While on the topic of Black Power I thought about looking up some music from that era and was not let down. 

This is a album of a bunch of different music from the black empowerment era, with my new favorite song “Right On” by Earl Deroven and Marvin Gaye that was produced in 1971. I love finding different music and its especially interesting when it has a direct connection to history.

In the evolution of American music culture, the style of clothing varied dramatically with every unique era. Pictured here is Biggie Smalls (1972-1997) in his world famous Coogi (Austrailia) brand sweater.  When taking this style and comparing it to that of the pre-depression swing/jazz era of the 1920’s, there is a clear contrast between the two. It’s interesting how dramatically something as simple as the stiching in clothes evolve as America does.

The hippie movement didn’t just disappear, it just went mainstream. The sixties came and went, the drama of the cold war, Nixon, all of it, just evaporated into the disco filled era of the eighties. The hippies however, managed to have enough of an impact on our culture that you can now see it everywhere. Coachella music festival for instance, is essentially Woodstock all over again. I didn’t go this year, but my girlfriend did, and I have been to enough festivals to have a general idea of what it was like. It may not have been as much of a free for all as Woodstock was in the sixties, but it was damn close. The picture above definitely captures this, as several girls dance in what  outfits you could easily imagine seeing as hippie garb back then.

I know we aren’t using the clickers anymore, but I still think they are a valid topic of conversation considering this is a digital class. While they are obsolete for History 110, they will also be obsolete within the next couple of decades. Neural implants will soon replace them, allowing us to manipulate and respond to the world around us simply by thinking it. This may sound like pure science-fiction, but just look at what Google is doing with their new glasses… they aren’t too far away from becoming integrated with our very being.

This week in class we are learning about Hippies and when I walked into my suite mates room he has this jacket with vibrant colors that reminds me of the lecture this week on hippies. The word hippie or hipster was a term that originated on college campuses durring the 1960’s and 1970’s. these were people who were involved in a countercultural movement that rejected the mores of mainstream American life.

I live in the Bay Area and; therefore, have frequented San Francisco as I was born there. I have been by haight and ashbury many times, and I recently learned its historical value and representation of the hippie movement in the 60’s. I remember taking this picture of my friend when we were shopping in the city on haight, which I found coincidental since we were learning about hippies this week. It is now a park where the homeless and drug abusers call home, no where near the greatness it was in its hay day.

Coachella, where hippies and wannabe hippies gather once a year for a music festival. This music festival occurs in a 3 day weekend in 2 sessions. It is known for having an incredible atmosphere and good music. Like Woodstock, drug and alcohol use is the social norm in that environment. The outrageous fashion sets them into another world, also similar to what is was like back then. ,Instead of the song lyric “When you go to San Francisco, remember to put flowers in your hair.” Now, in today’s day and age, it should be, “when you go to coachella, remember to put flowers in your hair.”

For my class essay I chose to talk about the Vietnam War’s influence in music, but more specifically its influence in punk. However, when i was researching, I kept on running into the very famous soul album What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye. This album was made and released during the turmoil of the Vietnam War in America and dealt with issues that revolved around the war and era. At the time the album was made, Marvin Gaye was going through as serious depression; his brother had just returned from serving in Vietnam, racism was very present in America, and poverty and inequality was seen everywhere. Marvin Gaye chose to have his album tackle this issues and the result was an album that has stood the test of time and remains a landmark classic. I would have loved to use the album but since I was focusing on the Punk genre I was unable to use it in my essay. Amazing album and definitely worth a listen today.

In spirit of the lecture we just had regarding the beatniks, hippies, tie-dye, etc., I asked my roommate (who makes tie-dye clothes often) to take one of my blank white shirts and make me one. I thought it turned out really well and also kind of correlates to the fashion stigmas during the period we have been looking at in class.

This week in class Dr.Putnam spoke about hippies and the movement they started. Towards the end of class he presented a video that portrayed a kind of space hippie in a Star Trek Episode. This reminded me of an episode of Futurama named Bendin’ in the wind, where the character Fry and gang take an old Volkswagen that was stereotypical of hippies of the time, to travel all across the country. Along the way their clothes became stained in a kind of tie dye that hippies were known to wear. While the episode did not deal with the hippie movement itself, the way the characters presented themselves in their tie dye and Volkswagen, and the concert at the end was an homage to the life of hippies themselves.

– Nick Thips –