50 years for Bond and Beatles

[jeremyp]

Apparently both James Bond and The Beatles are 50 years old. It's a stretch of course. The first Bond movie was 50 years ago but I was reading Fleming in the 50's. I was in Indonesia in the Peace Corps when the Beatles came to fame and I got the news late. At that time Sukarno (Indonesian dictator) had banned listening to Radio Malaysia, and that was the only way to listen to Pop music. The Peace Corps had given us a radio so we listened....to Radio Malaysia. I heard some of their songs without any of them registering as anything but derivative. Then I got a Time magazine from home (redacted) yet with an article on the fab four. Now I listened to them differently and was hooked. I had some Chinese friends who had a restaurant and when they closed I was invited to listen to Beatles records they has smuggled in to the country. Sukarno had pushed an anti Beatles campaign and suggested anyone wearing a mop top be jailed. Nothing like becoming a fan of something than being told it's illegal.

[Marlow]

I feel truly blessed (in the universalist sense - fortuitous timing) that Bond and Beatles came into my consciousness in 1963, my first teenaged year. I have been obsessed with both ever since. I really believe they both have had a significant effect on more than just pop culture. I tell my kids that the modern era began on November 22, 1963, with the tragedy of that day. Something 'broke' that day and something new replaced it. [I realize how inane that sounds, but I actually believe it!] The turbulent 60s were the result. Truly a 'paradigm shift'.

[jeremyp]

Yes the 60's were a watershed decade for many of us older folk. The Cuban crisis when many of my college buddies headed home fearing armageddon; the Kennedy assasination ( I was in Peace Corps Training in Obama's home state and we got a long weekend off); The Vietnam war, which divided our nation (I was drafted but never went to Vietnam); The civil rights movement; LBJ signing off on Medicare (for which I thank you) and civil rights, and medicaid. And in my opinion the best decade for Rock and Roll.