The Counterculture

Chapter 30 Section 1

• Everything on the tube tearing us apart was almost perfectly balanced by the remarkable unity [we heard] on the radio. It was the only place in the history of the United States where, for a fleeting [brief] moment, we created a world of seemingly genuine racial and sexual equality, embraced by everyone under thirty-and millions more who fell in love with the beat. . . . The composers, performers, managers, and producers . . . Filled the airwaves with the most eclectic-electric-wrathful-revolutionary-romantic-soulful-psychedelic music ever played, simultaneously, on every rock-and-roll radio station in the world.”

• Charles Kaiser, 1968 in America

What is counter-culture?

- A culture with values and morals that go against those of established society.

The counter-culture of the 60s was a reaction against the established values, morals, and practices of the 1950s.

- Conservative -Materialistic -Conformist -Rigid Social Norms

BEEP

The Generation Gap Fear from the Cold War, the

Vietnam War and Civil Rights discrimination impacted young people all across America.

Blame was directed at the elders of the country leading to a wider gap between the two eras.

“Don’t trust anyone over 30”

Student Activism

University of California Berkeley announced a policy to restrict student organizations and to limit student speeches

College students believed this violated their rights of free speech and assembly.

Larger and larger number of Berkeley students stopped attending classes.

Students took part in protests such as rallies, sit-ins, and picketing with the slogan, “Shut this factory down.”

Mario Savio

•In the fall of 1964, Mario Savio announced to a crowd of 5,000 Berkeley students on Sproul Plaza: “There comes a time when the system becomes so odious that you can’t take part, you can’t even tacitly take part.”

The Counterculture Young Americans rejected anything connected at all to mainstream

America. “Hippies” dubbed the older generation as “squares” or part of the

establishment. The four main elements that defined the Counterculture were: Rock

& Roll Music, the Sexual Revolution, Drugs free the mind, and an interest in spirituality.

Hippie Fashion

Sounds of the SixtiesThe Beatles

The Rolling Stones

Jimi Hendrix

Janis Joplin

Folk Music

Joan Baez Bob Dylan

MotownJames Brown

The Supremes

Aretha Franklin

The Miracles

Pop Art

Andy Warhol

“Pop Art” was the use of new visuals taking inspiration from elements of popular culture including celebrities, advertising, comic books, etc.

The movie industry also pushed the limit of Pop Art.

Literature Tom Wolfe and Hunter S.

Thompson wrote on popular culture, architecture, politics, and other topics of the era.

Wolfe’s defining work from this era is The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

Thompson’s defining work is Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.

Sexual Revolution

• The sexual revolution called for the separation of sex from traditional family life.

• Some people lived together in communes: small communities of “hippies” who shared common interests and resources.

The Drug Culture

One alternative against the “Establishment” was for hippies searching for new physical experiences by experimenting with mind altering drugs

Timothy Leary, a Harvard Professor, was the leading advocate of LSD or acid.

“Tune in, Turn on, Drop out” was his motto

Turn-on- meant go within to activate your neural and genetic equipment. Become sensitive to the many levels of consciousness.

Tune In- meant interact harmoniously with the world around you.

Drop-Out- self-reliance- discover one’s singularity, a commitment to mobility, change, and choice.

Communes

The Summer of Love 1967

Hippies migrated to San Francisco to experience new styles of music, art, literature, etc.

The Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco quickly became the gathering place and home for many displaced youth who came to celebrate the counterculture event.

Counterculture Changes In the fifties, religion

played a prominent role in solving society’s problems; by the sixties, 70% felt that religion was losing its influence.

Many adopted Eastern style religions like Buddhism.

Woodstock

Woodstock Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival,

billed as 3 Days of Peace & Music. It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the

town of Bethel, New York. During the sometimes rainy weekend, thirty-two acts

performed outdoors in front of 500,000 concert-goers. This event is widely regarded as a pivotal moment in

popular music history.

The Counterculture Ends Drug addictions and

drug overdoses rose in the late 1960’s, including the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin.

The Counterculture Ends The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a rock concert held

on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway in California. This event was supposed to be the Woodstock West.

The concert was headlined and organized by The Rolling Stones. Also playing were Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The Grateful Dead were also scheduled to perform, but declined to play shortly before their scheduled appearance due to the increasing violence at the venue.

The Hell’s Angels, a motorcycle gang was hired to provide security, stabbed to death a black man spurring violence and property destruction.

This ugly violence contradicted the values of peace and love.

The Counterculture Ends

The Tate-Labianca Killings Charles Manson was able

to attract followers from San Francisco during the Summer of Love.

His goal was to eliminate the Establishment convincing his followers to kill Sharon Tate and the Labianca families in Los Angeles.