Recommended: Civil rights and woodstock
This book examines Pete Seeger and how he became one of the most influential activists and folk singers in the 1960s. Winkler uses Pete Seeger's life and music as a way to discuss the important role protest music played during the various social movements. Seeger's life throughout the text reflects the turbulence going on during the sixties. The songs he composed during this decade were used as a tool to motivate people from all walks of life to band together and bring about change. Winkler’s book does give insight in the sixties through Seeger life but is limited to only one genre of protest music.
Furthermore, I learned from this documentary that Jim Jones was someone that did not practice what he preached and a manipulator that had a lot of power, but I was surprised by the amount of people he had such an impact on. He nurtured and protected them when society turned them away and I recognized that is how he gained all of that power. Unfortunately, this power he had resulted in the mass suicide of nine hundred and nine people in Jonestown,
For example, in 1924, Armstrong was dismissed by his bandleader Fletcher Henderson when he asked to sing on a record, and this negative reaction was seen through most of his early career. He had an untrained voice, one with a limited range and a gravelly quality, and was not recognized as a singer until long after establishing himself as an instrumentalist; ironically, today, he is one of the central singers in pop and jazz history with many well-known singers molding their style after his.
Poet. Prophet. Rasta. Those are just some words to briefly describe one of the most iconic and renowned musicians of all time composed some of the greatest songs such as: I shot the sheriff, Buffalo Soldier, Exodus, Redemption Song, and Get Up, Stand Up. Living by his beliefs and was considered a prophet by many.
He believed that god made everyone equal. In 1940 he sang the song “This Land is Your Land” and spoke words to encourage all of the people of the world to be equal and treat everyone equal. Woody Guthrie sang hundreds of song like this all of the world. The song and inspirational quote are similar, yet different. Both, the inspirational quote and the song, are similar.
Woody Guthrie was a complicated man. When one compares his legend to the man himself, it is immediately obvious that there were stark contrasts between the Woody Guthrie depicted in his songs, and Woody Guthrie of real life. On one hand, he was a man of the people, fighting for the rights of the poor and destitute. On the other, he was selfish, irresponsible, and in some cases objectively detestable. Woody Guthrie isn’t an anomaly in this regard.
Marc Anthony a Latin singer was asked to sing the star spangled banner in the game at Shea Stadium on September 21, 2001 after the horrible attack of 9/11. This sparked a bit of a controversy. But later Marc sang “God Bless America” which to no surprise lead to a big controversy on why a -quoted from the article God Bless Marc Anthony’s America- “spic” sang the song God Bless America. Marc Anthony was criticized for singing God Bless America even though the song was written by a Russian and he is an American, which I find astoundingly sad. Marc Anthony as written in the article God Bless Marc Anthony’s America said “I was born and raised in New York.”
Over the two years of music revolution that the band Nirvana's breakthrough album Nevermind ignited, its singer-songwriter-guitarist Kurt Cobain festered. Launched by Nevermind from the underground scene to the mainstream center stage he had opposed for a lifetime, Cobain could not reconcile himself with his new celebrity. A nonconformist and discontented poet at heart, Cobain could only watch in impotence as Nevermind was warped and clichéd in the mainstream microwave. The wearied voice of “the slacker generation” resented, on top of his doting masses, the intense searchlight on his skeletons-- his parents' divorce, his chronic drug abuse, and his controversial wife. To add insult to injury, the underground from which he sprung accused him of selling out his values to become a marketable product.
One of the most important people Guthrie reached with his work was someone else who struggled with being blacklisted, Pete Seeger. Seeger admired Guthrie’s work and they were good friends who frequently saw each other at Communist Party events and music gatherings. Seeger sang “This Land is Your Land” more than anybody else. Many people mistakenly thought he wrote the song since he played it so much. Seeger put “This Machine Kills Fascists” on his banjo just like Guthrie had written on his guitar.
Music has been the blood of our pop culture since the first signs of sounds made by our cavemen ancestors. It had been a huge influence in our culture like our lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language. But one genre in music has created an impact in our history, especially the American history for it paved way to the Civil Rights movement. It was through combining African American and white music that created a spark in that movement, and without The King none of this spark would have ever light up in the first place. And this “King” is none other than, the king of rock and roll, Elvis Aron Presley.
John Lennon was a famed artist in the 1900’s. He was born in Liverpool, Merseyside, England during a German air raid in WWII. His parents separated when he was 4 leaving him to live with his Aunt Mimi (biograpghy.com). His father was not really present in his life and wasn’t even there when Lennon was born. Although, his mother Julia remarried she would visit John at his Aunt Mimi’s regularly she would also teach him to play the banjo and piano she bought him his first guitar.
In the article “Drinking the Kool-Aid: A Survivor Remembers Jim Jones” Teri Buford O’Shea was one of the lucky ones who managed to escape before the obliterating mass suicide of about 900 people; 1/3rd of whom were children. In this article, Teri opens up about the personality of Jim Jones and how he acted towards the members of his so called Utopian society. She claims that he was at first, a genuinely nice man who only wanted interracial equality for the world. He went crazy due to drug use and didn’t know how to handle having power. Just because someone proclaims that they’re the Messiah, and can give you interracial equality and peace in a time of destruction and racial segregation, doesn’t mean you should blindly follow them without really knowing who
One individual had an interesting way of taking a stand, his name was Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan’s had an interesting way of taking a stand for he created music as a way to somewhat spread the word or spread a message. As a reward for his marvelous work in literature, Bob Dylan recently won the Nobel Peace Prize
Even though not everyone considers him an ideal role model, Jimi Hendrix is still considered as the greatest guitarist ever. His talent was a gift, his dedication to the religion of guitar a legend, an inspiration. On his 73rd birthday, we try to honour the man by bringing to you 25 of our favorite Jimi Hendrix songs in no particular order.
Or at least, those who held the idealistic goals of the hippy movement at the time. Those many people who followed The Beatles during this time knew that their songs preached free love and peace on Earth. Two lofty goals, but sentiments that were echoed by many popular bands at the time. Lennon recognizes now that, no matter how popular he or the band he was a part of became, they could not end a war, or change people’s minds about the rights of certain groups of people. This is, again, supported by the line “I was the dreamweaver/but now/