Music In The 1960's

Early 1960’s Music and Late 1960’s Music

In the early 1960’s voices like Elvis Presley and Brenda Lee were common and highly liked by many. By the middle of the decade the music style began to develop diversity. Elvis began to fade and names like the Beatles began to come into focus. The Beatles being a non-native group from England became widely popular during this time. As time moved on the end of the decade was filled with different race and ethnicticity. Most all of the singers were African American and it was totally accepted. It is safe to say that the beginning of the era was not diverse. Other races were not widely accepted until the mid ‘60’s. When the end of the time period came up many singers were of different races and backgrounds.

Mostly couples like Sonny and Cher and Ike and Tina Turner are popular. There is diversity shown in these groups. Racial diversity and ethical diversity because husband and wife singing teams were becoming widely accepted. Normally this wouldn’t have happened. In 1964, the middle of the decade, the handsome president was shot. More protests and riots up rose. Music still continued to grow and become more diverse in sound and singers. During the entire decade the Vietnam War continues to Rage therefore, providing the era with continuous war songs and protest music. The Famous Group “The Beatles” were introduced in the mid -60’s. They are a British group who started to sing American music. The Beatles are very diverse because they are not native the U.S. but they became very popular very fast. The Beatles were every teenage girl’s heart-throb. With the Civil Rights movement being passed in 1964; it brought more diversity for African American singers by the later

The early and mid ‘60’s were optimistic times. This time was so depressing because it was beginning to be very evident that the Vietnam War could not be won by the U.S. In this time Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. The riots that began in 1964 had continued to intensify. Although, there was still hope, some youth in the ‘60’s decided to travel to the Woodstock Music Festival in Upstate New York. This was a three day thing and it showed the peace-love generation. The generation brought empowerment. This can be seen through our singers and their music. The power was given to woman singers and given to African American singers and groups. Such as Otis Redding, the Temptations, and Dianna Ross and the Supremes. The music began to change by the end of the era to more love songs and uniting music because of the depression song writers wanted to help keep peace and love flowing. This was certainly a time to be