How Did The Beatles Affect The Civil Rights Movement?

The "British Invasion" is the name awarded to the time in the 1960's, when many British rock bands and pop artists attained mainstream success in the US and worldwide. Many of these bands started out covering American songs and showcasing an American Rock and R&B influence in their music. As these groups gained popularity, lots of them explored new music territory and created their own unique sounds. The band that comes to the front of the mind when the of the British Invasion is mentioned is The Beatles, who first came onto the American music scene in 1963, but attained widespread popularity in 1964 after their appearence on the Ed Sullivan Show. The Beatles were a force to be reconed with on the worldwide music charts from that point until

Protest music was a reaction to social injustice, cultural change, and media events. In many cases, it brought awareness to younger generations who would then join the protests, in turn growing the movement. This genre wasn't necessarily specific to certain musicians, as many mainstream artists decided to contribute to the movement with their own feelings. For example, R&B and Soul singer Same Cooke composed and recorded "A Change Is Gonna Come" in 1963, a tune that became the anthem for the Civil Rights movement in the US, like others including Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" and James Brown's "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" from 1963 and 1968. Another issue that protest music addressed was the war in Vietnam and its escalation during the 60s. As more American troops were being sent to fight in Vietnam with virtually no progress being made, an anti-war movement began to take footholds in the mid-60s and protest music worked with it. Some examples of anti-Vietnam songs were Pete Seeger's "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy from 1967, The Door's "The Unknown Soldier" from 1968, and Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" from 1963. Both folk and protest music were connected to the "hippie" culture at the time and were influenced by the feeling of freedom, love and peace that defined the hippies. Some examples of folk and protest musicians from the 60s are Peter, Paul and Mary, Cat Stevens, Buffalo Springfield, Simon and Garfunkel, and Pete