Brief Evaluation of the Vietnam War's effect on popular music
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By the time the war had ended in 1975, popular music had been changed forever.
Over the course of the war, things had changed. Simple, optimistic pop songs that had previously topped the charts had turned into social critiques of the American lifestyle, and sophisticated statements made through the whole running time of an LP. The American consciousness started to become painfully aware of the reality of the situation during the mid-60ʼs, and this is where the shift in music becomes obvious. Instead of the family oriented hits, things became serious. Bands in the limelight in 1966 were the Byrds, Bob
Dylan, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and Simon and
Garfunkel. And it wasnʼt just about the music anymore, it was about the words too, and how much of a statement an artist could make between the two.
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One of the most significant changes came in the shift from the popularity of the single to the LP. Through an LP, an artist could make a statement over the course of 40-50 minutes, not just 3. The Beatles and their groundbreaking LP “Rubber Soul” become the first real LP to contain no filler. It was a series of songs meant to be heard together. The
Beach Boys took this a step further with Pet Sounds, a full album of artistic, introspective songs that reaffirmed the LP as the new means of making art through music. Within a year, some of the greatest LPʼs in music were being released 1.
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However, this was a change in the delivery in music. Along with this change came three major shifts in music in relation to the Vietnam war. Type A 2: Protest songs, which were songs directly opposed the Vietnam war. Type B 3: War lyric songs, songs that used the Vietnam war as subject matter for the song. Type C 4: Dark songs, songs that were intentionally dark, through lyrics or the music itself. All three of these types had songs written with them in the mid 60ʼs, and many overlapped.
!
This shift in music happened very quickly.
By the time the war had ended in 1975, popular music had been changed forever.
Over the course of the war, things had changed. Simple, optimistic pop songs that had previously topped the charts had turned into social critiques of the American lifestyle, and sophisticated statements made through the whole running time of an LP. The American consciousness started to become painfully aware of the reality of the situation during the mid-60ʼs, and this is where the shift in music becomes obvious. Instead of the family oriented hits, things became serious. Bands in the limelight in 1966 were the Byrds, Bob
Dylan, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and Simon and
Garfunkel. And it wasnʼt just about the music anymore, it was about the words too, and how much of a statement an artist could make between the two.
!
One of the most significant changes came in the shift from the popularity of the single to the LP. Through an LP, an artist could make a statement over the course of 40-50 minutes, not just 3. The Beatles and their groundbreaking LP “Rubber Soul” become the first real LP to contain no filler. It was a series of songs meant to be heard together. The
Beach Boys took this a step further with Pet Sounds, a full album of artistic, introspective songs that reaffirmed the LP as the new means of making art through music. Within a year, some of the greatest LPʼs in music were being released 1.
!
However, this was a change in the delivery in music. Along with this change came three major shifts in music in relation to the Vietnam war. Type A 2: Protest songs, which were songs directly opposed the Vietnam war. Type B 3: War lyric songs, songs that used the Vietnam war as subject matter for the song. Type C 4: Dark songs, songs that were intentionally dark, through lyrics or the music itself. All three of these types had songs written with them in the mid 60ʼs, and many overlapped.
!
This shift in music happened very quickly.