Rock 'n' Roll: Reflection of America's Vietnam Era

The changes in rock and roll music reflected the mood of the population in the United States during the Vietnam War. Rock and roll, written as rock ‘n’ roll, music was fully born in the 1950’s and formed from electric blues and gospel music. Rock and roll is characterized by electric guitars, a strong rhythm and youth-orientated music. This music became popular because of the children of the decade. Parents called this type of music “noise.” While parents were listening to calm music, their children were listening to rock n roll.

There were kids bumping and grinding to the sound of rock n roll music. The prosperity of the era gave them money to spend on records. The phenomenon of this music showed the difference between adults and children.

Bob Dylan was an artist that recorded protest music. He recorded “Times Are A-Changin” in 1963. The lines “There’s a battle outside and it’s ragin’. It’ll soon shake your windows, rattle your walls” are a reference to the Vietnam War. At first, you think he is trying to get the public to not try to understand the war. In all reality, he was talking about how confused and frustrated at how many parents sons’ and daughters were sent to war. Another song by him is “Blowin’ in the Wind” and it became an anthem for the civil rights era. “Chimes of Freedom” by Bob Dylan is another protest song. He uses imagery from wind, hurricanes, etc. to tell a bigger

He talks about how soldiers are trained to live. How soldiers are trained in combat, and more. In this song “Fighting soldiers from the sky, fearless men who jump and die. Men who mean just what they say, the brave men of the Green Beret.” In this lyric, he is talking about how the soldiers fight and how brave they are.

The Vietnam War was the direct result of the First Indochina War, therefore it is also known as the Second Indochina War. But, in Vietnam today it is known as the American War because the United States directed the war from 1965 to 1968. The Vietnam War began in 1954. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were fighting South Vietnam to reunify Vietnam under communist rule. The Vietnam War was one of the longest wars in history.

During the Vietnam War, in South Vietnam 170,000-220,000 military were dead and over one million were wounded. In the United States there were 58, 200 dead and 300,000 were wounded. In North Vietnam 50,000 plus civilian were dead, 400,000- one million from the military were dead, and over 500,000 people were wounded. The locations of the Vietnam were North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Cambodia, and