Protest Music in the 1960’s
Civil unrest permeated the country during the 1960’s. The Civil Rights Movement was spreading across the nation, as people started protesting the unequal rights of the black community. Tensions among the American people started to rise, and with the escalation of the conflict of the Vietnam War, tensions among the population came to an all time high. Throughout this decade, music became a huge source of expression for the people. It reflected the hopes, the fears, and the unrest that everyone was experiencing during this tumultuous time. Protest music had a huge impact on America, and it specifically gave people an outlet to vent their frustrations with the government and with the war. Music became a way for the American people to join together for common purpose.
The Civil Rights Movement was in full swing by the 1960’s. The black community in America was fighting for their freedom, participating in demonstrations, sit-ins, and freedom rides, often in places that were heavily segregated and steeped in racial tensions (Youth, Mass Culture, and Protest). So many significant events were happening in the fight for Civil Rights during the 60’s. Martin Luther King led the March on Washington, Schools like Ole Miss were forced to desegregate, and the whole country took notice (Civil Rights, Vietnam, and a Decade of Protest). Others outside of the black community started joining in the fight, and activism was spreading across the country, especially amongst young adults and students (Youth, Mass Culture, and Protest).
As activism was rising among the people, music was also rising as a means of expression for this activism. In fact, “No political crusade integrated music and activism as fully as the Civil Rights Movement” (Dreier and Flacks). Folk artists in particular were closely connected to the Civil Rights Movement (Candaele). These folk artists were strongly influenced by black R&B, spirituals, and gospel music, spread by musicians like Same Cooke, whose song “A Change is Gonna Come” was the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. The folk music inspired by these black musicians really resonated with the struggles of the African American community and their fight for basic human rights (Dreier and Flacks). The Civil Rights Movement was really the catalyst in the protest music trend of the 1960’s, and would greatly influence music for the rest of the decade on (Civil Rights, Vietnam, and a Decade of Protest).
The increase in political activism and social unrest among the people during the Civil Rights Movement started to bleed into feelings about the Vietnam War. As the war continued to escalate, people were getting glimpses into the horrible realities of war that they had never seen before, all due to television. For the first time, people were seeing actual footage from the war and the destruction it was wrecking. The Vietnam was thus known as the “Living Room War”, as it was brought directly into the homes of the people, and unrest was sparked amongst the American people as it never had been before (Youth, Mass Culture, and Protest).
As the war continued, the American people watched on with growing unease. When President Nixon was elected, he had promised to pull troops out and end the war. And while he kept to his promise of decreasing troops in Vietnam, he resorted to a bombing campaign of North Vietnamese supply routes in Cambodia, and in turn sent more troops there. This caused student protests to break out across the country, which then lead to events such as the Kent State Massacre, which caused even more unrest among the people (Candaele). All of these events, combined with the fact that many students and young men were being drafted into the war unwillingly, caused anti-war sentiments among the American people to reach an all time high, and the whole country was on edge (Youth, Mass Culture, and Protest).
As these feelings of discontent increased in parallel with the violence and destruction of the war, protest music started to shift to focus mainly on this anti-war sentiment. While the Civil Rights Movement saw the rise of folk music as the genre of choice for its protest music, the Vietnam War and anti-war protest music was a little different. While many folk artists still contributed to the anti-war music, Rock and Roll became the main genre for anti-war protest music (Schifferes). It was angry, it was intense, it was yearning for a better future, and it perfectly captured the frustration of the people for the war during this time. Ultimately, rock music “helped build the anti-war community” by bringing people together to express their emotions towards the Vietnam War (Youth, Mass Culture, and Protest).
In a sense, the Vietnam War had its own anti-war soundtrack, as anti-war music was becoming increasingly popular (Candaele). As the war escalated, the music grew even more angry and frustrated to reflect the mood of the nation. However, one of the huge anti-war songs during the 60’s surprisingly wasn’t a rock song, but a country song. Country Joe McDonald’s song “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die” was one of the most popular Vietnam protest songs of the decade. The song, while upbeat and catchy, is really a dark satire of the war, criticizing the seemingly pointless war and the death of so many American soldiers (Candaele). As the whole crowd cheerily sang along at Woodstock to the lyric “Whoopee we’re all gonna die!” it was very apparent how jaded the American population was becoming towards the meaningless death caused by the war (Iredale).
