James Bond's Main demographic in the 1960's

kjkoo1988

Hi. My name's Karl and I'm a student at the city of Liverpool college studying Creative media production. I am currently researching an aspect of the James bond franchise as part of my research unit. My aim is to show why, in the context of 1960's culture, Nancy Sinatra was a good choice to sing the soundtrack to the film You Only Live Twice. I have found out a lot of information about how she got the job and how the song was arranged, as well as How the song has stood the test of time but I am interested in the popularity of James bond in the 1960's and how 007 fitted in with the main stream pop culture of the time. I've very interested in knowing what type of people in the 1960's where James bonds main demographic and why? If any one has any information or would like to contribute in the discussion I would be extremely grate full and your efforts would be warmly appreciated.

Dutchfinger

Hi there,

Great to see you get to research an aspect of James Bond as a project in college, I honestly wish I got to do project like that in my course.

I cannot speak from expierence of Bond fans in the 1960's, as I wasn't born yet around that time. Fortunately, lots of members here were and they can probably express the James Bond cult status of the 60'ies in a far more dramatic way than I would be able to do.

I do know, from documentaries or footage that I've watched througout the years and article's I've read that Bond reached an absolute peaked of popularity during the mid 60'ies. (Arguably Bond has never been bigger since)
One only has to look at footage of Goldfingers or Thunderballs opening in the theatres to see the hype that was Bond. I cannot tell you way exactly Nancy Sinatra was such a good choice to sing the title song of YOLT, her dad's popularity might have had something to do with that, but once again, i'm sure other members know more about that one. (I'm now curious myself)

I wish you good look with this research and project -{

Gassy Man

The primary demographic then and now has been the 18-34-year-old white male, though things may have skewed older for movies made before 1975.

James Suzuki

What I do know is that Julie Rodgers was originally going to sing the theme but John Barry felt like it wasn't working. Rodgers version was suppousdly more orential and very different to Nancy's version we know now. Now the producer of the Bond Films, Cubby Broccoli was good friends with Frank Sinatra. He wanted him to do and asked Frank.
Wanting to kickstart his daughter's career, Sinatra suggested to Cubby his daughter instead of him. Then Nancy's 'These boots are made for walking' song came out and it pretty much made it in stone.
Hopefully that helps you a little. I wasn't around in the 60's sadly. So I don't know what it was like. But I believe it was the type of film everyone watched. More so then Avengers or big film crazes today

Barbel

More on the song (s):

(1) John Barry composes a theme, Leslie Bricusse writes the lyric. Julie Rogers, then a successful recording artist, is asked to record the song (here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNHH6pf3xyE). This is NOT a demo, as it was initially billed on its first release in the early 90s. Miss Rogers, btw, was Don Black's sister-in-law.

(2) Saltzman and/or Broccoli reject it. Stories differ as to details, but my money's on Saltzman being the one who didn't like it (he also didn't like "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds Are Forever", and eventually his and Barry's relationship fell apart. Probably Barry kicking him out of his flat didn't help). Barry and Bricusse write an almost completely different song (a few lines are similar). Names of potential singers are bandied about including Aretha Franklin (considered more than once to sing a Bond theme) and Frank Sinatra, a friend of Broccoli's. Ol'Blue Eyes suggests his daughter Nancy, who'd been having sizable hits ("Boots" had been a No1 in 1965).

(3) Nancy Sinatra records the final song, with some difficulty (the version used is pieced together from several takes) due to its relatively long melodic lines (her normal material was more staccato), wide range (she didn't like straying outside of an octave and a half) and unusual intervals. Julie Rogers is very upset to find that the song she recorded was not used.

Demographics:
I was around at the time, but too young to grasp the details.

James Suzuki

Barbel wrote:

More on the song (s):

(1) John Barry composes a theme, Leslie Bricusse writes the lyric. Julie Rogers, then a successful recording artist, is asked to record the song (here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNHH6pf3xyE). This is NOT a demo, as it was initially billed on its first release in the early 90s. Miss Rogers, btw, was Don Black's sister-in-law.

(2) Saltzman and/or Broccoli reject it. Stories differ as to details, but my money's on Saltzman being the one who didn't like it (he also didn't like "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds Are Forever", and eventually his and Barry's relationship fell apart. Probably Barry kicking him out of his flat didn't help). Barry and Bricusse write an almost completely different song (a few lines are similar). Names of potential singers are bandied about including Aretha Franklin (considered more than once to sing a Bond theme) and Frank Sinatra, a friend of Broccoli's. Ol'Blue Eyes suggests his daughter Nancy, who'd been having sizable hits ("Boots" had been a No1 in 1965).

(3) Nancy Sinatra records the final song, with some difficulty (the version used is pieced together from several takes) due to its relatively long melodic lines (her normal material was more staccato), wide range (she didn't like straying outside of an octave and a half) and unusual intervals. Julie Rogers is very upset to find that the song she recorded was not used.

Demographics:
I was around at the time, but too young to grasp the details.

Barbel knows the details better then I do. But hopefully that's given you some help