08-12-2019, 11:19 PM
(08-10-2019, 09:57 AM)beechnut79 Wrote: On item 1, we still have not moved beyond excessive divisiveness, and in fact I feel it has increased. Following the Big Band Era (which was preceded by the Jazz Age), there was the rock 'n roll era headed by Elvis, Buddy Holly, etc. Then along came solo dance crazes led by the twist, followed by the psychedelic era led by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, et al. After that was the disco era which, although short-lived created its share of backlash, followed then by the even shorter-lived Urban Cowboy crazes which spawned such classics as Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places. Not many cultural institutions of that nature have come along ever since, the closest probably being the country line dance crazed led by Brooks and Dunn.
As far as dance crazes go, don't forget the acid house/rave scene of the late 80s and 90s, and while it was bigger in the Uk than in the states, you could still go to many a US downtown nightclub and dance to these beats. Boomers at that time in America may have been doing country line dances, but for younger people the dance scene looked more like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=648UkmmTG5w
Have we ever really had an omnibus culture, though? The dance halls of the Big Band era were typically segregated by class and race, and often the music would differ.