Vietnam, Protest, and Counterculture 489campuses. They continued to listen to rock and roll, take drugs, have sex, and
question and reject “mainstream” values. And they continued to protest the
war in Vietnam, often through song.
Music has always had a political aspect to it, and never more so than in the
1960s. In that decade both traditional folk music and the newer Rock & Roll
began to reflect political themes such as Civil Rights and pacifism. By decade’s
end, music was a vital part of the national cultural rebellion and of the antiwar
movement. By the early 1960s a full-blown folk revival was in bloom. The
arms race, segregation, and commercialization all became targets of folk sing-
ers. “A person shouldn’t have more property that he can squeeze between his
banjo and the outside wall of his banjo case,” was Pete Seeger’s advice. During
the monumental Civil Rights struggles and anti-Vietnam rallies, Seeger and
others such as Peter, Paul, and Mary or Joan Baez or Phil Ochs were always
present, protesting U.S. policies while entertaining the demonstrators. A new
musical culture was being born.
A young man from Minnesota, however, would define the musical politics
of the era. Robert Zimmerman of Hibbing had listened to the early rockers
of the 1950s and African American blues musicians. His biggest influence,
however, was Woody Guthrie, and he imitated his folk style and shared his
FIGuRE 9-15 The Grateful Dead