Protest Music In Vietnam War Essay

In a broader context, protest musicians composed songs about student protests in which they firmly sided with the protesters, supporting their actions and condemning those trying to stop the protests. (OnlyEverArabella, n.d.). The ideas were expressed in music as it served as a form of publicity and promotion for the counterculture community during this era. The government continuously tried to prevent media coverage about these movements but their music simply spoke the

There is no doubt that war is evil in every way. It is full of hatred and conflict and nothing comes out of it. It brings death, destruction, and the worst out of people. In a pacifistic yet desperate tone, Dalton Trumbo promotes anti-war ideals by explaining the life of a young soldier after he got affected by war in his novel Johnny Got His Gun. While some individuals’ point of view match with Trumbo’s, others may disagree with his reasoning. The controversial issue of the acceptance of war is talked about everybody, even popular artists. Some singers express their opinions on war via their songs, like George H. Cohan in his song “Over There (Johnny, Get Your Gun)”, and the band Metallica with their song “One”. Each sends different messages depending on the setting, their music’s genre, and diction used in the making of the lyrics.

As the United States became more involved in the Vietnam War, the American society became fired up, not supporting the war, and questioned the United States foreign plan. The American people spread their messages in many ways from protest songs to protests. Protest songs were used as propaganda to send negative messages about the US and the war. One of the iconic protests songs at the time came out in 1965 by Country Joe and the Fish, “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die” (Doc B). This song gave off the message to America that there are other things then just enlisting in the war and that there is a lot of money to be made in America, while still being supportive, like helping supply the Army with the equipment needed to fight (Doc B). This 1965

The Vietnam war heightened social, political, and economic tensions in America because there wasn’t a clear reason for fighting in it. In World War Two, the reason was clear. A evil dictator was trying to take control over the world, so the solution was to stop him. In Vietnam America tried to stop a political idea from spreading by attacking it. As said in Document E, “It is like sending a lion to half an epidemic of jungle rot”. While in WW2 people were happy to fight and work for their country, with half of the population contributing in some way to the war effort, according to Document F people drafted would purposely fail the tests to get out of fighting. Document B, the song “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die”, the singer makes fun of how

Since the Constitution of the United States was written, Americans have practiced their right to freedom of speech as a way to express their point of view on issues facing the country. Over time, voicing one’s opinion went from outspoken newspaper articles to large rallies, and during the Vietnam War, music was a prevalent tool in aiding the protests. Allowing political messages to be shared nationally, the music had touched the lives of the younger generation. Author Jerome L. Rodnitzky explains in his journal, “The Sixties between the Microgrooves: Using Folk and Protest Music to Understand American History, 1963-1973”, how music was “trying to be all things

Every war will have those who support the war and those who are against the war. In 1965, those who were against the Vietnam War made their views known by many forms of protesting such as forming organizations, rallying, and anti-war protest music. Anti-war protest music was an opportunity to put people’s perspectives into song to hopefully spread their message. Buffy Sainte-Marie wrote the song “Universal Soldier” in 1962 and her message was that “Universal Soldier is about individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all” (Boulanger). The song “Universal Soldier” was used as a protest anthem during the Vietnam War and attempts to untangle one of the paradoxes of life that war never leads to peace through

The War Between the States was complex. If you wish to understand the events, you should refer to a textbook. Music of the time, however, helps us delve into people’s thoughts and opinions on the war, slavery, and many other important issues in our country’s history. Prior to the civil war, American music followed its European roots. During the civil war, American music began to develop in its own way, largely influenced by the music of the African-Americans. The war produced many well-known songs. These songs were important in their time and they are still known to many people today.

