Music Of The 60's - A Clashing Of Generations

1 Pages 304 Words

MUSIC OF THE 60’S - A CLASHING OF GENERATIONS


The Sixties were an exciting revolutionary period of time with great social and technological change. Some people called it the “decade of discontent” because of the race riots and demonstrations against the Vietnam War. The sixties were about assassination, unforgettable fashions, civil rights, and sexual freedom. All of these components caused a revolutionary change in the world of popular music.

In the sixties, music mirrored the tensions of the era, and played an important role in changing American culture. The verbal content of rock songs turned toward rebellion, social protest, sex, and drugs. Rock and Roll was for and about adolescents. Its lyrics articulated teenage and young adult's problems and concerns. All aspects of the music, its heavy beat, loudness, self-absorbed lyrics, indicated a defiance of adult values and authority. This defiance caused older people to express unrealistic fear for their children and for our nation's future.

This was the period when the younger generation developed a keen sense of alienation from the older generation and the establishment with all its political, social and religious institutions. They went searching for new answers to age-old questions, such as the value of the individual, the authority of the state, truth, justice, and the meaning of life. Alienation came in many forms and is aimed at different targets.


Much of this generation’s music was an expression of the anguish and alienation the young felt towards the older generation, the government, and the confinement of the society they lived in. They attempted to address the important issues generated by the unique events of the period. So, in a way the music of the sixties is explained by the simple cliché that music was a product of the culture that created it....