Static Live Magazine March 2020 - 2 Year Anniversary

’60s Hair Wars:
Hippies vs. Sgt. Carter
Remember the 1960s? It
was in all the papers – the
Vietnam War, civil rights
protests, sex, drugs and
rock ’n roll. Those social upheavals
made it seem Atlas had farted while
he was holding up the earth.
But the Molotov cocktail that firebombed
more American households
than those volatile, history-changing
events was . . . guys’ hair! We males
of the younger generation suddenly
wanted to grow more of it. Our elders
wanted to keep us looking like the
flat-topped drill sergeant on the TV
show “Gomer Pyle.”
Looking back today, observers
of this culture war might think we
adolescent males in the ’60s were
pushing to grow marijuana on top of
our skulls.
As we boys lobbied our parents to
postpone a trip to the barbershop,
we would play the J.C. card: “But
Jesus had long hair!” However, those
paintings of Jesus with hair down to
his ass didn’t prevent a trip to the
barber for me and my two brothers.
My dad – smart guy! – knew the
true reason we wanted hair down
to our ass, and it wasn’t because
we wanted to emulate the son
of God. Rather, we wanted to be
like someone bigger
than Jesus Christ – the
Beatles! But the Fab Four
didn’t win the Hair Wars
for our side. It was the
8
Cowsills, that mom-and-apple-pie
family pop group, who struck the coup
de grace.
By the time the Beatles released
the scandalous “Rubber Soul” in
December 1965, in which the four
mop-tops had hair that barely covered
their ears, most of us white lads
across America were allowed to have
hair that looked like the Beach Boys
on their “Surfer Girl” album – moppish
but with ears fully exposed. That was
the line of demarcation in the Hair
Wars: If a boy’s hair had grown a
quarter-inch over the top of his ears,
he would be sent home with a note
from the principal explaining how this
hippie-freak kid was undermining
American
democracy. End of
story.
As for the black
boys: Sure, Sly
Stone sported an
Afro that was bigger
than the mushroom
cloud of an atomic
bomb. But, given that the black
guys at school had hair that looked
like country singer Charlie Pride, I
assumed they also were losing the
Hair Wars in their homes.
All rock and soul stars were fueling
us young lads with a lust for long
beautiful hair, shining, gleaming,
steaming, flaxen, waxen: The Door’s
Jim Morrison with his lion’s mane.
Led Zep’s Robert Plant with his
even bigger lion’s mane. The Rolling
Stones’ Brian Jones with his hippyfied
medieval pageboy cut.
The Hair Wars were at a stalemate
when the Cowsills, that wholesome
pop group that became the model for
the TV show “The Partridge Family,”
jumped into the fray with their 1969
cover of the title song from the 1968
musical “Hair.”
by Rick de Yampert
“Carl Reiner was creating a TV
special called ‘The Wonderful World
of Pizzazz,’ ” Susan Cowsill told me
before her family group performed at
Hippiefest in Daytona Beach in 2015.
“And Carl, God bless him, thought
it would be pretty darn funny if the
Cowsills did a parody of hippies. So
that video you see of ‘Hair’ with all of
us dressed up, that was part of the
deal. We were in modeling wigs from
China.”
The Cowsills’ record company was
horrified and didn’t want to release
“Hair” as a single. But a Chicago radio
deejay sneaked it onto the air without
revealing who was behind it, “and
-- seriously old school verbiage -- the
switchboard lit up,” Susan Cowsill
said. The song became the Cowsills’
biggest hit.
And – just my theory – “Hair” was the
song that ended the ongoing Hair
Wars in our home. I’m certain my dad
was thinking “If even the Cowsills are
down with this long hair thing . . . .”
So, Dad finally admitted defeat. His
exasperated parting shot to me and
my two brothers was: “Go ahead -- if
you want to have hair down to your
ass, that’s fine with me!”
I fulfilled my dad’s
sarcastic blessing for
many years.
Love ya, Dad.