Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sixties

Mad Men Themed Gifts for a man

Dukat — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:05:40 -0800

Ideas for a Mad Men/early 60s themed gift for an early 20s man? Seeking gift ideas related to Mad Men for my boyfriend, who is in his early 20s. He loves Mad Men, the early 60s, wears cardigans and Oxford shoes. He doesn't have the show, despite having watched it for almost 3 years, so I was thinking:

-Season 1 of Mad Men
-a skinny tie

? Anything else along the same lines? He smokes, so I was thinking about throwing in a pack of cigarettes. However, I know nothing about such things--are Lucky Strikes even still around?

Also, Mad Men themed/60s alcohol ideas? He is a seasoned drinker.

Thank you in advance!

The Birth of Rock and Roll

netbros — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:50:03 -0800

What was the really good music of the fifties and sixties? Even though I am a child of the fifties, I didn't really start paying attention to music until I was in high school in the late sixties. I know... my head was somewhere else.

So what did I miss? Who were the really good groups, bands, singers, musicians and songwriters of the fifties and sixties? It's never too late to learn and enjoy.

Consulate personnel and dependents registry?

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:28:57 -0800

I am looking for any publicly-available staff-and-dependents records for the British Consulate in Los Angeles, specifically for the period 1965 to 1966. I have some info. In spring 1966 Prince Philip also visited both the country and Los Angeles in particular, so there is plentiful news coverage of associated social events in the Los Angeles area available though various news organizations' online archives. While interesting, this data is ancillary and really only useful to confirm info that would be in the putative data source I seek.

I'm most interested in learning if there is a place that I can find staff lists, something like a registry of Consulate personnel and dependents that would have been provided to the State Department or other US agencies. It would of course be most preferential if this theoretical registry were easily available online.

If only a professional, net-savvy librarian were to read this and make some suggestions! Thanks in advance!

The crazy Oriental sound that the kids are all hep to.

Jofus — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:07:52 -0800

Where can I get Japanese (Korean?) cover versions of American music from the 40's, 50's and 60's? (And, more specifically, the cover versions that feature as incidental music in Robert Altman's film M*A*S*H) Every time I watch M*A*S*H, (which is, for some reason, about once every three months,) I'm blown away by the Japanese covers of popular American music. (Specific titles are hard to discern, but there are versions of 'My Blue Heaven' and 'Darktown Strutter's Ball')

In a similar vein, I've downloaded from WFMU a number of crazy Japanese interpretations of the Merseybeat sound and I just can't get enough. There's something I find incredibly compelling about the combination of production-line cover-versions and the mangling of the English language.

What can I say? I'm a pervert. Does anyone have any suggestions for artists I can Google, albums I can buy or MP3's I can download. (Bonus points for anything Spotifiable or Last-FMable.)

(NOTE: I'm assuming the songs in M*A*S*H are by Japanese artists - please ignore my cultural insensitivity if they're not)

French Music ID Filter

mattr — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:02:58 -0800

About 5 years ago there was a TV commercial (I think for BUPA) in the UK featuring a French song which I guess was from the sixties. The only lyric I can remember is (I think) "Quand votre coeur fait boom..." commercialbreaksandbeats.com is the usual place for answers on this - but they seem to be in the dead pool. Anyone have any ideas what I might be talking about?

The Enunciation of Dionne Warwick's Backup Signers

potsmokinghippieoverlord — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:11:48 -0800

What are the background singers singing in this Dionne Warwick tune? OK -- I've discovered this 40-something-year-old tune by Dionne Warwick: Are You There With Another Girl? I really like it (even if it is a bit stalky-ish), but for the life of me, I cannot make out what the ladies are singing in the background. You'll hear it first about 1:29 in the YouTube clip, and then again at the end of the song.

Sounds like "ooo poppa badio girl" which, you know, can't be right. Unless they're trying to mimic the tinny transistor radio in the rat fink's apartment.

Lyric sites aren't helping me out here. Anyone care to listen and enlighten me? It's driving me nuts.

Childhood movie memory

I, Credulous — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:38:43 -0800

A childhood memory of two science fiction films has been nagging me lately. I have just a little to go on... Movie One: is in colour, probably mid-sixties. The plot involves a "mirror image" of the Earth, orbiting 180 degrees from us, so on the other side of the Sun. Some astronauts from Earth discover it and land there. Everything's the same as our (future) world, but flipped left-to-right (they shot on the same sets and simply printed the film "flipped"). The "other Earth" may have been called Nemesis.

Movie Two: is in B&W, probably early sixties or very late fifties. There's something of a thriller aspect to this one. I recall a man sneaking into and office look at some files. Later, he goes into a darkroom in his apartment (office?) and removes one of his eye balls: it's a camera, concealed in a glass eye. He develops the pictures of the documents that he's snapped with his fancy eye.

Both are probably American productions.

I saw them on television, of course.

I will continue to function as an adult and a human being if I don't find out what these films are, but I'd really like to scratch this mental itch.

Seeking details about black sixties soul suits.

IZ — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 08:58:01 -0800

What kind of (black) suits, shirts, ties, shoes did sixties soul musicians wear on stage? I'm a musician, playing in a classic style soul/funk outfit. We are looking at outfits to wear during gigs. We are inspired by the outfits of the classic soul bands. The kind of suits worn in Pulp Fiction by John Travolta / Samuel Jackson, the suits that were worn on stage by the (Motown) Funk Brothers and the suits that are worn by the Dap-Kings etc.

