The Years the Music Died?

In the late 60s and on into the 70s there was a failure by many of the previous generation to understand the changes which were underway within society as the Baby Boomers came of age; live performance music being just one manifestation.

The 1968 Mildura Heat of the Battle of the Sounds led to a Sunraysia Article below. Setting aside the now politically incorrect "bird with a beat" mention, the 3MA Manager in announcing the Winners as Bramble St Robert (well deserved in the view of the Cyners BTW) said "the panel of judges were disappointed in both presentation and dress" and further that "more thought into a uniform style of dress would have given impact and would add to more polish by participants". Clearly the Judges did not grasp that the "kids" were interested in the music and having a good time. They could not care less about band uniforms and polish.

Bear in mind this was 1968 several years after the formation of the Stones in 1962 who in the early days had a little trouble tuning their instruments and certainly did not wear uniforms!

These views on uniformity continued certainly for a number of years and the Sunraysia Daily article 14 November 1970 of the time highlights this. The response by Boomers was predictable as it was in much of the Western World where they challenged conventional wisdom of what was good for them. In fact, reading back through many of the Daily articles in John's Scrapbook, the unhappiness of the Boomers was evident much earlier.

 

Bob's predictions that "We'll lose clients over our decision. We know that, but we'll be happier running a better dance." proved correct. Although popular local bands including the Cyners, who presumably had beat, participated the Ballerina "Renaissance" failed.

In mid 1971 the Cyners were asked to manage the Ballerina Bands by RYR Promotions (Greg's handwriting) . The die was cast for the Ballerina, however, as smaller more initimate venues, including the famed Australian pubs (if they may be called intimate) took over. Large venues did not recover until the scourge of "Disco" surfaced. By then the Ballerina had become a Supermarket Carpark. Other venues such as Izzy's Cafe Lounge and Izzy's Avalon were perhaps just a little too early.

In reality the music did not die in Mildura but in fact blossomed.

 

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Copyright © G.K. & S.P. Egan - All rights reserved. Last updated March, 2016.