minus 50

[Johan Larson]

One of the problems with art is that it’s easy to get caught up in fads and distracted by trivia. A good way to get critical distance is simply time: flash fades, but quality lasts. With that in mind, let’s look back fifty years to 1967 and try to discern what good stuff was being produced back when our parents were young.

1967 was a good year for film. A whole bunch of films were released that are still talked about today: The Graduate, Cool Hand Luke, The Jungle Book, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, The Producers and The Dirty Dozen. Two of those (The Jungle Book and The Producers) have been remade since then. And the year saw two James Bond films released, Casino Royale and You Only Live Twice. Of course not everything lasted. A Challenge for Robin Hood, anyone? Island of the Burning Damned? Perhaps not.

Pressed for a pick, I’d go with The Dirty Dozen, a great adventure that still holds up. I respect Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night, but oh my do they ever look oldfashioned now. Some things really have changed for the better. I wonder, is there a group in our society so perched on the edge of respectability that you could make a version of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in 2017 without looking ridiculous?

[Þorkell Sigvaldason]

The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in 1967, as was The Magical Mystery Tour. And The Velvet Underground & Nico. The Doors released their debut album. The list of albums released in that year is massive.

[Johan Larson]

Yes, a damn fine year for music, too. 

http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1967.htm

I'm thinking either Respect (Aretha Franklin) or Light My Fire (The Doors) for song of the year.  (Although I'll confess to loving The Monkees. They're just so adorably cheerful.)

[Johnny1A]

On Sunday, September 24, 2017 at 11:59:28 AM UTC-5, Johan Larson wrote:

One of the problems with art is that it’s easy to get caught up in fads and distracted by trivia. A good way to get critical distance is simply time: flash fades, but quality lasts. With that in mind, let’s look back fifty years to 1967 and try to discern what good stuff was being produced back when our parents were young.

One of the more haunting, and odd, songs of that year was Ode to Billy Joe.  To this day, fans still speculate on exactly what is supposed to have happened to lead Billy Joe to commit suicide, and what the singer knows about it.

Can't Take My Eyes Off of You by Frankie Valli stands up to time.  So does My Cup Runneth Over by Ed Ames.  Higher and Higher by Jackie Wilson.

Snoopy vs. The Red Baron by the Royal Guardsmen, if you have a certain sense of humor, also stands the test.

On TV, there was the original and still the best Star Trek series.  It didn't start that year, but it was on TV, and that was the year that Khan (Ricardo Montalban) makes his first appearance.  The Prisoner debuts in 1967.