If you prevent Star Trek then I will personally come over and do unspeakable things to your pets! 
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If you prevent Star Trek then I will personally come over and do unspeakable things to your pets!
If you touch Leslie Nielsen then I will personally come over and do unspeakable things to your pets!
trekaddict: I'll probably spare Star Trek, although I don't have any pets for you to harm.
Kurt_Steiner: To be honest, I was inspired to kill off TTZ after seeing the collateral damage you inflicted in World War One.
Mr. Santiago: Don't worry about Mr. Nielsen. He's alive and more-or-less following his OTL acting career.
Kurt_Steiner: To be honest, I was inspired to kill off TTZ after seeing the collateral damage you inflicted in World War One.
Mr. Santiago: Don't worry about Mr. Nielsen. He's alive and more-or-less following his OTL acting career.
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Kurt_Steiner: To be honest, I was inspired to kill off TTZ after seeing the collateral damage you inflicted in World War One.
Really? What did I do to achieve such an effect? And once I get finished with WW2 and the collateral damage that will come, what will you kill of then?
Kurt_Steiner: As I remember correctly, you killed off Atlee, Bush, and Hitler. Seeing you do collateral damage to politics inspired me to do collateral damage to pop culture.
To make up for Serling's loss, I will spare someone's life in the next update.
To make up for Serling's loss, I will spare someone's life in the next update.
Now, for something different...
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[video=youtube;SIu1jNhLy9Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIu1jNhLy9Q&feature=related[/video]
Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
On April 12th, 1954, a young man and his band walked into a New York City music studio to record their first single for a music company called Decca Records. His name was Bill Haley and a song he recorded during that session was an upbeat tune that celebrated dancing called “Rock Around the Clock”. It was released a month later…where it failed to gain traction. In an example of bad timing, the energetic song came out at a time of great political upheaval in the United States. The Stevenson Assassination, Sparkman’s elevation to the Presidency, the Oppenheimer Scandal, and the Brown versus Board Supreme Court ruling had left the country in a sour mood. No one felt like rocking around the clock, so the song failed to make much of a splash in the music charts. A year later however, the country was in a better mood and a new MGM movie called “Blackboard Jungle” decided to use “Rock Around the Clock” for the opening credits. The result was instant popularity for the song; it shot to #1 on the music charts and inspired the film’s teenage audience to literally leap to their feet and dance whenever the song played during the movie.
Haley’s song ushered in mainstream popularity for a new genre of music that emerged during the 1950s: rock and roll. This uniquely American form of music sprang up as a result of mixing African-American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music together. What made rock and roll stand out from other genres was its primary audience: white teenagers. Unlike their parents, teens didn’t care that rock and roll was a product of black culture; it was music they loved and they couldn’t get enough of it. Record companies and radio stations recognized that there was money to be made in giving teens what they wanted and proceeded to make and broadcast music aimed primarily at them. From its’ humble beginnings in 1951 (when an Ike Turner tune called “Rocket 88” – generally regarded to be the first rock and roll song – was released), this genre exploded in 1955 following the rise of “Rock Around the Clock”. White singers followed Haley’s lead and produced plenty of get-up-and-dance hits that thrilled the young and offended the “our white kids shouldn’t be listening to black music”-minded old. Jerry Lee Lewis, ignoring anger from parents about what they regarded to be “the devil’s music”, used his piano background to produce hits like “Whole Lotta Shaking Going On” and “Great Balls of Fire”. Carl Perkins, who grew up listening to gospel music, warned his dancing audiences not to step on his “Blue Suede Shoes”. Another gospel-background singer who became famous during this time was Johnny Cash. Armed with a deep and distinctive voice, Cash found success with such songs as “Folsom Prison Blues” and “I Walk the Line”.
Then there’s Elvis Aaron Presley. Born in Tupelo, Mississippi in January 1935, Elvis grew up playing music and loved listening to African-American singers like Sister Rosetta Tharpe. After making some initial recordings for Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, Elvis became contracted to RCA Victor in November 1955. Two months later, RCA released their first Elvis single: “Heartbreak Hotel”. A moody song, “Heartbreak Hotel” shot Elvis to the top of the music charts and help make him a popular singer. His black-sounding voice and hip gyrations caused female audience members to literally scream at the top of their lungs during his shows. It wasn’t until he performed “Hound Dog” on NBC’s “Milton Berle Show” in June 1956 that his energetic hip movements became a source of controversy. Just like Janet Jackson’s wardrobe accident at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, Elvis’ dancing on “Berle” created a storm of protests. According to New York Times television critic Jack Gould:
“Mr. Presley has no discernible singing ability. His phrasing, if it can be called that, consists of the stereotyped variations that go with a beginner's aria in a bathtub. His one specialty is an accented movement of the body primarily identified with the repertoire of the blond bombshells of the burlesque runway.”
