Seth Frank

Cause Or Effect: Rock Music And The Events Of The 1960s

When hearing a Hendrix, Janis Joplin, or a Dylan, a broad experience is being had by the listener. One may recall the very power of humankind to rise up against oppression and strive for freedom, instead of just listening to the music.

The 1960’s was among the most momentous decades in the history of the country. The Cold War was in full effect, and the Civil Rights Movement was building up and reaching its acme. People became saddened with what they viewed as the country’s appetite for power and control. Tolerance and justice, they submitted, were some of the fundamental tenets that the country had been created with, and needed to be given greater value.

Accompanying this, the rock movement took a new direction. The movement, even though often being associated with rebellion, had not included much of a political facet before. Rebellion with real goals, though, was what rock musicians of that time began to push for. They were articulating a worthy cause which would bolster the well-being of the most vulnerable segments of the American public and bestow more of a voice to the people as a whole in their effort for greater autonomy.

When folk revival musicians (e.g. Bob Dylan) and soul artists (e.g. Sam Cooke) began to integrate more sociopolitical content into their music, rock followed closely behind. Numerous artists such as the aforementioned Joplin and Hendrix, The Beatles, MC5, The Velvet Underground, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and The Doors began to include more serious subject matter in a number of their songs and became vocal about important issues offstage. A wide spectrum of issues including civil rights, anti-war efforts, feminism, gay rights, the environment, and drug use and possible legalization were brought up by them. Rock’s alliance with revolt and the counterculture continues to this day and has spawned many bands and subgenres like punk and metal.

When playing a vinyl record from an artist or group from the 1960’s, one is usually taken back in history to this critical era. A listener almost instantaneously feels, as if they were a part of it, the passion and fervor that so many of that time mustered in support of their cause. Via their legacy, the proud warriors of that decade, including these musicians, have long outlasted it.

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