what is the world war connection to 60's music, one might surmise.. ever wondered what would have happened to maternity when all the men went to war... how many children were born in the nation in those 5 years... conversely, how many babies jumped into life and america after the war, WHEN THE MEN RETURNED HOME...no prizes for good guesses, it was called the BABY BOOM....
this understood, one might easily realise what is the average age of the single largest chunk of population in the sixties.. we are now looking at a population whose twenty year olds easily outnumber the others in a sense that their opinion cannot be easily brushed away as is so often done in modern DEMOCRATIC societies ..Ironically, these youngsters (and later hippies ) who came out of the wombs of second world war, came of age thanks to another evil war - vietna(pal)m-
THEY SURELY DIDNT LOVE THE SMELL OF NAPALM IN THE MORNING-
The music of that age, like everything else reflected the boiling broth that was the young american mind... this was not a generation that relished the AMERICAN DREAM, this was a generation that reacted to it.. revulsion to a past they did not want to be a part of, moulded them in the attire of rebels... bob dylan came on to the scene, strumming his way into the midst of makeshift stages, singing songs of protest- following a rich tradition that was nurtured by the likes of woody guthrie, pete seeger and many others..
later , we see lennon turning to marxism as well..it
is in this context we must view the music of the entire sixties...everywhere , rebellious bands bloomed like mushrooms- (their hairstyle very much similar)-singing songs, crying aloud to the purple skies, " sex, drugs and rock n roll"-m the hippies had entered-
all this makes so much sense in the music of the doors- here was a band led by a frontman who ,until then, had no proper training in music and whose prime time occupation was acid tripping in the top floors of los angeles hotels- supposedly, taking notes in the incredible rock n roll concert going on in his head- even their name was derived from aldous huxley's "doors of perception"-( which when cleansed would reveal man's infinite nature)
The roots of their band, it could be easily said lay in the marshlands of poetry that was jim morrison's mind...unlike other bands of the time, who sometimes explicitly mouthed political messages and protest songs, the search of the "doors" predominantly lay in the tangle that the youngster had gotten himself into - the father and the mother who so willingly sent their young to die in 'nam - the politicians who labelled every voice of dissent with the powerful weapon of COMMIE SCARE (Communist scare) and the all negating , existential bliss seeking of the hippies- and the eventual liberation that seemed to be nowhere-
i do not know if i am right when i say the 60's american was not happy with his identity- infact i doubt if he ever thought he had one- but, watch this very funny video when a journalist asks the name, age and occupation of the DOORS .. JIM'S REPLY sums up the culmination of the mindset of contemporary american youth..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBs3CmEWIG0
this understood, one might easily realise what is the average age of the single largest chunk of population in the sixties.. we are now looking at a population whose twenty year olds easily outnumber the others in a sense that their opinion cannot be easily brushed away as is so often done in modern DEMOCRATIC societies ..Ironically, these youngsters (and later hippies ) who came out of the wombs of second world war, came of age thanks to another evil war - vietna(pal)m-
THEY SURELY DIDNT LOVE THE SMELL OF NAPALM IN THE MORNING-
The music of that age, like everything else reflected the boiling broth that was the young american mind... this was not a generation that relished the AMERICAN DREAM, this was a generation that reacted to it.. revulsion to a past they did not want to be a part of, moulded them in the attire of rebels... bob dylan came on to the scene, strumming his way into the midst of makeshift stages, singing songs of protest- following a rich tradition that was nurtured by the likes of woody guthrie, pete seeger and many others..
later , we see lennon turning to marxism as well..it
is in this context we must view the music of the entire sixties...everywhere , rebellious bands bloomed like mushrooms- (their hairstyle very much similar)-singing songs, crying aloud to the purple skies, " sex, drugs and rock n roll"-m the hippies had entered-
all this makes so much sense in the music of the doors- here was a band led by a frontman who ,until then, had no proper training in music and whose prime time occupation was acid tripping in the top floors of los angeles hotels- supposedly, taking notes in the incredible rock n roll concert going on in his head- even their name was derived from aldous huxley's "doors of perception"-( which when cleansed would reveal man's infinite nature)
The roots of their band, it could be easily said lay in the marshlands of poetry that was jim morrison's mind...unlike other bands of the time, who sometimes explicitly mouthed political messages and protest songs, the search of the "doors" predominantly lay in the tangle that the youngster had gotten himself into - the father and the mother who so willingly sent their young to die in 'nam - the politicians who labelled every voice of dissent with the powerful weapon of COMMIE SCARE (Communist scare) and the all negating , existential bliss seeking of the hippies- and the eventual liberation that seemed to be nowhere-
i do not know if i am right when i say the 60's american was not happy with his identity- infact i doubt if he ever thought he had one- but, watch this very funny video when a journalist asks the name, age and occupation of the DOORS .. JIM'S REPLY sums up the culmination of the mindset of contemporary american youth..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBs3CmEWIG0
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