The Shadows 60th Musings

[DustyShoes]

Its true to say that each generation has their own music that helps to define their place in society as they create new things for themselves. Think back to the time when we were all young and the reaction to "our" music ranged from indifference to hostility.
I don't see this forum as a place for me to make comparisons between Cliff Richard and The Shadows, The Beatles and their contemporaries other than to say that I believe them to be obvious and true. That's not a comparison of good or bad by the way, and nor am I capable of an academic study of this so I'll just turn up the volume and continue listening to the wonderful Shadows CD, Specs Appeal, coz that's my music after all.

[Iain Purdon]

Now that Tim Davie is way up there, I suppose he is more than likely to simply delegate responsibility for a reply to someone lower down the chain of command, hopefully to an individual with more than a passing interest in the subject

Definitely. That’s what he did when I wrote to him. I got a call from Denise Black, one of his executives in BBC Studios, saying he had tasked her with getting it sorted.
I should add, to be realistic, that the urgency lay in the fact that Warner had misrepresented the BBC by passing off two commercial tracks as BBC recordings: not in the fact that it happened to be The Shadows.

[andykombi]

Not heard much on any bbc radio station
All to caught up with whats going on and just doom and gloom
It makes me wonder. us who follow bands like the rapiers and
The runaways who im very proud to be friends with. i feel very sad for them not being able to entertain anyone who loves shadows music .and there should have been a book and dvd celebrating 60 years

[russ]

I will give credit to Vanessa Feltz though as she does mention The Shads now and again on her BBC Radio 2 show in the early mornings. There is a slot around 6:20am when she plays the number one record on the day of someones birthday for that year. On the 1st of September she did have someone who was 60 and played Apache.Have heard Wonderful Land a few times too over the years.

[Uncle Fiesta]

Afriad to say, but I still see articles where the writers seem to think that the 60s began with the Beatles!

Because it did! The Shadows were a product of the 50s after all.

[GoldenStreet]

Afriad to say, but I still see articles where the writers seem to think that the 60s began with the Beatles!

Because it did! The Shadows were a product of the 50s after all.

... although their breakthrough and influence as an act did not materialise until the start of the 60s! Brian Epstein was keen to use them as a model for the presentation of the Beatles.

Bill

[andykombi]

Never been a fan of the Volkswagen beetles from liverpool.
Joke .yellow submarine is my favourite songb

[drakula63]

As a group in their own right, they really emerged in 1960 with the release and subsequent HUGE success of Apache. For most people, prior to that, I suspect that they were known MAINLY as Cliff Richard's backing group. A huge hit single (the first of many) and a huge hit album in 1961 really marked the arrival as the Shadows as a force to be reckoned with.

[Uncle Fiesta]

I don't know where people get this myth from that the Beatles were somehow 'influenced' by the Shadows. They didn't even like them and tried to distance themselves from them by being the exact opposite in virtually every way. They wouldn't even buy Strats until 1964. (And I suspect that was only because Brian Epstein said that if they bought matching guitars, he'd put up the money. Hence the two blue ones.)

[GoldenStreet]

I don't know where people get this myth from that the Beatles were somehow 'influenced' by the Shadows.

Musically, hardly at all, I would agree, but Brian Epstein was anxious to smarten up their appearance for the purpose of making them look more presentable and professional at the outset of their career.

Bill