Remembering Shindig! and Hullabaloo
When I was twelve years old, in 1965, I watched Shindig!,on ABC, together with Hullabaloo, its counterpart on NBC, every week without fail. As a young person who lived mostly for the exuberant glory of rock 'n' roll, I viewed both programs with an earnest mixture of youthful excitement and awestruck studiousness, carefully and hungrily taking in every moment of each broadcast. In the distant days before video tapes, DVDs, and YouTube allowed everyone the delicious luxury of countless viewings, there was no choice but to watch a program as closely as one could and commit everything to memory. Once it was over, it was gone, and was not likely (unless there was a summer repeat) to be seen again.
Both Shindig! and Hullabaloo featured performances by many of the most famous names in British and American rock 'n' roll during the middle 1960s: everyone from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Animals, The Yardbirds, and The Zombies, to The Beach Boys, The Byrds, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Supremes, The Four Tops, and The Temptations. The musical performers frequently shared the screen with gaggles of slender young women in tight tops and short skirts, shaking their hair as they did frantic dances. It was young music offered directly to a young audience, something that had not yet become usual or widespread, and therefore it had a special appeal to millions of young viewers.
The two programs (particularly Shindig!, which was created by Jack Good, a sharp Englishman with a keen understanding of young people) were good while they lasted, but they did not last for long: both Shindig! and Hullabaloo were canceled after comparatively short runs. On American television in the 1960s, the wildness of rock 'n' roll was not a particularly welcome element in the stuffy realm of prime time. Members of the elder generation still were firmly in control of the broadcast schedule, and when the dull-witted executives at the main networks made their decisions in regard to what would be aired, the kind of music that currently was being enjoyed by American teenagers rarely was favored.
More than four decades have passed since Shindig! and Hullabaloo were first shown, but they continue to hold a strong attraction for me. Watching them now takes me back to a time when I was younger, happier, and less worldly-wise. It was a distinct time when rock 'n' roll, which still was in its own youth, had the ability to convey a wonderful feeling of untroubled promise and lively inspiration, and a time when the fresh outlook of the 1960s had not yet been torn apart by a harsh combination of bad drugs, bad politics, and the bad results of the war in Vietnam. A time that can be warmly remembered by myself and other members of my generation, but also a time whose best qualities are now completely out of reach.
Both Shindig! and Hullabaloo featured performances by many of the most famous names in British and American rock 'n' roll during the middle 1960s: everyone from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Animals, The Yardbirds, and The Zombies, to The Beach Boys, The Byrds, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Supremes, The Four Tops, and The Temptations. The musical performers frequently shared the screen with gaggles of slender young women in tight tops and short skirts, shaking their hair as they did frantic dances. It was young music offered directly to a young audience, something that had not yet become usual or widespread, and therefore it had a special appeal to millions of young viewers.
The two programs (particularly Shindig!, which was created by Jack Good, a sharp Englishman with a keen understanding of young people) were good while they lasted, but they did not last for long: both Shindig! and Hullabaloo were canceled after comparatively short runs. On American television in the 1960s, the wildness of rock 'n' roll was not a particularly welcome element in the stuffy realm of prime time. Members of the elder generation still were firmly in control of the broadcast schedule, and when the dull-witted executives at the main networks made their decisions in regard to what would be aired, the kind of music that currently was being enjoyed by American teenagers rarely was favored.
More than four decades have passed since Shindig! and Hullabaloo were first shown, but they continue to hold a strong attraction for me. Watching them now takes me back to a time when I was younger, happier, and less worldly-wise. It was a distinct time when rock 'n' roll, which still was in its own youth, had the ability to convey a wonderful feeling of untroubled promise and lively inspiration, and a time when the fresh outlook of the 1960s had not yet been torn apart by a harsh combination of bad drugs, bad politics, and the bad results of the war in Vietnam. A time that can be warmly remembered by myself and other members of my generation, but also a time whose best qualities are now completely out of reach.