B. Brock and the Sultans

B. Brock and the Sultans were a Beatles knockoff band whose one-and-only album, released in 1964, included a cover of 'I want to hold your hand.' But to drive home how like the Beatles they were, almost all the other songs on the album included the word 'beetle' — ‘Beetle Walk,’ ’30 LB Beetle,’ ‘Feed The Beetle,’ ‘Fast Beetle,’ ‘Mexican Beetle,’ ‘Little Brown Beetle,’ and ‘Do The Beetle’.

More info: The Lost RPM

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jul 02, 2020 - Comments (6)
Category: Music, 1960s

Forty Commercial Minutes from 1969

An absolutely fascinating time capsule of absurdity, sincerity and mendacity in a vanished era.

Note how much pop culture had infiltrated advertising, such as the YELLOW SUBMARINE-style animation in several cases.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jun 28, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Advertising, 1960s

Follies of the Madmen #481

Isn't it the offending husband who is usually the spouse assigned to sleep in the tub?

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 26, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Domestic, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Husbands, Wives, 1960s

High School Fitness

Imagine trying to institute such a program in a high school today!

And of course, nothing said of what the girls are doing.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 19, 2020 - Comments (5)
Category: Education, Exercise and Fitness, 1960s

The Music of Colonel Sanders

Colonel Sanders was apparently a music fan. During the late 1960s, while he still owned Kentucky Fried Chicken, he released a number of albums which were sold at his restaurants.

His first record, released in 1966, was "Favorite Old Church Hymns recorded by The Colonel's Mandolin Band for the glorification of Christ."



The story goes, as reported by the Danville Advocate-Messenger (Nov 6, 1967), that "a group of sixth-graders originally became interested in mandolins after their teacher brought an instrument to the school. When the children, who lived near Colonel Sanders, had formed a band and played many times, they performed for him and he forthwith bought them all new mandolins and assisted them in making a record." In fact, he decided to print 30,000 copies of the record, almost none of which sold.

Vice.com reports that thousands of copies of the record are still in a storage warehouse in Kentucky, and you can buy one if you visit the original KFC location in Corbin, Kentucky.

The other albums he released were more generic music compilations. The best title among the lot is Colonel Sanders' Tijuana Picnic, which sounds vaguely obscene, but was just a collection of Tijuana Brass knockoffs. You can listen to the whole album on YouTube (clip below).

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 18, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: Music, Junk Food, 1960s

Fresh Air Vending Machine

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jun 14, 2020 - Comments (6)
Category: Frauds, Cons and Scams, Technology, 1960s

Follies of the Madmen #479

UPDATED: the source.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jun 12, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Emotions, Underwear, 1960s

Concentrated Ocean Water

A dubious medical cure-all from the early 1960s: bottles of briny water marketed as 'concentrated ocean water'.

The sellers claimed it could prolong life, cure arthritis, cancer, Parkinson's disease, hardening of the arteries, etc.

The FDA, which shut down the companies selling it, called it "the great sea salt swindle."

I couldn't find anyone selling concentrated ocean water today. Though there are plenty of present-day products that are similar in spirit — such as those cans of Swiss Mountain Air I posted about recently.

Newport News Daily Press - Apr 21, 1961

Arizona Republic - Mar 26, 1961

Tampa Bay Times - Apr 24, 1961

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 03, 2020 - Comments (6)
Category: Health, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, 1960s

Hamfat Asar

The creator's Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Tue May 26, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Surrealism, Stop-motion Animation, 1960s

Follies of the Madmen #477

Our cigarettes are enjoyed by problematical outcasts and outsiders.

Source of ad.

Posted By: Paul - Mon May 25, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings, Ethnic Groupings, Stereotypes and Cliches, Tobacco and Smoking, 1960s