Essay Contest #2
How has music influenced the hippies?
Thanks to everyone who wrote in!
| And the Winner is .....Scott Brandon! You
win an autographed copy of Skip Stone's new book, Hippies
From A to Z! Congratulations!
Here's Scott's excellent story! The man sat there on the street with a guitar and a harmonica in one of those neat holders that wrap around your neck. He motioned me closer and nudged his hat toward me. I threw in a big handful of change and he motioned for me to sit down beside him. So I sat. He played a song for me but I couldn't understand the words, the only phrase I caught was "....I'm on the pavement thinkin' 'bout the guvunment...." He said it was Bob Dylan. I said who? "You never heard Bob Dylan before" he exclaimed. I shook my head. He went on to tell me all about the "movement" He explained to me that it all started with civil rights movements in the south. I nodded my head, I had heard about those. He continued to tell me all about folk music and how Bob Dylan had used it to promote his political views... He pronounced political like it was important. It had weight in his mind. He played another song for me, something about "everybody must get stoned". I asked him what was so great about music in the 60's and he replied that it was the first time in history that music had the power to change people... for the better, that it wasn't just about "Puppy Love" and "Sweet Sixteen", that it was about making things change and opening peoples mind to new ideas and concepts. There was a pause as some people gathered and he played another song. Like a Rolling Stone he called it. After they left he mentioned Vietnam, again I had heard about it but did not truly understand. He told me about the draft and how everybody had to go, even if they did not believe it. He told me horror stories of soldiers coming back all different and twisted and found a society that didn't accept them anymore, just because they did what they were told. He pointed across the street to a bum mumbling to himself and cursing people who walked by. The busker said that that guy was a colonel in the war and had seen his whole division killed one by one, but they left him, they just smiled and walked away. Now he has gone crazy with guilt and remorse. I asked him how this was related to music in the sixties, he said that music brought the idea of peace. I still didn't know what he meant. He talked about the peace movement, how it had its roots in music. Because of the music people understood that peace and love were reasonable goals. He played another song, something about giving peace a chance, he said it was by one of the Beatles, John Lemon or something like that. I told him there were still brutal wars going on, even more than during the sixties. I told him about Somalia and Kosovo, and starving kids and overpopulation. I asked him why nothing changed. He said it was the music. He said that bands that have too much political statements in their songs don't get played as much as before. He mumbled something about money and greed overtaking the values and beliefs of decent people. I asked him what I could do to help. Without a word he handed me his guitar, picked up his hat with its five bucks or so in change and walked away. "But wait", I yelled "I don't know how to play, I have nothing to say..." He just turned and pointed at the old guy across the street, still mumbling and swearing at people. "That is what you can sing about", he pointed at some kids, staring through a shop window at some designer clothes "that too" and he just kept on pointing and yelling "and that ..... and that .... and that.....oh yeah and that too..."
Music was the hippies' gateway to the general public in the late 1960's. The music and concerts from bands like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother, and of course Jimi Hendrix got the public's attention with it's new psychedelic sound and the often trippy lyrics. The music served as a soundtrack to the hippies' lives and the many events like the Human Be-In and Woodstock of the hippie movement. Now thirty years later, as a 16 year old who wasn't around to experience the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco or the protests that changed the world, everytime I hear the Dead's "China Cat Sunflower" or the Airplane's "Ballad of You, Me and Pooneil" I get the image of hippies dancin' in the streets or the sea of bodies at Monterey or Woodstock. These songs provoke images in the mind of any open minded person nowadays. Music today lacks the vision or free spirited vibes of the tunes back then. Now it's just about making money or some other materialistic goal. The music of the greats that have now passed on to join the great band in the sky of Jerry, Jimi, Janis, Pigpen, Lennon, Moon, Bonham and countless others changed the world or at least shook the foundation of the close minded society back then that feared change. And change was what the hippies stood for: Love is better than hate, peace is better than war, and the music back then brought out the best in everybody. That music is the artifact of what I missed. I may not have the experiences of the late 60's, but I will always have the music that has changed my life drastically for the better. Zepflydwho
The sixties were perhaps the most influential and impacting decade of the 1900s. It was a time where people, especially the youth, stopped being what they were supposed to be and started to be who and what they were. In this decade many things were taught and learned. America learned that the government will lie to them, that life isn't a perfect sitcom, and that many loved ones were going to die in a very long war in vietnam, many of these loved ones being as young as age 18. Such factors of this decade had an impact and made a change on the styles of music. During such a time of protest, confusion, and distance and miscommunication
The major generation gap that started to take place among youths and
their
Once the new music that youths of the sixties befriended hit the studios
and
thank your for this opportunity! love your site....
