Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution (1967 TV Movie) User Reviews

Wonderful Insight to the '60s Pop Music Scene

[zolland · 10/10 · 1 April 2013]

At the time "'60s music" was gaining popularity, the divide between youth and adulthood couldn't have been greater. Leonard Bernstein, a highly acclaimed American composer popular with the older crowd, decided to try and "educate" adults on the complexity, importance, and intricacy of the young people's music. Whether he succeeded or not, his description and explanation of "why" the music was so great does wonders today in an era where people often ask, "What was so great about '60s music?" Not all, but some of the songs featured in the program are "Hello World" by the all-female group The U.F.O's; "Society's Child" by Janis Ian; "No Man Can Find the War" by Tim Buckley; "Flying Thing" by The Gentle Soul; "Surf's Up" by Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys) on piano; and "East West" by Herman's Hermits.

Interviews are shown with musicians from Canned Heat, The Gentle Soul, The U.F.O's, Graham Nash (then in The Hollies), Peter No one of Herman's Hermits, and many others.

Although Bernstein was addressing his answers to people born in the '20s and '30s, it should speak volumes to those born in the '70s, '80s, '90s, and beyond.

Pre-TED talk on mid-60s white rock followed by a bunch of babble

[cherold · 6/10 · 18 May 2017]

Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution is actually two documentaries in one. The first half is quite fascinating, as Leonard Bernstein discusses the interesting compositional tricks of mid-60s pop-rock, particularly the Beatles. It comes across as a musical TED talk before there were TED talks.

The second half, written by David Oppenheim, consists of interviews with a number of pop musicians, some famous some obscure. These interviews focus on the message rather than the music, and the message, in general, is universal love. The songwriters seem uncomfortable being forced to articulate their views, wanting the music to speak for itself, and when you listen to their shallow platitudes you can see they were right. You can also, years later, see how misplaced their optimism was (except for Frank Zappa, who was less sanguine).

There are some interesting moments in the show, including Brian Williams singing Surf's Up and precocious teen Janis Ian lip syncing her hit Society's Child.

One thing both Bernstein and Oppenheim seem to agree on is that modern (in 1967) rock is a white phenomenon. The only black guy mentioned on the show is Duke Ellington, for contrast, and Bernstein doesn't say a thing about any song earlier than She Loves You. Admittedly most black pop of the period was called "soul" rather than "rock," but still, it seems unfortunate to completely ignore big influences on the Beatles and the Stones like Chuck Berry and Little Richard yet find plenty of time to talk about teen pop idols Herman's Hermits.

In short, the first half is pretty fascinating, and the second half is pretty tedious.