1960s
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The method behind the madness
Here's a glimpse into how I created the characters for this illustration:
Clue me in, Daddy-O
Who's who and what's what?
1) Launch of Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite
2) Stan Lee lays the foundation of Marvel Comics with the introduction of Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man and Hulk
3) Truman Capote’s seminal true crime novel In Cold Blood is published
4) The Pulitzer Prize winning To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is published
5) Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech during the March on Washington
6) The Berlin Wall is constructed and physically and ideologically divides Berlin from 1961 to 1989
7) Actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her bed after overdosing on barbiturates
8) ‘The Lone Gunman’
9) US President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas
10) Alberto Giacometti sculpts L’Homme qui marche I
11) Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock scares audiences nationwide with it’s slow buildups to sudden shocks
12) Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara is executed in Bolivia making him a symbol of revolution for generations to come
13) On another continent, revolutionary Nelson Mandela is imprisoned and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the state government of South Africa (Apartheid)
14) Meanwhile South African doctor Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant
15) Bobby Charlton is an essential member of the English football team that win the World Cup in 1966
16) Jean-Luc Godard's film Breathless (À bout de souffle) was one of the earliest, most influential examples of French New Wave (nouvelle vague) cinema
17) Tom Wolfe pens The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, a firsthand account of the experiences of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters, who traveled across the country in a colorfully painted school bus
18) Walt Disney adapts Mary Poppins into a musical fantasy film starring Julie Andrews in the titular role
19) Maurice Sendak writes and illustrates the children's picture book Where the Wild Things Are
20) Another children's picture book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is written and illustrated by Eric Carle, becoming a staple in classrooms across the globe
21) French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg is equally famous for his number one hits as well as his romances with Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin
22) In film the genre of science fiction is pushed forward by the entertaining Planet of the Apes and Stanley Kubrick’s epic 2001: A Space Odyssey
23) Harvard psychologist Timothy Leary became an advocate for LSD, coining the phrase, "Turn on, tune in, drop out"
24) Thich Quang Duc, a Vietnamese monk burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government
25) Goldfinger, the third installment in the James Bond film series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond is released to rave reviews
26) Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein's paints Hopeless, adapting the imagery and motifs of comic strips into his work
27) The Beatles make their debut on American television starting the wave of Beatlemania across the world
28) Boxer Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) beats Sonny Liston and wins the World Heavyweight Championship.
29) Cassius Clay is welcomed into the Nation of Islam by Malcolm X and the the honorable Elijah Muhammad, effectively changing his name to Muhammad Ali.
30) Ford introduces the Mustang to the public, their most successful launch since the Model A
31) Gangster Joseph Valachi testifies in court stating that the Italian-American Mafia actually existed, the first time a member had acknowledged its existence in public.
32) The Kray twins dominate the streets of London's East End through murder, armed robbery, arson, protection rackets and assaults.
33) Founding Rolling Stones member Brian Jones is discovered motionless at the bottom of his swimming pool. The coroner's report stated "death by misadventure", and noted his liver and heart were heavily enlarged by drug and alcohol abuse.
34) The Bug, aka Volkswagen Beetle is one of the most popular cars during this decade, especially amongst hippies, who would often adorn their rides with psychedelic art
35) The 1960s brought the world the best rock and roll they had ever experienced before. Legendary albums include The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, Love’s Forever Changes, The Who’s Tommy, The Velvet Underground and Nico by The Velvet Underground, Let it Bleed by The Rolling Stones and The Stooges’ self-titled debut album.
