Answer
to War: Bean Bag Chair & a Lava Lamp!
Have
you lounged in a Bean Bag Chair lately? 50 years ago, they were fun and
challenging. Now they’re just infuriating to anyone over fifty. In 1970 we paid
around $19.99 for the kitschy seating. That’s about a quarter of the price you’ll
pay now, to purchase one you might actually roll out of!
While vegging in a bean bag chair, June 1970 also saw
us entranced by a lava lamp, with the radio blaring “Lay a Little Lovin’ [on
me]” (Robin McNamara), or particularly pertinent to a June 1 post 50 years
later, “War”
by Edwin
Starr.
I’ve
been around for five decades with both—foreign and domestic war—and it is absolutely
good for nothing. It devastates lives needlessly. Whatever the warring
principle reason (except for country protection), no amount of violence
is going to solve it. In most cases, war makes everything worse, dealing with
the aftermath—governmentally, financially, psychologically, and individually.
That
said, let’s get on with the lighter, musical side of life and put all the violent
people in a bean bag chair—they’ll eventually be laughing too hard trying to
get out, to fight! Rock On …
50 Years
Ago this Month ~ JUNE 1970
Our Featured
Radio Survey for this month took their survey design to a subtly salacious
level and I seriously doubt they paid for using the trademark bunny logo. It
was a more lenient era when companies often thought that any publicity was good
publicity—even if the logo generated commercial revenue.
I miss those days. Obviously, if a brand’s logo is used for
blatant massive profitability, that’s one thing; but a radio station or other
business / individual who uses a logo for fleeting or common-interest promotion
and/or comment, is another. But I digress (again).
“Back
in the good ol’ days,” radio stations often grabbed a company’s emblem for fun
and frivolity, like the WAIR/Winston-Salem’s (NC) June 26,1970
music chart. It was Playboy magazine’s heyday and
everyone knew the cute little bunny meant surreptitiously sexy. I’ll bet it got
the intended attention.
Poignantly, this Spring marked the final print issue of Hugh Hefner’s steamy legacy—its first issue bounced off
the presses for December 1953. The publication is still digitally available
(and some might say even better), but can that ever be the same?
Seriously,
how can teenage boys everywhere stash a print issue under their mattress so the
parents won’t see it? Although it does likely make the print versions even more
desirable for collectors. (And mom knew it was there; and dad likely knew,
chuckling at his own youthful memories.)
 |
| BFYP Collection. The white carafe is bigger but the Bunny gets noticed. |
About
the man behind the bunny, Art Paul (1925-2018), Playboy says, “Paul was Hefner’s very
first hire—founding art director of the nascent PLAYBOY—and he quickly proved
his worth, drafting the now ubiquitous Rabbit Head in less than an hour.”
Partly
in thanks to Paul’s imagery, women and girls wanted to be a Playboy
Bunny, and
the guys … well … the bunny will live on in the archives of Boomers’
memories.
On Your Transistor Radio
Dial ~ JUNE 1970
Although “Lay a Little Lovin’” made WAIR’s
top twenty, “War” hit the chart as a “Hot Prospect,” bubbling under the radar
and on its way up.
Other
pockets of the country kept love tunes—won and lost—at the top, for this
traditional wedding month, like KYNO/Fresno,
California, and DJ
Sean Conrad. Fans obviously disillusioned with marriage thought Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold” was Right
On! and boosted it up to #2 in the June 24th issue of their “Boss 30.”
On the other hand, and other side of the country, DJ Pat
O’Day kept the turntable spinning for Orlando Florida’s WLOF
fans who heated up the “Fun 40” chart with Rare Earth’s “Get Ready” hugging the
#1 spot. ♪ And I'm bringing you a love that's
true | So get ready, so get ready … ♪
Featured
Radio Survey: WAIR/Winston-Salem, North
Carolina personified the sexy ‘70s in this month’s “Music Power Survey” with
that playful Playboy Bunny, decidedly not your Easter Bunny! Check out
the list of airwave attributes they claimed for their DJ “Playboys” … 50 Years Ago this Month in Rock & Roll Radio! Where were you that groovy day when
your radio played …
Celebrate JUNE 1970 and … Rock On!
Share on Twitter: @BlastFromPastBk
LinDee
Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and author by way of Rock &
Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast
from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!
Note: FYI – All links in the BFYP site are personally
visited, verified, and vetted. Most are linked to commonly accessed sites of
reputable note. However, as with everything cyber-security, use at your own
discretion.
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