The Turbulen Sixties Essay -- essays research papers

The Turbulent SixtiesThroughout American biography, each times has sought toindividualize itself from all others preceding it. Decades of Americanhistory can be separated to represent a distinctive set of values, culture,and political ideals. The 1960s was a decade caught between euphoric,idealistic beginnings and a discordant, barbaric climax. The harmony of thistime period produced a strong counterculture which sought to influenceAmerica in a way never before experienced. The songs were the backbone ofthis new eon they were the tunes which the generation danced to, marchedto, and got high off of. This paper will discuss the ways popular music ofthe 1960s produced national a contendeness of the anti-war movements, led tothe partialcollapse of the structure of American society, and everlastinglychanged the way current generations listen to and buy music.The songwriters of the 1960s were rarely without inspiration.Perhaps the virtually powerful incentive came from the movemen t to end theVietnam War. Many of the most prominent musicians of that generation aidedthe struggle to protest against and attempt to end the war. The mostpopular song to be considered an anthem against the war efforts was called"Blowin in the Wind," written by cork Dylan in 1962 while he was living inNew York. The song is centered around racism and militarism, two mainfocal points which were principal in many early sixties protest songs(Pichaske 58). Dylan used conventional symbols to blatantly state hispoint a white dove representing peace, flying cannon balls describing warand violence, and roads and seas symbolizing the hardships and strugglesthere would have to be with eliminating the war.Demonstrations against the Vietnam War took place in many majorcities and college campuses. While many of these demonstrations had onlypeaceful motives, violent methods were often used to break them up. Takefor example the famous student takeover of Columbia University. Blackstudents a rguing for civil rights, and white students protesting againstthe Vietnam war successfully took over Hamilton Hall, the Low Library andthe Deans office, as well as three other buildings. The Grateful Deadwere smuggled onto campus and played several long sets of music whilestudents began to set up communal living, with food generously donated byoutside supporters and Harlems CORE (Co... ... labels began methodically recruiting performers andsigning them to contracts. The music was becoming less orient to freeform and more constricted so as to present them on FM radio. Advertisingbecame increasingly directed towards the hippies. Pepsi Cola began airingcommercials that consisted of an eerie psychedelic renderings of urbannightlife, with the Pepsi theme sounding more like a Byrds song than acommercial jingle (Frank 178). Many musicians began fighting a wizard ofdeep disillusion as the sixties winded down. Perhaps Dylan, the man whospoke so poignantly about the generation understood it best, he knew thatthe most prominent threat to musicians of the sixties was their image, itleads to the generalization of their art and destroys it (Pichaske 177).In conclusion, the sixties were a turbulent time characterized withboth optimism and despair. The music that this generation spawned haslasted as a remnant of the idealistic and hopful nature of the times. Inmany cases, the songs are interrelated with certain events. In otherinstances, music was used as a catalyst to ignite a chain of events.Whatever the case may be, music was revolutionized during the1960s.