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The Angry Decade: The Sixties By Paul Sann
During the 1960s, the connections between music and society are particularly evident as rock and roll “came of age” with entertainers beginning to take active roles in political, social and cultural movements. By listening to and analyzing the lyrics of selected examples of popular music from the era, you will develop a greater understanding of the historical and political forces as well as the emotional climate of the decade.
The songs are studied from two perspectives. First, approaching them as primary sources, you will consider from an historical perspective what the songs reveal about the attitudes of this decade. Secondly, the lyrics will provide an opportunity for literary and poetic analysis.
Part 1: The Early Sixties 1958-1964
The song “American Pie” by Don McLean will be used as a starting point as it contains allusions to some of the events and figures to be studied. At least 30 specific references to musicians, songs, and events from the late 1950s through 1972 may be found in the song. Many of these will be mentioned during the unit and it is the your job to locate them during the ensuing class discussions.
Political History: 1960 Dwight D. Eisenhower is President of the United States. John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon were vying for presidency in the next year. ‘Tricky Dick’ was no more…he was going to change his ways.
More Politics • Frank Sinatra wrote and sang the song “High Hopes” for JFK’s run for Presidency. • John and Robert Kennedy helped bail Martin Luther King, Jr. out of jail. This may have cost him some white votes, but definitely gained the black vote. • Russia sends Cuba missiles, advisors, and other supplies. Both countries are very communist and this led to a scary time—the Cold War.
Civil Rights Movement • It had been brewing for years already. • Lunch counter sit-ins. Black people couldn’t sit at the counters in the south and had to leave if a white person wanted a seat. Some cafes wouldn’t even allow black people to eat. • Black, white, and religious people sat at counters for hours at a time. Eventually, police were called in and many were arrested. • Martin Luther King, Jr. was involved and was arrested as well.
Society • Elvis came home from the army in Germany. • Frank Sinatra still had number 1 songs. • The Everly Brothers sang “You Lost that Lovin’ Feeling” • The Kingston Trio • Johnny Preston had a number one hit “Running Bear”
1961 • Camelot begins: JFK was elected president. • Robert Frost speaks at his inaugural address. • The first year for JFK was very difficult.
Robert Kennedy, who was in charge of an active investigation against the mob, told his brother John that he couldn’t be friends with Frank Sinatra anymore.
The Bay of Pigs • JFK thought the Cold War was coming to a head, and maybe he could fend it off for a while. He sent “advisors” to Cuba with trained nationals to take back their land. • The mission was a terrible disaster, and was supposed to be a surprise victory. Fidel Castro had the upper hand for negotiations. Eventually, all those who were captured were released to the U.S.
The Berlin Wall • Russia held Eastern Germany, West Germany was free. Berlin, the capitol, was then split in two by a wall. Families were torn apart, tensions were high, the cold war got worse. • This wall remained for almost 30 years without hardly anyone freely traveling back and forth.
Society • Fabian had hit music • Frankie Avalon, singer/actor/heart throb, was very popular at this time.
1962 • Albert DeSalvo began his terror in Massachusetts. He would murder women in the same way every time. He was known as the “Boston Strangler”. (Although they didn’t catch him for years.)
Marilyn Monroe • The sex goddess Marilyn Monroe had been in movies and in Playboy. Her marriage to neither Joe DiMaggio nor Arthur Miller didn’t last. She was torn by Hollywood who wanted a piece of her financial potential.
She was found at her home, next to a night stand full of sleeping pills and other prescriptions. There was a conspiracy that she was murdered because of her affairs with JFK. • However, nothing came of the gossip. It was announced as a suicide. Joe DiMaggio took care of her estate. He still loved her after all those years.
Cuban Missile Crises • Russia had sent Cuba (less than 100 miles from Florida) missiles and launching equipment. Of course, for defensive purposes only. • JFK sent an ultimatum. Nothing can be sent in, what’s in there must be dismantled, and there is now an embargo on Cuba. (This is why Cuban cigars are illegal now!)
Ole Miss Integration • One black student, James Meredith, tried to enroll in Ole Miss. He was greeted by the governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnett and an army despite a court order allowing his enrollment. • Many people went to jail in protest. Many people were hurt. Meredith eventually enrolled the following fall. He said it was the first time he had been called “nigger”.
Society • Country-western music was popular with Ray Charles leading them with “I Can’t Stop Loving You”. • Peter, Paul, and Mary had a number one song. • Joan Baez was a famous folk singer. • Bob Dylan was a new face in folk singing.
