How The Influence Of Protest Music During The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was long and grand, it had supporters and people that were very against it; but out of the Vietnam war, we got good music. John Lennon writes in the song Mind Games “I want you to make love, not war, I know you've heard it before.” People began protesting the vietnam war, as a result “protest music” became very prominent. During and after the Vietnam War formed peoples’ opinions of the war, it established a way of life for people, it was their everything. This way of life confused the older generations. As a result of protest music, we had led to what became known as “the British invasion,” which included The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and many more. And a period that some might call the greatest time for music. This
In the early 1960s, before the anti-war movement gained popularity, folk singers such as Peter, Paul, and Mary, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Pete Seeger and many more spread their anti-war message through their music. Pete Seeger writes “The captain told us to ford a river, That's how it all begun. We were -- knee deep in the Big Muddy, But the big fool said to push on.” Seeger is talking about war and that the soldiers had to keep moving even though they some would die. One of the most popular bands to come out was this time was The Grateful Dead, who formed in Palo Alto California in 1965. Around this time the music from folksy tunes to a more rock and roll classic vibe. Also around this time, drugs became very apparent. Hippies rebelled from the previous generations more strict and well mannered era, so they created communities where they all lived and listened to psychedelic music. They welcomed the sexual revolution, and many used drugs such as marijuana, LSD, and psilocybin mushrooms to explore altered states of consciousness. Another iconic band is The Eagles. Don Henley, a member of the Eagles, famously dated Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac. Drugs proved to be a big problem for Nicks. She was dating Lindsey Buckingham when they both joined the band. After one cocaine filled night, Nicks and Mick Fleetwood began an affair. Drugs destroyed many people's lives
Bands such as The Beatles and the Rolling Stones changed the way people thought about music forever. This integrated two countries good music to create great music. The influence of the british invasion and the ongoing war people wanted to join together, on August 15, 1969 Woodstock started. Woodstock was the biggest music festival that lasted three days. “Conceived as “Three Days of Peace and Music, “Woodstock was a product of a partnership between John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfield and Michael Lang. Their idea was to make enough money from the event to build a recording studio near the arty New York town of Woodstock” (history.com staff). The performers included Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, CCR, The Band, The Grateful dead, and many more. Jimi Hendrix was scheduled to close the Woodstock music and love festival, thirteen songs in he played the star spangled banner. A man at the festival, Raws Pain, describes Hendrix’s rendition of the song “Everything seemed to stop, before that is someone has played the “star spangled banner”(samuraiguitarist) we would have booed after that it became our song.” Al Aronowitz said “It was the most electrifying moment of the woodstock and probably the single greatest moment of the sixties” he goes on to say “we finally heard what the song was about. That you