Vietnam: America’s First Rock-And-Roll War

Vietnam: America ’ s First Rock-And-Roll War Essay, Research Paper

Vietnam: America? s First Rock-and-Roll War

The Vietnam War could non compare to any other war the United States had seen

before. The mean age of soldiers was 19, and some figures gather that 90 per centum were

all under the age of 23. This was besides the first war in which the GIs listened to antiwar

and protest vocals while contending in the struggle. In old wars, the music had ever

been supportive, more or less concealing the truth of what was truly traveling on.

With Vietnam

it really told the soldiers and their households what was truly go oning: murdering

guiltless people for a doomed or unknown ground. Like may people back place, many GIs

brought their gustatory sensation of music into the front lines. Rock was the most popular type of music

at that clip.

World War II was different from the Vietnam War in that the mid-fortiess witnessed a

incorporate mission of contending fascism and Nazism.

In the latter phases of the Vietnam War,

there was no such integrity of intent. Music has ever provided demand alleviation during

wartime, but in W.W.II, and Korea there was non the separation in musical penchant

between enlisted work forces and officers that occurred during the Vietnam War. Soldiers frequently

complained that Armed Forces Vietnam Radio broadcasts were geared to officers, with

light classical music scattered among what the soldiers called? square, tennybopperish, polka

party, or bubble-gum music. ? One soldier, who spoke anonymously in Rolling Stone,

called Armed Forces Radio the? universe? s *censored*tiest, small-town, Midwest,

old-women-right-wing, plastic, useless, propagandizing, bummer, unturned-on, controlled,

low-fidelity, non-stereo type of music ever. ? Harmonizing to an interview in Rolling Stone,

most enlisted work forces preferred difficult stone or psychedelic music ; 30 per centum enjoyed beat

and blues ; 10 per centum state ; 5 per centum classical and 10 per centum common people. There were many

different types of stone music. However, the most popular was protest music. During the

tardily sixtiess, the stone civilization and protest music became known as Anti-Vietnam and

non-violent music. One such protest vocal? The Times They are a-Changin? written by

Bob Dylan in

1964, with its wordss? gave a warning to authorization that America was

sing a new consciousness, and that the constitution ( authorities ) have to confront

the resistance of much of the population, particularly in the young. ? This helped the flower

kids expand non merely their heads, but the thoughts of sexual release, personal release,

and the thoughts of peace and love. Many of the vocals written during this epoch were written to

connote what life was like in Vietnam. Such vocals as? Purple Haze? by Jimi Hendrix had the

allusion of the violet fume left on the landing zones. In another vocal, ? Charming Mystery

Tour? by The Beatles, the lines? coming to take you off, deceasing to take you off, ? held

particular significance for those Marines at the Khe Sanh, because the authorities forced them

to travel to war, and they were literally? deceasing? to be taken off.

Many Asiatic sets tried to copy British and American stone groups and execute

such vocals as? San Francisco? ( Be Certain to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair ) , ? Hey

Jude, ? ? Simon Says, ? ? Gloria, ? and? Black Is Black. ? These hapless diversions gave the

soldiers a gleam of place and hope. These types of vocals protested against the inexperienced person

slaughter of American work forces, every bit good as Vietnamese work forces who were forced to contend against

one another. The decennary of the 1960ss brought with it the thought of drugs, sex and

rock ‘n’ roll – which was what was truly traveling on non merely at place, but on the

battleground. The black market and harlotry allowed the soldiers some freedom to acquire

off from the violent death.

The music of Vietnam was nil like anything of all time seen earlier. What was

really go oning out on the field was what the instrumentalists were really singing about.

But did music truly lend to the stoping of the war? Did the constructs of free love

and peace aid? Whether the music really changed heads or non, there is no uncertainty that

it helped those that were involved in it feel like they really did something worthwhile.

They were non merely sitting place pretense that perfectly nil was go oning ; they

were contending their ain conflict: a conflict against the constitution and those who

erroneously claimed to cognize what was right and what was incorrect.