Pop music in the late 1960s and early 1970s were written and sang to give valuable messages to the public. Most music written today talks about completely opposites topics such as money, drugs, and sex. On the other hand I believe that music back in the sixties/seventies were messages about love, peace and about ending violence in the world. Music back then, was about enjoying life, spreading love, stopping the violence, and gave many anti-war messages. All this music was being created during WWII and although some songs talked about war, it didn't nessesarily mean that the main focus was on the war that was happening at the time. For example, Edwin Starr sang a song called "War" by Eddie Holland and Norman Whitfield that mainly focused on violence that happens everyday everywhere, not just WWII or the vietnam war. Many songs were written opposing the war in Vietnam that occured during the 1960s and ended in 1975.
"Ohio" written by Neil Young in 1970 was performed by
Neil, Crosby, Stills and Nash. This song was written by Young after
a horrible incident that happened at Kent University in Ohio on May 4th,
1970. Four students were killed and 13 others were wounded by National
Guardsmen because of they, along with many other students, protested against
the Vietnam war. Students along with others protested for three days
before the killings occured and they kept on protesting because of Nixon's
decision to move troops into Cambodia. After the shootings, Neil Young
wrote "Ohio" as a message to the public to stand up for human rights and
not let the government control society their own way and get away with it.
No one was ever convicted for the killings and injuries that happened
at Kent University that horrible day in 1970.
Many songs focused on stopping the war against one another
and spreading peace and love everywhere. Woodstock is a prime example
of this. Woodstock was a music festival that occured in the late 1960s.
It featured many great artists like Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and
many others performed in this concert which was all about peace, love, and
rock and roll. Drugs like Marijuana and LSD were present at the time
but the drugs did not make people more violent, instead it brought people
together. Woodstock made such an impact that a documentary came out
in 1970. Again, music in the sixties had two main focuses PEACE and
LOVE, and no more war.
In 1970, movies like "Love Story" displayed signs that
everyone can get along with everyone even if people are completely different.
"Love Story" is about a rich man who falls in love with a poor girl
and weds her. Other movies were made to represent the war that was
taking place like for instance "M*A*S*H" which was a comedy that displayed
members of a mobile medical unit during the Korean War. I believe many
of these movies were made to calm the United States down and keep peace in
the U.S. Movies like these were probably made to give hope to Americans
that although the war is present, people can still laugh and stay positive
about things.
Pop music in 1970 was about bringing, spreading and
keeping the peace, and love. It's a shame today, many artists love
to sing about drugs, sex and the money they they swim in. With the
war going on in Iraq, I am not surprised to hear new songs made to send a
message out to our society. For instance, Lenny Kravitz wrote a song
titled "We Want Peace" directed towards our country in hopes of becoming
a peaceful leader in the world. I think Lenny has done a great job
and hope that many more artists continue to write songs that have some value
to it, and not some jibberish like money, and being drowned with sexy women.