Woodstock: The Event That Started It All.
Long haired, tattooed, pierced, and dirty rock stars. Corn rolled, marijuana smoking, diamond wearing, and Bentley driving rap stars. Entertainers such as these are commonly scene. In fact, they are often very popular selling artist. So popular that they are even included in the title "pop" music. Where did this all start? When did clean cut, white washed, old-fashioned "pop" music start competing with young, bearded rebels? One place, one time, and one word. Woodstock. In 1969 the Woodstock, three-day festival of art and music changed popular culture forever. .
Before the 1960s pop music consisted of boy bands with kind gentle lyrics that were "family friendly". Artist such as Elvis Presley, The Four Tops, Lulu, The Beatles, and The Beach Boys topped the charts in the early to mid 1960s (Smith, Ron 6.). Songs like "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles in 1964 and "To Sir With Love" by Lulu in 1967, deal with juvenile subjects yet both were the top selling songs of their years (Smith, Ron 6.). Then what changed between then and Woodstock? The 1960s saw some very important changes in society. The civil rights movement was alive and well, Vietnam was sending hundreds of thousands of United States Military Forces into an undeclared war with the Vietcong, and the deaths of the times to most influential figures, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, left the generation with a burning desire to express themselves. .
No generation before them had ever felt this need so much. The 1960s youth were not going to be silenced. They had a voice, a voice of change. Vietnam was killing the 18 and 19 year olds by the hundreds and the civil rights movement was not moving along fast enough. So what did this do to "pop" music and culture? Just listen to the most influential band of the time. John, Paul, George, and Ringo, The Beatles. Their lyrics when from the happy love songs like "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (Lennon/McCartney), to the more direct "Let it Be" (Lennon/McCartney).
