Glimpsing a pair of blue crystal cufflinks sparked my memory
bank taking me back to 1969 and a hit song by Tommy James and the Shondells titled
"Crystal Blue Persuasion". Tommy James and
The Shondells were also one of the first acts to experiment with Music Videos of their hits starting with "Mony Mony" in 1968, thirteen years
before MTV.
Some may argue the side of
Michael Nesmith, one of the Monkees who is also credited for conceiving the
idea for MTV. He was the first to win an Emmy award for a music video " Rio ". According
to history Michael got the idea while touring Australia . En route, driven by curiosity, he visited an outback
town, the back of beyond, the whoop whoops, beyond the black stump, down under.
And while in a pub with no beer, an unlikely character recognised him as the Monkee
with the woollen hat.
This made Mike realise the power
of media and thus began the idea of music videos. He made Elephant parts, and
experiment, now con-cult, which later inspired the "Friday Night
Live" TV series, the birth place of comedians like Chevy Chase ,
John Candy, Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd. An aside, Michael's mother invented
Tipex and sold the rights while electronic typewriters were still hot for
$50,000,000.
I recognise the man for his multi
talents, no doubt, but equally for his unusual collection of designer silk
ties . Not just the for choice of styles but the way
he wore them at a length about 4 to 5 inches above the belt line, like they did
in the thirties. He can be seen consciously displaying his collection during
many appearances on the Monkees TV series, his music videos and PR photo
shoots. One in particular caught my
attention; it was what appeared to be a Texas landscape, with characteristic cactus etc.
TJ and company began writing and producing their own
records. Their first project, released in early 1969, was the unforgettable CRIMSON AND
CLOVER album which, in addition to going multi-platinum, spawned three
more monster hits for the group: DO SOMETHING TO ME,
CRIMSON AND CLOVER, and CRYSTAL BLUE
PERSUASION.
Listen carefully to TJ music;
this was techno pop in its infancy, 10 years ahead of its time. The CELLOPHANE SYMPHONY album featured the newly
developed Moog Synthesizer, a prelude to the VC3 and
eventually computerised keyboards.
Also in the 60's cufflinks
peaked . Swank were making 12 million pairs a year. Even though these were aimed
at the lowest end of the market, retailing for an average of $2.50 a pair, that
still adds up to a lot of men wearing cufflinks. These days the figure is
closer to 200,000, but cufflinks are making a strong comeback with gross sales
having increased consistently over the last ten years
MTV was born and traditionally
hosted pop music shows like Countdown and Top of The Pops died a rapid painful
death.
Music lovers, do you remember
"The Alan Parsons Project"? Well Alan Parsons made is debut as second
engineer along side Beatles producer George Martin in January while recording
"Get Back" and Paul McCartney actually played base and some drums
with The Steve Miller Band.
The same year (1969) George
Harrison left the Beatles, and I left school aged just fifteen years and one
day. I bought my first Jaeger sport Jacket and have been a fan of theirs ever
since, a year later I discovered Harris Tweed and so began a life of indulgence
in the art of fashion, now experiencing the joys of reward selling fashion
accessories on line, I've rubbed shoulders with Timothy Everest and hope to do
the same in person with Vivienne Westwood. Eventuality; "six degrees of
separation" I believe it.
I'm still a big fan of Jaeger,
there is no tweed as fine as Harris and I'm continually impressed with
Westwood's endurance and her ability to subvert from with in.
It's all about collaboration,
after all what would Bob Dylan be without his associations with The Band, Bob
Knoffler, The Heart Breakers, Mick Taylor and Rick Bloomfield. He employed them
to produce the music styles he visualised.
The author of this article has chosen to make this article available with free reprint rights. Click here to copy this article.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
