May 20, 2011

Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution (1967) - CBS News with Leonard Bernstein I realize nobody is actually reading this but I like to pretend because it motivates me to to actually write something in the posts. So, for anyone out there… if you read and sit through just one post from this blog let it be this one. Leonard Bernstein was a cool guy. He was known for a lot of things including: conducting the New York Philharmonic, composing a plethora of music (West Side Story, operas, symphonies, etc. etc.), writing and playing the piano. But his contributions as ambassador of pop music for shocked and incredulous adults is fascinating and priceless. The videos below are from a CBS News special from 1967. Its purpose was to try to bridge the ever widening generational gap of the time. Keep in mind that 1967 was nearing the 60’s musical peak (the highest peak ever for pop music?). Adults at the time went from barber shop quartets to Jimi Hendrix humping his guitar and setting it on fire in a span of about 5 years. That’s a pretty harsh break.  So please watch the videos. They are an amazing historical document and immensely entertaining… especially if you love music. Bernstein’s approach to explaining the conondrum is flawless. The ease with which he deconstructs and explains music from The Beatles and Brian Wilson, among others, is not only engaging but eye opening. I could listen to him do that for hours.  enjoy! For some strange reason the embed option was removed for the last video. Never fear, you should be able to watch it on youtube. By the way, in this video Brian Wilson does a demo version of Surf’s Up for Bernstein!

Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution (1967) - CBS News with Leonard Bernstein

I realize nobody is actually reading this but I like to pretend because it motivates me to to actually write something in the posts. So, for anyone out there… if you read and sit through just one post from this blog let it be this one.

Leonard Bernstein was a cool guy. He was known for a lot of things including: conducting the New York Philharmonic, composing a plethora of music (West Side Story, operas, symphonies, etc. etc.), writing and playing the piano. But his contributions as ambassador of pop music for shocked and incredulous adults is fascinating and priceless. The videos below are from a CBS News special from 1967. Its purpose was to try to bridge the ever widening generational gap of the time. Keep in mind that 1967 was nearing the 60’s musical peak (the highest peak ever for pop music?). Adults at the time went from barber shop quartets to Jimi Hendrix humping his guitar and setting it on fire in a span of about 5 years. That’s a pretty harsh break. 

So please watch the videos. They are an amazing historical document and immensely entertaining… especially if you love music. Bernstein’s approach to explaining the conondrum is flawless. The ease with which he deconstructs and explains music from The Beatles and Brian Wilson, among others, is not only engaging but eye opening. I could listen to him do that for hours. 

enjoy!

For some strange reason the embed option was removed for the last video. Never fear, you should be able to watch it on youtube. By the way, in this video Brian Wilson does a demo version of Surf’s Up for Bernstein!

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  1. 4therecord posted this