One of the most interesting things about 'youth culture' is how rarely it is actually created by youth. In the mid 1950s when the 'teenager' is said to have been born the post-war Baby Boomers like me were still children - even those of us born in 1947 wouldn't hit 13 until 1960. And all that Rock 'n' Roll, films like The Wild One or Rebel Without a Cause featured musicians and actors well past their teenage years. Poor Bill Haley looked well past his sell-by date when he and his Comets finally had a hit with Rock Around the Clock. 

The teenagers were the audience - supporting musicians, writers, artists and film stars who, unlike the Baby Boomers, were born during or even before World War Two. But what an audience: an unprecedented teenage and then young adult demographic which shaped each and every decade right up to and including the present day. And shaped not only youth culture but every facet of the post-war world. 

To see how - for better and for worse - the Baby Boomers (even if only as a receptive audience) changed the world check out my book BOOM! - a Baby Boomer Memoir, 1947-2022. >>>>>

Fire up your Kindle - the Kindle edition of my book BOOM! - a Baby Boomer Memoir 1947-2022 now contains 125+ recently updated links to film trailers, music tracks and historic film clips from the 50s, 60s and 70s.

An entirely new way of reading a book, the Kindle edition of BOOM! makes it possible to leap from, say, a discussion of Marlon Brando in The Wild One to the original 1953 trailer for that sensational film.

'What are you rebelling against?'
'Wha Ya got?'

Or, when considering the roots of Rock 'n' Roll you can be listening to Roy Brown's 'Good Rockin Tonight' or watch Little Eva doing 'The Loco-motion'. The Baby Boomers were the first generation to grow up with TV and, naturally, BOOM! provides clips from I Love Lucy or American Bandstand to Tony Soprano and Don Draper.

>>>>To have a look for yourself go to BOOM! [< click]

- or your local Amazon site and search for Ted Polhemus

Don't own a Kindle? Me neither. No problem. Download a free Kindle reader for PC, Mac, Android, iPad, etc. Works really well on my PC. When you download a Kindle book it flies straight into your Kindle Reader to form part of your library.

Yes we all love real paper books but where a printed book is hard to get, too pricy or you need to read something immediately, Kindle could be the answer. And everyday there are thousands of Kindle books given away free. For a free Kindle reader go to >>>

FREE KINDLE READER [< click]

And/or get BOOM! - a Baby Boomer Memoir 1947-2022 in print form from amazon.com [< click here] or from your local amazon [search BOOM! or Ted Polhemus]

 Sex, drugs & Rock 'n' Roll

66 years in the making, BOOM! – A Baby Boomer Memoir 1947-2022 weaves together social history, personal memoir, pop culture, youth culture, politics, design, TV, fiction, food, sex, drugs, Rock ‘n’ Roll and a lot else besides to make sense of what has happened to our world from WWII to the present day – and beyond.

From Neptune, New Jersey to Swinging London, Rhythm & Blues to Punk, the rise of suburbia to the rebirth of the city, modernism to post-modernism, Playboy to ‘Make Love Not War’, I Love Lucy to Mad Men, boom to bust, LSD to ecstasy, Hipsters to, er, Hipsters. 

400-pages – including lists of all the most important music, films, TV and fiction for each decade, a Timeline to enable you to do the time warp and a comprehensive index.

Some more Sophisticated Boom Boom for your listening pleasure.