"you talk bad about the USA, you're steppin on the fightin side of me"
Two things.
1. This reads like some nostalgic liberal wrote this but it’s from Town Hall, a supposedly conservative source.
2. His little walk down memory lane well illustrates the emptiness of the baby boomer lives and indicates one reason we are in this mess.
I’ve been unhappy about this for quite awhile. From Dylan to Buffalo Springfield to the Clash, musicians used to be an angry bunch and I think that is not such a bad thing. But today, musicians just seem complacent and supportive of the establishment. They bore me.
“Mommies alright, daddies alright, they just seem a little weird ...”
And why, pray tell, was that??? Could it have possibly been the 'Rat Congress of 1974, which started the grand 'Rat tradition of backstabbing of American allies for politically expedient reasons?
The Vietnam War was essentially won when the Paris peace accords were signed: the South Vietnamese were promised continued military assistance following the withdrawal of US troops. Thanks to the 'Rats, that lifeline was pulled and in less than 2 years, the Communists marched into Saigon while American helicopters evacuated the US Embassy.
And the tradition continues to this day with the lack of a status-of-forces agreement before the Iraq withdrawal and a timetable for Afghanistan withdrawal that Taliban forces have penciled in on their calendars.
FUBO and FAD!
He missed out on something important: where the music came from in the first place.
After WWII, there was enormous growth in suburbia, especially around the new western cities. Very family friendly places, they were also intensely boring. The few recreations were things like drive-in movie theaters. But they had one big thing.
Instruments and music. All public schools had music programs, and at least a basic introduction to music for anyone who wanted it. Musical instruments were relatively cheap enough for most families to afford, and so the logical outgrowth were garage bands.
There wasn’t much of a local music scene, so young people had to go to the coasts if they were to have a chance at success. And the competition was fierce. Successful groups had to practice all day and perform for much of the night, in any venue they could get, to make a name for themselves.
And if you weren’t practicing or performing, they were listening to other groups.
95% of them never went anywhere, and 3-4% of the rest were one hit wonders, with only 1-2% getting any degree of mid-term success.
There is an Internet free streaming audio website that plays a lot of the “also-rans” of the time, as well as some of the commercials aired back them, and it is fun to listen to.
http://www.beyondthebeatgeneration.com/
I believe his account of Kent State has been seriously challenged, if not discredited—as in the Guard Soldiers were fired upon and they returned fire.
like the title of Elmer Keith’s book
“Hell, I Was There.”
Not going to apologize for my excesses back from ‘68 through the early 70s...but a lot of the music was GREAT.
in concert in those times saw Zeppelin, Cream, The Stones, Procol Harum, The Byrds, the Dead, The Who, Janis Joplin(with and without Big Brother), The Band, Jefferson Airplane, Alvin Lee and TYA, Ray Charles, Randy Newman, Sly and the family Stone, Mothers of Invention, Blood Sweat and Tears.
there are more I cant remember...
but much of the music was GREAT.(and like all eras, much was crap.)
I reformed my excesses way back when....but I still love much of the music....
It was a magic time. If you weren’t part of it, you will never understand. And I could care less. Enjoy your gaga.
While the anger of late 60s/ early 70s music did make for a lot of great music it didn’t make for any societal change. There was one of those Ken Burns-esque documentaries on the history of rock where PJ O’Rourke chided a generation of musician that ignored the fact that no one with their job had ever remade society before apparently thinking that because their instruments plugged in things would go differently. So it’s not really a surprise that most people in music by the 80s and beyond have given up on that whole “changing the world” thing, they now know it’s a job, they make entertainment, and while they can occasionally get something off their chest the rabble shall not be roused.
The great music from the 60’s and early 70’s was great because it was alright to join a band and create music. Thus, there were thousands of bands and many were quite good. Nowadays you seldom hear of kids forming a band and trying to make a go out of it wo thus with little supply there are less decent bands.
Well....all I know is “there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues.” Now I got to get my “mudshark dancing lesson”. I was there in the 60’s, and yes I do remember...at least most of it. The 60s and early 70s, best rock ever recorded. “Rockin’ the Filmore”, Johhny Winter And Live”, “Full House”, and on and on. I still have all the vinyl. Kick out the jams mother......
The hippies got it wrong.
In 40 years will Millenials be waxing nostalgic about the autotuned crap they are listening to right now? Probably.
bttt
Col. Boyd ping.
He must've grown up in the Houston area.