Sha Na Na Meets Woodstock
Nathan learns about how an unlikely 1950s throwback band called Sha Na Na became part of the most notable counterculture event of the 1960s: Woodstock. Scholar Daniel Marcus helps tell the story.
Music:
Longtime Rye by Blue Dot Sessions
1950s Doo Wop Band by Audio Blocks
Soda Pop by Audio Blocks
View Transcript
Ed Ayers: Major funding for BackStory is provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Robert and Joseph Cornell Memorial Foundation.
Joanne Freeman: From Virginia Humanities, this is BackStory.
Nathan C.: Welcome to BackStory, the show that explains the history behind today’s headlines. I’m Nathan Connolly.
Joanne Freeman: I’m Joanne Freeman.
Ed Ayers: I’m Ed Ayers.
Joanne Freeman: If you’re new to the podcast, we’re all historians. And each week, along with our colleague Brian Balogh, we explore the history of one topic in American history.
Nathan C.: We’re going to start the show in New York City. It’s late April, 1968. And in the Upper West Side, Columbia University is ablaze with protests of the Vietnam War and the university’s role in the conflict. The protests were part of a wider counterculture movement in the 1960s that challenged the status quo on everything, from foreign policy to the nuclear family.
Nathan C.: Meanwhile, in the midst of all this tumult, a group of Columbia students were doing something a little different. Precisely because tensions on the campus were so high, these students wanted to come up with a way to unite their fellow peers around one thing they all had in common, a 1950s childhood.
Daniel Marcus: These students got dressed up in what they saw as ‘50s greaser gear and they sang all these old ‘50 songs in a very satirical but loving way as well. And they quickly became very popular at Columbia, and they started playing around clubs in New York City.
Nathan C.: Daniel Marcus has written about this period and the group that became known as Sha Na Na. He says Jimi Hendrix happened to be at one of Sha Na Na’s New York City shows. This was around the time that organizers were getting ready for Woodstock, the 1969 music festival that would become a cultural touchstone. Hendrix was already on the bill, but he needed an opener. So Hendrix told the promoters-
Daniel Marcus: “You should bring these guys from New York called Sha Na Na to Woodstock.” So they performed at Woodstock. We think of Woodstock as the apotheosis of youth’s counterculture of the 1960s with the Jefferson Airplane, and Hendrix, and all of these counterculture icons, but in the midst of this, you had Sha Na Na doing Duke of Earl, Chapel of Love, and songs like that.
Nathan C.: Okay. So you’re probably wondering, “It’s Woodstock. There are rock stars like Hendrix, The Who, Carlos Santana. What did people think about a bunch of guys in gold lamé singing doo-wop?”
Daniel Marcus: And they were very popular. It’s not that they got booed off the stage. Those hippies loved them. It was seen as funny. It was seen as entertaining. It was a throwback. Okay. In the midst of all this craziness of the late ‘60s we can have a moment where we can enjoy Sha Na Na.
Nathan C.: In many respects, the politics of the 1950s couldn’t have been more different from that of the ‘60s; where the ‘60s was known for counterculture movements, the ‘50s emphasized conformity and conservatism. This was, after all, the decade of President Dwight Eisenhower and Leave It to Beaver. But Daniel says that this was besides the point for Sha Na Na fans.
Daniel Marcus: It doesn’t mean that this audience was embracing the politics of the 1950s. Not at all. They were just embracing these few cultural emanations.
Daniel Marcus: There is also another moving rock fest called Festival Express that is now a documentary, which was about a train ride through Canada, where the band would stop along various cities and play shows. And these were again ‘60s icons like the Grateful Dead, the Band, Janis Joplin, they were all playing at this. And for one concert, Sha Na Na flew in and performed with all of these bands on the same bill, and it was like seeing aliens from outer space, all these guys with short hair and grease-back hair pretending to be ‘50s hoods among Jerry Garcia and Janis Joplin, but this was all seen as part of the mix of youth counterculture at the time.
Daniel Marcus: So Sha Na Na was one of those bands that really showed the nostalgia for this early era within rock and roll culture, that eventually got transformed into Happy Days and then into the conservative nostalgia of the 1980s.
Joanne Freeman: Today on the show, we’re exploring nostalgia in American history, and how bygone eras have shaped culture and politics.
Nathan C.: You’ll hear more from Daniel Marcus on how popular culture of the 1970s and ‘80s fueled an idyllic 1950s nostalgia.
Ed Ayers: And, can a building be nostalgic? We’ll discuss how allusions to the past have shaped an iconic style of Southern architecture.
View Resources
Nostalgia in American History Lesson Set
Nostalgia is a sentimental longing for something from the past. It is a universal feeling that exists in different ways in our popular culture and politics. Just as the television show “I Love The 90s” appealed to a population of millennials, Donald Trump’s campaign slogan of “Make America Great Again” harkens back to a bygone era of American history.
This lesson, and the corresponding BackStory episode, examine different examples of nostalgia throughout American history, including music, television, architecture, and politics. With each example of nostalgia presented, students should be encouraged to consider why it gained traction among a certain population of Americans. Additionally, students need to consider whether the idealized version of America conflicts with the experience of different minority groups.
