The Role Of Music In The Vietnam War

The Vietnamese believed that, “ Americans were evil and the Vietnamese simply were fighting merely defensively”. For several decades the Vietnamese fought boldly to win their freedom from the French. Many rebellious groups formed to win the freedom for Southern Vietnam. American troops could not identify were exactly the enemies were located in Vietnam. The United States used several tactics to gather information from sources and intelligences. In the film, Vietnamese peasants spoke intensely about the injustice surrounding the war. The local inhabitants of the villages spoke about the deadly tactics employed to kill innocent farmers and families. They spoke about how eight to nine hundred children were killed by the many toxics elements distributed by the planes and the several hundred tons of bombs dropped on a daily basis; to exterminate the Vietnam population. The villagers spoke about how their loved ones were killed right before their eyes and there was nothing they could do. The documentary shows soldiers entering villages, burning homes down, and killing civilians. They show the torture being inflicted by the soldiers.

During the Vietnam War, Americans were greatly influenced by the extensive media coverage of the war. Before the 1960’s and the intensification of the war, public news coverage of military action was constrained heavily by the government and was directed by Government policy. The Vietnam War uniquely altered the perception of war in the eyes of American citizens by bringing the war into their homes. The Vietnam War was the first U.S uncensored war resulting in the release of graphic images and unaltered accounts of horrific events that helped to change public opinion of the war like nothing it had ever been. This depiction by the media led to a separation between the United States government and the press; much of what was reported flouted

On March 16, 1968, over 300 unarmed civilians were killed in South Vietnam during an indiscriminate, mass murder event known as the My Lai Massacre. Conducted by a unit of the United States Army, the My Lai Massacre ranked one of most appalling atrocities carried out by US forces in an already savage and violent war. All victims involved were unarmed civilians, many of which were women, children, and the elderly. Victims were raped, tortured and beaten, even mutilated before being killed. The massacre was forever seared into the hearts and minds of the American people as the day “the American spirit died.”

Wars are a difficult place to be. “THE VIETNAM WAR transformed a generation” (Roberts 1). With all that happened during the war such as exposure to

The Vietnam war was an absolutely brutal time in American history. The war lasted for the majority of the 1960s and left many young men dead. The short story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and the film Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam give us just a glance into the war by giving using the three themes of fear, pressures, and blame/guilt to embody the concept of war and how it absolutely changes a person. War not only destroys countries, but it destroys people.

In the American Revolution, music played an important part of American culture no matter what sector of society. The music of the era served as a social commentary on the political concerns of the period aside from entertainment. The music was expressed through many forms, songs, hymns and varied instrumental musical traditions that reflected the social conditions which created it. Church music was an important source of spiritual inspiration and expression of the patriotic sentiment. The music in the Revolutionary period in the thirteen colonies varied according to region and the region’s prevalent religious views, it was used for revolutionary propaganda and expressed the tensions and sentiments of the revolutionary culture of the time.

The Vietnam War was not only a battle, but it also marked the lives of those involved.

In Tim O’Brien’s book If I Die in a Combat Zone, he argued that the Vietnam War was an immoral war without a reason for being fought, he conveys his message by stating that the people who fought in the war did not know what we were truly fighting for, and that humans should value each other’s lives because we know right from wrong, also through his depictions of the atrocities that were carried out by the American Soldiers, and how the American government sent men to Vietnam that were did not have the mentality to kill another human. One of the reasons why he believed that the Vietnam War was wrong was because he believed that humans, as a species, should have learned to not partake in wars because we understand right from wrong, and therefore

Vietnam during the 1950s through the 1970s was a horrifically dangerous war zone that one would not even wish involvement upon their worst enemy. The Vietnam War was not like any other war that the United States had been a part of in the past. It was horrendous and unsafe for anyone involved, whether it be troops of either side, or innocent children who could not help but be caught in the middle of a war zone. For the United States, Vietnam was an expensive involvement, but not only solely for monetary reasons. Many lives were lost on all sides, combative and noncombative, young and old. As the war progressed, a strong anti-war, anti-violence attitude began to formulate and grow in the United States. Groups like the VVAW, the Vietnam

As America was fighting a war for freedom in another country, unruly teens were fighting their own at home. Cultural change, the explosion of free love, youthful rebellion, and a new liberal mindset all seemed to have one underlying device in common; drug use. The late 1960’s into the early and mid-70’s found the perfect environment for recreational drug use. Music and arts celebrated this lifestyle, as well as free thinkers and their idiotic philosophies about spiritual elation through mind altering narcotics. Lack of family structure with so many homes transformed by the Vietnam War also left young teens without guidance, and an economy with little to offer to the up and coming generation. As the next few years passed and the free love generation began to grasp the concept of working for a living, showering on a regular basis, love with commitment (or antibiotics), and cultural change through policy, they brought to the workforce a new dynamic not previously prevalent. Recreational drug use had become part of society. Vietnam War veterans also brought their own demons home with their return, opiate addictions were a common occurrence (Carson 2012).

Music played a major role in the way people lived during the World War II era. It affected the way people coped and the way people grieved. While this era was a very serious and bleak time, people still found joy in music. World War II was the first war to happen in the age of electronically mass distributed music. The role of music during this time helped keep positive spirits among people all around the world. On a different note, the Germans played music to their soldiers to motivate them to continue to fight. Music was used as propaganda throughout the countries involved to gain public support.

The Vietnam War began in the year 1954, after the ascension to power of Ho Chi Minh, who was a communist leader in North Vietnam. The leader was spreading communism, and because the United States wanted to stop the spread, it sent military troops to aid South Vietnamese to stop this vice. The war saw about 3million people die with the inclusion of 58,000 American soldiers. About 150,000 people were wounded during the war. In 1975, South Vietnamese government surrendered the war after the communist forces forced them to surrender. Vietnam unified communism and became a Socialist Republic. Although decades have passed since the occurrence of the Vietnam war, the American culture, which was partly born as a result of this war, is celebrated

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

This essay looks at musician Jimi Hendrix's musical reactions to the American involvement in the Vietnam War. This research has taken place as part of a larger piece of work examining the links between the Vietnam War and Music in the U.S.A.

My entire life, my body, my heart felt as if I had gone into a free fall when I heard of my president of the South Vietnam government command us to give up and hand the weapons to the North Vietnamese, it felt like an atomic bomb exploded inside my head. For years I gradually got used to a new reality that my government lost the war, and I became a Vietnamese citizen of the second class.