Does anyone know what kind of suits soul / funk musicians used to wear back in the days? Normally they appear to be single breasted three button black suits with small black ties and black shoes. Any particular brands, styles, details we should be looking at?

Thanks!

Name this movie.

Reggie Digest — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 23:17:57 -0800

What the heck was that movie I saw on TV a long time ago? There was this guy, around age 20-25, an aspiring filmmaker. It was the swingin' 60's. (Maybe early 70's?) There was a scene where he goes to a nightclub an there's a band playing and there's a psychedelic oil projection on all the walls. There's a scene where he films a chubby naked girl crawling around his apartment. What was it? IMDB is no help.

It's driving me crazy!

"Let's bury the hatchet like the Beatles and the Stones..."

TheOnlyCoolTim — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 10:29:14 -0800

If you weren't dead in the 60s or know more than me, help me understand this "Beatles-Stones rivalry." Hopefully this isn't too much chatfilter: The best I can find on Google is a lot of passing references to it and a vague idea that it wasn't a rivalry between the bands like East Coast vs. West Coast hip hop, but a rivalry in the sense that people would argue that one band or the other was better and wouldn't listen to both. Also a little bit of wanking about how each band embodied a different social ethos something or other.

Importantly, from my born in 1985 hindsight it seems incredible to me that anyone would be on the side of the Stones, though I freely admit that I have no idea if the lasting greatness of the Beatles was as apparent when they were still active.

Sixties Party Music Filter

TheOnlyCoolTim — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 22:43:32 -0800

I'm looking for sixties party music. So most of the sixties music I know isn't really appropriate for our sixties party coming up, i.e. Dylan, the later Beatles, The Band, The Byrds, and so on don't really get the party going.

Here's some specific song examples of what I'm going for:

Early Beatles - Twist and Shout, Roll Over Beethoven
Beach Boys - Do You Wanna Dance, Barbra-Ann
James Brown - Papa's Got A Brand New Bag
The Guess Who - American Woman
Dion - Runaround Sue
The Strangeloves - I Want Candy
Turtles - Happy Together
Monkees - I'm A Believer

People might want to dance, but not slow dance, so that negates a lot of the "My Girl" or "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" type stuff.

For my purposes, I'm expanding the 60s to include 59 and 70. I'm also especially interested in stuff where the 60s has fully grown its own sound. "Twist and Shout" and "Barbra-Ann" are great, but sound like they could have come right out of the fifties, while "Happy Together" and "I'm A Believer" are different - but still suggest both types.

Gay slang in the 60's

lobstah — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 09:06:24 -0800

Was Polari employed by gays in America during the 60's ? If not, what ? My Google Fu has failed me in an attempt to find gay slang that might have been used during the mid 60's in America. According to Wikipedia, Polari fell out of favor during the latter part of that decade. Was it replaced by another underground dialect, or did it slowly evolve ? Bonus points for any list of slang used during that era.

Wah wah waaah waaaaah!

phrontist — Wed, 31 May 2006 11:57:08 -0800

Can anyone identify the song right after the UFO sequence in this video? If you know of similar music, please reccomend it. And I'm familiar with the Tijuana Brass.

Olive's in the Dancin' Zone

Astro Zombie — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 15:42:18 -0800

There was a fad dence in the Sixties called The Popeye that was particularly popular in the south, based on a minor hit by the great Enrie K-Doe. Anyone know how to do it? K-Doe sort of describes it in the song, but I'm looking for a fuller description. Also, as a result of K-Doe's success, there were quite a few Popeye songs that came out. Can you name some good ones?

Ba-duh-ba-duh-duh, ba-da-ba, ba-duh-ba-duh-duh, ba-da-ba...

chrominance — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:03:05 -0800

Name that song! Half-remembered music sample and... As mentioned earlier in the Song Tapper thread on the blue, I'm looking for a very elusive song. Details: it sounds like Motown/60s to me, but I can't find it on any of the Motown collections I've listened to via Amazon. Big, bright song with a loud trumpet/brass sound to it, with a main female vocalist and a backing group of singers.

This is the melody I remember from the chorus (53kb MP3). That part's actually played by the mass of trumpets, not a piano. You may have to transpose to a different key in your head; I think I've heard it in two different keys myself.

Solve this and you will have solved a mystery that has lasted for many years.

Sixties Dance Crazes

Stan Chin — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 22:00:08 -0800

On this page of Dance crazes from the Sixties, at the bottom there is a fair amount of dances that are not described. If you can describe one that you know, that would be awesome. Or, a place where I can find out more.

Does this decade have a name?

airguitar — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 00:49:03 -0800

It's been six years. Do you have, or does anyone you know use a term, in conversation, comparable to 'the nineties' or 'the eighties' for this decade?

Funny sixties movies?

stavrosthewonderchicken — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:49:01 -0800

One of my favorite movies of all time is It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, at least when I'm in a certain mood. I'm also inordinately fond of The Party. Given those, what other movies from that era might I enjoy? (Also, I'm not really a big fan of musicals, for the most part.)

Not fear and loathing!

Kifer85 — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 15:25:09 -0800

A friend of mine is looking for books, fiction or non-fiction, about the end of the sixties/beginning of the seventies, books reminiscent of HST's fear and loathing in las vegas. suggestions?