Gould and other critics accused Elvis of being “unfit for family viewing”; the high ratings Berle got from having “Elvis the Pelvis” on his show said something else entirely. Although he thought the rising singer was “strange and gangly”, NBC’s Steve Allen booked Elvis on his show in July. The result: Allen came in first place in the ratings. This was significant because the show Allen beat in the ratings was CBS’ “Ed Sullivan Show”. “Sullivan” was the most popular variety show in the country (to the point where virtually every American stopped whatever they were doing on Sunday nights to watch him); to beat it would undoubtedly raise eyebrows. It certainly raised Sullivan’s considerable eyebrows. Previously, the host vowed never to allow the singer he deemed “dirty and vulgar” to perform on his show. Then the ratings came in and everything changed. Ending up in second place behind Allen made Sullivan realize that Elvis was a youth-magnet. Young people loved him and would watch whatever show he was on. If Elvis wasn’t on “Sullivan”, then they wouldn’t watch the show. If Sullivan wanted young people to watch his show, he would have to put HIM on. In one of the most famous 180-degree turns in history, Sullivan summarily booked Elvis to perform on his show that September…gyrations included.
Sixty million viewers tuned in to hear Elvis on “Sullivan” sing “Love Me Tender” and his other hit songs. His September 9th appearance became a cultural milestone that symbolized the growing power of youths. To quote historian Marty Jezer:
“As Presley set the artistic pace, other artists followed. Presley, more than anyone else, gave the young a belief in themselves as a distinct and somehow unified generation—the first in America ever to feel the power of an integrated youth culture.”
Young people had forced Sullivan to host a singer that he wanted to have nothing to do with. Having scored a significant victory, teenagers of this generation set their sights on using rock and roll to aid the cause of civil rights. White teens rallied behind black singers, demonstrating that even segregation was no match for popular music. Even though they still had to live in a Jim Crow-dominated society, African-Americans saw rock and roll as a way to prove that “whatever whites can do, we can do better.” One black singer who personified this attitude was Chuck Berry. Born in St. Louis, Missouri in October 1926, Berry was a blues/country guitar player known for injecting showmanship into his stage performances. While playing his guitar and singing songs like “Maybellene” and “Johnny B. Goode”, he would walk across the stage like a duck (stooping with full-bended knees while his back and head stayed vertical). Another popular black singer was Fats Domino, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana best known for singing about how he found his thrill on “Blueberry Hill”. Then there’s Little Richard. Born Richard Wayne Penniman in December 1932, he was the living embodiment of the energy that drove rock and roll. Charismatic and possessing a seemingly endless reserve of energy, Richard exploded onto the music scene in the mid-1950s like a hurricane. He was the most flamboyant African-American of the Sparkman years, singing and performing in a style that was uniquely his. Richard would often play the piano frantically, shouting the whole time while making wild motions with his body. Like his raw and frenzied performances, his music was loud and over-the-top with a dash of energetic “whoooo”. Whether it was “Tutti Frutti” or “Long Tall Sally”, white and black teens alike would fall under Richard’s spell at his concerts and dance like there was no tomorrow.
With all this great music coming out, it would be easy to think that the rock and roll party would go on forever. Of course, no party lasts forever and fate devised several ways to shut this party down. The most tragic coldwater treatment unfolded on February 2nd, 1959 in Clear Lake, Iowa. In the middle of a cold winter, three popular singers were on a three-week-long tour of the Midwest: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. Richardson (better known as “The Big Bopper”). Holly, a native of Lubbock, Texas who taught himself how to play the guitar and write songs, was riding high on the success of hit songs like “That’ll Be the Day” and “Cindy Lou”. Valens, a Mexican-American left-handed guitarist, was just eight months into a recording career that included “Donna” (written by Valens in honor of his girlfriend) and “La Bamba” (a rock and roll version of a Mexican folk song that Valens sung entirely in Spanish despite not being fluent in the language). Richardson, a former disc jockey who came up with the term “music video”, was also a guitarist. Known for his crew cut and vivid facial expressions, The Big Bopper was an exuberant stage presence who enjoyed starting off songs like “Chantilly Lace” with a loud “Hello baby!”
