1960s Music Counterculture

At the turn of the 1960’s, John F Kennedy famously challenged the American citizenry in his inaugural address to “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” While some enlisted to join the fight in Vietnam, others joined the Peace Corps. Others involved themselves in local politics and their counterparts, often referred to as nonconformists, formed their own organizations. With vastly different ideals of America’s path to future success, dissenting groups clashed and the tumultuous counterculture of rainbows, guns, and peace signs that defined the late 1960s was born.

The music that was present in World War II was extremely versatile and happy, which helped keep spirits high among everybody. Styles such as swing, blues, and jazz were popular music styles at the time. By the end of 1941, 96.2% of Americans owned radios. This granted greater access to music and information on the war. This is in contrast to World War I, where most citizens of the world were not as connected to the war through radio. In a way, the mass distribution of music was unifying for the American citizens and troops. However, many African-American musical artists used music to highlight the hypocrisy of the Americans fighting for freedom at that time because there was still a lot of segregation and discrimination in the United States and in it’s military.

Some may argue that the sixties displayed a decade of leaderless communities, major protest, white lash, and violent responses to what was called the Civil Rights movement. Although popular leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X made changes in these communities, their efforts were short lived, (and a dialogue is still be had). While Anderson’s approach to discuss the events of the sixties showed readers his unbiased focus on social protest, racism, riots, and other injustices done in the U. S. to minorities, Anderson failed to correlate how much of an impact music had on the communities by misinterpretation and inaccurate quotes to lyrics. This paper will discuss the narrative’s mastery of laying out the history of an entire

Popular music in general, and certainly anti-war music specifically, became a space for cultural and political conflict and dialog, and at times a product and resource for broad movement against the war. The Vietnam War was accompanied every step of the way by an anti-war soundtrack that touched on every tone—melancholy and touching, enraged and sarcastic, fearful and resigned—and that captured the long demoralizing impact of this war.

In order to determine the extent to which music of the 1960s reflected the main concerns of the period, this essay will focus on, and attempt to elucidate what is included in “the music of the 1960s”. Rather than there being only one genre of music expressing the social and political concerns of the era, it will be proposed that the underpinning influence of African/American gospel music spawned a range of musical responses, individually responsible for providing a metaphorical voice for young people but with a connectedness, a common thread, pulling them together. In addition, it will be suggested that music and, in particular, the lyrics of folk and protest songs played a significant, but not exclusive, role in articulating and addressing those concerns.

With all the social, political and cultural changes occurring in the 1960s, youth culture was embracing the ideologies of rebellion and counterculture. The Folk music of the sixties was giving way to the new Rock revolution and with this came the iconic Rock Rebel. The Rock Rebel is a romanticized existential figure who revolts against social conventions in a quest to find value or a sense of freedom beyond the pre-existing conforms of society. (Camus; 1967) Through analysing, in a sociological context, the way the music industry utilized film to help create or reinvent star image of Rock icons The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, we can see how the signifier of the Rock Rebel has evolved with the developing Rock culture. (Dyer; 1979:1)

To understand the sixties counterculture, we must understand the important role of Bob Dylan. His lyrics fueled the rebellious youth in America. Songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times are A-Changin” made him favorable to anti-war demonstrators and supporters of the Civil Rights movement. He was commonly hailed as the spokesman for his generation. Dylan used lyrics to allow the youth to find their own form of counter-culture. The youth generation began to see the effects racism, war, etc. effect the society in America. To combat this, the youth created their own form of counter-culture to promote a peaceful change within society. Some of their actions include forming anti-war protests that opposed America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, and supporting African Americans/women get the rights they deserve through the Civil Rights Movement. Bob Dylan’s music appealed to the young generation because he openly expresses his disapproval of the establishment in order to influenced his audience to move in a direction for change. Counterculture youth rejected cultural norms of the previous generation and their values and lifestyles opposed the mainstream culture present in the 1950’s. The folk music revival of the early 1960s, as well as the counter-culture movement played an important role in advocating change. Bob Dylan wrote songs that influenced the Civil Rights Movement, New Left Movement, and Anti-War Movement.

As students and other young adults started expressing their opinions on the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, America's drug policy, and other assorted issues of relevance to American young adults, students used folk music to guide their views. Also, folk musicians used the feelings of the youth culture to help shape their music to form an accelerated cycle. However, as the counter cultural movement began to grow not in number but in visibility and media accessibility, the outspoken Americans began to see little response from a government that paid them no heed. So, the tone of the language started to change. Coupled with, but not necessarily as a result of, the rise of rock and roll to replace folk music in popularity, the vocal protests took on harsher, more severe words. Artists like Credence Clearwater Revival and Barry McGuire, who spoke of an Eve of Destruction openly talked of angst at the government and about taking matters into their own hands. While such music played

Bob Dylan played a vital role in the sixties counter-culture. His lyrics fueled the rebellious youth in America. Songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times are A-Changin” made him favorable to anti-war demonstrators and supporters of the Civil Rights movement. He was commonly referred to as the spokesman for his generation. Dylan used lyrics to empower the youth to find their own form of counter-culture. The youth generation began to see the effects racism had on society and the violence it has caused in America. They started anti-war protests and opposed America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. They created their own form of counter-culture in order to promote a peaceful change within society. Bob Dylan’s music appealed to the young generation because he openly expresses his disapproval of the establishment in order to influenced his audience to move in a direction for change. The songs Bob Dylan created during the “sixties” represented the concerns and ideas of the counterculture that dealt with issues like the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement.

From the early basement concerts at the Cavern Club to the impromptu roof-top session atop Apple Studios, The Beatles were a phenomenon that influenced the music, culture and ideology of the Sixties’ post-war generation. With the spectre of their parents’ war behind them, British teens of the early 1960s ushered in a hitherto-unknown youth culture into a society ready for positive change. Paul McCartney said in conversation with biographer Barry Miles. “This working-class explosion was all happening and we were very much a part of it. Making it okay to be common…I think we had a lot to do with it.”

In this book, Gitlin investigates how music affected the counterculture of the sixties. He gives a very detailed account of the radical student movement and the hippie/yippie dissenters and the protest songs that motivated them. His person accounts during this time helps establish what it was like to be in the Youth Movement of the sixties and how art, music, theater, and books brought a vast range of people together. This book is interesting and carries great information, but it’s way too densely packed with detail only about the SDS and other revolutionary groups. My other sources touch on a broader spectrum of the time period while still supplying detail

Music of the 1960s was typical of the revolution that was happening during the decade. It was an occasion of revolting and life in which the younger people were inquiring everything, including jurisdiction, companies, the countries administration, and other factors of everyday life. It was a necessary revolt of the status quo. This gave leverage to the Civil Rights Movement of the decade along with other movements that contrived the rights of society as one. The movements and strategies created in the 1960s continue to wave through our society currently

Therefore the bands functioned as the intellectuals of the West Coast counterculture.. The political lyrics but also music in general was supposed to be a collective event rather than a private one. Furthermore

Many popular artists during the time like everybody else had an opinion about war, especially the Vietnam War. Some artists from Joan Baez to Creedence Clearwater Revival to Bob Dylan to the Jimi Hendrix.

Throughout history, there have been artists who opposed the government’s choices and specifically, in the Vietnam War, artists like The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and Bob Dylan have made music that united people and fought the government’s aggressive tactics towards those who were affected. Around this time, young people that belonged to the “Flower Power” movement were called Hippies and they had a way of life that was devoted to peace and love. There were concerts that were held with various musicians and they all had the same intent in terms of spreading their