Here is a flashback that is quite unusual and an excellent example of music's ability to bridge cultural divides and bring folks together.
Upworthy.com offered this blast from the past showing this was a pivotal year in American culture. The hippies and the counterculture were ascendant, and everything that came before in entertainment was as square as can be.
In cinema, there was the world before and after 1969’s “Easy Rider.” In music, the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair was a defining moment for the new era, and on television, the anti-establishment “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” divided households over its anti-war stance.
America was fiercely divided by war and politics that fractured relationships between the genders, races, and generations. People took to the streets to push back against a ruling class who blocked the halls to progress. Sound familiar?
In September of 1969, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young (CSN&Y) were asked to play a duet with Welsh singer Tom Jones on his popular network TV show and the pairing was a perfect example of the culture clash.
Jones was famous for his hit songs “It’s Not Unusual” and “What’s New Pussycat?” and was adept at dodging panties being thrown at him by the adoring ladies in the audience.
CSN&Y had just played Woodstock and were known for the anti-war anthem “Wooden Ships” and “Long Time Gone” about the assassination of Robert Kennedy.