In March 1950 WFIL-TV in Philadelphia broadcast Bandstand. Bob Horn, also a radio DJ, hosted the show. It was not a dance show. It featured short musical films and only occasionally had guests. Think black and white MTV.
It was a time when television, the new media kid on the block, selected a successful radio show and literally visualized it.
By the way, I’ve placed the more familiar music theme, “Bandstand Boogie,” by Larry Elgart over this blog, but the first theme song for the original Bandstand was Artie Shaw’s “High Society.”
Dancing Bandstand
The Bandstand show that Boomers remember today, with teenagers dancing to hit records, came into being on October 7, 1952. Bob Horn continued as host with Lee Stewart. Stewart left as co-host in 1955. The short music films continued to be part of the show.
DWI
In July, 1956, WFIL and The Philadelphia Inquirer were doing a series on drunk driving. In July, 1956, police arrested Horn for drunk-driving.
On July 9, 1956, Dick Clark took over as the host
American Bandstand Dick Clark
ABC’s American Bandstand
Broadcast companies are always searching for the next hit. A year after he became host of Bandstand, Dick Clark pitched his show to ABC. The network did not say “Yes” immediately, but eventually did. I’m sure they were happy they did.
August 5, 1957
On this date, ABC did the first national broadcast. Since it was now a nationally televised show, the name changed to American Bandstand. Duh!
The more popular Mickey Mouse Club interrupted the for half an hour in the middle. The first guest was the Chordettes and the first record danced to on the show was Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be the Day.”
The show moved to Los Angeles in 1964. It had already switched from a daily to a weekly Saturday show in which it continued as until 1987.
When we think of the 1960s’ powerful music, certain musicians and albums come to mind. Albums in particular, but it wasn’t until the mid-60s that performers released those albums.
1965 is the turning point.
Bob Dylan released “Bringing It All Back Home” on March 22 that year. He’d recorded it over three days, January 13 – 15, 1965. Exclamation point.
The Beatles had recorded Rubber Soul between October 12 and November 15, 1965. That album that changed the way many bands envisioned making music and created albums, . They released the album December 3, 1965.
1966 Beatles Release Revolver
Got Back
From 6 April 6 – June 21, 966, the Beatles were back in the studio to record again. As you hear above, Paul thinks of this album as Rubber Soul part 2.
I think it is, but then again not so much.
It’s a matured Rubber Soul if that’s true. The newness of Rubber Soul isn’t new now. We know that the Beatles are still helping us explore places we didn’t know existed.
And using typical Beatle humor, why Revolver? What does a record do? Yup. That simple.
1966 Beatles Release Revolver
UK v US
The Brit kids heard Revolver two days before we Yanks, but they also heard the album that the Beatles created, not the album that Capital Records made out of that album.
Most now know that the British-released Beatle albums had 14 songs, unlike the typical 12 that Americans got. (That difference would change in 1967 with Sgt Pepper.)
Americans didn’t get I’m Only Sleeping”, “And Your Bird Can Sing,” and “Doctor Robert” on their album, but they’d actually already gotten those three on Yesterday and Today.
1966 Beatles Release Revolver
Cover
Klaus Voormann [BBC article], an old Beatle friend, did the cover. illustrations. Voormanb was a name that Beatle fans regularly saw over the Beatle years including occasionally playing bass.
Clever Voormann put his own photograph and name (Klaus O.W. Voormann) into Harrison’s hair on the right-hand side of the cover. Click on the pic to enlarge and view better.
Robert Whitaker took the photos that are incorporated into Voormann’s drawings. He also took the back cover photograph as well as the infamous and belatedly cancelled butcher cover for Yesterday and Today. [2011 NYT Whitaker obit]
1966 Beatles Release Revolver
Track by track
Think about what you heard on each of Revolver’s songs:
Side one
George Harrison’s “Taxman.” Few if any of us were in the same financial position as George and his mates were as far as taxation, but if George complained about the government then we were on board with that, too.
“Eleanor Rigby.” What were we listening to? If we’d read an English literature by now (and many of us had) we thought perhaps the Beatles had ripped off a Bronte sister. “Wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door.”
“I’m Only Sleeping.” Not as simple as the title. And that backward guitar. More going on here than meets sleep. “Stay in bed, float upstream.”
George Harrison’s “Love to You” with its sitar dominating the instrumentation. We now knew that sitar was not a misspelling of guitar. “Make love all day long.”
Paul’s “Here There and Everywhere.” A slow song supreme. “Knowing that love is to share.”
Ringo’s “Yellow Submarine.” What fun! “So we sailed up to the sun
Till we found the sea of green.” Uncredited, Patti Boyd, Donovan, Marianne Faithful, and Brian Jones help with background vocals.
John’s “She Said She Said.” “I know what it’s like to be dead.”
Side two
“Good Day Sunshine.” “Then we’d lie beneath the shady tree
I love her and she’s loving me.” You hear it now and still sing along at the fading end repeating the title with Paul.