A valuable lesson the three singers learned during their tour is that you have to have a good tour bus to ride around in during a cold winter. Unfortunately for them, the bus they chose was a bad one whose heating system kept breaking down. The system gave a final heave and gave out in Clear Lake on February 2nd. Stranded with a freezing bus, the singers performed a last-minute show at the local Surf Ballroom while an alternative mode of transportation was located. They found out that for $36 per person, a four-seat single-engine 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza 35 (V-tail model) plane – piloted by an inexperienced twenty-one-year-old named Roger Peterson – could fly three members of the entourage 380 miles to their next gig in Moorhead, Minnesota. Everyone else would have to take a cold bus ride there. Holly took a seat, citing the need to clean his undergarments before the next show. Richardson took the next seat, wanting to go see a doctor in Moorhead since he was suffering from the flu. That just left one more seat, which both Valens (despite his fear of flying) and a Holly band guitarist named Tommy Allsup wanted. The two men decided to settle the dispute with a coin toss. A local stagehand tossed the coin into the air and Valens called out “heads”. When the coin hit the ground, the tails side showed instead. This meant Valens lost the coin toss and would have to stay behind while Allsup took the last seat. At the same time Richardson and Allsup prepared to leave the Surf Ballroom for the airport and a disappointed Valens went off to make a phone call, Holly walked over to another of his band mates – a twenty-one-year-old bassist named Waylon Jennings – and joked about how he and Valens would have to spend the night on the bus in the cold while Holly and the others would spend the night in a warm hotel room. Jennings shot back in jest, “Well, I hope your old plane crashes.”
At 12:55 AM on February 3rd, the chartered plane took off from a local airport and ascended into the sky. A very light snowfall, winds blowing south at twenty knots, and a cloud ceiling of 3,000 feet above sea level (the airport itself sat 1,200 feet above sea level, so Peterson had 1,800 feet of airspace in which to work with) greeted the plane as it headed up. A few minutes after takeoff, radio contact between the plane and air traffic control suddenly cutoff. All efforts on the ground to re-establish contact failed. Three hours later, the airport at Peterson’s destination reported the plane to be missing. Shortly after 9:00 AM, it was found…smashed into a cornfield six miles from takeoff. The subsequent investigation revealed that the plane had slammed into the ground at 170 miles per hour and skidded 570 feet across frozen land before coming to rest in a crumpled pile against a barbwire fence. The bodies of Holly, Allsup, and Richardson were all found near the wreckage while Peterson’s was still entangled inside the plane. All four men had died instantly on impact in a crash that was blamed on poor weather conditions and pilot error resulting from spatial disorientation and inadequate weather warnings.
American Bandstand (1952 – 1961), a victim of payola
While rock and roll suffered in the United States, the genre was booming across the Atlantic in England. Just as Japanese comics and animation enjoy popularity in the United States today, American rock and roll music found a receptive audience in the United Kingdom. Like their American counterparts, British teenagers loved the music being produced by singers like Elvis and Holly. Countless teens were inspired to pick up instruments and perform not only rock and roll but also other genres of music. A crop of British rock and rollers emerged which included notable names like Tommy Steele, Billy Fury, and Cliff Richard (“Move It”). Several music groups were formed in major British urban centers that would go on to enjoy success in the 1960s. One of these bands took root in Liverpool in 1956 when a high school student named John Lennon and several of his friends decided to form a rock and roll group called The Quarrymen (the name taken from a line in their high school’s song). During the next two years, Lennon recruited outsiders Paul McCartney and George Harrison to play in the band. In July 1958, The Quarrymen walked into a small studio to record two songs: their version of “That’ll Be the Day” and a McCartney-Harrison composition titled “In Spite of All the Danger”. As Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison walked out of the studio with their other two band mates, they had no idea that their recording careers had only just begun.