1963 • NASA was given $4.2 billion. There were many reasons why; exploration, science, advancement, adventure, and most importantly, to beat Russia in the Space Race. • Martin Luther King, Jr. led the march on Washington, D.C. This is where he said the “I have a dream” speech.
John F. Kennedy is shot. • November 22, 1963 • Kennedy was on a trip to Texas. One stop in Dallas was fatal. Kennedy and his wife were on a trip to start gathering popularity for the next presidential race. • Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested, then shot by Jack Ruby before any trial could begin. • Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office in the airplane before they left Dallas.
Other events in 1963… • Women’s Liberation began in this year. • Andy Warhol and his pop art is very popular. • New York hosted the Mona Lisa. • Miles Davis was popular in music. • So was Nat King Cole with “Ramblin’ Man”.
1964 • Cigarettes came with a warning from the surgeon general for the first time this year. • College students experimented with drugs. • 18-year-old males had to register for the draft and some burned their draft cards. • Mini skirts were very popular, even with Jackie Kennedy. • Cassius Clay was a winner, but by this time he had changed his name to Muhammad Ali and was against the war; he even went as far as refusing to report to the army after being drafted.
Riots in New York • After Pat Lynch ‘accidentally’ sprayed down some black students in front of a school, a police officer killed a summer-school student. This tipped off a riot that spread to Chicago and other cities. • 341 people were injured. • 197 people were jailed.
University of Berkeley Students would: • Picket nuclear labs on campuses • Demonstrate the civil rights causes • Protest the arms race • Specifically, they protested the GOP convention across the river. • The university president didn’t like it and tried to remove them. • Students surrounded the police car for a sit-in. • Joan Baez performed; students were locked in a university hall. • The students won a ‘free speech’ vote by faculty members. This set the tone for protestors on campuses for the rest of the decade.
Robert F. Kennedy • With his eyes set on Presidency, Bob ran for and won a senate seat for the state of New York. • He had previously been involved in politics from the Justice Department. • Lyndon B. Johnson, who was used by JFK to win the Texas vote, did NOT get along with Robert Kennedy. • Kennedy did not run as Vice-President for Johnson.
Invasion of The Beatles • Ed Sullivan hosted his own show that featured current shows across the United States. • It was his idea to invite the Beatles to America. • “A Hard Day’s Night” drew $1.6 million in the movie houses. • Beatles by-products brought in another $50 million. • Lennon credited Elvis Presley and his mother (who brought Elvis’s record home) for his musical inspiration.
Some early hits… “She Loves You” “Twist and Shout “I Want to Hold Your Hand” “Can’t Buy Me Love” “A Hard Day’s Night”
Day 3: 1965-1967 The New Generation
1965 • February 27; The Vietnam Conflict escalated to actual fighting and deaths. • 1365 dead • 5300 wounded • 148 missing or captured that year • We were there initially to help the South Vietnamese country stay ‘free’ from North Vietnam, who are communist under Ho Chi Minh • Of course, we started there for ‘support’.
Malcom X • Malcom X, a leader in the movement of Black Separatist, was shot and killed. • The Black Separatists believed that segregation was a bad idea. Whites and blacks should be apart. • But the separated population should also be treated equal. • There still is active participation in black separatism. The group the Black Panthers had a face-off in Paris, TX, not too long ago.
Racial Tensions • MLK, Jr. led a march in Selma, Alabama, one of the most racists places in the south. • Many people were arrested, elected officials were obviously corrupt, sheriffs ignored crimes against black people, etc. • A Protestant minister was beaten so badly, he died of his injuries two days later. • 75 other men were put in the hospital because their march was met with “horses, whips, clubs and tear gas” (159). • Lyndon Johnson plead to congress to guarantee the unobstructed right to vote for the black people.
More racial tensions • A black man home from the Air Force was pulled over for DUI. He was speeding near L.A. • A crowd began to gather after the field sobriety tests, and nine minutes later, had to arrest his mother who was berating the cops. • The words spread: The Whiteys were beating up black people. • For an entire week, rioting continued, costing 34 lives, 898 injuries, and 4,000 arrests. • Looting was abundant.
Black -Out and space • New York suffered from a 13-hour black out. It began in Canada and rolled down to the northeastern United States. • Imagine being stuck in an elevator for 13 hours!!! • The first American took a space walk in 1965. Ed White was aboard Gemini 4 . • This was practice for docking in space in later missions. It was deemed a total success.
