The 60s were marked by a wave of revolutionism in different areas of entertainment such as music, TV, and art. I am going to focus on the reason that led to this wave and talk about the music in this decade.
At the beginning of the 1960s, particularly in The United States, the war in Vietnam, which was a conflict that set against the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its main ally the United States, caused a movement in music and in art in general, in protest of the war. This conflict intensified the already growing disapproval from the people towards the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
In October 1967, a large group of people staged a massive Vietnam War Protest outside the Pentagon. This protest was unleashed by some horrific images of the war released by the television that made Americans on the home front turned against the war.
As it is mention above, the war caused a change in music and in art, in general. New music genres were created, new styles of art, and the artists had the ability to express themselves better than ever before. In music specifically, genres like rock and roll and R&B were making many appearances and creating some fans, especially the younger generation. The popularity grew so much that in the UK, for example, “The Beatles” were making a huge amount of success.
The protests continued and, with that, a new group appeared: The Hippies. The Hippie movement was about civil rights and sexual liberation and the so-called “Flower Power” movement was used as a symbol of the ideology of non-violence and repudiation of the war. Folk musicians, led by Bob Dylan, went electric, amplified their instruments, and sharpened their beat. Dylan showed that a pop song could be both a means of social commentary (protest) and a form of self-expression (poetry).
To finish I am going to leave you with a song written by Bob Dylan. This song has been described as a protest song, and it talks about peace, war, and freedom:
Here are the links where I collected the information:
https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history
https://allthatsinteresting.com/a-brief-history-of-hippies
Francisco Anjo