Thesis Statement
The revolution will not be televised was a popular cliché among young radical African Americans and supporters of the Civil Rights Movement. Revolutions are not delicate or pretentious operations. People experiencing them usually realize that they are merely passing through tumultuous times. The changes are noted and recorded. Both casual observers and scholars can detect remote and immediate causes. The focal points of revolutions are located and the results analyzed. However, one of the most profound cultural changes in American history is seldom acknowledged for its contributions; what it was and did in history. During the mid-1950s to the late 1960s, an enormous cultural revolution swept aside prevailing notions of American popular music. Rock and roll has become the movement where people were allowed to openly express their ideas about events. In this essay I will prove that rock and roll has always come hand in hand with the society moods and that the end of the 50s and the beginning of 60s of the last century was the revolution time; although the revolution was not noticed.
Introduction
“Come senators, congressmenPlease heed the callDon't stand in the doorwayDon't block up the hallFor he that gets hurtWill be he who has stalledThere's a battle outsideAnd it is ragin'It'll soon shake your windowsAnd rattle your wallsFor the times they are a-changin'.” (Sounes, 2001)
Bob Dylan was one of the singers who protested against the Vietnam War on Woodstock. As well as Jimi Hendrix did. Rock musicians could not stand aside when government was sending young Americans to kill. This essay is aimed on showing that Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan were the ones who protested against government’s actions. The point is that rock and roll is the movement that gathers people nowadays to fight against unfairness in the society. Rock and roll has played a great role in the development of modern society and making it as it is nowadays. This essay is aimed on proving that.
Unseen revolution
The Vietnam War began in 1956 and immediately was not approved by the society. American government was criticized for having started the war. Approximately the same years another significant event took place in the United States of America. It was the British invasion. The British invasion is a phenomenon when rock bands from Great Britain began to dominate in American and world charts. Indeed, the British invasion totally changed American music – rock and roll became more popular than it used to be, as well as it became harder. Besides, thanks to British invasion many new rock festivals took place in the United States of America in 1950s – 1960s. One of the greatest and most famous festivals was Woodstock. (Amold, 1991)
Bob Dylan was the one who was able to influence people through his songs; and he was doing that at Woodstock. In his songs, Bob Dylan showed that war cannot solve all the problems; besides, he cannot understand why the United States of America became involved in the war. In one of his most famous songs “Blowing in the wind”, Bob Dylan was wondering about things around him. Later, this song has become an anthem of African-American movement and Civil Rights movement.
Another person who contributed greatly in the movement against the Vietnam War was Jimi Hendrix. Although he was not against the war. When he was young, he served in the U.S. corps and was an anticommunist. On the contrary, he was against the violence that the United States of America used. It is remarkable that Jimi Hendrix was not official protestor; however, he was a key figure in the anti-Vietnamese movement. In his song “Machine gun” Jimi Hendrix expressed his protest against violence and using it as a means of achieving one’s aim. (Cross, 2005)
The point is that, as it has been mentioned in the thesis statement, rock and roll was the means of expressing the society moods; it used to come hand in hand with the society. In the examples mentioned below, it is not difficult to see that rock and roll musicians were expressing their own thoughts about the events in the world and home country and people were following them, making their songs anthems of antiwar movement.
Conclusion
This essay was devoted to the issue of antiwar movement and rock and roll involvement in it. In the thesis statement, I claimed that rock and roll is a movement that is aimed on expressing people’s thoughts and ideas regardless their social differences. In this essay I have used as the examples two the most outstanding musicians of that time – Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan. Both of the musicians were against the war and tried to show their attitude to it in their songs. The point is that people followed them; people were listening to their ideas. In my opinion, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan were the musicians that influenced modern society as well. The point is that their songs are listened to even nowadays; their message is actual in modern times as well. The essay was aimed on proving that 1950s – 1960s were the years of the revolution. Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan were one of the leaders of the unseen revolution. As a consequence, the revolution has proved that rock and roll will always live in the society until there are problems and that rock songs are able to change the world.
Annotated Bibliography
Sources cited from module 5
Cross, Charles R. (2005) Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix. New York: Hyperion
Arnold, B. (1991) War Music and the American Composer during the Vietnam Era. The Musical Quarterly.
The Musical Quarterly was created in 1915 by Mr. Oscar Sonneck. It is an excellent source that offers published writings from many affluent musicians, such as French composer, conductor, and pianist, Dr. Camille Saint-Saens; A favorite of many music lovers, American composer, writer, conductor, and composition teacher, Aaron Copland; and American composer, pianist , music theorist, and publisher, Henry Howell, just to name a few. The journal focuses on the merging areas in scholarship where much of the challenging new work in the study of music is being produced. In respect to War Music and the American Composer during the Vietnam Era, Arnold provides us with a look into the Vietnam Era, the war, America’s state and the influence of this period on American composers, singers and musiciansand much more.
Sounes, H. (2001) Down the Highway: A Life of Bob Dylan. Grove Press
Howard Sounes conducted over 250 interviews progressing through the years of folk music artist, Bob Dylan. Sounes reveals some astonishment about one of the most mysterious figures in pop culture. Down the Highway reveals unprecedented details about Dylan’s family with first wife, Sara, and their years living near Woodstock. This depiction of Dylan — a homebody and family man who protects his home with a rifle (“the great equalizer”) — may be Sounes’ most dramatic disclosure, a vision of Dylan totally at odds with the singer’s public image. Sounes focuses on largely unexplored areas of personal life. Down the Highway does offer glimpses of the artist’s personality, and his reputation amongst his peers, through his work.
