• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

People Living Like It's Still 1951...Any Of Us Out There? :)

the closest I came to living like it was 1950s is going out to a show in a flannel shirt with it's sleeves rolled up and with my jeans rolled up a bit and wearing my dr martens

my buddy takes one look at me and says : "OH I SEE YOU ARE GETTING THE ROCKABILLY BAND BACK TOGETHER ...GOOD FOR YOU!"

I nearly died laughing ...
 
great thread... i restored a 1955 vintage trailer... and we have taken it to a few vintage rallies... i think i have met some of these folks! great people by the way.... the article also reminded me of a Robbie Fulks song... its called Roots, Rock and Wierdos.. i could not find a song of it on youtube, but here are the lyrics... pretty much hits it on the head....

The town was hardly stirring, the night clubs all were closed
Only a washed-up cover band hittin' the stage at Joe's
The guitar hit the first bar of "Secret Agent Man"
A door in the back flew open, and into the room they ran!

Roots rock weirdoes, up from the underground
Starved for a Tele or a B3 -- any out-of-fashion sound
Roots rock weirdoes, out of their holes they come
Dressed up like it's 1951.

Well, they looked the band gear over and they noted with delight
The guitar amp was a Bassman, and the bass man played upright
Then they looked 'round at each other, and they cried, "We Are The Best!
For we like unpopular music, and just look at the way we're dressed!"

Roots rock weirdoes, slapping each others' backs
Using the hepcat language they thought made them sound black
Roots rock weirdoes, smoking their Camels straight
Makin' sure there was nothing up to date.

Now Joe, he was slow to anger, but that barkeep found it hard
Just to watch the air grow toxic with smoke and self-regard
So he jumped up on a barstool and he shouted out loud and clear:
"I don't know just what you weirdoes want, but I don't want you in here!"

The room grew deathly silent, then up from the stinking ranks
Rose a homely social worker in a bowling shirt marked "Hank"
And dropping the fake black diction, he said, "Since you enquired,
Let me take stock of what we roots rock -- ahem! -- 'weirdoes' desire...."

Fishnets for every woman, and lipstick as red as flame
For every man a tatoo, a Chevy, and a dumb nickname
Cigarettes in every shirtsleeve, black leather on every back,
Fanzines in every bookstore, LPs in each record rack.

Three chords in every pop song! Four white guys in each band!
A ruthless media empire to saturate this land
Then, with our alt.country comrades, and our brothers in neo-swing,
We'll reclaim music from the kids for our fat dead cracker king!"

Roots rock weirdoes, Christ! They're everywhere!
A little Doc Pomus in their hearts and dark pomade in their hair
Roots rock weirdoes, out of their holes they come
Dressed up like it's 1951.
 
Last edited:
illinoisteve said:
BillyBatts, I agree that the culture for kids has changed a lot. Kids weren't driven everywhere. Both in the tiny town I started out in, and then in the Chicago 'burbs we moved to, nearly every kid walked to school (not miles like our parent told us they did) but often several blocks. Parents didn't enroll kids in after school activities. If neighborhood kids wanted to play baseball, football, tag, or fly kites we met at the park or vacant lot and did that, making up our own rules and settling our own disputes over the rules. I only knew one kid growing up who was in organized little league, but we all played ball. A few more of us were in scouting, but kids invented their own clubs, too. Kids traded baseball cards, made plastic models without sniffing the glue to get high. Some kids had chemistry sets or other collections or hobbies. Some even read books. I never remember being bored.
Click to expand...

That's sure right on the money Steve. I actually DID walk to school when I missed the bus, well, I sometimes RAN to school to make it on time. If you took shortcuts, you got there in about 20 minutes. It really was about 2 miles one way.

Nope, I was never bored. Lots to do. The only "electronic" or "technical" thing I was into was Amateur Radio. That kept me busy a lot of the time studying Morse Code (required back then) and building very simple peanut whistle rigs (1 watt output) out of oatmeal boxes with basic parts my father scrounged for me, or by ripping the guts out of older TV's and Radios. I didn't get into HiFi Stereo until I was about 14, but got into Amateur Radio when I was about 9 or 10.

I remember building Go Carts by scratch and Skateboards by nailing roller skates to boards. Tree Forts. We built them every summer it seemed, or repaired what we had built summers before.

We played hard all day and reluctantly came home for dinner, then went back out and played. The only night that was sacred was Wednesday when "Lost in Space" was on at 8:00. We all were in by then.

Cubscouts, Boyscouts, Hunting, Fishing, sleeping "Out" or camping in the back yard. We had a lot of fun.
 
I'd love to decorate in that style, or similar. I probably will when I get my own place.

But to live entirely in that era? Nope.
 
jomondz said:
article-2543580-1ADA3B9000000578-819_964x743.jpg


Beautiful Colors!
Is chemical element Pb (plumbum) responsible for those beautiful colors?
Click to expand...

Surprise Surprise he's alone...
 
Sam Cogley said:
Couldn't you get the ambulance/hearse chassis with a manual into the 60s?
Click to expand...

Possibly, I just don't know. I think maybe they went totally Hydramatic to cut down on the stock dealers would have to carry. But someone "Out in the Field" could certainly have swapped trannies out.
 
oldgringo said:
Would you [jgannon] allow 1953 to sneak in?

attachment.php

Marilyn Monroe & Jane Russell​

Cheers, og
Click to expand...


