Opus 1 — “Back Seat ‘38 Dodge”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — December 26, 2023

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,059) Opus 1 — “Back Seat ‘38 Dodge”

Classic LA garage immortalizing a scandalous art exhibit that displayed what can happen in the back seat of a ‘38 Dodge.

Alec Palao:

Drummer John Christensen, short of a band for a party, improvised by hiring the rhythm section from Chris Morgan & The Togas, who just happened to live down the road from the date. Their shot at vinyl infamy would be th[is] surf-tinged, deliciously cryptic [aong] . . . inspired by the notorious Ed Kienholz sculpture of similar name. ”I personally never did see it other than in a photograph, ” admits Christensen, “but [the artwork’s controversy] was in the air at the time.”

liner notes to the CD comp Where the Action Is!: Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968)

Edward Wyatt:

The sculpture, which portrays a couple engaged in sexual activity in the back seat of a truncated automobile chassis, won Kienholz instant celebrity in 1966 when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors tried to ban the sculpture as pornographic and threatened to withhold financing from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art if it included the work in a Kienholz retrospective.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/arts/design/02dodg.html?ex=1349928000&en=924d5cd6d7aea227&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Wikipedia:

A 1966 show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) drew considerable controversy over his assemblage, Back Seat Dodge ‘38 (1964). The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors called it “revolting, pornographic and blasphemous”, and threatened to withhold financing for the museum unless the tableau was removed from view. A compromise was reached under which the sculpture’s car door would remain closed and guarded, to be opened only on the request of a museum patron who was over 18, and only if no children were present in the gallery. The uproar led to more than 200 people lining up to see the work the day the show opened.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Kienholz

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