The Sixties/Analysis

Some possibly useful notes on The Sixties, for those who remember them and others who don't.

Entertainment

 * Anime was introduced to Americans during this decade and it created its niche as Cult Classics in American entertainment as shows like Astro Boy, 8 Man, Kimba the White Lion, Gigantor and Speed Racer paved the way for more sophisticated shows.
 * The Dark Age of Animation was in full swing. Not everything was terrible, but cartoons were generally cheaply produced, and became more sitcom-like. The Animation Age Ghetto started due to cartoons being marketed exclusively toward children.

Fashion

 * Most fads that you imagine about the Swinging Sixties, like the miniskirt, tie-dyed shirts, long and bouffant hairdos, mod suits, and bell bottom pants, did not emerge until the middle of the decade. Before 1963, styles were a continuation of the 1950's. Only after Kennedy died, that a new, more liberal silhouette that reminisced The Roaring Twenties, stepped into the catwalk.

Headlines

 * The harm smoking does to one's health was finally officially proved once and for all on January 11, 1964 with the release of Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States. Although the tobacco companies tried to cloud the issue for decades since with increasingly desperate PR, the shift toward the North American population turning against smoking began.

Music

 * In the very early part of the 1960s, rock music was in a lackluster state. That is, until North America was introduced to British band The Beatles in the year 1964 -- the band that revolutionized rock music.
 * Arguably a myth.
 * Then there was also The Rolling Stones, who came to represent the grittier side of sixties rock.
 * Along with The Beach Boys, who preformed surf rock.
 * "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen also came out in the year 1963, and started the genre of Garage Rock. That song was suspected of having dirty lyrics, when there were none.
 * Garage Rock led to the creation of Psychedelic Rock, which is often associated with the hippie counter-cultural movement.
 * "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf was probably the first Hard Rock song to be a hit.
 * In the late 1960s, out of the ashes of The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin would be formed. The band's first North American hit, "Whole Lotta Love", would become a hit in late 1969.