1960’s Teen Idols

Thank you for joining me today. I previously wrote about some of the teen idols from the 1950’s. Click here if you want to check that blog out. I don’t really know when the whole teen idol thing began, but I thought the 50’s were a good place to start. Today I will be focusing on all of the yummy 1960’s Teen Idols. You’re welcome.

Tiger Beat

Tiger Beat, which is still going strong today, was founded in 1965 by the Laufer brothers. Thank you, Charles and Ira! Tiger Beat was a huge part of my childhood. The magazine was sold to Primedia (crap bag) in the late 90’s. I’ve only had trouble when dealing with Primedia. They should probably not hire 12 year olds to answer the phone. Scott Laufer got the magazine back in 2003. Scott had purchased stuff from me before and I emailed and asked if he was related to the original Tiger Beat Laufer’s. He said he was Charles’ son. I didn’t know he was like the new owner of Tiger Beat. I was talking to royalty. Cool. FYI, the mag has been published by Tiger Beat Media since 2015.

Some of the big idols of the 60’s were Bobby Vinton, Michael Landon, The Beatles, Davy Jones, and Bobby Sherman. I’m still a tad mad (that rhymes) at The Beatles. They brought their funky mop heads over here in 1964 and essentially killed jazz. I know music was changing at that time, but they kind of led the way. Jazz has never really recovered since then.

Michael Landon

My sister Lori LOVED Michael Landon. She wasn’t born until the early 60’s but loved watching him in Bonanza reruns. She even memorized all of the dialogue to certain episodes. I remember visiting some Bonanza ranch thing in Nevada (I think) when I was a young kid. It was boring to me but Lori loved it. She walked away with Bonanza playing cards, postcards, posters, and I don’t know what else. They need to have a Brady Bunch ranch.

Bobby Vinton

My ex-husband is a professional trumpet player so I’ve gotten to see a few of these performers live. He played a three night gig in Denver with singer Bobby Vinton. I was a supportive wife and sat through all three performances. Do you know what I learned? Bobby Vinton has a lot of blue songs. Blue on Blue, Blue Velvet, Roses are Red My Love (Violets are BLUE), and I’m sure there were more. Vinton seemed like a very nice man. I believe he was well into his 70’s when I saw him.

My ex also played with Paul Anka who I wrote about in my 50’s blog. Anka continued being popular into the 1960’s. I hope he was a nicer man back then.

Davy Jones

Davy Jones was a cute little tiny thing. I remember him on The Brady Bunch. Girl, look what you’ve done to me….. Davy was, of course, part of The Monkees which I think was kind of a rip off of The Beatles. The Monkees were all considered teen idols and were very popular in the 60’s, but Davy was by far the favorite. How could he not be? He was so cute and tiny. You could like set him on your bed with your stuffed animals.

Bobby Sherman

The late 60’s introduced us to Bobby Sherman who may have had the original Justin Bieber hair. I never understood the appeal of Bobby. He seemed really old for a teen idol (he must have felt silly) and he had funky teeth. He seems like a nice enough guy though. Click here to read my blog about him.

Thank you for reading my 1960’s Teen Idols blog. Who was your favorite? Which big idol did I leave out? Leave a comment and let me know and/or take the survey below.  Check back in a few days for my third part of this blog series. I’ll cover the 70’s which was the best decade ever!