Psychedelia As A Counterculture

During the 1960s Music was heavily influenced by the political and social events happening at the time. At this time civil rights movements were common as many people were trying to spread the emancipation of racism and segregation. As a result the music of the time tended to reflect this counterculture of peace. This “culture” encompassed civil rights, anti-establishment and, inciting revolution. This was a vital time in history for civil rights activists as well as anti-war revolutionaries and the music industry. From folk music to rock music, everyone was affected by the war and chose to express it through the most international form of art, music. Anti-war activists and counterculture enthusiast craved the music that truly expressed

From the 1960s to the 1970s, the Hippie Movement was apart of the counterculture era. This was an age of renewal and change amongst society. People known as Hippies focused on pursuing a life different from the one proposed by mainstream culture. Hippies followed transcendentalism, which influenced their idealism of their understanding of nature and society. They often used drugs such as psychedelics, amphetamines, methamphetamine, and marijuana to experience spiritual and artistic awareness as well as self-fulfillment. They created a new culture of teenagers and young adults who dressed and acted differently from those before them. Hippies focused on experimentation and redefining themselves. Hippies helped influenced music, television, film, literature, and the arts and changed the societal norms.

Hippie Movement “Hippies were called Flower Children because they gave flowers to communicate gentleness and love” (Salge). The Hippie Movement was a popular counter culture during the 60’s-70’s. Hippies are best known for their practice of psychedelic drug use, interesting political views, where they took up living quarters, and their unique fashion sense.

The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement beginning in the United States around the early 1960s and consisted of a group of people who opposed political and social orthodoxy, choosing an ideology that favored peace, love, and personal freedom. The hippies rejected established institutions, criticized middle class values, opposed nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War, were usually eco-friendly and vegetarians, and promoted the use of psychedelic drugs. They created their own communities, listened to psychedelic rock, embraced the sexual revolution, and used drugs to explore alternative states of consciousness. They strived to liberate themselves from societal restrictions, choose their own way, and find new meaning in life.

The fifties and sixties were completely different in so many ways; the times had changed a lot in the transition of decades. The types of music, for one, were in great contrast. By the sixties the rock-'n'-roll and pelvic thrusting of the fifties had transformed into the pop, rock and folk music of the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. Teenagers changed a lot over the two decades a lot, too. The tight pant, leather jacket bodgies, with their greased hair, and the widgies, with their rope petticoats and flared dresses, were replaced by the teenagers of the Psychedelic era. These teenagers preferred the swirled shapes and bright colours, with their newly found mini-skirts, and for the guys it was paisley shirts.

The Impact of the Hippie Counterculture of the 1960s The “hippies” of the 1960s had many effects on the American society. The visual appearance and lifestyle of the hippies were in sharp contrast to the conservative nature of the older generation, which defined them as a counterculture. The hippie lifestyle was based on free love, rock music, shared property, and drug experimentation. They introduced a new perspective on drugs, freedom of expression, appearance, music, attitudes toward work, and held a much more liberal political view than mainstream society.

When one looks back on the frenetic 1960s, conservative sentiments aren’t usually the first thing to come to mind. Yet, while the New Left and the radical counterculture were reshaping cultural ideals, it was the New Right who emerged from the 1960s as a viable political force. The New Left can be categorized as a broad, largely youthful, movement with the goal to challenge various social norms and to institute a “participatory democracy”. Moreover, the New Left was “New” in a sense that they differed from the labor-centered liberal elites at the time; insisting on creating larger, more radical changes to society. On the other hand, the New Right was a largely grassroots movement aimed to restore traditionalist values from the “Eastern Establishment.” The New Right was “New” in a sense that it revitalized conservative hope at a time when those hopes looked mighty bleak. When analyzing the wildly different outcomes of the two movements, it becomes apparent that the New Right’s political-oriented manner to achieve their goals proved to be the decisive factor in maintaining long-term stability; something the confrontational New Left did not have the resources to achieve from the outset.

Their dissatisfaction with the consumerism values and goals, with the work ethic, and with the dependence on technology (Edgar and Sedwick, 2008) fuelled their belief to set themselves free from this mainstream culture using drugs such as LSD to open their minds and become spiritual and free. Their fashion consisted of floral headbands and clothing, flared jeans and bare feet. In January of 1967, a Human Be-in in Golden Gate Park San Francisco publicised the culture and this lead to the Summer of Love (The Naked Truth……….., 2014). According to Philippa(Toturhunt.com, 2015), this culture has since moved on and developed, in the sense of beliefs, to become what is now known as the rave culture. Which followed on from the hippie culture of listening to music in fields, with spiritual and honing on values that counter the popular culture whilst using recreational drugs to open the mind and push the beliefs of the hippie culture of their predecessors. Rather than psychedelics this new culture used amphetamines such as MDMA and brought together every different kind of person. Either way, drugs have played part in counterculture for a very long time, and it didn 't end at with the hippies.

