Sinatra distilled most of what became The Great American Songbook, and he had done this by the early 60s. Comparing him to The Beatles is like comparing a lion to a whale. They're both magnificent works of God, and that's about it.
When The Beatles broke up in 1970, a musicologist had what I thought was a brilliant take. She said she thought that in 300 years, The Beatles would be thought of as we think of The Baroque Era. They really were a thing unto themselves, and I include George Martin in that.
Unfortunately, there really was no place for a talented performer like Bobby Vee to go. But do you know who of The Beatles' generation had the harshest and most unkind breaking up of his career? Bobby Darin. He reassembled it as much as his already failing health permitted, and he had severe emotional problems to fight, as well, but he really did get the shaft.
Right after it, in which you talked about Beatlemania's forcing Sinatra to change the way he marketed himself. It did no such thing.
The venues you listed had always been natural Sinatra venues. If anything changed the likelihood that you'd hear a Sinatra song on the radio, it was the advent of rock 'n' roll in the mid 1950s, and the segmenting of radio into rock stations and non rock stations.
He did pretty well in the Beatles/1960s era, though, even on Top 40 stations, at least in America. Remember "Strangers in the Night," "Somethin' Stupid," and the execrable "My Way?" ( You're probably aware of how much Sinatra hated that song. ) I don't know how high it charted in the United States, but I remember the sensational "That's Life" getting a lot of airplay on the radio in 1966, and yes, on rock radio.
To younger generations ( I'm 70, I don't know about you ), The Beatles were a monolith which held unchallengeable sway over record sales in the 60s. This is nonsense, as proven by the fact that Louis Armstrong's recording of "Hello, Dolly," knocked The Beatles out of #1 in the spring/summer of 1964. And yes, it got a lot of airplay on rock stations, as well as did Barbra Streisand's recordings in the next year of "People," and the novelty song attributed to Fanny Brice which may have had a different title, but which I always think of as "I'd Rather Be Blue ( thinking of you, I'd rather be blue ooh ooh ooh, than be hah hah hah hah happy with somebody new ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh! )"
I remember hearing Vince Guaraldi on "rock radio" in that mid 60s period, too.
Sinatra blown out of the water? Nonsense. By 1964, he had little appeal to kids, anyway.
Elvis, on the other hand...
Sinatra distilled most of what became The Great American Songbook, and he had done this by the early 60s. Comparing him to The Beatles is like comparing a lion to a whale. They're both magnificent works of God, and that's about it.
When The Beatles broke up in 1970, a musicologist had what I thought was a brilliant take. She said she thought that in 300 years, The Beatles would be thought of as we think of The Baroque Era. They really were a thing unto themselves, and I include George Martin in that.
Unfortunately, there really was no place for a talented performer like Bobby Vee to go. But do you know who of The Beatles' generation had the harshest and most unkind breaking up of his career? Bobby Darin. He reassembled it as much as his already failing health permitted, and he had severe emotional problems to fight, as well, but he really did get the shaft.
You did, at least a couple of times ( although one, "the Frankies Sinatra," could be metaphorical ).
Right after it, in which you talked about Beatlemania's forcing Sinatra to change the way he marketed himself. It did no such thing.
The venues you listed had always been natural Sinatra venues. If anything changed the likelihood that you'd hear a Sinatra song on the radio, it was the advent of rock 'n' roll in the mid 1950s, and the segmenting of radio into rock stations and non rock stations.
He did pretty well in the Beatles/1960s era, though, even on Top 40 stations, at least in America. Remember "Strangers in the Night," "Somethin' Stupid," and the execrable "My Way?" ( You're probably aware of how much Sinatra hated that song. ) I don't know how high it charted in the United States, but I remember the sensational "That's Life" getting a lot of airplay on the radio in 1966, and yes, on rock radio.
To younger generations ( I'm 70, I don't know about you ), The Beatles were a monolith which held unchallengeable sway over record sales in the 60s. This is nonsense, as proven by the fact that Louis Armstrong's recording of "Hello, Dolly," knocked The Beatles out of #1 in the spring/summer of 1964. And yes, it got a lot of airplay on rock stations, as well as did Barbra Streisand's recordings in the next year of "People," and the novelty song attributed to Fanny Brice which may have had a different title, but which I always think of as "I'd Rather Be Blue ( thinking of you, I'd rather be blue ooh ooh ooh, than be hah hah hah hah happy with somebody new ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh! )"
I remember hearing Vince Guaraldi on "rock radio" in that mid 60s period, too.