new thread
Here is a beat musician who had shoulder length hair four years before the Beatles started growing theirs long!
Wizz Jones - 1960
Priceless footage! Thanks! As one comment said, "Long hair was not a 1960's or Beatles invention". But I guess it was the Beatles who made it mainstream.
Damon
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I think what the Beatles did was extend it from jazz, blues and folk that the beatniks were into, to rock'n'roll. So yes, that made it mainstream.
They got the look from the German 'Exis' (existentialists), who were probably not mostly rock fans either. When they were playing in Hamburg, they were persuaded to adopt this look by Astrid Kirchherr, who was going out with one of the Beatles, Stu Sutcliffe. They used to have one more guitarist, you know, but he wanted to pursue his career as an artist and stay in Germany with Astrid. Sadly, he died not long after of a brain tumour.
Ringo Starr (real name Richard Starkey) was also not their original drummer. Pete Best was essentially sacked by the record company when they got a recoding contract, and went back to his old job in a factory. Ringo had a reputation as the best drummer of any of the bands that played the same venues in Liverpool in their early days, and had also actually followed them around at one time (he was younger than they were) so he got the job.
If you want to learn more, buy a book, LOL!
Who needs a book?! Your knowledge is awesome! Many thanks, Alun!
Damon
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Quite amazing - yet to go to Newquay now would reveal many long hairs (and the shaven headed -ugh) living quite peacefully together with the locals. There can be tensions locally between visitors and natives but hair is not a factor.
The facade in the arguments was that some, at least, did not wash: That problem sadly remains the case today though is certainly not confined to long hairs.
This was always the answer when those I was interviewing who had long hair asked about keeping it, 'I welcome long hairs but please keep it clean' though I always added 'and so must every one else so I am not singling long hairs out in this'.
One of the comments to the video queried the date, and said it looked more like 1964 or 1965, which would of course be after the Beatles, who got their first No.1 in 1963 with 'I Want to Hold Your Hand'. I have the original Parlophone 45, which was given me by a young guy who worked with my dad back then. Even if it was 1960, which it might well be, they certainly didn't wait until 1964 to grow the famous Beatles haircuts, they had them in Hamburg before they came home, so certainly earlier than 1963, much less 1964.
This could be as early as 1960. The beatniks started growing out their hair in San Francisco before that, I believe. Labelling the people in the story as beats rather than hippies gives a certain limit to the date, but only really puts it before about 1967, which is no real help.
The caption to the video comments that Alan Whicker (the interviewer) was like a Monty Python parody of himself. That seems so true, but it is really just a reminder of how perfectly Eric Idle ripped off his distinctive (and truly slightly odd) way of speaking.
Seeing Cliff Michelmore as the presenter really took me right back in time.
I must say how impressed, not to say even proud, I am of the fair reporting by both Alan Whicker and Cliff Michelmore for the BBC, although it was presented as more of a novelty item than a human rights story. I wish I was sure that the BBC of today always rises to that level, but I have my doubts.
actually they had two #1's before "I want to hold your hand" in the U.K.
"From Me To You" was the first which topped the charts in May 1963 and "She Loves you" topped the charts in the fall of 1963
followed by "I want to hold your hand" which topped the U.K charts in mid-late December 1963, however "I want to hold your hand" was their first U.S number one single followed by "She Loves You" and "Can't Buy Me Love"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_singles_from_the_1960s_%28UK%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_1964_%28U.S.%29
as for the hair, the hair was off the ears as late as August 1963, but probably much longer than the Average American man's at that time.
http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1963.0823.beatles.html
they had started to let their hair grow out by the beginning of 1964
here is the historical Ed Sullivan performance from February 9, 1964
the hair at this point is only about mid way over the ears and while much longer than the average American boy was allowed to wear his hair at that time it was still short in comparison to the beatniks.
there were groups from the U.K who had much longer hair at this time such as the Rolling Stones and Kinks, but with the exception of Dave Davies(guitarist for the kinks) none came remotely close to shoulder length among the Rock and roll bands of that era as far as I know.
this clip is either from very late 1964 or early 1965
the single was released in late 1964
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Day_and_All_of_the_Night
most British groups were known for their longer hair by 1965
such as the Yardbirds
Keith Relf's length and style was very similiar to Brian Jones around this time.
as for shoulder length or longer that probably did not become the norm for bands until around 1967-1968.
certainly, like the beats, the hippies had much longer hair, but the average rock and roll musician did not sport shoulder length or longer hair until the late 1960`s.
here is a clip of the Jefferson Airplane from 1967 when they performed on the Smothers Brothers show
but, by 1968 when harder edge bands such as Blue Cheer hit the airwaves the hair was much much longer
much longer than even Iron Butterfly's hair from the same year
sorry , I had to break this up
and look how they were treated in the U.K at that time? I can just imagine how they would have been perceived in many parts of the U.S. probably worst things would have happened to them which would make the way they were treated in that English town benevolent by comparison!
in regards to the Hippies, here is some info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie#Early_hippies_.281960.E2.80.931966.29
"Although the word hippies made isolated appearances during the late 1950s and early 1960s, the first clearly contemporary use of the term appeared in print on September 5, 1965, in the article, "A New Haven for Beatniks", by San Francisco journalist Michael Fallon. In that article, Fallon wrote about the Blue Unicorn coffeehouse, using the term hippie to refer to the new generation of beatniks who had moved from North Beach into the Haight-Ashbury district."
"A July, 1967 Time Magazine study on hippie philosophy credited the foundation of the hippie movement with historical precedent as far back as the counterculture of the Ancient Greeks, espoused by philosophers like Diogenes of Sinope and the Cynics also as early forms of hippie culture.[7] It also named as notable influences the religious and spiritual teachings of Henry David Thoreau, Hillel the Elder, Jesus, Buddha, St. Francis of Assisi, Gandhi, and J.R.R. Tolkien."
"The first signs of modern "proto-hippies" emerged in fin de siècle Europe. Between 1896 and 1908, a German youth movement arose as a countercultural reaction to the organized social and cultural clubs that centered around German folk music. Known as Der Wandervogel "
imho, this contradicts the stereotypes presented in movies such as "up in smoke" which was released many years after(1978) the 1960s counterculture had dissipated.
these days it's the Goths who have become stereotyped and alleged scapegoats and are often beat upon or and in this
particular case murdered by ignorant rednecks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sophie_Lancaster
the problem arises when some group of young people decide to do something different than the mainstream is used to and it frightens them and the fears are generally always irrational with no basis whatsoever.