36) In 1966, Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution in China. Millions will be persecuted as he asserts his authority
37) The birth control pill is introduced effectively ushering in the Sexual Revolution
38) With the emergence of television as a source of entertainment and information, graphic news footage from Vietnam and the Civil Rights Movement brought horrifying, moving images of the bloody reality of armed conflict into living rooms for the first time. One key example is the execution of Viet Cong member Nguyễn Văn Lém that was aired on national television
39) Sesame Street debuts on television introducing Jim Henson’s Muppets to the world
40) The Manson Family, led by self-proclaimed prophet Charles Manson gained international notoriety after the brutal murder of actress Sharon Tate and four others. They were imprisoned shortly afterwards
41) Bob Dylan performed his first electric concert at the Newport Folk Festival. Some sections of the audience booed Dylan's performance to criticize him for moving away from political songwriting and for performing with an electric band instead.
42) US Astronaut Neil Armstrong is the first man on the moon
43) Richard Nixon is sworn in as the 37th President of the United States
44) US involvement in the Vietnam War rages on
45) Second-wave feminism spreads throughout the world symbolized by the burning of bras and spearheaded by feminists like Gloria Steinem
46) The movement against the Vietnam War is led by activists such as Abbie Hoffman who was one of the Chicago Eight arrested for violent confrontations with police during the 1968 Democratic National Convention
47) Many in the peace movement within the US were students, mothers, or anti-establishment hippies. Their persistence eventually forced the government to end US involvement in the war
48) As infighting increases within The Beatles, Abbey Road becomes their last studio recording project as John Lennon goes on to preach the benefits of Bagism and Bed Peace with Yoko Ono
49) The Stonewall Riots were violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar located on Christopher Street, New York City.They are widely considered to constitute the most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.
50) Yasser Arafat becomes leader of Palestine Liberation Organisation
51) The Factory was artist Andy Warhol's New York City studio. Famed for its groundbreaking parties, The Factory was the hip hangout for artistic types, amphetamine users, and the Warhol superstars. In the studio, Warhol's workers would make silkscreens and lithographs under his direction
52) Oh! Calcutta! was an Off-Broadway avant-garde theatrical show that sparked considerable controversy at the time, because it featured extended scenes of total nudity, both male and female
53) Boeing 727 debuts, opening the door to travel for millions.
54) Televison series Star Trek is aired on television, allowing it’s viewers to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations and to boldly go where no one has gone before.
55) Batman, a televison series starring Adam West as the caped-crusader entertains audiences with it’s camp style, upbeat theme music, and its intentionally humorous, simplistic morality
56) The advertising agencies of Madison Avenue continue to enjoy their heyday
57) The Zodiac killer continued to murder his victims in Northern California and taunting law enforcement and newspapers with his infamous cryptograms. He would sign his letters with a crosshair-like symbol
58) The Summer of Love brought as many as 100,000 young hippies to San Francisco's neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury
59) The most overtly political statements in the history of the modern Olympics occurred when two black American athletes raised a black gloved fist during the medal ceremony of the 200 meter running event
60) Bobby Seale and Huey Newton founded the Black Panther Party to challenge police brutality. Women of the party such as Angela Davis were portrayed as revolutionaries and active participants in the armed self-defense movement.
61) Older teenagers and adults have admitted to enjoying the cartoon Where Are You Scooby-Doo? because of presumed subversive themes such as that Shaggy is assumed to be a user of cannabis and Velma is assumed to be a lesbian.
62) The band Jefferson Airplane released the acid-inspired White Rabbit. Inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the song was supposed to be a slap to parents who read their children such novels and then wondered why their children later used drugs
63) The Flintstones became the first animated series to be nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, but lost out to The Jack Benny Program
64) Do you recognize this man?
65) The Lizard King, An alter ego of Doors lead singer Jim Morrison, to imitate a Native American shaman
66) Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi achieved fame as the guru to the Beatles, the Beach Boys and other celebrities
67) Easy Rider is the landmark counterculture film that explores the societal landscape, issues, and tensions in the United States during the 1960s, such as the rise of the hippie movement, drug use, and communal lifestyle
68) The Woodstock Festival is widely regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history, as well as the definitive nexus for the larger counterculture generation. One of the key moments from this festival was Jimi Hendrix playing his version of the Star-Spangled Banner