Communism in America • Congress ruled that all communists had to register with the government if they lived in the United States. • Cesar Chavez organized a strike for grape workers in California. He was the largest leader for the Mexican-American work force.
Society • Fashion dictated that people wore their hair LARGE. • Sonny and Cher sang and performed on a variety show. • Frank Sinatra still held a large audience. • Songs: • “Downtown” • The Beatles made $200 million in 1965 • Nat King Cole died at age 44 of cancer
1966 • The Vietnam War was exploding. Over 100 soldiers were dead and 600 wounded…in a week. • McNamara (defense secretary) said we had progressed more than he expected that year. • This ‘progress’ led to 4,800 deaths, 335 planes shot down, and 75,000 more men in Southeast Asia than during the Korean war.
Black Power • James Meredith, the Ole Miss grad, decided that to encourage the 450,000 unregistered black voters in Memphis, Tennessee. • He was shot with a shotgun, but wasn’t killed. • However, this led to a retaliation movement, called black power. They were a militant group that was ready to hit back. • Their new anthem was “kill whitey” and they struck the Midwest for weeks.
The Texas Tower • Charley Whitman was a good student at the University of Texas. He seemed like an up-and-coming 25-year old. • However, he had secret angers, and decided to take care of his mother and wife. • He shot his mother in the back of her head and stabbed her in the chest. • Then he went home and stabbed his wife three times in the chest. • He climbed the Texas Tower with a small arsenal and food. In 94 minutes, he shot 45 people, killing 14 of them. In all, he killed 16 people. • After it was over, and he was shot dead, they discovered a tumor in his brain that caused a mental disorder.
Society in 1966 • Dr. Timothy Leary’s league fore Spiritual discovery (LSD) was thriving in New York. • John Lennon says: “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. We’re more popular than Jesus, now. I don’t know which will go first—rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity Jesus was right, … …but his disciples were thick and ordinary.” • Muhammad Ali divorced his wife for wearing her pants too tight and too much make up. Not a very Muslim way of life. • The Mammas and the Pappas, The Byrds, The Lovin’ Spoonful, Simon & Garfunkel were popular.
Songs for the day: • Outside of a Small Circle of Friends by Phil Ochs • Written because Kitty Genovese was stabbed three times on a ‘good street’ and no one called the police • It took three different attempts and 35 minutes to get the job done. • The song states the complacency that Ochs detests. He states that you should stand up for what is right. • Compare and contrast the style with the message.
Other songs… • “My Generation” by The Who. • “Down on Me” by Big Brother and the Holding Company (Janis Joplin) • Let’s look at the lyrics and the divisions created between “straight” society and the “counter-culture,” fueled in large part by the Vietnam War.
1967-1968 • Vietnam • The government kept downplaying the death and destruction. • “the military picture is favorable” --General Westmorland • 9,378 killed • 62,024 wounded • Muhammad Ali: “Why should they ask me and other so-called Negroes to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?”
The Longest Summer • Fueled by “Black Power”, demonstrations quickly led to violence across the country. • Detroit • Tampa • Dayton • Buffalo • Atlanta • Cincinnati • Newark • New York • Cambridge, Maryland • Many people were hurt, killed, robbed, and arrested.
LSD “Turn on to the scene; tune in to what’s happening. Drop out—of high school, college, grade school…and follow me, the hard way.” --Dr. Timothy Leary • Flower Power • Love –in time • Hippies were there to sit it out. (It as in war, bombs, violence, etc.) • All with bell bottoms, bells on their waist, grass to smoke, and nothing ‘normal’ to hold them back.
Hippie dangers • In theory, hippies didn’t like to work or follow ‘normal’ lives. • They did, however, need to eat. They also had bad experiences with LSD. • LSD makes you believe you can fly. Deaths abound, but cops dismissed these as derelicts… …unnecessary for investigation. • Others new that hippies had drugs, so they became targets for violence. • Many were murdered for their drugs.
Society in 1967 • Elvis marries Priscilla. Her ring had 21 diamonds. • Dr. Goddard, head of the FDA: “Whether or not marijuana is a more dangerous drug than alcohol is debatable. I don’t happen to think it is.” • The Grateful Dead • Jefferson Airplane • The Who • Canned Heat • Moby Grape • The Doors • The Rolling Stones • Jimi Hendrix • The Beatles’ Stg. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
