Good Evening all, I am doing an independent research project for my HSC (final exam) on the difference of being a teenager in the 1960's compared to at the present. I would really appreciate any tales of how life was back then....any gender expectations, social restraints, e.t.c. I would also love to hear of anything concerning being a teen in the 60's, what were your social activities e.t.c Privacy will undoubtbly be reserved. Any help would be so appreciated. THANKS Megan
in 1969, I was in 8th grade. living in northern New Jersey, about 7 miles from the George Washington Bridge. For me, the onset of sexual maturity had coencided with the onset of 60's culture. During the 60's the counterculture was underground and not as popular as it was to become. The television show: The Wonder Years really catches the period of this time. As a child, I could pretty much go out adventuring as I pleased. Parents were less frightened and less restrictive. A bicycle warrior, I went all over the place, miles away. In the 60's the husband worked and mom was at home things were more stable on the home front. There was much less pressure to join the organised kiddie sports scene. We were into the great outdoors to a greater degree than modern youth. Conformity in dress and attire was less strict than today and there was less money around. In the suburbs, there was no gay movement and gays were repressed. It seemed OK to smoke tobacco cigarettes. Today's overbearing political correctness was absent, so was the trash-talking and crudeness we see today. We went skinny-dipping in the reservoir had a rope swing and a campsite near the water. The reservoir police were very busy chasing us. Today, that police force is disbanded; youth stays home or is in organised activity. Traveling to New York City by bus and walking around or riding the subways seemed normal in 7th and 8th grade, not nowadays though. Music was much less stratified than today, there was british and american folk rock. The Beatles and The Stones ruled. People listened to 45rpm records, they were a bargain. By 1969 Elvis was just some vauge passe footnote. John Wayne was king of TV movies. Frank Sinatra, Red Skeleton, Sammy Davis Jr. Don Rickes, Carol Chaning Mary Tyler Moore were all popular. The cult of television news, and television newsmen had yet to arrive, and would be brought about by Vietnan and Watergate in the future. Doris Day, Petula Clark and Motown ruled the AM airwaves. FM was not popular untill the 70's I remember Cousin Bruce Morrow on WABC The Jackson five had several hits, I remembr Tom Jones was popular. Music seemed to go out of style more readily than today. I am always facinated by young people listening to 30 year old music. We wouldn't listen to music that was two years old. Perhaps the rush of new music was pushing established music behind. The electric guitar was invented in 1956 and musicians were just getting used to it being out in front. As the 60's moved into the 70's the new music just came rushing in. In 1969 The New York Jets had just won footballs 3rd Superbowl. Shea Stadium, in Flushing Queens was where The Jets played. The Stadium is on the grounds of the Worlds fair of 1964 and 1939. The 64 Worlds Fair had really launched The Sixties with its emphasis on space exploration, from that arose the movie 2001 a Space Oddesey. The New York Mets won the World Series in 1969 and The New York Knickerbockers won the NBA basketball championship So 69 truly was a wonder year and New Yorks Mayor Lindsey go re-elected on the euphoria of the NY sports victories. 1969 was also the year of Woodstock, about 50 miles from my home. Eighth Graders didn't go to Woodstock, but we embraced the message as the counterculture went mainstream. We moved into the 70's In 1969 the Allied Victory in World War Two was only 25 years ago. The Victory dominated adult culture at that time, everyone had participated, the event seemed close espically in the movie theatres. Seemingly the celebration for the great victory had never stopped adults were in "coctail culture" symbolized by Mickey Mantle and Marilyn Monroe. Full employment enabled more alcohol consumption then now-a-days. The relentless getting ahead was absent because of the full employment. Only when manufacturing started to go overseas and we were hit with OPEC oil shock did people start to focus as relentlessly as they do today, Seventies "Party Culture" was a natural outgrowth to the old "coctail culture". It seemed teenagers wanted to"go one better" than the adults. For a while it was harmless, we smoked low grade pot. When cocaine swept in things changed, parents and police were less indulgent and the blissful window of early seventies party culture was closed. In 1972, I was a H.S. student. The Vietnam draft was on and people were more focused on a conflict that wasn't going away. We exchanged all kinds of stories of ways to avoid the draft, wierd stories of stuffing your ass full of peanut butter to be turned down at medical inspection. For a flavor of the moment, listen to Arlo Guthries Alice's restaurant album. I saved my draft card as an artifact of the times. Music had gone from singles to albums to concept albums. The music was very artistic. with some class. Trash, thrash, grunge, punk, anger and obsenity were in the future. The American Watergate convulsion was an unwelcome event. Nixon had reduced the age of alcohol from 21 to 18. That day the upperclassmen had floded the bars in town. The Principal had to tour the bars and bring us back to school. We had a Watergate strike at school with all kinds of sillyness. The 1974 oil embargo seemed to close this chapter.
