Vietnam Americas First RockandRoll War
Vietnam: America's First Rock-and-Roll War The Vietnam War could not compare to any other war the United States had seenbefore. The average age of soldiers was 19, and some figures gather that 90 percent wereall under the age of 23. This was also the first war in which the GIs listened to antiwarand protest songs while fighting in the conflict. In previous wars, the music had alwaysbeen supportive, more or less hiding the truth of what was really going on. With Vietnamit actually told the soldiers and their families what was really happening: murderinginnocent people for a lost or unknown reason. Like may people back home, many GIsbrought their taste of music into the front lines. Rock was the most popular type of music World War II was different from the Vietnam War in that the forties witnessed aunified mission of fighting fascism and Nazism. In the latter stages of the Vietnam War,there was no such unity of purpose. Music has always provided need relief during
They were not just sitting home pretending that absolutely nothing was happening; theywere fighting their own battle: a battle against the establishment and those whomistakenly claimed to know what was right and what was wrong. II, and Korea there was not the separation in musical preferencebetween enlisted men and officers that occurred during the Vietnam War. Such songs as "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix had theallusion of the purple smoke left on the landing zones. What wasactually happening out on the field was what the musicians were actually singing about. Many Asian bands tried to imitate British and American rock groups and performsuch songs as "San Francisco" (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair), "HeyJude," "Simon Says," "Gloria," and "Black Is Black. The decade of the sixties brought with it the idea of drugs, sex androck-and-roll - which was what was really going on not only at home, but on thebattlefield. The music of Vietnam was nothing like anything ever seen before. " One soldier, who spoke anonymously in Rolling Stone,called Armed Forces Radio the "world's *censored*tiest, small-town, Midwest,old-women-right-wing, plastic, useless, propagandizing, bummer, unturned-on, controlled,low-fidelity, non-stereo type of music ever. The black market and prostitution allowed the soldiers some freedom to getaway from the killing. One such protest song "The Times They are a-Changin" written byBob Dylan in 1964, with its lyrics "gave a warning to authority that America wasexperiencing a new consciousness, and that the establishment (government) have to facethe opposition of much of the population, especially in the young. " These poor recreations gave thesoldiers a glimmer of home and hope. " This helped the flowerchildren expand not only their minds, but the ideas of sexual liberation, personal liberation,and the ideas of peace and love. There were manydifferent types of rock music. But did music really contribute to the ending of the war? Did the concepts of free loveand peace help? Whether the music actually changed minds or not, there is no doubt thatit helped those that were involved in it feel like they actually did something worthwhile.
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