The end of World War II brought thousands of young servicemen back to America to pick up their lives and start new families in new homes with new jobs. With an energy never before experienced, American industry expanded to meet peacetime needs. Americans began buying goods not available during the war, which created corporate expansion and jobs. Growth everywhere. The baby boom was underway...
Perhaps one of the things which most characterizes the 1950's was the strong element of conservatism feeling which ran throughout much of society. Fifties clothing was conservative.
Teenagers were defined as a separate generation and were represented by James Dean who wore blue jeans in Rebel Without a Cause and created a fashion and attitude sensation.
The portrayal of the rebel motorcycle gang leader Johnny Strabler in The Wild One (1953), which is considered to be one of the most famous images in pop culture.
When the 1950s are mentioned, the first type of music to come to most people's minds is rock 'n roll. Developed from a blend of Southern blues and gospel music with an added strong back beat, this type of music was popular with teenagers who were trying to break out of the mainstream, conservative, American middle class mold.
Popular artists such as Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis were promoted on radio by just as popular disc-jockeys (DJ's) like Alan Freed and the Big Bopper. The deaths of Lubbock singer Buddy Holly , Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper is still lamented by fans. The influence of these early rockers has been felt in popular music worldwide.
There was a booming post-war economy, a growing media technology and unprecedented amounts of leisure time for both youth and adults. Teenagers had more independence from their families than in previous generations, and as peer groups and market advertising both became as influential as families once were, the ideology of "youth as fun" also began to be read by many adults as "youth as trouble."
Cars were seen as an indicator of prosperity and cool-ness.
60s The movement away from the conservative fifties continued and eventually resulted in revolutionary ways of thinking. Young people wanted change. The changes affected education, values, lifestyles, laws, and entertainment. Many of the revolutionary ideas which began in the sixties are continuing to evolve today.
A book which described some of the turmoil of race relations as they affected people in America, Harper Lee's Pulitzer To Kill a Mockingbird is a story about social distinctions between races. Women of color created new ideas on feminism
Schools and campuses became centers of debate and scenes of protest more than ever before as the country became more involved in the Vietnam War. The generation gap became a growing phenomenon..
Youth predominated the culture of the 1960's.They took to skateboards, Barbie dools, G.I.Joe, the trolls and slot cars.
By mid-decade, miniskirts or hot pants,were often worn with go-go boots. Women's hair was either very short or long and lanky. Men's hair became longer and wider, with beards and moustaches. Men's wear had a renaissance. Bright colors, double-breasted sports jackets, polyester pants suits with Nehru jackets, and turtlenecks were in vogue
60s was the age of the greatest changes in society. The Civil Rights movement began peacefully, with Martin Luther King. The term "blacks" became socially acceptable, replacing "Negroes’’.
The hippie movement opposed violence. The Woodstock Festival was the pinnacle of the spirit of love and sharing. The Space Race began,the first clone of a frog was produced in1967,the first artificial heart was transplanted in a human.
The Flintstones, Alvin & the Chipmunks , the Jetsons , and Mr. Magoo.
The Bewitched, The Addams Family, My Favorite Martian , I Dream of Jeannie, Star Trek, the Outer Limits , and the Twilight Zone ran most of the decade.
Elvis Prisley ,Bobby Darin, Neil Sedaka, Jerry Lee Lewis, Paul Anka, Del Shannon and Frankie Avalon were at the top charts.Groups such as Gladys Knight and the Pips, Martha and the Vandellas, the Supremes, and Aretha Franklin, as well as some black men, including Smoky Robinson, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and the Temptations were extremely popular. Bob Dylan helped bring about a folk music revival. Beach Boys,The Beatles, The Righteous Brothers burst into popularity and appealed to all ages.
When Chubby Checker introduced the twist on the show in 1961, a new craze was born, and dancing became an individual activity. The Mashed Potato, the Swim, the Watusi, the Monkey and the Jerk followed the Twist, mimicking their namesakes.
The events of the 60s seemed to continue in the 70s.Civil rights, women’s movement, concern for the environment and space exploration gained wider acceptance. The events of the times became the inspiration for much of the music, literature, entertainment and fashion of the decade.
Many of the books of that age reflected what pervaded the society—that is-- man’s alienation from his spiritual roots, a society spiritually empty, moral decay, loneliness and materialism.
Mood rings, lava lamps, rubik’s cube, stickers and station wagons were some of the fads of the 70s.
The fashion influence of the 60s hippies was mainstreamed in the 70s.Therefore,people wore bellbottom pants, colorful patches, hot pants, platform shoes, clogs, T-shirts and gypsy dresses.
In this field many new things are introduced. The floppy disk, the microprocessor, the integrated circuit TV games, the video cassette recorder, jumbo jets, the neutron bomb, the magnetic resonance imaging, DNA technology, the first tube baby, the e-mail, the barcode and the first space lab.
In the 1970s rock music became meaningless as Pop music was introduced with many styles. soft rock, hard rock, country rock ,folk rock, and the dance craze of the decade, disco.
Among the top names in popular music were Aerosmith, the Bee Gees, David Bowie, Jackson Browne, Alice Cooper, Eagles, Electric Light Orchestra, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, John Lennon, Pink Floyd, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart and Michael Jackson. Easy listening with reggae music gained popularity with Bob Marley and the Carpenders.
Some of the most popular movies of the time were Star Wars, Towering inferno, Earthquake, Rocky with Sylvester Stalone, The Godfather, The Jaws, the Exorcist, Kramer versus Kramer, American Graffiti and Grease ,Saturday Night Fever, the Deer hunter, and Apocalypse now.
The 80s became the ME! ME! ME! generation. Buying was a way of life, ‘shop till you drop’ was the watchword, labels were everything, videogames, aerobics, minivans, talk shows became part of people’s lives. Internationally, the Berlin Wall was removed making great changes for the decade to come.
Pop, rock, new wave, punk, country, and especially rap and hip-hop became popular in the 80s.Rap had started in prison by jailed black men who, in the absence of instruments turned poetic metre into musical rhythm which was hostile towards society. Madonna was a great influence in both styling and music.
Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Cocoon, Star Trek, Good morning Vietnam, Rainman, Driving Miss Daisy are memorable movies. Married with children, Oprah, Bill Cosby, CNN cable news were some of the tv innovations. It was a media decade with superstars.
Madonna dressing , Flashdance look and Michael Jackson’s gloves were big dressing influences of the time.
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