Music and Counterculture

  Background Goth did not spring from a specific political goal nor did it actively seek converts, as opposed to the recruitment spirit of the hippie movement. Rather, the goths chose to separate into an underground culture, seeking refuge from the popular culture of the time. Although the subculture was not a political reaction, the political climate of the era set up the framework that goth, in essence, rejected. In the latter parts of the Cold War, the nation decided upon a conservative leader, partly out of a direct rebuttal against the liberal 1960s generation. The Cold War permeated popular culture even into the ‘80s, especially as computer technology improved. “Yuppies” - trendy, Baby Boomer-era young adults with extensive education and much disposable income - headed consumer culture, being more fixated on material goods than the generations directly before them were. The newly created MTV contributed further to popular culture’s strength by injecting popular music videos d...

  Background Contrasting the political inaction of the Beats, the hippie movement sprouted as a direct response to the social and political issues of the 1960s and ‘70s. Although many cite the Vietnam war as the primary inciting factor, the hippie counterculture arguably began in 1960 in Greensboro when four African American students held a sit-in. This origin ties in with the advent of the Berkeley Free Speech movement four years later, a student protest that erupted on the University of California’s Berkeley campus in response to the prohibition of on-campus political activities. This particular event spread to other colleges as students advocated for their rights to free speech, and, within a few years, these newly-formed protests served as vehicles for anti-war rallies as well as Civil Rights demands. Women’s liberation, experimental drug use, and gay rights joined the fold of causes uplifted by the liberal youth of the era.   In another building block of the subculture, t...

  Background The multi-faceted world of Post-World War II America set the stage for Beat culture to take root. As the country recovered from the horrors of the war, the economy experienced a boom which put more disposable income in the hands of Americans, leading to a rise in consumer culture. Advertisements and popular culture emphasized the mass produced and the artificial as cornerstones of the average American household. This trend very closely mimicked the transformation of marketing and the fixation of novel goods that took shape back in the Gilded Age. Although plastic had been invented in the 19th century and was used extensively in the 1930s and 1940s, it wasn’t until after the war that it surged in the markets and entered the everyday home environment, alluring Americans with its convenience, affordability and supposed disposability. Popular and consumer culture intersected frequently and gave rise to crazes, often in the realms of beauty or entertainment. Music itself fe...

 

 Hey, I have no idea whether or not I'm keeping the og website, so the next few posts will be coy and pastes from the site.