Hey Oldgringo -

1953 may sneak right in!

And to everyone - Glad you guys found the article interesting and are sharing your thoughts and humor. When I posted it, I thought of how many of us are into vintage gear, and how many of us love to acquire so many of the great vintage pieces. In some ways, maybe we are perhaps a little out there on the fringe too!!! LOL

And we wouldn't have it any other way! :music:
 
Let's see, I have a modern system with disc player, no TT. Smart phone, no landline. I am pretty sure that anything I owned prior to 1980 is long gone and I haven't acquired anything else that old. So, no I don't think I'm living in the 50s.
 
It's no less consumerist or vain to hunt down the old stuff, but I do agree that in many cases they don't make em' like they used to. I'm pretty bummed that all my old Pendleton shirts are wearing out, because the new ones fit like tents.

As for rockabilly, I can listen to and enjoy it for maybe an hour. Then I'm done.
 
BadassBob said:
Typical 90's kid :D
Click to expand...

oh yes... :yes: 90s kid from Seattle (living in Seattle also) at the time.. SOOO MUCH FLANNEL.... in fairness in Seattle historically people wore flannel cause it is f*cking grey and cold all winter so we wore layers and layers of stuff as to not freeze to death .. mostly...


I saw some great shows at the UW Ballroom and Green River CC and at the Offramp and crocodile cafe... and man all kinds a places ..use to like the OK Hotel... building it was in got red tagged or whatever in the earth quake in 99

being in my late teens / early twenties in Seattle during the late 80s / early 90s in Seattle was a pretty awesome time...
 
Last edited:
It is unclear just how devoted they are to living like it is still the 1950s. Strikes me more as a look or a hobby. The Daily Mail is not exactly akin to the NY Times or WSJ.

Still in this world dominted by bad news and craziness all being delivered by Twitter and Instagrams, it is refreshing to see some people with an affection for a bygone era. America has always been a haven for eccentrics, individualists, and those who march to a different drummer.

And they are not the only ones. I have heard of some website where people endlessly debate the merits of old Pioneer, Marantz, and McIntosh stereo units including which cables are the best. They look for them in thrift stores! And that is not all. These folks even debate Bruce Jenner's proclivities. :)

And here is a site full of folks who are devoted to looking- and living- like the late 1930s and 1940s. Some great stuff here:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/

Keep America Weird.:thmbsp:
 
jgannon said:
Interesting article on people of the Rockabilly community who dress and decorate their houses like it's still the 1950's. But whether one would go this route or not, one interesting premise behind it is stated in this quote: 'We did not have a disposable “Made in China” culture like we do now. When you bought a toaster, it worked for decades, and it looked good just as long. If it broke, you had it repaired. You did not simply toss it into a landfill and head out to a big box store to buy another. . . Yes, even the toaster was joyous in its design.' (My emphasis)
Click to expand...

I'm sure my mom and dad never rejoiced over their toaster.

Their b/w TV needed work about once a month. The repairman was out so often that he knew all 5 of us kids by name. The cost of acquiring, operating, and maintaining it was probably more, in real dollars, than a modern TV.

Their car needed regular tuneups because it had a carburetor and points, and the body started rusting after a few years. I have a 2002 Honda that has been tuned up twice and is only now showing a few brown spots on the rocker panels

All us kids had dozens of cavities, because the water wasn't flouridated. My sons are 33 and 29 and never had a single cavity.

We all got the measles. Now, only kids with ignorant parents who don't get them vaccinated are at risk.

Sure some things were better in the good old days, but at least as many more were worse. Many old things are beautiful and still very useful, which is why I am here on AK. But, overall, I have it better than my parents did. My kids have it better than me.

Things always get better as we complain that they're going to hell.

And by the way, more and more of that throw away stuff is being recycled at an ever increasing rate.
 
I think most people are missing the point. Just because you are designing something after a particular time doesn't mean everything has to be from that time. So what they have a DVD player and the interior of the car is to pink. This is no different from owning a classic car or collecting anything old. It's just more functional.

Geez even when it's not audio some people here still have to rip apart the way others think, feel, and act.

Personally I like what the guy has to say because it's true. It wasn't a disposable society back then. A brand that sold products that failed in two years would have been bankrupt and gone in three years back then. Now we just say oh well and buy another from the exact same brand. Be it cars, electronics, or whatever.

BTW I want that RCA Victor chair. Does that mean I want Measles too?
 
Last edited:
True, I think many of us -- well how about me, for one -- are using the original post to reflect on our own images of what was good or bad about the 50s and lumping the 60s into it, to boot. That isn't exactly staying with responding to the original post.

One historical reminder worth noting: the original post references 1951. Keep in mind that 1951 didn't look like the stereotypical image of the '50s. There were no 57 Chevies, with fuzzy dice. Half the Bobby-soxers were still Sinatra fans, there was no Elvis craze (He made his first recording in 1953). Most of the newer cars on the road were made in the late 1940s, and a lot of the older cars were made before WWII arms production took over U.S. manufacturing. (In 1951, London was still rebuilding from WWII destruction.) 1951, the U.S. looked a lot more like 1947 than it did like 1957.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom