…Initially, we really weren’t to be that involved in this war. We were to be support. My, how things change. In the beginning, our part in the Vietnam War in 1959 was so minimal that many Americans probably didn’t even think twice about it. It wasn’t until around 1965 that this war became a reality for America. All of a sudden, it seemed that we went from being military advisors, to sending troops into combat. Somehow, we had walked into a hornets’ nest. Television wasn’t just bringing American Bandstand and silly sitcoms into the homes of Americans anymore. It was now bringing a war home. Every single night, images of combat assaults, napalm and dead bodies were in our living rooms. Tension was growing. There were those that argued that our presence was needed in Vietnam, while others argued that we had no business being there at all. Doesn’t that sound all too familiar these days? As things in Vietnam progressed—or didn’t progress, depending on your point of view—hostilities in America began to progress as well. People were becoming very vocal. They were organizing, and protests were numerous.
Musicians were also using songs as an avenue to voice opinions against the war. On the darker side of music, Black Sabbath’s song “War Pigs” described “…in the fields the bodies burning, as the war machine keeps turning…” The Rolling Stones sang that, “war, children, it’s just a shot away.” And in “Eve of Destruction” Barry McGuire warned “if the button is pushed there’s no running away, there’ll be none to save with the world in a grave.”
It seemed that there was clearly power in numbers. The hostility was growing, and it was becoming obvious. This was also at a time when the blacks were still protesting issues of equality. There were also campaigns to save the environment. “America, love it or leave it” was a popular saying, as was “Make love, not war.” Then there were the “flower children,” who just went around talking about “peace and love.” It really was a boiling pot of emotion. In the song “For What it’s Worth,” Buffalo Springfield sang how “[p]aranoia strikes deep…into your life it will creep". And they were right—we were becoming a paranoid nation.
As the 1960s progressed, so did the youth movement. Already involved in numerous protests, most were trying to find peaceful solutions against the hypocrisy of the establishment. Although some were against what the young people were doing at the time, a lot can be said for what they were seeking to accomplish, and the ways they were doing it. Scores of young people involved were well-educated college kids that were simply trying to make a difference. They were motivated, and they had initiative.
In 1962, the Supreme Court decides that it’s unconstitutional for prayer to be in public schools. Mystic Eastern religions were becoming very popular, and many people were abandoning their fundamentalist belief system in favor of something new. I honestly think that with all that was happening in the ‘60s, people were beginning to reach out for answers in new directions. Had people given up on God? Is this what it had come to? Time magazine’s cover of April 8, 1966 prompted this question: “Is God Dead?” A survey in the previous year shows that more than 120 million people in the United States claim a religious affiliation, and that 44 percent attend church services on a weekly basis. So what gives? Why all of the contradiction? Ninety-seven percent of Americans say that they believe in God, but only 27 percent view themselves as deeply religious. Is it possible, then, for people to believe in God, and still question their faith? Obviously, it is. And that could be the reason that so many people were reaching out to other belief systems. With all of the drastic changes happening in society, the dogmatism of religion was being strained. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had begun to offer an alternative to practical religion through Transcendental Meditation (TM). When describing the benefits of TM, the Maharishi explained that “[s]cientific experiments with people who practice TM indicate that it tends to produce normalization in all areas of life. It reduces stress, improves health, enriches mental functioning, enhances personal relationships, and increases job productivity and job satisfaction.” At a time when it seemed that the entire world was beginning to become unraveled, I think that everyone was merely seeking the “normalization in all areas of life.”
Many people, including hordes of young Americans, were also looking to drugs as an outlet. Illicit drug usage has always been around, and it always will be. Prior to the 1960s, however, it was usually done somewhat quietly. It wasn’t something that was done openly. With the help of drug advocates like Dr. Timothy Leary, though, the ‘60s invited everyone to “turn on, tune in, and drop out.” He wasn’t the only one advocating drug use, by any means, but when someone as well-respected as a psychologist is promoting the use of LSD, it somehow makes everything more acceptable. At the very least, it begins to maybe make a little more sense to those that are using the drugs already. So if a member of the establishment such as Dr. Leary is giving the thumbs up for LSD, does it change the hippies’ outlook towards the establishment? Not even close. It just gave the counter-culture more ammunition to use against the establishment. It gave them a sense that they were right all along.
But what had transformed the ‘60s from a “flower power” generation to a radical extremist boiling pot? What happened to all of the peace and love? Music of any given decade is usually a pretty good sign of the atmosphere surrounding the era. Based on this theory alone, let’s look at some of the music of that period, and see if we can pinpoint musically when things began to change…