What do Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and the Doors, Jefferson airplane and the Grateful Dead have in common? Lots of drugs, of course, but deeper than that is the counter culture they inspired.
The hippy movement began in the 1960's with a few things setting it in motion. The cold war instilled fear into the youth that nuclear war was going to kill us all. After World War 2, people were really horny since all the men just came back from war and all they had was Playboy, so they made lots of babies. This became known as the baby boom. The prosperity in the 1950's gave the youth more opportunities to fulfill their dreams because their parents could afford it. This new generation believed in individuality and had resentment for traditional suburban life. This coupled with civil unrest gave rise to the new counter culture.
The Monterey pop festival was held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in 1968. More than 200,000 people flocked to the festival. Music and drugs were the cornerstone of the hippie movement; weed and psychedelics mostly. Woodstock was the greatest and most peaceful gathering of people ever, except for the last supper. Out of 500,000 people, no one was arrested and no fights broke out, which is unheard of. This festival changed rock and roll history, and instead of toppling the system in place, the system made these bands famous. Songs from bands like the Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Who, The Mama's and the Papa's and The Jimi Hendrix Experience penetrated the mainstream music scene. If that's not enough, every one of the bands that performed at Woodstock were immortalized in the documentary; Woodstock.
The Haight-Ashbury district was the Mecca of the day for hippies. It was the spot where all the eccentrics flourished. In fact, normal people in suit and tie stood out in San Francisco as if they were the outsiders. The scene quickly started to deteriorate just like their brain cells. The once fertile lands of creativity turned into a slum from all the drug abuse. Some bums still haven't even left the Haight since then. The hippie movement was a beautiful thing, but they hoped for too much and it couldn't be held on to. The stoned utopia collapsed on itself when it was faced with reality. LSD provided inspiration for the arts but it led into the demise. The song remains the same and keeps on influencing musicians from rock to metal to drum circles in the park.
0 comments:
Post a Comment