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[video=youtube;SIu1jNhLy9Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIu1jNhLy9Q&feature=related[/video]
Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
On April 12th, 1954, a young man and his band walked into a New York City music studio to record their first single for a music company called Decca Records. His name was Bill Haley and a song he recorded during that session was an upbeat tune that celebrated dancing called “Rock Around the Clock”. It was released a month later…where it failed to gain traction. In an example of bad timing, the energetic song came out at a time of great political upheaval in the United States. The Stevenson Assassination, Sparkman’s elevation to the Presidency, the Oppenheimer Scandal, and the Brown versus Board Supreme Court ruling had left the country in a sour mood. No one felt like rocking around the clock, so the song failed to make much of a splash in the music charts. A year later however, the country was in a better mood and a new MGM movie called “Blackboard Jungle” decided to use “Rock Around the Clock” for the opening credits. The result was instant popularity for the song; it shot to #1 on the music charts and inspired the film’s teenage audience to literally leap to their feet and dance whenever the song played during the movie.
Haley’s song ushered in mainstream popularity for a new genre of music that emerged during the 1950s: rock and roll. This uniquely American form of music sprang up as a result of mixing African-American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music together. What made rock and roll stand out from other genres was its primary audience: white teenagers. Unlike their parents, teens didn’t care that rock and roll was a product of black culture; it was music they loved and they couldn’t get enough of it. Record companies and radio stations recognized that there was money to be made in giving teens what they wanted and proceeded to make and broadcast music aimed primarily at them. From its’ humble beginnings in 1951 (when an Ike Turner tune called “Rocket 88” – generally regarded to be the first rock and roll song – was released), this genre exploded in 1955 following the rise of “Rock Around the Clock”. White singers followed Haley’s lead and produced plenty of get-up-and-dance hits that thrilled the young and offended the “our white kids shouldn’t be listening to black music”-minded old. Jerry Lee Lewis, ignoring anger from parents about what they regarded to be “the devil’s music”, used his piano background to produce hits like “Whole Lotta Shaking Going On” and “Great Balls of Fire”. Carl Perkins, who grew up listening to gospel music, warned his dancing audiences not to step on his “Blue Suede Shoes”. Another gospel-background singer who became famous during this time was Johnny Cash. Armed with a deep and distinctive voice, Cash found success with such songs as “Folsom Prison Blues” and “I Walk the Line”.
Then there’s Elvis Aaron Presley. Born in Tupelo, Mississippi in January 1935, Elvis grew up playing music and loved listening to African-American singers like Sister Rosetta Tharpe. After making some initial recordings for Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, Elvis became contracted to RCA Victor in November 1955. Two months later, RCA released their first Elvis single: “Heartbreak Hotel”. A moody song, “Heartbreak Hotel” shot Elvis to the top of the music charts and help make him a popular singer. His black-sounding voice and hip gyrations caused female audience members to literally scream at the top of their lungs during his shows. It wasn’t until he performed “Hound Dog” on NBC’s “Milton Berle Show” in June 1956 that his energetic hip movements became a source of controversy. Just like Janet Jackson’s wardrobe accident at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, Elvis’ dancing on “Berle” created a storm of protests. According to New York Times television critic Jack Gould:
“Mr. Presley has no discernible singing ability. His phrasing, if it can be called that, consists of the stereotyped variations that go with a beginner's aria in a bathtub. His one specialty is an accented movement of the body primarily identified with the repertoire of the blond bombshells of the burlesque runway.”
Gould and other critics accused Elvis of being “unfit for family viewing”; the high ratings Berle got from having “Elvis the Pelvis” on his show said something else entirely. Although he thought the rising singer was “strange and gangly”, NBC’s Steve Allen booked Elvis on his show in July. The result: Allen came in first place in the ratings. This was significant because the show Allen beat in the ratings was CBS’ “Ed Sullivan Show”. “Sullivan” was the most popular variety show in the country (to the point where virtually every American stopped whatever they were doing on Sunday nights to watch him); to beat it would undoubtedly raise eyebrows. It certainly raised Sullivan’s considerable eyebrows. Previously, the host vowed never to allow the singer he deemed “dirty and vulgar” to perform on his show. Then the ratings came in and everything changed. Ending up in second place behind Allen made Sullivan realize that Elvis was a youth-magnet. Young people loved him and would watch whatever show he was on. If Elvis wasn’t on “Sullivan”, then they wouldn’t watch the show. If Sullivan wanted young people to watch his show, he would have to put HIM on. In one of the most famous 180-degree turns in history, Sullivan summarily booked Elvis to perform on his show that September…gyrations included.
Sixty million viewers tuned in to hear Elvis on “Sullivan” sing “Love Me Tender” and his other hit songs. His September 9th appearance became a cultural milestone that symbolized the growing power of youths. To quote historian Marty Jezer:
“As Presley set the artistic pace, other artists followed. Presley, more than anyone else, gave the young a belief in themselves as a distinct and somehow unified generation—the first in America ever to feel the power of an integrated youth culture.”
