RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1971!
Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 54 years ago… This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of July 9, 1971. Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of July 2, 1956. Click here to check it out. (Keep in mind that comics came out on multiple days, so these are technically the comics that went on sale between July 6 and July 12.) So, let’s set the scene: About nine months after Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin died within a month of each other in 1970, both at the age of 27, fans were mourning the death of Doors frontman Jim Morrison, who was found in his bathtub in Paris on July 3. He was also 27. Morrison was an alcoholic and had been spiraling for years. Since there was no autopsy, his cause of death remains uncertain to this day. Morrison’s death put another exclamation point on the dark side of the ’60s youth movement, which by mid-1971 seemed ever more in the rearview mirror despite its continued pop cultural and political influence. (If I had to pick, say, three Doors songs, I’d go with Roadhouse Blues, The End, and Riders on the Storm, which was the last song Morrison recorded before his death.) Given the nature of Morrison’s sudden demise and its grim symbolism, it’s easy to forget that one of the greatest American musicians of all time died the same week: ebullient jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong suffered a fatal heart attack in his sleep on July 6, at the age of 69. His July 9 funeral in Corona, Queens, where he lived, was attended by 500 people, with 2,000 more crowded outside the church. His signature song, When the Saints Go Marching In, was played at the service, Peggy Lee sang The Lord’s Prayer, Al Hibbler sang Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen, and long-time friend, broadcaster Fred Robbins, gave the eulogy. His honorary pallbearers were a Who’s Who of musical titans, comedy giants and well-known personalities: Pearl Bailey, Count Basie, Johnny Carson, Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, David Frost, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Alan King, Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan and Earl Wilson. IN OTHER NEWS There were a number of profoundly important and influential developments this week, a...
