History Forum / General / British History / March 2004

ISTR I did live in the 1950s. However, I recall it as fairly drab, when
compared to the 1960s. I've still got a couple of pop-art and psychedelic
ties around somewhere, as well as some party gear bought in Carnaby Street
when the fashion shops were there because it had cheap rents.

Colin Bignell

More likely you get to do as you are told and stay in the kitchen. . . . .

The sixties has to be it for me. To relive the rise and fall of the Beatles,
to be able to catch a Stones gig that didn't require a dozen trucks and more
lights than are in most medium sized towns. To watch Olivier at the Old Vic
while wearing a thin black tie and pointy shoes. To see the building of the
Sydney Opera House. To stand on the corner of Haight and Ashbury and wonder
where the beautiful people went. To march once again in the anti Vietnam war
protests along with girls in mini skirts and crocheted (sp) tops. To buy a
lime green Mini Cooper S (the one with wind up windows!) To walk down
Downing street and not see a single weapon. To buy my own personal Spitfire
and have shares in a Lancaster. But most of all to talk to my grandparents
and uncles about the times of their lives and find out where my own story
mixes in with recent British history. Oh and go see if that smart Seattle
kid Bill Gates wants a scholarship, when he is ready maybe we could start up
a little business.

Mekon

"FF"  wrote in message

Nah, I've been there. It would be the first decade of the nineteenth century
for me with great music played by real people, every day new with the
unknown, swash and buckle pouring broadsides into whimpering frog warships,
charting new worlds, India and the Spice Islands, sherry and port by the
hogshead, duels at dawn with a fine set of pistols by Manton, long solitary
rides over the moor, library shelves to the ceiling, all day pheasant hunts,
gleaming mahogany, the dark  smell of the land and ancient oaks, tea so
precious it had to be locked up, real folk music played by the village
fiddler learned from his father and he from his father before him, Greek
philosophy, dogs, and poetry written by real poets in front of a wood fire
at night with my lady at her harpsichord, and not an amplifier, shrieking
rock star, neon bulb, piece of plastic, or TV in the offing for a century
and a half. I must navigate better next time.  -the Troll

"As regards to the world of popular culture, music and the arts .... "

That's different than in terms of standard of living, medical advances and
so on.  And it's probebly different here in the US than over there.

For music, here in the US the best would be 20's (golden age of Jazz), 30's
(golden age of Swing) or 50's (great R&B and then Rock).  I'd go for 50's
because I ike R&B (Lavern Baker, early Ray Charles, The Falcons with Jackie
Wilson, early Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, Clifton Chenier etc. etc.).

Twentyth century decades to skip would be 1900's; show tunes and babershop
quartete .. teens; more bad show tunes .. 40's; big band (college age kids
playing simple music) .. 60's; efeminant British boys trying to imitate R&B
.. 70's; disco ..  80's on; popular music taken over by MBA's who's only
interest seems to be minimizing cost of production.  No artistic content
whatsoever.

Curiously the very worst music period was the early fifties after the big
bands but before rock.  Great stuff was cooking in the background that would
soon lead to Rock, but the Pop music factories at Tin Pan Alley and the
Brill Building were at their low point pumping out dreck like "How Much is
that Doggie in the Window".

Rod

I suppose the decade I would _least_ liked to have live in would be
the 1920s. Imagine living in a world where everyone thought Charlie
Chaplin was funny.

If I put a specifically crip slant on the question there is no better
time than the present. Personal computers, electric scooters, mobile
phones etc have been a _huge_ blessing. And... er... Viagara. Not that
I would know, of course.

That's a tough call. The 1990's weren't so bad, really. The information
age, and all.

But the 1870's in the US would have been an interesting time. Westward
expansion, and true adventure. Hunting and fishing to provide food
rather than as sport, and who could resist being able to walk around
with a pair of Colt revolvers slung low on your hips? Riding a horse,
and sleeping under the stars. Having a perfectly broken in pair of
boots, and a cowboy hat to keep the rain out of your eyes. One could be
a Man without constantly having to apologize for it. That seems like a
pretty good time to me -simple and real. There's nothing like the sound
of creaking saddle leather.

I take it that you are no older than 45. I am in my 60's and remember
the 50's.
  Rock and roll? How about "Tennessee Waltz" or "Cry'?
  You're British? My aunt and uncle (he a machinist for Ford of
Dearborn) made a tip to GB in '53. Returned with tales of poverty and
deprivation. The greyness of GB. (remember coal?)
  Elegant clothes etc? Deary in those days women worked! And not at
computers but at manual labour with rough chapped hands. But they did
know their place in the scheme of things. Education was wasted on them.
Those who were rebels with a joie de vivre were called something
impolite, sexist.
  Sports cars? I remember bloated Detroit iron that understeered to a
fare-thee-well. Three-on-tree. Stove bolt six.
  Ah!! The good old days that never were. Except in memory. We are
blessed, or perhaps cursed, to not remember pain and the way things
really were...the bad at least.