Young people had forced Sullivan to host a singer that he wanted to have nothing to do with. Having scored a significant victory, teenagers of this generation set their sights on using rock and roll to aid the cause of civil rights. White teens rallied behind black singers, demonstrating that even segregation was no match for popular music. Even though they still had to live in a Jim Crow-dominated society, African-Americans saw rock and roll as a way to prove that “whatever whites can do, we can do better.” One black singer who personified this attitude was Chuck Berry. Born in St. Louis, Missouri in October 1926, Berry was a blues/country guitar player known for injecting showmanship into his stage performances. While playing his guitar and singing songs like “Maybellene” and “Johnny B. Goode”, he would walk across the stage like a duck (stooping with full-bended knees while his back and head stayed vertical). Another popular black singer was Fats Domino, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana best known for singing about how he found his thrill on “Blueberry Hill”. Then there’s Little Richard. Born Richard Wayne Penniman in December 1932, he was the living embodiment of the energy that drove rock and roll. Charismatic and possessing a seemingly endless reserve of energy, Richard exploded onto the music scene in the mid-1950s like a hurricane. He was the most flamboyant African-American of the Sparkman years, singing and performing in a style that was uniquely his. Richard would often play the piano frantically, shouting the whole time while making wild motions with his body. Like his raw and frenzied performances, his music was loud and over-the-top with a dash of energetic “whoooo”. Whether it was “Tutti Frutti” or “Long Tall Sally”, white and black teens alike would fall under Richard’s spell at his concerts and dance like there was no tomorrow.
With all this great music coming out, it would be easy to think that the rock and roll party would go on forever. Of course, no party lasts forever and fate devised several ways to shut this party down. The most tragic coldwater treatment unfolded on February 2nd, 1959 in Clear Lake, Iowa. In the middle of a cold winter, three popular singers were on a three-week-long tour of the Midwest: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. Richardson (better known as “The Big Bopper”). Holly, a native of Lubbock, Texas who taught himself how to play the guitar and write songs, was riding high on the success of hit songs like “That’ll Be the Day” and “Cindy Lou”. Valens, a Mexican-American left-handed guitarist, was just eight months into a recording career that included “Donna” (written by Valens in honor of his girlfriend) and “La Bamba” (a rock and roll version of a Mexican folk song that Valens sung entirely in Spanish despite not being fluent in the language). Richardson, a former disc jockey who came up with the term “music video”, was also a guitarist. Known for his crew cut and vivid facial expressions, The Big Bopper was an exuberant stage presence who enjoyed starting off songs like “Chantilly Lace” with a loud “Hello baby!”
A valuable lesson the three singers learned during their tour is that you have to have a good tour bus to ride around in during a cold winter. Unfortunately for them, the bus they chose was a bad one whose heating system kept breaking down. The system gave a final heave and gave out in Clear Lake on February 2nd. Stranded with a freezing bus, the singers performed a last-minute show at the local Surf Ballroom while an alternative mode of transportation was located. They found out that for $36 per person, a four-seat single-engine 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza 35 (V-tail model) plane – piloted by an inexperienced twenty-one-year-old named Roger Peterson – could fly three members of the entourage 380 miles to their next gig in Moorhead, Minnesota. Everyone else would have to take a cold bus ride there. Holly took a seat, citing the need to clean his undergarments before the next show. Richardson took the next seat, wanting to go see a doctor in Moorhead since he was suffering from the flu. That just left one more seat, which both Valens (despite his fear of flying) and a Holly band guitarist named Tommy Allsup wanted. The two men decided to settle the dispute with a coin toss. A local stagehand tossed the coin into the air and Valens called out “heads”. When the coin hit the ground, the tails side showed instead. This meant Valens lost the coin toss and would have to stay behind while Allsup took the last seat. At the same time Richardson and Allsup prepared to leave the Surf Ballroom for the airport and a disappointed Valens went off to make a phone call, Holly walked over to another of his band mates – a twenty-one-year-old bassist named Waylon Jennings – and joked about how he and Valens would have to spend the night on the bus in the cold while Holly and the others would spend the night in a warm hotel room. Jennings shot back in jest, “Well, I hope your old plane crashes.”
