1960s cultural hybridity: the silly years

I have a perverse liking for the early days of music video, the sorts of things that TV shows did to showcase groups in the 1960s, the kind of thing that "That Thing You Do" was a gentle make fun of.

Here is a classic. This is the Sir Douglas Quintet, a bunch of funky guys from San Antonio, Texas, led by Doug Sahm, who later embraced his roots in rock, blues, country and norteño, and helped invent the Texas Tornados. Those guys were so much fun that they actually influenced a job decision of mine. When I first interviewed at University of Texas in Austin, I noticed that the Hole in the Wall bar, across the street from the Communications building was featuring Doug Sahm. I thought, Wow, if this guy is playing across the street from where my office would be, this town must be all right.

This, however, is a much earlier phase of Sir Douglas, where he and the band are trying really hard to look British, to fit in with the British invasion. Check out the castles and a girl in armor. Not to mention the odd Freddie and the Dreamers dancing action. This is cultural hybridity at its silliest. A genuinely rootsy, interesting Texas band, the kind of folks that the Rolling Stones later tried to turn into, if briefly, felt it had to look like it had wandered over from Liverpool. Watch and giggle. Musical globalization at one of its loopiest points.