This lyric, repeated eight times throughout John Lennon's hit song, "Give Peace a Chance," made clear the desires of the America anti-war movement during the 1970s. The song reached 14th on the Billboard Hot 100, demonstrating its reach and influence throughout the US. (add more context here)
"Give Peace a Chance," Lennon's first hit solo song after leaving the Beatles, was one of many hit songs that criticized the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War. The era saw a number of songs released by prominent music artists including John Lennon, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen, among others. Songs like "Imagine," "Blowing in the Wind," and "Born in the USA" all shared one message: the war in Vietnam wasn't worth fighting for. Anti-war concerts were held across the nation, most notably in Carnegie Hall. Artists entertained crowds of thousands by performing hit protest songs and declaring that the "war is over."
While the music was all in support of ending the war, they differed in terms of content. "Imagine" by John Lennon placed an emphasis not only on ending the war but also on maintaining world peace. He emphasized world peace by urging his audience to "imagine" a world without religion, countries, or other possessions. "Blowin in the Wind" by Bob Dylan was actually written not as a protest song (Dylan himself stated that he didn't write protest songs) but later became one of the most famous anti-war songs of the era. "Bring 'em Home" by Pete Seeger had a clear message: to bring the American soldiers home.
These songs went on to rank highly on national and global charts, including the Billboard Hot 100, Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the Songs of the Century, and numerous global charts. They offer a unique perspective into the sentiment surrounding the 1960s: through a musician's perspective.
Sources:
http://vietnamfulldisclosure.org/index.php/10-top-anti-warprotest-songs-about-the-vietnam-war/
http://peacehistory-usfp.org/protest-music-vietnam-war/
https://www.cfr.org/blog/twenty-best-vietnam-protest-songs
Julia, this was a very interesting post. It is very interesting to see and also think about the different shapes and forms that the anti-war movement took. However, another interesting topic to explore would be how the US government attempted to reduce the impact of the anti-war movement. Since the anti-war movement had spread into many different fronts, such as music, the government had to reduce its impact on many different fronts as well. It was for this reason that the government harassed Lennon, compiled thorough reports on him, and even tried to have him deported. The severe way that they dealt with this issue shows the degree to which they saw the movement as a threat.
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This was a super interesting post about how political sentiments manifested themselves in art forms. Another art form that reflected the political climate of the Vietnam War era was theater--guerrilla theater performances demonstrated commitment to "revolutionary sociopolitical change" and were used by anti-war protesters to target the Vietnam war effort. Some examples of these theater productions and groups include the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Paradise Now by the Living Theatre, Hair by Broadway, and the Festival of Life by the Yippie movement (which was performed at the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention).
ReplyDeletehttps://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/19957/revolutionary_theatricality_1967-1968.pdf?sequence=1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_theatre
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ReplyDeleteThis is such a fascinating post, which makes clear the influence of the music in the United States at this controversial time. It is interesting to think about how many people have also been able to be influenced to different extents by the people themselves who are responsible for the music. The fact that artists as popular as John Lennon and Bob Dylan were the ones making these statements in their music could easily make someone feel passionately against the war, even one who may have not had a very strong opinion previously, simply because he or she could have been a big fan of the artist and respected the artist's opinion. Today, we continue to see how popular musicians express their views on divisive issues and politics in their music, often to encourage their fans to also support a certain viewpoint. For example, fairly recently, one artist who made a political statement in his music that had a lot of people talking was Eminem, who intended to draw a solid line between supporters of him and supporters of Trump in a performance released during the BET Awards last year.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/10/11/eminems-anti-trump-freestyle-wasnt-meant-for-the-resistance/?utm_term=.c0f987ea1241