I mean, in terms of Pop-culture music, and to a lesser extent other aspects like fashion, technology.etc. I mean, the psuedo-pre Kennedy-assasination 60s (which I think ended with the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, and of course the president), Mod/Rock culture in the early and mid-60s, and finally psychadelic rock. How further apart could 1962 and 1967 be? In the space of a mere 5 years! The difference is like between 1981 and 2005, New Wave and techno. I'm just wondering what exactly it was that caused the rapid change. As the 1969 Newman Thunderclap song said, 'There's something in the air,' but what exactly that is, I don't yet know. Your thoughts?

I mean, in terms of Pop-culture music, and to a lesser extent other aspects like fashion, technology.etc. I mean, the psuedo-pre Kennedy-assasination 60s (which I think ended with the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, and of course the president), Mod/Rock culture in the early and mid-60s, and finally psychadelic rock. How further apart could 1962 and 1967 be? In the space of a mere 5 years! The difference is like between 1981 and 2005, New Wave and techno. I'm just wondering what exactly it was that caused the rapid change. As the 1969 Newman Thunderclap song said, 'There's something in the air,' but what exactly that is, I don't yet know. Your thoughts?


Could it have something to do with a generation of artists discovering LSD? ???

Could it have something to do with a generation of artists discovering LSD? ???


LSD was used by artists/poets 'arty' people before the mainstream (throughout the 60s), but didn't become popular until well known groups like the Beatles and the Doors made it fashionable. I don't know how serious you are, but I can barely give LSD credit for an artistic renaissance like the 60s music revolution.

LSD was used by artists/poets 'arty' people before the mainstream (throughout the 60s), but didn't become popular until well known groups like the Beatles and the Doors made it fashionable. I don't know how serious you are, but I can barely give LSD credit for an artistic renaissance like the 60s music revolution.


Well, I'm serious about it being a factor.  I'm not an historian...I'm more of a conceptual person myself...so I'm not great at discussing these types of things in detail but I think the drugs of the 60s opened up the creative expression of those you mentioned (as well as Warhol? Kerouac? -- artists in other mediums?)  And through their artistic example (not just their drug example), some big doors were opened in other creative people.  They took leaps in their fields and others followed. 

Also, how about technological growth...when there was suddenly a tv in every house -- or even more than one in the later 60s...and more people were exposed to things that they never were exposed to before -- in terms of art, music, politics, and also religion.  Not only did artists spread new ways of expression....but they brought out to the public ideas of new ways of spirituality.  Then there was the intense political atmosphere which heightened emotions on a mass public scale.  Put these altogether and you get a decade that stands out as developing in a unique way. 

Lastly, the 50s were pretty structured.  And, conceptually, there is a sort of public-mood (more specifically 'zeitgeist' if you're familiar with that term) pendulum in this country.  Perhaps it had swung so far toward the social structure ("Leave it to Beaver" style) side of life that it was ready to take a full swing in the other direction.

Lots of factors.  What do you think?

The "Sixties" as they're known today really didn't start until about 1964. 

Yes, I agree with you, CeeKay, that there was a kind of 'liberation' etc and drugs were partly an impetus and partly a side-effect of this whole liberating movement which both exploded and bloomed sometime in the sixties. You mentioned Kerouac, which is interesting, as Kerouac was actually a beat poet/writer whose immortal book, 'On The Road' spawned the 'dream' held by hippies and dreamers during those years. 1967 - myths aside - had such a strong 'zeitgeist', no other year of the 20th century had a comparable mythology to 1967. Warhol himself was not really one to subscribe to using drugs to boost creativity, but he did precede over the very trippy 'Factory' and its many tripped out artists, like the Velvet Underground.

Yes, I agree with you, CeeKay, that there was a kind of 'liberation' etc and drugs were partly an impetus and partly a side-effect of this whole liberating movement which both exploded and bloomed sometime in the sixties. You mentioned Kerouac, which is interesting, as Kerouac was actually a beat poet/writer whose immortal book, 'On The Road' spawned the 'dream' held by hippies and dreamers during those years. 1967 - myths aside - had such a strong 'zeitgeist', no other year of the 20th century had a comparable mythology to 1967. Warhol himself was not really one to subscribe to using drugs to boost creativity, but he did precede over the very trippy 'Factory' and its many tripped out artists, like the Velvet Underground.


Thanks.  Nice summary.  Sounds like you know your 60s social history!

I remember reading "On The Road" when I was 16!  So now I hang out with a group of poets.  And one guy who shows up at the larger events in Southern CO is Jack Mueller -- he hung out with Kerouac back in those days.  He's the oldest guy in this bunch and he's hysterical!  I love picturing what it was like when those 'beatniks' were just getting things going in CA or NYC....road trips to Mexico or whatever.  What a blast.  My mom tells me I was born a decade too late (I was 8 in '67 instead of 18)  ;)

Thanks.  Nice summary.  Sounds like you know your 60s social history!

I remember reading "On The Road" when I was 16!  So now I hang out with a group of poets.  And one guy who shows up at the larger events in Southern CO is Jack Mueller -- he hung out with Kerouac back in those days.  He's the oldest guy in this bunch and he's hysterical!  I love picturing what it was like when those 'beatniks' were just getting things going in CA or NYC....road trips to Mexico or whatever.  What a blast.  My mom tells me I was born a decade too late (I was 8 in '67 instead of 18)  ;)


It's still better than being -17 in 1967  ;D. But yeah, I'm hopelessly in love with the 60s as a decade, and a lesser extent the 50s, which from movies seemed like such a romantic decade. San Francisco in the 50s would've been a late-Romantic poet's dream, a bit like Paris in the 1920s. I don't really know that much about the 60s, just get what I know from reading music bios, music books.etc. Mainly from a music-viewpoint.