Other cultural changes she experienced during her lifetime were deemed as ‘counterculture’. The counterculture was a significant factor in the fall of the American consensus as new ethos of rebellion and individuality caused youth to embrace the flawed Volkswagen and for Rock-and-Roll rebels to become more mainstream (American Yawp Ch. 27, 2017). While Ms. Hampton did not participate in the change due to her new marriage and raising children, she stated that she tolerated the new cultural wave because moving forward was the only option. However, not everyone shared her tolerance as the 1970’s witnessed the struggle to once again compartmentalize society by evoking simpler times with songs like “Okie from Muskogee” (American Yawp Ch. 28, 2017).

The Hippie Counter Culture began in 1960. The hippie era was influenced more by personal happiness in which books, music, and fashion followed as result of their personification of a blissful society. Hippies did not care what others thought of them and their motto was “if it feels good, do it”. Hippies were seeking a utopian society. They participated in street theater and listened to psychedelic rock. As part of their culture they embraced more open sexual encounters amongst each other in their community and believed in use of psychedelic drugs which consisted of marijuana and LSD. The fashion choice that hippies dressed in was due to set them apart from the mainstream society. They choose to buy their clothing from thrift shops and flea markets (Haddock, 2011). Clothing choices are described as “brightly colored, ragged clothes, tie-dyed t-shirts, beads, sandals (or barefoot), and jewelry” (Haddock, 2011, para 7). Hippies also referred

Led Zeppelin Rocks: Protestors Roar Each new music genre introduces the counterculture or opposition of previous generation’s values. Led Zeppelin sparked the beginning of the heavy metal culture-- the counterculture to psychedelic rock. The anti-war movement was also prevalent in this counterculture. Led Zeppelin and the Vietnam War influenced the new, darker, generation of rock: heavy metal.

John Storey’s text, Rockin’ Hegemony: West Coast Rock an Amerika’s War in Vietnam, outlines the West Coast counterculture movement in 1960’s. Storey divides the movement into three sections including counterculture, resistance, and incorporation and puts forth the blueprint that resulted in the movement’s failure, plus the later rebirth of legacies all while using Gramsci’s theories of hegemony. The West Coast counterculture was a social movement with students and cultural groupings ranging in age from eighteen to twenty-five, from a middle class background, who attempted to establish a non-competitive, non-aggressive ‘alternative’ community from 1965 to 1970. The movement was built on dual parts of political attitudes, generally on war, more

This trend would later be known as Counterculture and the initiates of this event were widely known as Hippies. Hippies created a new, diverse and controversial subculture in society. With their long hair and loose, colourful clothing, millions of young people took to major cities like San Francisco and New York to spread their message of equality, peace and love for humanity and music. By living organic and free lives many youths lived on the streets or in small groupings throughout North America, far from the suburban lives their parents had become so accustomed to. Many believed in world peace and free love during the times of the Cold War and others lived freely in a world filled with music and moderate drug use. Along with the rise of this new Counterculture, the popularity of recreational drugs like LSD, Marijuana and other psychedelics reached an all-time high. Many believed these drugs promoted a peaceful way of life and gave them credit for changing a person’s mindset after as little as one use. This subsection of society helped trademark and define the times they lived in, therefore making them of great importance to the

The dizzying laser lights flashed in synchronicity with the pulsating bass of the music that bounced off the psychedelic warehouse walls. As my boyfriend and I mentally attempted to organize the chaos surrounding us, we pushed our way through the crowd of spasmodic lunatics who contorted their bodies in time with the music and lights. We located a couch in a room covered with cartoonesque, hyper-graphic graffiti. An androgynous man sat himself at my feet and began massaging my thighs, while a girl with her eyes rolled back into her head demanded that my boyfriend give her a massage. Just then the deejay laid his head in my lap, told me he was in love with me, and placed a bitter pill on my tongue. This certainly was the most bizarre method

In today’s era of late 20th century people have adopted a vast number of different subcultures. Steampunk is perhaps one of the widely used subculture. People have used it in different means such as fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. Technologies like fictional machines have been used for this purpose. Steampunk also refers to any of the artistic styles, clothing fashions, or subcultures, that have developed from the aesthetics of steampunk fiction, Victorian-era fiction, art nouveau design, and films from the mid-20th century.(Steampunk artists meld Victorian era, science and fiction Duluth News Tribune. January 1, 2012. ) Steampunk elements has also been used in different genres like horror,fantasy,historical and speculative fiction making it hybrid genre.