Assignment 1- Society Professional Blog
In this blog I will be talking about music in society. This
will include aspects such as entertainment, social and political commentary
among many more.
When talking about live music, a few things come to mind; the
sweat, the energy, the bands, the experience, and Woodstock in 1969. With an
audience of between 400/500,000 people, Woodstock 1969 was one of the biggest
festivals to date. Artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker and
The Who all took part in this single event. According to “Woodstock story” Woodstock was “the pop culture music event of the decade and arguably to this day the
single most profound event in the history of music.”
This video
shows an example of the effect of live music in Woodstock, here is Santana
playing the song Soul sacrifice:
Its effect
on society is so strong it affects popular culture today; becoming the pioneer
of free festivals and knocking down the barriers so there would be no
separation between artist and audience. This is shown by the use of branding
effect Woodstock has now. With it being a household name but now being used
mostly for profit. This includes such festivals as Bloodstock, taking its name
from the festival. It has also made its mark in terms of fashion. For example,
the style of bohemian or hippie culture has influenced all forms of media;
commonly associated with its rebellious drug culture and psychedelic style of
clothing.
Not only were the live shows a
display of the momentum of the hippie culture, but also the expression of the
youths in the sixties, gave homage to the fact the music showed an impact on
the youth culture. This form of clothing tries to use ponchos and bright
colours, people usually have outgrown hair or wear headbands. Ripped jeans and
gypsy tops are often worn if trying to recreate the look. This is reminiscent
of the style Jimi Hendrix created; His image among others shows the effect of
the artists at Woodstock.
Not only
was the fashion of youths affected by the music, but also the minds and
aspirations of youths in the sixties. Particularly by the introduction and
release of the book “Hippies from A to Z” by Skip Stone further influenced
Hippies to promote peace and freedom as a more direct message. A blog written
by Kramer119 describes the Hippie culture movement under the subject of
rhetorical criticism.
“The Beat Generation began in the
1950s, experimenting with the effects of drugs and sexual freedom amongst a new
form of ideology that prided itself on free love and “sticking it to the man.”
This new culture led to the Hippie Movement of the 1960s.”
This also
led to an anti war movement as during this time the Vietnam war was taking
places. Many were against it, calling it a mass killing of the Vietnamese
people. Those that openly spoke about it were bands and artists such as Credence
Clearwater Revival, Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Elton John with songs such as
“Times they are-a-changin”, “Give peace a chance”, “Revolution” and “Daniel”.
Songs like these only paid homage to the mass protests throughout America in
retaliation to the Vietnam War, particularly in Universities in San Francisco
and Berkeley.
This is a video of the Beatles performing the song
Revolution:
Another rebellious sub culture was the introduction
of the punks in the 1970’s. The punks came from the rebellious youths of 1970’s
Britain and the US. It mostly developed from the anti-establishmentarianism
attitude of the teenagers in that era; specifically from the teenagers around
Los Angeles, Australia, London and New York.
This is different to the Hippies as their form of
protest tended to be more violent and direct than the hippies that came before
them. It meant that artists could create music without needing to have money or
please everyone. The name punk was originally gave to musicians who were not
musically trained but wanted to put their aggression and angst towards the society and have something
to play made it easier.
References:
Jimi Hendrix
photo: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-guitarists-of-all-time-19691231/jimi-hendrix-20101202