Music from the 60s and 70s influenced many people greatly and differently. Some took it as peace and love and others just took it as good tunes on the radio. Either way it had a major affect on society from that day forward. The music from those two decades made everything about antiwar and love thy neighbor. People wanted to stop the fighting and be united as a loving nation. The music lifted people's spirits and gave them hope. The music gave the people the encouragement they had been looking for in order to stand up for themselves. People weren't afraid to stand up for what they wanted to be achieved and it was lyrics that made that happen. Bands decided it was time for their feelings to come through in their music and it was open to interpretation. The bands promoted peace and the people carried out the action. The held peace rallies and went on strike. Some even protested the war. The greatest song writers came out of that decade and they live on in some people. If you ask anyone about what the sixties was about they'd say drugs, sex, and rock&roll! The rock&roll is what made the good times happen. Without the music nothing would have been inspiring. When I think of the sixties I think of the peaceful music and of the love between everyone. During that period of time love was in the air and everyone was a part of it. I love to think about the sixties because I wish I had been there during that decade where everthing was just taken one day at a time. Nothing was rushed and the music was in everybody. It was a great time to be living and a great time to be in love with your surroundings. Sarah
Music in the sixties and seventies was as important as the printing press was during the time of the French revolution. People were looking away to spread ideas: of peace, of war, of ideas. Musicians tired to send anti - war messages. Although it may have sparked the lives of many in a different era, the music then does not differ from much music now. Although then much of it dealt with the crisis in Vietnam. Today's musicians also try to send messages vicariously through their music and actions. Both today's music and yesterdays music strikes up controversy. Back then it was because a nation was crying out for peace and an end to a war against the governments wishes. Now, paranoid parents try to ban certain music because they believe the message is wrong. Although today's music may deal more with the subject of violence, abuse and drugs it is no different from the sounds of the seventies and sixties. Just like the government and parents this nation has tried to restrict certain messages in music for fear of the media who they know can destroy and expose even popular figures. Music back then gave hope to young people who weren't sure what to believe in. Their government was closed off and not listening and their parents seemed like brainwashed people who had only grown up to the sounds of du-oop and The Beach Boys. Music was power for the young people of the sixties and seventies. It was influential and meaningful. Today's sounds do not differ much. There will always be musicians trying to send their own message and people who will listen, no matter what era.
Music was the heartbeat of the hippy movement. The most powerful connector
in the universe - the vibration that speaks to us through our soul where
the truth is waiting to be learned and shared. There was more rhythm than
beat, and the words were socially & morally relevant, bringing people
together in harmony and social conscience. There is little to none of that
in modern music. The peace, love, "come together" vibe is a long forgotten
pulse of the Love Generation ... we can only pray that the youth of the
millennium will re-conntect us to that vibe.
In the 60’s many things happen, to some they were good, to others, tragic.
People protested against war and race riots in many US cities. One
of the great things that happened in the US during those years was music,
specifically rock and roll! Artists like the Beatles, Beach Boys,
Elvis, Doors and many others had the opportunity to share their tunes with
the nation. It changed people’s lives for the best.
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