At 12:55 AM on February 3rd, the chartered plane took off from a local airport and ascended into the sky. A very light snowfall, winds blowing south at twenty knots, and a cloud ceiling of 3,000 feet above sea level (the airport itself sat 1,200 feet above sea level, so Peterson had 1,800 feet of airspace in which to work with) greeted the plane as it headed up. A few minutes after takeoff, radio contact between the plane and air traffic control suddenly cutoff. All efforts on the ground to re-establish contact failed. Three hours later, the airport at Peterson’s destination reported the plane to be missing. Shortly after 9:00 AM, it was found…smashed into a cornfield six miles from takeoff. The subsequent investigation revealed that the plane had slammed into the ground at 170 miles per hour and skidded 570 feet across frozen land before coming to rest in a crumpled pile against a barbwire fence. The bodies of Holly, Allsup, and Richardson were all found near the wreckage while Peterson’s was still entangled inside the plane. All four men had died instantly on impact in a crash that was blamed on poor weather conditions and pilot error resulting from spatial disorientation and inadequate weather warnings.
- Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr. (October 24th, 1930 – February 3rd, 1959)
- Tommy Allsup (November 24th, 1931 – February 3rd, 1959)
- Charles Hardin Holley (September 7th, 1936 – February 3rd, 1959)
- Roger Arthur Peterson (May 24th, 1937 – February 3rd, 1959)
American Bandstand (1952 – 1961), a victim of payola
While rock and roll suffered in the United States, the genre was booming across the Atlantic in England. Just as Japanese comics and animation enjoy popularity in the United States today, American rock and roll music found a receptive audience in the United Kingdom. Like their American counterparts, British teenagers loved the music being produced by singers like Elvis and Holly. Countless teens were inspired to pick up instruments and perform not only rock and roll but also other genres of music. A crop of British rock and rollers emerged which included notable names like Tommy Steele, Billy Fury, and Cliff Richard (“Move It”). Several music groups were formed in major British urban centers that would go on to enjoy success in the 1960s. One of these bands took root in Liverpool in 1956 when a high school student named John Lennon and several of his friends decided to form a rock and roll group called The Quarrymen (the name taken from a line in their high school’s song). During the next two years, Lennon recruited outsiders Paul McCartney and George Harrison to play in the band. In July 1958, The Quarrymen walked into a small studio to record two songs: their version of “That’ll Be the Day” and a McCartney-Harrison composition titled “In Spite of All the Danger”. As Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison walked out of the studio with their other two band mates, they had no idea that their recording careers had only just begun.
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Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. A million times yes.
Glad to see that you at least spared Ritchie Valens. It restores faith in humanity to see Alternate history writers spare people.
But more importantly: McCartney-Lennon-Harrison. Only one more piece left in the puzzle. :ninja:
Glad to see that you at least spared Ritchie Valens. It restores faith in humanity to see Alternate history writers spare people.
But more importantly: McCartney-Lennon-Harrison. Only one more piece left in the puzzle. :ninja:
BigBadBob: All because of a simple coin toss. In this alternate universe, Valens loses the coin toss and doesn't get on that plane. He lives, marries his girlfriend Donna, and goes on to have a productive music career. It's actually scary to think that history is decided by simple things like coin tosses.
As for that missing piece, you must mean...Anthony Eden! The Prime Minister is going to be looking for a new job soon. Perhaps he can become a drummer in Lennon's band.
As for that missing piece, you must mean...Anthony Eden! The Prime Minister is going to be looking for a new job soon. Perhaps he can become a drummer in Lennon's band.
Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard... those very the days.
Great update, Nathan.
Why just sparing Valens and not the rest of the pack?
And when some writer begins to kill people at random? :laugh:
Great update, Nathan.
Why just sparing Valens and not the rest of the pack?
It restores faith in humanity to see Alternate history writers spare people.
And when some writer begins to kill people at random? :laugh:
Rock and roll's alive, everything is well.
Now, if you could just wack Yoko :ninja:
Now, if you could just wack Yoko :ninja:
As for that missing piece, you must mean...Anthony Eden! The Prime Minister is going to be looking for a new job soon. Perhaps he can become a drummer in Lennon's band.
YES! This would be absolutely amazing, albeit so improbable it would take a huge number of alternate universes to actually find the correct results. Ah well, we can always dream xD
It's fascinating to see Paul, John etc as they were just starting out, they all look so young, just reinforces how much of an effect super-stardom had on them later...
trekaddict: Petrov Indicent? What's that?
