted regular programming to report the President had just commanded Russia to turn back ships transporting missiles to Cuba and to remove the ones already in place on the island. America held its breath and waited for the flash. This meant all out nuclear war with the Ruskies, didn’t it? A little-known folk singer with a stage name of Bob Dylan quickly strung together several works-in-progress into one epic song in a desperate effort to spread the warning that “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall”. The Cuban Missile Crisis was actually over before JFK carefully staged his little drama on the air, but the public was unaware of his charade at the time. America truly thought that the world was about to end. When we heard the crisis had passed, the nation let out a collective sigh of relief, then felt elated that our great leader had valiantly stood up to Khrushchev and Castro and beat them back.
Americans felt invincible, as individuals and as a nation. Primetime TV played on those patriotic vibes, and claimed that war was glorious (“The Gallant Men” and “Combat”), and fun (“Ensign O’Toole” and “McHale’s Navy”), as Kennedy quietly increased Ike’s commitment to Vietnam. On the pop charts, faint omens of the future floated about. The Shirelles released “Soldier Boy”, and the Tokens warned that (“In the jungle, the quiet jungle”) “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. But, how long would the beast remain dormant? In just a few years John Fogerty would sing, “You’d better run through the jungle, and don’t look back.”
The folk music movement continued to grow, but seldom moved beyond the War Baby audiences on college campuses and local coffeehouses. Dylan wrote and recorded the antiwar classic, “Blowing in the Wind”, but few bought the record or even heard the song in 1962. Folk wouldn’t hit the mass market until young Boomers matured enough to embrace and adapt the music as their own.
“Sick humor” also played the college circuit with comedians like Lenny Bruce, Dick Gregory and Mort Sahl exploring touchy subjects such as discrimination, sex, religion, and even brought up questions about the US government and big corporations…all taboo topics during the Eisenhower years.
Ken Kesey’s first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest asked the most popular Boomer question of the Sixties: “Who should be considered sane in an insane society?” The seeds of rebellion had been planted. Boomers would soon harvest the crop.
What subtle hints about the state of the nation did TV program schedulers give us in 1962? “Saints and Sinners” preceded “The Price is Right”, Monday on NBC, and that same night on CBS, “I’ve Got a Secret” followed “To Tell the Truth”.