The strange T.A.M.I. show (Teenage Awards Music International), filmed in California in 1964, is a snapshot of popular music of the time, going back with Chuck Berry and forward with The Rolling Stones, at the time basically a blues band, just prior to the release of "Satisfaction" and "Get Off of My Cloud." It was a period when one listened mostly to AM radio (in my case WBZ when I was in prep school in New Hampshire and New York's WABC when I was home in Hudson, N.Y.); I was 17 in 1964 and listened mostly to pop music that, by that time, transcended the issue of race. Included in T.A.M.I. are rhythm and blues (James Brown), Motown (The Supremes, The Miracles, Marvin Gaye), surf music (The Beach Boys as well as Jan and Dean, who were the hosts). English imports (Jerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, The Rolling Stones), teen-age angst (Leslie Gore) and a garage band (The Barbarians). Each performed one, two, three or four songs (the movie, filmed on the high definition video of the time, did not necessarily include the complete sets of the performers), usually backed by energetically dancing go-go girls and boys. Leslie Gore, mostly forgotten now and a teenager then, sang "You Don't Own Me," a relatively early anthem of women's freedom.
The performers were raw and emotional, just as the filming was chaotic, with lots of running around to preserve continuous performing. Before bands began playing Madison Square Garden and baseball stadiums it was common for rock shows to include multiple performers. At the time of the T.A.M.I. show Murray the K was doing regular shows of multiple bands at the Brooklyn Fox Theatre, including The Who. But soon hit singles and AM radio were replaced by albums and FM rock, the music became more pretentious and we started to get single acts (sometimes with an opening act) in venues where we could hardly see them. The audience of the T.A.M.I. show, incidentally, was mostly young women who never stopped screaming and applauding.
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