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Further, ideals of one generation, don't necessarily translate to the next. As a Gen-X'er, I'm at piece with the 60's Baby-boomer's movements now, but in the day, me and my brethren were very cynical toward our parent's piece and love anthems. The only bands of that era we embraced were Black Sabbath and dark bands of the like. For the most part, we thought our parents overall had a pretty good life, but protested for the sake of change anyway.
I can't help but wonder why you thought people were protesting in the sixties just for the "sake of change".
Sure, a great portion of the protesters were college students, but they were protesting on behalf of themselves and others ... the Vietnam War (1955 to 1975) with over 58,000 soldiers dead, POWs, civil rights, womens rights, environmentalism, free speech and more.
I was a child in the sixties, but we were aware of what was going on. It was impossible not to be aware. So much of what your generation takes for granted had its roots in the social change of the sixties.
With all the turmoil going on in the world, I wonder why more mainstream artists aren't making more socially-conscious and/or protest songs? In my parents' day (late 60's - early 70's), lots of rock bands were releasing anti-war songs or protest songs. Nowadays, it seems like there are few bands making that kind of music. Top 40 radio is even worse - dominated by songs about clubbing or people bragging about how awesome they are.
Somebody please prove me wrong!
It's not that there aren't artists who make that kind of music. It's more that the masses currently have an affinity for the insipid. In other words, the public determines what becomes mainstream, and right now, the majority of the public is interested in superficial, materialistic, insubstantial crap.
I can't help but wonder why you thought people were protesting in the sixties just for the "sake of change".
Sure, a great portion of the protesters were college students, but they were protesting on behalf of themselves and others ... the Vietnam War (1955 to 1975) with over 58,000 soldiers dead, POWs, civil rights, womens rights, environmentalism, free speech and more.
I was a child in the sixties, but we were aware of what was going on. It was impossible not to be aware. So much of what your generation takes for granted had its roots in the social change of the sixties.
I should have expanded that paragraph further: When the 60's were over, they (our parents) all went home and got decent paying jobs and lived the dream. My parents were white and married, so there was no threat to them of being discriminated against or being drafted. In my mind at the time, they risked nothing, had a good time, and went home. That was my (and friends) mindset in my early 20's and struggling (late 80's). Like I said, now in my earlly-forties, I've learned to accept the nobility part of it as well, but with a degree of cynicism - the people that worshipped at the altar of Bob Dylan now quote Rush Limbaugh. My father tells me he didn't change, librallism did. I didn't live the 60's, I don't know. Just excuse me for not taking the movement totally at face value.
Like I said, now in my earlly-forties, I've learned to accept the nobility part of it as well, but with a degree of cynicism - the people that worshipped at the altar of Bob Dylan now quote Rush Limbaugh. My father tells me he didn't change, librallism did. I didn't live the 60's, I don't know. Just excuse me for not taking the movement totally at face value.
Some of them quote Rush Limbaugh. Certainly not all of them.
Even as a child in the sixties, we knew there was at lot at stake. To be honest, people seem unbelieveably apathetic to me compared to then.
I'll tell you something that I still find funny about that time. I was in sixth grade in 1969. Adults were so concerned about the drug culture that they wanted to nip it in the bud with us early on before we had a chance to try it. Teens were dropping dead on the dance floor, don't you know?!
So here we are, 11 years old, and we had to take a class about drugs that lasted for weeks. We learned all about the different classifications of recreational drugs, the scientific names, the slang names, the effects of each drug, the different ways to administer each drug, and the side effects. I remember when we learned about Heroin and how the veins would eventually collapse and the addict would have to find new veins. We were told every gross place addicts would shoot up in desperation to find a vein. The boys in the class liked to tease the girls by chanting stuff like "Shoot it under the tongue!"
On the last day of our class, the teacher burned pot in the classroom so we would know how it smelled.
I now think the whole thing was sort of hilarious, but it was a different time and hard drugs were the thing. My generation went on to be mostly just pot smokers. Well maybe a bunch of them did Cocaine in the eighties, but overall, we didn't repeat the sixties. We were way more mellow.
Tons of artist make protest songs. they will continue to do so. War on War by Wilco comes to mind but there are so many others. I will continue to speak out against this sanctimonious baby boomer propaganda. Furthermore as I have stated in other forums and on other sites, most hippies were about getting stoned first and foremost. They did not care about Civil Rights! The whole hippie movement was started by a guy named Vito Paluskas in LA, who was as much of a dirtbag scum as Manson was.
REM have made a number of protest songs. Many are abstract and obtuse, warranting resear ch and investigation to determine what the poetic genius J. Michael Stipe is talking about, but the Around The Sun album has a song that is clearly anti-US involvement in Iraq called the Final Straw.
Tons of artist make protest songs. they will continue to do so. War on War by Wilco comes to mind but there are so many others. I will continue to speak out against this sanctimonious baby boomer propaganda. Furthermore as I have stated in other forums and on other sites, most hippies were about getting stoned first and foremost. They did not care about Civil Rights! The whole hippie movement was started by a guy named Vito Paluskas in LA, who was as much of a dirtbag scum as Manson was.
That's your opinion. Others, including myself, will disagree with that sweeping statement. The organic food movement and the environmental movement came out the hippie movement.
You do know there were different types of hippies don't you?
And you do know that there were tons of people who were not hippies who were marching for civil rights? The hippies were a small part of the population. Most protestors were not hippies.
Thinking on it I believe what remains of folk music still sometimes does political/protest songs as does some Americana. Mary Chapin Carpenter's album The Age of Miracles apparently has songs about Tiananmen and Hurricane Katrina. An artist named James McMurtry had a song called "Cheney's Toys." It seems like the Indigo Girls and Ani DiFranco have politically oriented songs, at least on subjects like feminism and gay rights.
Blues traditionally had some element of protest or at least complaint as does hip-hop/rap. There seems to have been several hip-hop songs about the response to Hurricane Katrina and some blues too.
Possibly none of these are mainstream. Although they're not my thing I guess Arcade Fire and Lil Wayne occasionally get political. Wyclef Jean gets political at times and considered running for President of Haiti.
Last edited by Thomas R.; 08-11-2011 at 06:02 PM..
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