The 1960's; One of our favorite decades for music and fashion.
The Wayward Winds appreciates and recognizes the best that each decade has to offer. The best decade for great music and fashion, in our opinion, was the 1960’s. The mindset of the younger generation of that time period has an influence on the Wayward Winds philosophy.
The 1960’s was a decade of contradiction; a truly Yin/Yang decade. For all the bad stuff that happened, there was some really great stuff that came from music and fashion.
The JFK assassination in 1963 was the trigger that began a cultural shift followed soon after by the beginning of Beatlemania in 1964. For a brief few years from 1964-late 1967, the people were on to something special in their thought process. It’s unfortunate that it took a wrong turn. It took a wrong turn because it was forced to by the politics of the Vietnam War. (no disrespect to the brave men and women who did what their Country asked of them and served). But if you could capture again the essence of 1964-1967, you’d have a great thing going. It must’ve been a beautiful time.
The music of the day arose from an explosion of brilliant and creative musical geniuses making the best music ever recorded. These artists fed off each other to create music that will be relevant forever.
Bob Dylan created a new Folk/Rock genre stemming from Pete Seeger and the group Peter, Paul, and Mary; The Beatles and their album Rubber Soul influenced Pet Sounds; Pet Sounds and the genius of Brian Wilson influenced Sgt. Pepper; The Byrds with Roger McGuinn and David Crosby were influenced by the Beatles and The Beach Boys; Buffalo Springfield with Steven Stills and Neil Young were influenced by all the great songwriters of the day like Carole King, Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell. Plus, Mick Jagger and the Stones defined the kind of irreverent and mischievous persona that we at the Wayward Winds appreciate.
The influence of dress and style that these groups had on the 60’s culture is a phenomenon too. Watch the documentary of Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 on YouTube sometime. It is so good. It includes breakout performances by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Ravi Shankar. Of course, the 60’s produced probably the greatest music festival that there will ever be; Woodstock in 1969. Check out Santana’s breakthrough performance there. People came to it with a sense of love and peace. What a great message.
When you get a chance, check out the Netflix documentary called “Echo in the Canyon” by Jakob Dylan. It is the ultimate tribute to the great music and artists of the 60’s.
It is the simple fact that the musicians of the time had incredible talent and did what they enjoyed regardless of fame and fortune. That’s part of the essence of following the Wayward Winds. Do what you love, be with who you love and navigate your own course through life based not on what others expect, but on what you expect of yourself. Getting back to that mid-60s way of thinking is what the Wayward Winds is about.
I’d love to hear your comments on the subject.
David