Note: There are also updates on a daily and monthly
basis. The largest update occurs every
Sunday
"If We Could Do It All Again Would We?"
Welcome to the Baby Boomer's Top Choice Sixties Website, The 60s Official
Site, where you can once again revisit your memories of the 60s
decade.We are now
celebrating19years on the web looking back at the memories of the
1960s!
What was the top ten songs on this day or any day of any
year? Check it out byclicking
here.
There has never
been a decade quite like the sixties; the diversity, conflicts, hope, anger, the music, the dance crazes and the
fun that characterized those years are captured here. The 60s decade was a decade of change. Not only were those
changes evident in fashions but world events,music of the 60s, automobiles, toys, and individual self expression
as displayed during the largest outdoor rock concert ever performed, Woodstock.
The television
shows of the fifties and sixties depicted the morals and values of our society. The simplicity of our lifestyle
were so evident at that time. The westerns on the televisions series were about the good guys always
winning.
Music and events
of the day interacted with one another as we progressed through one of the most turbulent decades in modern
history. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy ,Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and presidential
hopeful Bobby Kennedy illustrated the turbulent and restless society. Lance Morrow said "The real 1960s began on
the afternoon of November 22, 1963. It came to seem that Kennedy's murder opened some malign trap door in
American culture, and the wild bats flapped out."
In contrast the
sixties decade has been described by historians as the decade that resulted in the most significant changes in
our history. In 1969 the race to space was won by the U.S. by putting a man on the moon. This one event caught
more press and attention second to only the Vietnam War. The 1960s were also time of turmoil, probably described
as such for the racial unrest during this period, social injustice and because of our involvement in the war in
Vietnam. The magnitude of violence in the streets of U.S. cities as well as on college campuses in protest of
the War in Vietnam was unprecedented in our history. The burning of the flag and draft cards were widely used as
tools for protest.
Even though the 60s had its periods of unrest and violence, it was
a great decade to have grown up in. If you don't believe it just ask anybody who was a baby boomer. (Anybody
who was born from 1946-1964.) Even though you may have not lived during this decade, you will still enjoy
browsing this significant history and if you were fortunate enough to experience the 60s, when baseball was
the favorite past time, just sit back and remember how great the sixties really were! Look how fashions and
ideals of today were shaped by baby boomers. Try to remember when life seemed so much more carefree and
slower. The music was clean and fun and we actually understood the lyrics. We knew all our neighbors on the
street where we lived. Innocent fun was the game not violence against our fellow
man.
The school
dances with the crazy dance steps of the popular dances at the time were fond memories. We invented steps to add
to the ridiculous steps these had. We were having fun just as the sixties were meant to be. Check out these
popular dances of our times.
Games were
pretty popular back in the 1960s Ouija and Twister were all the rage, before the internet, board games and other
types of social games made great entertainment. For adults, in particular ladies, the bingo halls were
frequented often, a pastime which has since been in a steady decline. Other pastimes have also gone out of
fashion, whereas some have stood the test of time.
Stumbling
through the 60s you will recall the famous and not so famous written and spoken words that were so much part of
the 60s culture. Margot Kidder said it well with "It was a wonderful time to be young. The 1960s didn't end
until about 1976. We all believed in Make Love, Not War. We were idealistic innocents, despite the drugs and
sex." And John Lennon said "The thing the sixties did was to show us the possibilities and the responsibility
that we all had. It wasn't the answer. It just gave us a glimpse of the possibility." I don't know about the
possibilities but I do know that the 60s was an event that even today's school children try to research and
understand why the 60s decade had so much impact on today.
The 60s were a time of fun and innocence and much of it was reflected in the music
and the lyrics such as:
"The message may
not move me, or mean a great deal to me, but it feels so groovy to say "I Dig Rock and Roll Music" from Peter,
Paul and Mary's 1967 hit "I Dig Rock and Roll Music.
Spiro Agnew
described all the segments of the 60s with his quote "Yippies, Hippies, Yahoos, Black Panthers, lions and tigers
alike - I would swap the whole damn zoo for the kind of young Americans I saw in
Vietnam."
How Did We Survive?
We had no
childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes…Though sometimes we
had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.
As infants and
children, we would ride in cars with no car seats. No booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires…and
sometimes no brakes. Riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a warm day was always a special
treat.
We drank water
from the garden hose, and not from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no
one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes,
white bread, real butter and bacon…Twinkies, ding dongs, and Kool-aid made with REAL white sugar. And we weren't
overweight. WHY? Because we were outside playing and moving around.
We would leave
home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to
reach us all day...no cell phones! And you know what? We were okay.
We did not have
Playstations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or
DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's! Something as simple as going out for ice cream was an
event.
We fell out of
trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these
accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us
forever. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up
games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many
eyes.
Little League
had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine
that!!
The idea of a
parent bailing us out if we broke the law or got in trouble in school was UNHEARD of...They actually typically
sided with the law!