1960s AMERICAN MUSIC AND FASHION

1960’s AMERICAN MUSIC AND
FASHION

In the 1960s Americans music became popularized by British bands. Some of the most famous rock bands in history during this era from Britain were ‘The Beatles’ and ‘The Rolling Stones’. “The Beatles made their American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday, February 9, 1964” (‘Music in the 1960s’, modified 2008, viewed 11th of April 2008,http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/change-music%2060s.html). British pop bands were highly influenced by the early blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, aspects of American music were often used by the British bands which made them really popular in America. Each group developed a distinctive style: the Beatles combined Chuck Berry's guitar-based rock and roll with the craftwork of Tin Pan Alley composers; the Animals worked out a mixture of blues and rhythm-and-blues influences and produced a hit with an old Anglo-American ballad, “House of the Rising Sun” (1964); and the Rolling Stones incorporated aspects of Chicago urban blues into their distinctive, driving sound. The British Invasion killed off almost all the existing American groups (only the Beach Boys, Four Seasons, and the biggest Motown acts managed to survive). In their place rose up all sorts of American groups who dressed and sounded just like the Brits, as for instance the Knickerbockers, Beau Brummels, Buckinghams, Sir Douglas Quintet, and Turtles.

The early 1960s also saw the development of distinctive regional styles in the United States, such as the sound of the southern California band the Beach Boys; the Greenwich Village urban folk movement that included Bob Dylan, the Kingston Trio, and Peter, Paul, and Mary; and the rough sound of Northwest groups such as the Sonics. “There were also the smaller, "rhythm combo" groups, usually of only four or five players. Their tunes were popular on the jukeboxes of the day, but were not considered artistically important which is why we have mostly forgotten them today” (‘A brief history of the music in the 1960s’, modified 2008, viewed 11th of April 2008, http://www.spectropop.com/hmadanibrief.html). The 60s began with soul music topping the charts, including pure soul divas and singers specializing in the new, R&B-gospel fusion with a secular approach. In the early to mid-1960s, soul music and R&B dominated American audiences.

The first half of the Sixties resembled the Fifties fashion, controversial and proper. The shirtwaist dresses survived the entire decade of the 60s. The skirts got a little shorter and the collar got a bit wider, but the dresses of the 60s remained a shapeless to the average American woman. The 1960s fashion was depicted as the era with short skirts, however the short skirt was not really worn by a lot of people until 1966 and not globally until 1967. “In the early sixties, pleated skirts were worn with short sleeved over blouses which were cut not unlike the shell tops of today. Straight skirts had front and back inverted pleats called kick pleats and were ideal for doing the twist dance craze as they allowed the knee to move freely” (‘The sixties mini skirt fashion’, modified 2008, viewed 11th of April 2008, http://www.fashion-era.com/the_1960s_mini.htm). The sixties became a popular era of fashion which was highly colorful and sex appealing, especially within women’s fashion.


The 1960s were a time of change in every aspect of American life, and the world of taste and fashion was no exception. To move from conservative Jacqueline Kennedy dress suits, to thigh-high miniskirts and dirty blue jeans, the fashion of the 60s became well renounced. Those unstable changes in taste and fashion, of course, mirrored what was happening in society as a whole. “Straight sweater dresses in lambswool or the synthetic acrylic variety called Orlon were worn belted with waists nipped in became fashionable” (‘The sixties mini skirt fashion’, modified 2008, viewed 11th of April 2008, http://www.fashion-era.com/the_1960s_mini.htm). Stockings died in the mid 1960s and were only revived as leg wear in the 1990s or else kept for the bedroom. It was typical of the 1960's attitude of let's get on with the future, making it a very fast moving decade in fashion, lifestyles, innovations and morals. The fashion mini skirt became one of the icons that symbolized this era.

There has been various culture jamming within the American music of the 1960s, with the influence of British bands. The Beatles used most of their songs to represent their emotional and political feelings, such as John Lennon’s “Imagine”, which explained the harsh and cruel nature of the world. “Many public issues and social voices are pushed to the margins of society by market values and commercial communication, making it difficult to get the attention of those living in the "walled gardens" of consumerism”( ‘Culture Jamming’, modified 2008, viewed 11th of April 2008, http://depts.washington.edu/ccce/polcommcampaigns/CultureJamming.htm). The idea of stereotyping personalities to match the clothes worn by people became quiet common in the 60s. This type of culture jamming became very strong within the 60s, and defined the stereotypical women as a common house wife and the male as the working class.

REFERENCE LIST:

‘A brief history of the music in the 1960s’, modified 2008, viewed 11th of April 2008,
http://www.spectropop.com/hmadanibrief.html

‘Culture Jamming’, modified 2008, viewed 11th of April 2008,
http://depts.washington.edu/ccce/polcommcampaigns/CultureJamming.htm

‘Music in the 1960s’, modified 2008, viewed 11th of April 2008,
http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/change-music%2060s.html

‘The sixties mini skirt fashion’, modified 2008, viewed 11th of April 2008
http://www.fashion-era.com/the_1960s_mini.htm