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1960s Music & Lifestyles
WALLS is written in a format I’d discovered worked well in distilling complicated political eras when I wrote Suspect Red. The novel spans a momentous year of increasing friction between the United States and Soviet Russia that leads up to the communists’ cunning scheme for the Berlin Wall. Each chapter covers a month’s time and opens with news headlines, photos, and quotes from those real-life four weeks. Adding a factual photo essay created a powerful backdrop of historical context, that punctuates without interrupting a fast-paced plot and the harrowing conundrums facing my teenage characters.
Those chapter-opening primary documents are potent, quick-hit revelations of what life was like in the divided city of Berlin (and the United States) in 1960-61. The images are so striking and the information eye-opening. So, I don’t want to dilute their impact here! But here are a playlist of songs and a few links by category to drop you into the era:
Top song hits of 1960 and 1961 (when I could, I’ve found American Bandstand videos so you can see dancing too)
Let’s Do the Twist: youtu.be/pHGXwQeUk7M
Teen Angel youtu.be/22oY2CuNCO4
Are You Lonesome Tonight? youtu.be/LF5u7b8pAYQ
Stay youtu.be/o1Z_hskvz1M
Will You Love Me Tomorrow youtu.be/PAxb1vnb520
Stand By Me youtu.be/TYDkQgKgghc
O Dio Mio youtu.be/2f01-Oy0C6E
Runaway youtu.be/wSWMJxbxj7c
Cathy’s Clown youtu.be/z3-E9JebDtU
Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool youtu.be/8a5imvoRZ7E
All I Could Do is Cry youtu.be/8sMb7QP78Vw
Breakin’ Up is Hard to Do youtu.be/tbad22CKlB4
Crazy youtu.be/MbnrdCS57d0
Please Mr. Postman youtu.be/425GpjTSlS4
Hello Mary-Lou youtu.be/zLkCWT2neuI
Take Good Care of My Baby youtu.be/Ptuj7JzNz94
Who Put the Bomp youtu.be/lXmsLe8t_gg
It’s Gonna Work out Fine youtu.be/Rj9Um8T88KM
Blue Moon youtu.be/qoi3TH59ZEs
(Here’s the East German answer to American “wiggle hip” (see my section East Berlin for more about life in the GDR)—the Lipsi: youtu.be/0Qbc9VUBy_8
Events & News
historic-newspapers.com/blog/1960-timeline/
thepeoplehistory.com/1960.html
thepeoplehistory.com/1961.html
thoughtco.com/african-american-history-timeline-1960-1964-45443
mrpopculture.com/pop-culture-in-review-for-the-year-1960/
mrpopculture.com/pop-culture-in-review-for-the-year-1961/
pbs.org/opb/thesixties/timeline/timeline_text.html
People:
biographyonline.net/people/people-of-the-1960s.html
Top TV shows:
thetvratingsguide.com/1991/08/1960-61-top-30-ratings.html
Fashion:
mcny.org/exhibition/mod-new-york
medium.com/@kalyanii8927/fashion-history-the-look-of-the-1960s-292958b78951
Ads:
saturdayeveningpost.com/2018/12/vintage-ads-popular-presents-from-the-1960s/
Commercials from 1961: youtu.be/rDiEr31QMFU