“And Your Bird Can Sing.” American fans likely didn’t realize bird meant girl. “You tell me that you’ve heard every sound there is
And your bird can swing, But you can’t hear me, you can’t hear me.”
“For No One.” Back to lost love. “You stay home, she goes out.”
“Dr Robert.” Amphetamines, but I’m not sure we knew that. “He helps you to understand.”
George’s “I Want To Tell You.” Is that piano out of tune? Cool. “But if I seem to act unkind, it’s only me it’s not my mind“
“Got to Get You Into My Life.”
In 1967 we’d have “A Day in the Life.” At the end of Revolver we have “Tomorrow Never Knows.” What is going on? Have I ever heard anything like this? Tibetan Book of the Dead we heard. George brought India to our ears. John put Tibet in our heads.
1966 Beatles Release Revolver
The best?
Rob Sheffield, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), said that the album found the Beatles “at the peak of their powers, competing with one another because nobody else could touch them“, and concluded that, “these days, Revolver has earned its reputation as the best album the Beatles ever made, which means the best album by anybody.” [Brackett, Nathan; with Hoard, Christian (eds) (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th edn). New York, NY: Fireside/Simon & Schuster.]
1966 Beatles Release Revolver
The future was close…
The Beatles started recording Sgt Pepper’s on Nov 24, 1966.
Robert McNamara from the documentary, “The Fog of War.”
1964 Gulf Tonkin Ghost Attack
August 2, 1964
It had been 254 days since President Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, Texas.
254.
The number of days that President Lyndon B Johnson was president. November 3, Election Day, 93 days away. He had signed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1962 exactly a month earlier.
Vietnam was a mosquito; not a tiger.
Military intelligence had suggested that there might be North Vietnamese military action in the Gulf of Tonkin. The Captain of the destroyer USS Mattox, Captain, John J. Herrick, was on alert.
On this date, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara reported to President Johnson that North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked the Maddox.
1964 Gulf Tonkin Ghost Attack
What happened
Three North Vietnamese patrol boats had engaged the Maddox. Herrick ordered the crew to commence firing as the North Vietnamese boats came within 10,000 yards of the ship.
10,000 yards is over 5 miles.
Herrick also called in air support from a nearby air craft carrier, the USS Ticonderoga. The North Vietnamese boats each fired torpedoes at the Maddox, but two missed and the third failed to explode. U.S. gunfire hit one of the North Vietnamese boats. US jets strafed them.
1964 Gulf Tonkin Ghost Attack
The Result
Maddox gunners sunk one of the boats and two were crippled. One bullet hit the Maddox and there were no U.S. casualties.
The US took no further action, but warned the Vietnamese to cease such attacks.
Gulf Tonkin Ghost Attack
August 4, 1964
Two days later around 8 PM, the Maddox and the USS C. Turner Joy, both in the Gulf of Tonkin, intercepted North Vietnamese radio messages. Captain Herrick got the “impression” that Communist patrol boats are planning an attack against the American ships. He again called for the support of the USS Ticonderoga.
Neither the pilots nor the ship crews saw any enemy craft. However, about 10 p.m. sonar operators reported torpedoes approaching. The destroyers maneuvered to avoid the torpedoes and began to fire at the North Vietnamese patrol boats. The encounter lasted about two hours. U.S. officers reported sinking two, or possibly three of the North Vietnamese boats, but no one was sure.
Herrick communicated his doubts to his superiors and urged a “thorough reconnaissance in daylight.” Shortly thereafter, he informed Admiral U. S. Grant Sharp, commander of the Pacific Fleet, that the blips on the radar scope were apparently “freak weather effects” while the report of torpedoes in the water were probably due to “overeager” radar operators.
1964 Gulf Tonkin Ghost Attack
President Johnson’s reaction
Convinced that a second attack had occurred, President Johnson, ordered the Joint Chiefs of Staff to select targets for possible retaliatory air strikes. At a National Security Council meeting, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, recommended the ordering of reprisal attacks to the president.
Though cautious at first, eventually Johnson gave the order to execute the reprisal, code-named Pierce Arrow. The President then met with 16 Congressional leaders to inform them of the second unprovoked attack and that he had ordered reprisal attacks. He also told them he planned to ask for a Congressional resolution to support his actions.
At 11:20 p.m., Admiral Sharp informed McNamara that the aircraft were on their way to the targets and at 11:26, President Johnson appeared on national television and announced that the reprisal raids were underway in response to unprovoked attacks on U.S. warships. He assured the viewing audience that, “We still seek no wider war.”
1964 Gulf Tonkin Ghost Attack
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
On August 7, the House of Representatives unanimously (416 – 0) and the Senate overwhelmingly (88 – 2) approved the so-called Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Its title read, “”To promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia.” [text]
President Johnson signed the resolution on August 10.
In 1964, there were approximately 23,300 troops in Vietnam.
By 1965 that number was 184,300.
There were 536,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1968.
1964 Gulf Tonkin Ghost Attack
What's so funny about peace, love, art, and activism?