On the other hand, a folk oriented protest song that was very popular as well was Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” (Candaele). This song, unlike Country Joe’s upbeat Rag, was a much more somber song, earnestly asking questions in each verse about the state of the country. In one verse, he laments “How many times must the cannonballs fly, before they’re forever banned?” (Dylan), which is very obviously a plead to stop the violence of war. This song was also used in many other contexts as well, as the many verses span a variety of topics. For example, the line “How many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man?” (Dylan), is a reference to the Civil Rights Movement and the struggle for the black community to have the equal rights. This song clearly displays the close connection that Civil Rights protest songs had with anti-war protest songs, and the influence they had on each other. Because of its versatility, “Blowin’ in the Wind”, no matter what situation it was being sung for, was one of the best protest songs of the decade (Schifferes).
As stated previously, the anti-war protest music was really focused around the Rock and Roll genre. One popular rock protest song wasn’t the angry, glaring rock song one would expect, but was the hopeful call for peace of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” (Candaele). This song was very simple, mostly consisting of the phrase “All we are saying is give peace a chance” (Lennon), sung over and over again, backed by acoustic guitar and tambourine. What makes this song so effective, though, is that it focuses on peace instead of war. This was a good change of pace from other rocks songs, and the people really clung to its message of hope in the times of war. In the song, a group of people joined enthusiastically in to sing the chorus, and this really gave a message that people could come together in peace and harmony, not just in war (Hopkins).
One of the most iconic protest songs of the decade occurred at Woodstock, a music festival in upstate New York in 1969. People were tired of the horrors of the Vietnam War and the deception of the government. As anti-war sentiments were at an all time high, Woodstock provided an outlet for thousands of people to express their desire for peace and an end to the war (Hopkins). The iconic protest song in question was Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner”. Hendrix’s “searing” version of the national anthem “pushed the reality of the Vietnam War into the public’s face and ears” (Candaele). Hendrix’s anti-war message was clear in his version of the anthem. His use of different guitar techniques, such as distortion, use of the whammy bar, and decision to play certain notes with an eerie screeching quality, gave the impression of war sounds – bombs being dropped, gunfire going off, and dying soldiers screaming (Hopkins). This rendition was not, by any means, a tribute to the national anthem. In fact, it could even be described as a dark parody of the anthem (Candaele), used to point towards the utter frustration felt by the people about their country’s role in the Vietnam War (Hopkins). This song was one of the defining pieces of the 1960’s and the turmoil that permeated this decade.
The decade of the 1960’s really changed the world and the music industry. From the Civil Rights Movement to the Vietnam War, music was being used as a new method of expression and protest. This music was bringing groups of people together in entirely new way, and “anti-war music specifically became a space for culture and political dialogue and conflict, and at times a product and resource for broad movement against the war” (Candaele). The protest music of the 60’s left a huge impact on the American people as well as the music industry from years to come. The protest movement “stamped an indelible mark of rebellion on the rock and roll music scene and was the origin of culture wars which still dominate American politics today” (Schifferes). It is very clear that the 1960’s were a monumental decade, a decade that would have an impact on the world for years to come.
Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock
Works Cited
Candaele, Kerry. “The Sixties and Protest Music.” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, n.d. Web. 20 May 2015.
“Civil Rights, Vietmam and a Decade of Protest.” RACE. American Anthropological Association, n.d. Web. 21 May 2015.
Dreier, Peter, and Dick Flacks. “Protest Music and People Movements: The Tradition Continues.” Common Dreams – Breaking News and Views for the Progressive Community. Common Dreams, 26 May 2014. Web. 20 May 2015.
Dylan, Bob. “Blowin’ In the Wind by Bob Dylan.” Bobdylan.com. Sony Music Entertainment, n.d. Web. 21 May 2015.
Hopkins, Alexander E. “Protest and Rock N’ Roll During the Vietnam War.” Student Pulse. Student Pulse, LLC, 2012. Web. 20 May 2015.
Iredale, Anne. “Top Ten Protest Songs from the 1960’s.” TopTenz. TopTenz.net, 11 Mar. 2009. Web. 20 May 2015.
Lennon, John. “Give Peace a Chance.” The Beatles Bible. The Beatles Bible, n.d. Web. 21 May 2015.
McDonald, Joe. “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag.” Country Joe’s Place. Alkatraz Corner Music, BBM, n.d. Web. 21 May 2015.
Schifferes, Steve. “Vietnam: The Music of Protest.” BBC News. BBC, 01 May 2005. Web. 20 May 2015.
“YOUTH, MASS CULTURE, AND PROTEST: THE RISE AND IMPACT OF 1960S ANTIWAR MUSIC.” Rock and Roll – An American Story. Teachrock.org, n.d. Web. 20 May 2015.