Mainstream America
By: Devin Oneal 5/5/2015
Life Style
They were very patriotic
They believed in the institution of marriage
They believed in the American Dream
They believed conformity kept society ordered
Jimi Hendrix
Elvis Presley
The Beatles
Drugs in the 60's and 70's
While marijuana was most popular, the mind-altering LSD or “acid” was increasing in use.
As drugs grew in popularity, newspapers & schools pointed out the increasing numbers of youth dying from drug overdoses
Music in the 60's and 70's
The folk, pop, & rock music of the 1960s also challenged mainstream values.
Bob Dylan’s folk songs, like The Times They Are A-Changin’, became anthems, promoting social justice.
The Beatles sang about a “Revolution” inspiring youth to change their world, while Joni Mitchell sang about preserving nature in Big Yellow Taxi
By late 60s, psychedelic rock was in vogue w/groups like Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, & the Doors, Led Zeppelin heavy guitar & explicit sex & drug references
In ’69, these elements all came together at a farm in NY at the Woodstock festival. More than 500K people came together to camp out, take drugs, engage in free love, & listen to rock
Sexual Revolution
The ’60s saw a revolution in the realm of human sexuality and the c-c was largely responsible for it.
Teens scoffed at their parents’ values & called them sexually repressed.
They called for “free love” or casual sex.
Medical advances, like the birth control pill, made sexual activity without fear of pregnancy easier.
Soon the country was seeing the effects of this “new freedom”- women went braless, movies showed sex b/t men and women, & songs made explicit references to sex
It should also be noted that the gay rights movement began as a result of this new freedom
There was also an incredible rise in STDs &, despite improved birth control, illegitimate children born