What Americans were unaware of was the additional violence happening in Laos. Music has always been an effective way for one to release their anger and frustration and many Americans were angry and frustrated with the government for allowing their men to die in Vietnam. One of their methods of portraying their irritation to the government were through musical protests. The largest musical anti-war movement was in 1969, 4 years before the end of the Secret War and 6 years before the end of the Vietnam War at Woodstock (Candaele, n.d.). The audience consisted of approximately 500 000 Americans and 33 performers. Among the performers were worldwide renowned artists like Jimi Hendrix and The Who (Harrison, 2009). The use of the performers would have stirred up support from their other fans; similar to celebrity endorsement advertising techniques. Moreover, wars are expensive to fund and “in recent years, Republicans have been characterized by two principal positions: They like starting wars and don’t like paying for them” (Bartlett, 2009). In 1968, Republican president Nixon imposed a 10% surtax to pay for the Vietnam War. The tax was largely paid by the poor and middle class. The Vietnam War cost “$25 billion per year and disillusionment was beginning to reach greater section of the taxpaying public…adding fuel to the fire of the anti-war movement” (History, n.d.). On top of that there was an extra “$1.5 billion per annum” (McCoy, 1996) going

The Woodstock Festival became very important for this reason. The festival was the most well documented of all the large festivals in the sixties and had the most direct protesting.

The 1960’s was one of the most controversial decades in American history because of not only the Vietnam War, but there was an outbreak of protests involving civil and social conditions all across college campuses. These protests have been taken to the extent where people either have died or have been seriously injured. However, during the 1960’s, America saw a popular form of art known as protest music, which responded to the social turmoil of that era, from the civil rights movement to the war in Vietnam. A veritable pantheon of musicians, such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan sang their songs to encourage union organizers to protest the inequities of their time, creating a diverse variety of popular

Throughout all the anti-war protests and marches during the Vietnam War, it is interesting to note the changes in the music of that time. From the beginning of the war, where support and loyalty from Americans was present in songs, to the end of the war, where anger and distrust was evident in musical lyrics, American’s opinion changed about the war. This change in opinion was easily recognized by the altering of musical lyrics about the war when Americans grew tired of the constant sending of U.S. troops to Vietnam. The growing dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War led to increasing levels of anger and hostility in the popular music of the time.

Throughout time, music has been an influential part of society. As a form of entertainment and expression, its impact has always been felt both economically and emotionally. During the Vietnam war, music evolved into more a form of expression rather than pure entertainment. Emotionally charged songs became a method to oppose the war, and vent frustrations. While many songs opposed the war, numerous others focused on peace and happiness. They provided a positive perspective in an otherwise depressing time. Along with incorporating passion into music, cultural diversity increased in music greatly. Black artists became progressively more popular and accepted in the musical scene. This respect

“In World War II, jazz absolutely was the music of freedom, and then in the Cold War, behind the Iron Curtain, same thing. It was all underground, but they needed the food of freedom that jazz offered” – Herbie Hancock. Looking back into history, you could create a timeline of events with nothing but song titles. Music was not just music, it was a lifestyle. Every major event in history has numerous songs that go along with or describe the happening. In the following paragraphs, I will describe aspects and elements of music for pre-World War II, World War II, and post-World War II. One could say that music was a form of expression throughout the times of war, and the songs produced during this time period clearly express all aspects of life before, during, and after the war.

The Vietnam war was a major event to America because it had major conflicts with personal opinions of the people of 1960’s. In this era, plenty of people were rethinking on why they were fighting in a war that they did not need to be fighting. and joined the anti-war movement. This can explicitly be seen from the type of music that people were listening to at the time. The song that I am going to be analyzing is “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones. This song resonated with the persona of the people for multiple reasons because it was a song that was about losing a loved one and dealing with the sadness.

In the same way if a world is painted to be marvelous the audience will be manipulated into believing it, this can be observed in euphemisms in popular media to glorify the conditions and motives of war. Lutz explains in "DoubleSpeak" that euphemisms that aim to "cover the unpleasant" fall under doublespeak, which means that it is Language created and used to trick the audience out of a harsher reality. Many politicians or war advocates use this type of language to gain the trust and respect of the audience to later manipulate them into their plans. They start to act like businessmen in order to sell their war or enlistments. Popular media becomes flooded with these tries through poems, songs and cartoons in order to reach the daily lives of the audience as a constant reminder of how "great" or honorable" certain jobs in the military are. During the Vietnam war there was opposition for the war, therefore they needed to persuade the audience not only to respect the war but to fight for it so popular songs were released to show how proud you would make your country when you serve but of course only showing the positive aspects of war. All societies aim to honor your nation or your family, and in the Vietnam war this was no different since the themes of