The Counterculture

Ch. 23.3(pp. 777-781)

Counterculture: Notes• Define/Explain– Counterculture– Sexual Revolution– Woodstock– Altamont

• What social changes were promoted by the counterculture (make a list)?

• How did music both reflect & contribute to the change of this era?

‘50s vs. ‘60s

1950s• Conformity• Nine-to-five jobs• Corporate

world/businessmen• Neatly dressed• Flannel suits• Military power

1960s

• “Flower Power”• Long hair & outrageous

clothing• Rejection of regimented life• Bright colors & beads• Rejection of restriction• Challenged authority

The Beatles

A Time of Change

• Counterculture—Valued youth, spontaneity, & individuality

• Hippies• Promoted peace, love, &

freedom• New styles of dress,

music, & freer attitudes towards sex

• Recreational use of drugs

• “Generation Gap”• Lack of understanding &

communication between generations

A Time of Change

• Baby boom after WWII led to enormous generation

• College attendance levels were increased drastically– College campuses bred change

• Culture catered to them– Music producers, clothing designers, colleges,

even politicians

A Time of Change• Student Movements & the New Left• Various liberal groups began to identify w/

blacks’ struggle against oppressive controls & laws– Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

• 1st meeting in Port Huron, Michigan, 1962– Led by Tom Hayden

• Called for university decisions to be made through participatory democracy– Give students a voice

• Those who supported Hayden’s ideas were known as the New Left

A Time of Change• 1st major protest took place on Berkeley

campus of U. of California, 1964– Called their cause the “Free Speech Movement”

• By the mid-1960s protest spread across the country– Protested a variety of rules: drinking, dorm visits

by the opposite sex, political speech, greater voice in gov’t of universities

• Only grew as Vietnam heightened

A Time of Change• Eventually the SDS splintered

into various groups– Most radical=“The

Weathermen”• Embraced violence & vandalism in

attacks on American institutions• Acts of the Weathermen

discredited the early idealism of the New Left– Bob Dylan, “Subterranean Homesick

Blues”

Counterculture

• Protests of New Left went hand in hand w/ new counterculture– Rebellious styles of dress, music, drug use, & for

some communal living– Hippies & flower children• Embraced folk music of Bob Dylan & Joan Baez

Hippies in America

• Similar movement started in UK in 1964-1965• Popularized in America in 1967– Human Be-In in Golden Gate Park in January• Protested new CA law that banned LSD

– Prelude to “Summer of Love”• Hippie culture hub was Haight-Ashbury neighborhood• Greenwich Village in NYC was also a hub

Sixties Style

• Women– Long, free hair– Loose fitting dresses

• Men– Long hair, beards– *Read sidebar on hair on

p. 779– Rejection of the suit & tie– Blue jeans, cotton shirts,

simple garments

• Ponchos from S. America• Dashikis from Africa• Jewelry made by Native

Americans• Painted buses, cars, &

bodies• Pop art reflected Hippie

culture– Warhol & Lichtenstein

Sixties Style

• Op Art– Andy Warhol

• Appeared they were created by artists under the influence of psychedelic drugs

• Bright colors, optical illusions

The Sexual Revolution

• Rejection of traditional restrictions

• Sex should be separated from ties to family life

• New living patterns; communes, unmarried couples

• Open discussion of sexual subjects in mainstream media

• 1962 bestseller, “Sex & the Single Girl,” by Helen Gurley Brown

• 1966 report on scientific studies of sexuality, “Human Sexual Response,” by William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson

• 1972, “The Joy of Sex,” by Alex Comfort

The Drug Scene

• Psychedelic drugs• Cause brain to act

abnormally• Hallucinations, altered

perceptions of reality

• Drug use was more widespread, esp. marijuana

• Researchers at Harvard (Leary & Alpert) involved students in research using LSD

The Drug Scene

• Overdoses & addictions

• Janis Joplin, age 27, 1970

• Jim Morrison, age 27, 1971

• Jimi Hendrix, age 27, 1970

Music

• Revolution started by Rock & Roll of ‘50s

• Revival of folk music– Bob Dylan & Joan Baez

• British Invasion– “Beatlemania” begins in

1964– Rolling Stones– The Who

Woodstock

• August of 1969• Up to 500K spectators• Rural up-state NY• “3 Days of Peace &

Music”• Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie,

Santana, CCR, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Who, Jefferson Airplane

• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

• The Band, Jimi Hendrix• Lots of rain• Overcrowded, lack of

facilities, but peaceful

Altamont

• East of San Francisco• December of 1969• Rolling Stones, Santana,

Jefferson Airplane• Crosby, Stills, Nash &

Young• 300K+

• Hell’s Angels hired as security

• Paid $500 of beer?• Fights broke out• 4 deaths, 4 births, lots of

injuries, lots of property damage

• Soured “Love Generation”– Contradictory to “peace &

love” message

NOTES• Define/Explain– Counterculture– Sexual Revolution– Woodstock– Altamont

• What social changes were promoted by the counterculture (make a list)?

• How did music both reflect & contribute to the change of this era?