rock music: Protest Songs and the Drug Culture

In the 1960s music mirrored the tensions of the Vietnam War era and played an important role in American culture. The verbal content of rock songs turned toward rebellion, social protest, sex, and, increasingly, drugs. Many groups, among them Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, tried to approximate in music the aural experience of psychedelic drugs, producing long, repetitive, occasionally exquisite songs with surreal lyrics (known as “acid rock” or “hard rock”).

In 1967 the Beatles again made history with their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which, in addition to including drug-oriented songs, presented a body of interrelated pieces that constituted an organic whole. This is considered the first “concept album.” Subsequent products of this trend were rock musicals such as Hair (1968) and rock operas like Tommy, composed and sung by the Who.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• The Late 1970s to the Present—Punk Rock, the Music Video, and Middle-aged Rockers
• Rock Comes of Age
• Protest Songs and the Drug Culture
• Folk Rock
• The Late 1950s and Early 60s—Elvis, Motown, and the British Invasion
• The 1950s—Bill Haley and Rock 'n' Roll
• Origins of Rock
• Bibliography

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