The Fascination with Rock Music in The 1960s

Throughout the 1960’s, popular music empowered youth and emphasized this portion of the population as a whole. As the cold war comes to an end in history, society’s unnerve, especially among the newer generations, assembled ideas in order to create a certain understanding of their desires. However, unlike most of social uprisings in the past where demands were normally written through official documentation, in the sixties, rebellion is introduced in a lyrical manner through Rock Music. The fascination with this type of music reflects the controversy in times of war regarding race, gender, and social class. The propositions that the lyrics in Rock Music request, influence society to the day, as these involved uncompromisingly but significantly with the political and economical conditions imposed by the government along with its need of warfare in the 1960’s. Rock music itself, glorifies the anti-war ideals and the use of drugs through its lyrical treatment of war, which achieved a shift in teenagers’ attitudes and actions, as they integrated the songs into their lives and individually consolidated them depending on their understanding to their meaning. Since music plays a major role in society in this era, great musicians which nowadays are considered as “rock’s classics” made their appearance, contributing to this new cultural change around the world. The rise of fame of performers such as James Brown, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Grateful Dead, and Bob Dylan has made this important figures to remain as cultural icons in history. As rock music has developed throughout the 1960’s to this very modern day, it has not only received social appreciation, but it also has made a major impact in society by ch...

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...jections to the lyrical content of particular songs,” since the show requested a censorship or change in lyrics with “the themes of sex, drugs, and politics” (560). When Bob Dylan released his first album, he was going to perform at the show the song, “Talkin’ John Birch Society Blues,” which mocked the conservative policies imposed by the government and compare them “to those of Hitler” (560). But before transmitting the concerts CBS asked him to perform a different song, creating discussion and Dylan’s prohibition to the show. On the other hand, performers such as The Rolling Stones, “intended to use the TV appearance to promote its” music (562). The group would then accept the terms and conditions that The Ed Sullivan Show, and altered several sections of the lyrics. For instance, their song “Let’s Spend The Night Together” became “Let’s spend some time together.”