Please pick one of the events from the video that you think is a significant event of the 1960’s? Explain why you think it was important.

(Questions below)

Please pick one of the events from the video that you think is a significant event of the 1960’s? Explain why you think it was important. Please feel free to pick an event from the 1960’s that was not in the video, just remember to include why you think it was an important event.
What do you think about the amount of violence in the 1960’s? Were the 1960’s more or less violent than you expected? How so?
What effect do you think events such as the ones in the video would have had on young people?
Do you think that you would have rather been a young person in the 1960’s or today? Why?
Do you think events like the ones in the video affected the music of the 1960’s? How?
\What do you think was the biggest event of the 1960’s. Why?

Revolution was in the air in the 1960’s. Youth were fed up with the world they were being handed. They were tired of racism, tired of sexism, tired of war.

In the 1960’s there is a shift to a more youth oriented culture. Young people begin to make themselves heard. Many of the things that the youth of the 60’s fought for are with us today.

Musically, things are pretty static in America. Large companies were in control of the music industry, and the music scene was following a fairly predictable path. Good Rock & Roll was hard to find. Nothing much was going to change for Rock & Roll from inside the country.

That being said, Motown was continuing to make great music. Check out the first 7 or 8, minutes of this video, its about Motown, and you might find it interesting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnRfyVQS_iA

As well, folk music as evolving from the apolitical music of the Kingston Trio to something much more difficult for the government to handle.

It goes from this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbtkL5_f6-4

boring… for sure, but at least the young people don’t get all riled up listening to it, like they did with that terrible rock & roll, and that I guess was the idea.

to this …… sounds as innocent and innocuous as the Kingston trio, but there’s something rebellious, and subterranean about it… make sure to listen to the words

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUwUp-D_VV0

oops… is something going on with this nice folk music that was supposed to calm young people down?

Folk music is changing, and with Bob Dylan…well… have a listen to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZj43rtoEp4

here are the lyrics to the song

The Times They Are A Changing

Come gather ’round, people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
And you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
The battle outside ragin’
Will soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’

Well now this is something completely different.

Some people don’t like Bob Dylan’s voice (I love it), but I do know that it is an acquired taste, meaning of you spend any time really listening to him… you will love him. The lyrics are Amazing.

Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature recently! In true Dylan style, he didn’t show up to pick up the prize.

In this song, he is calling on all people to work for change, young people, artists, writers, musicians

Here he offers a warning to the government that things are changing, and they can’t stop it (see highlighted section) what things? EVERYTHING!

To me, this song is timeless, it could have been written today.

Folk music begins to take on the government on a number of issues, among them are the civil rights movement, and the Viet Nam war.

Bob Dylan becomes one if the most important voices of the 1960s, and is a very harsh critic of the Government.

He has several top hits, but his songs are covered by everyone, and this continues to this day.

Did you know that Bob Dylan wrote All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix, or Knockin on Heaven’s Door by Guns and Roses?

So, what big change came along to alter the course of Rock& Roll in America? What happened?

The British invasion!!! That’s what happened

Check out the following link. It has a list of some of the names from the British Invasion. You may not know them all… but I’ll bet you know a lot of the songs… Listen to a few songs… you will like them I’m sure of it.

I mentioned Skiffle music in the video above ..

Have a look at this one its great

This young fellow on guitar playing Skiffle isn’t too bad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVQIWyosEeI

I mean he gets a little better when he starts his own little band called, I believe……. Led Zeppelin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqgyD_yTWCU

The Beatles were the first of the British Invasion Bands to arrive

They played on the most popular variety show on TV it was called the Ed Sullivan show

Ed Sullivan didn’t want them (because of how they looked, and the music they played), but they were so popular he had to have them 3 weeks in a row… they could not come back a fourth time as they had other bookings

73 million people watched them on the Ed Sullivan show

That was over Over 40% of the US population!!

Everybody who was young watched the show to see the Beatles… it changed everything!

Check out the Beatles live in 1964

REMEMBER there were no monitors… meaning they could not hear their harmony vocals, there was no pitch correction, there were no vocal effects… this is live singing. Check out how great the groove is. Check out the harmony vocals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQWgwBaRik0

Hey, do you guys like the Beatles? Is this video what you think of, when you think of the Beatles? We will get into what the Beatles were all about later but check out these the pictures.

This photo is from around 1960, before they came to America. Ringo is not yet the drummer. The drummer Pete Best gets kicked out of the Beatles just as they start their recording career. Bummer for Pete eh? They look a little rough don’t you think?

he second band to arrive and perform on the Ed Sullivan Show was the Animals

Animals house of rising sun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fy7opKu46c

The third band to arrive and perform on the Ed Sullivan Show was the Rolling Stones.

Stones round and round

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct2n2iiiIGQ

People went crazy for this music… as if they had never heard it before. The odd thing was that Americans had heard this music before…..

These are the songs these first British Bans play on American TV.

Beatles- Twist and Shout by the Isley Brothers- African Americans

Animals- House of the Rising Sun- Traditional African American tune (often attributed to Lead Belly)

Rolling Stones- Around and Around – Chuck Berry- African American

These British artists didn’t hide the African American origin of the music. They celebrated it! They loved the African American artists.. they referred to them as their heroes… and often did whatever they could to raise their profile in America and around the world. The Beatles asked the audience to make sure to check out the original of the song!

These British artists deserve a great deal of credit for drawing the attention of American to the true inventors of Rock &Roll!

Civil Rights in the 1960’s

The 60’s are full of civil rights protests, with marches and demonstrations taking place all over the country. In 1964 The Civil Rights Act is enacted, and although things improved we are still a long way from racial equality today.

Here is a link to the Sam Cooke song A Change is Gonna Come

We will have lots more to say about the Civil Rights Movement, but for now, please make sure that you check out this weeks PowerPoints as there is quite a bit of information there.