Kurt_Steiner: And I have CDs of all of them, too!
Thanks.
I chose to spare Valens and not everyone else because rather than prevent the accident from happening (which I probably could have), I wanted to demonstrate how history turns on the most minute thing like who wins a coin toss or if you catch the train on time (I think there was a movie about that).
And who can ever forget Kurt's epic killing off of Hitler?
BigBadBob: To each their own.
Mr. Santiago: Yep. We still get pretty good music. "Peggy Sue" gets a name change (it was originally going to be called "Cindy Lou", but Holly changed it to "Peggy Sue"; I decided to keep the original name), but other songs remain the same. Plus, we'll get more songs from Valens now.
Wack Yoko? I can't imagine (no pun intended) any reason why I would want to do that.
trekaddict: Here's a better idea: how about I spare Yoko and knock off Lennon's assassin instead? Just imagine (there I go again) the music we might have gotten over the last three decades (31 years this Thursday).
Kurt_Steiner: I AM NOT GOING TO KILL YOKO! :glare:
Andreios II: At least you aren't dreaming about killing you-know-who off.
That's a good point. Being a Beatles fan, you can expect to see the Fab Four throughout my coverage of the 1960s. :happy:
Kurt_Steiner: And I have CDs of all of them, too!
Thanks.
I chose to spare Valens and not everyone else because rather than prevent the accident from happening (which I probably could have), I wanted to demonstrate how history turns on the most minute thing like who wins a coin toss or if you catch the train on time (I think there was a movie about that).
And who can ever forget Kurt's epic killing off of Hitler?
BigBadBob: To each their own.
Mr. Santiago: Yep. We still get pretty good music. "Peggy Sue" gets a name change (it was originally going to be called "Cindy Lou", but Holly changed it to "Peggy Sue"; I decided to keep the original name), but other songs remain the same. Plus, we'll get more songs from Valens now.
Wack Yoko? I can't imagine (no pun intended) any reason why I would want to do that.
trekaddict: Here's a better idea: how about I spare Yoko and knock off Lennon's assassin instead? Just imagine (there I go again) the music we might have gotten over the last three decades (31 years this Thursday
).Kurt_Steiner: I AM NOT GOING TO KILL YOKO! :glare:
Andreios II: At least you aren't dreaming about killing you-know-who off.
That's a good point. Being a Beatles fan, you can expect to see the Fab Four throughout my coverage of the 1960s. :happy:
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Basically on 26 September 1983 the Officer on Duty in the Soviet Nuclear Early Warning System Command Centre saw that the US had launched a small number of Missiles at them. His orders were to run it up the flagpole so that they could immediately launch everything they had at everyone else but....he obviously didn't.
Both because he had a desire to live, didn't want to start WW3 and because 'it didn't make any sense' that the US would attack with only a limited number of birds. As it turned out it was a false report due to a bug in the Soviet Early Warning system...
His name was Stanislav Petrov.
As for Yoko: Keeping the Fab Four together is a bigger concern than her living.
trekaddict: Okay, I get it now. I see why you called it the ultimate coin toss.
Actually, I disagree about keeping the Fab Four together. I think it was a good thing they broke up. What makes The Beatles different from other bands that have come and gone is the fact that the four members were just as good performing solo as they were working together. I like the fact that they broke up because it then gave John, Paul, George, and Ringo the independent freedom to do what they wanted without worrying about how the other members would feel. It allowed them to keep growing as performers. They didn't need to stay in a band to show off how good they were.
As for Yoko, I don't have a problem with her and don't see any reason to get rid of her. I have to be honest though: when I wrote the rock and roll update, I didn't expect it to trigger this anti-Yoko mood from readers. :blink:
Actually, I disagree about keeping the Fab Four together. I think it was a good thing they broke up. What makes The Beatles different from other bands that have come and gone is the fact that the four members were just as good performing solo as they were working together. I like the fact that they broke up because it then gave John, Paul, George, and Ringo the independent freedom to do what they wanted without worrying about how the other members would feel. It allowed them to keep growing as performers. They didn't need to stay in a band to show off how good they were.
As for Yoko, I don't have a problem with her and don't see any reason to get rid of her. I have to be honest though: when I wrote the rock and roll update, I didn't expect it to trigger this anti-Yoko mood from readers. :blink:
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You can send her to a distant African country as an Asian version of Mother Teresa
And then have her devoured by a tiger!