| Welcome to the 60's | |
| Album: | Hairspray |
| Genre: | Traditional pop |
| Label: | Sony Classical |
| Producer: | Marc Shaiman Thomas Meehan |
"Welcome to the 60's" is a song from the 2002 musical Hairspray. it is performed by Tracy Turnblad, Edna Turnblad, Mr. Pinky, and a Greek chorus consisting of three African-American stylists entitled the Dynamites.
DVD Talk wrote and Wittman's songs come from specific lines of dialog, like "Welcome to the 60's" and "Big, Blonde and Beautiful," a nice way of simply expanding on what Waters' characters were already saying".[1]
Edna Turnblad is encouraged to go outside for the first time in a while, and she takes in the surroundings. It is a changing world where it is okay to be black or fat. Tracy says: "people who are different, their time is coming". In the process she cures her mother's agoraphobia, and gets a job as a spokesperson for Mr. Pinky. In the film, the song "features a Supremes-style trio stepping down from a billboard to rouse the willing kids".[2]
The Column Awards wrote the song had "the sense of a woman who is recognizing her own power", and symbolised "Edna's coming out, so to speak". The site also suggested the song shows Tracy's "transformation".[3] Stranded at the Drive-In: The 100 Best Teen Movies argues the song "becomes an embrace of everyone different, including the black, the freaky, the (by implication) gay . . . and the fat. the song and its staging insiststhat everyone has a chance to, literally, come out and be visible in this brave new world".[4]
Hollywood Catwalk: Exploring Costume and Transformation in American Film interpreted the song in regard to Edna's transformation:[5]
In Newsweekly described the song as "weighty", and wrote that Edna "undergoes a hefty makeover and simply steals the show."[6] EDGEboston said "the coda to Welcome to the Sixties, is given a big, Dreamgirls-like finish".[6] Theater Mirror suggested the song features "three gals...singing and strutting like the Supremes".[6] UK Theatre dubbed The Dynamites a "mock Supremes trio".[7] Reviewing the film, Dominica Life wrote "It took me a while to warm up to Hairspray. But, when Tracy, Edna and a host of others take to the streets in the great dance number, “Welcome to the 60’s,” I was hooked".[8] Chicago Critic described it as "MoTown revisited".[9] Ey Jacksonville described the song as a "crowd favorite, “Welcome to the 60’s, adding "this song will have you dancing in your seat!".[10] Dayton Most Metro called it "flavorfully decade-inspired", and said it was fueled by "Motown essence".[11] Ithaca.com described the number as "splendid",[12] and Alpharetta said the song is "rousing".[13] Playbill described it as a "tuneful and surprisingly touching duet".[14]