I know what you mean Jack, about the younger generation and their interest and and adoration of pop stars who were on the scene before most of them were born.
My son, born in 1971 is a real Elvis fan. Has big framed pictures of him in his house, and other Elvis memorablilia around the place...
Actually, he seems to go for those popular stars who died young, like Buddy Holly and Richie Valens.
I think a lot of that came from him watching the movies that were made about them. I think the movie Grease was probably the beginning of the fixation with the songs of the 50's.
The odd thing is, when I was growing up in the fifties and sixties, over here in Australia we didnt get much film footage of any of the pop stars, we heard them, but didnt see much of them, except a photo on the record cover. It was years later when we started getting video clips, and old footage of those singers.
A lot of the American stars of that era have come out to Australia for concerts over the past ten or twenty years. I was lucky to see Gene Pitney, and Bobby Vee, and Johnny Mathis, and Glen Campbell.....And I dd see the Beatles when they arrived in Sydney in 1964.....I was one of those screaming teeny boppers at Sydney Airport, screaming my lungs out.
I love the Time Life advertisements on TV...they go for half an hour, advertising sets of CD's from the fifties and sixties, showing film footage of the artists......even though its repetitive, I still sit back and enjoy them, and then I usually download the songs of the computer and burn them onto a CD, and always make a copy for my son as well.
Did anyone try that juke box link I posted a few days ago?.....If you havent, you should, you wont be disappointed.