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Peace, Love and Protest: What Ignited the Hippie Movement of the 1970s?

  • Writer: Lucy Denning
    Lucy Denning
  • 1 day ago
  • 10 min read

This article will focus on the Hippie movement of the 1970s, discussing a variety of aspects of the movement, ranging from the Vietnam war, the drug culture, right up to the influence that music had.


The Hippie movement is a countercultural movement that began as a subculture that rejected the mainstreams of American life during that time; in particular, the Vietnam War. The decade that will be focused on is from 1965 to 1975. The movement began around 1968 when an estimated 300,000 Americans were considered Hippies. The Hippies were out to transform the American system, challenge societal norms, and spread peace. There was not one standalone leader of the hippie movement, but Jerry Ruben had a huge impact on what their core values were. In 1968 he stated that Hippies believed America was too obsessed with grooming themselves, how they looked and their appearance. He stated that America was not concerned enough about other problems such as poverty and racial oppression. The youth of the late 1960s and early 1970s were a standout generation and were considered outsiders and rebels by older generations.  With this said, the Hippies thrived on their generational solidarity. According to Graham Nash, one of the first signs that somebody was a Hippie was long hair, especially in men. “If you saw a man with long hair you knew instantly the social and political standpoint, you knew how they thought and what their values were” (Nash, 1991)

 


Figure 1
Figure 1

Young, Stills, Crosby and Nash

 


 

VIETNAM WAR

 

There were various components that sparked the Hippie movement, but America’s involvement in the Vietnam War was where the initiation of the Hippies lies. The introduction of television into American households meant that the nation could view war in excruciating detail for the first time.  Unlike wars prior, America was able to witness just what was happening to their people over in Vietnam. This would have had a huge impact on the youth who remained safe on American soil. Seeing their peers in turmoil abroad sparked a sense of duty to end this madness and bring them safely home. Due to having deferments, Students did not have to go to war, thus the effect of leaving behind the youth that actually had that voice and social standing meant that the college students utilised the power to express their opinions and they spread the word that they disagreed with the idea of war and instead we should “spread love”. The youth that did not have to go to war rebelled together, this is the community that became known as Hippies. According to Sarah Pruitt via History.com “The Hippie counterculture reached its height during the escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam and subsided as the conflict drew to a close.” (Pruitt, 2018) They promoted understanding and respect as a replacement for mainstream regimentation that they saw in middle-class society. They were coined ‘flower children’ as they used flowers as a symbol of peace and harmony and to spread their mission of “make love, not war”. Their flower power was represented through fashion, as they donned flower prints on their clothing and wore flower crowns on their heads. The Hippies were enraged by the lack of concern for problems around the world, including the Vietnam War, as stated above, Jerry Rubin was a revolutionary in 1960s culture, he believed that America was too concerned about their looks and hygiene, as opposed to what was really going on in the world. When it comes to demonstrating your viewpoints and expressing yourself through the way that you look, Rubin puts it plainly when he says “I think a generation of kids which says we don’t care about your concepts of cleanliness is a revolutionary generation” (Rubin, 1968). This lead to Hippies not grooming themselves, in turn their hair grew long, men had long hair and beards, there was a lack of deodorant and perfume, as well as an overload of flared pants, ponchos, ripped oversized jeans and old shirts. This was one of the most profound times in history for youth expressing themselves so strongly through the things that they wore, and to put it like Carol Rissman, the narrator of ‘Making Sense of The Sixties’, “young people began to care a great deal about looking like they didn’t care how they looked” (Rissman,1991).

 

 

PSYCHEDELICS

 

According to artists and creatives of the time, psychedelic drugs were a major factor of music, culture and fashion during the 60s and 70s. The drug scene of the time was one like no other. ‘Rolling Stone’ delves into this era in their miniseries ‘1973: Shaping the Culture’, journalist Martin Torhoff states “there was something communitarian” about the drug culture and the drug scene of the 1960s and that drugs and psychedelics had a major impact on both the writing of music and creative material in the late 1960s and early 1970s (Torhoff, 2016).  Artists such as The Beatles, The Byrds and Lou Reed, were taking psychedelic drugs while creating the music and the audience was, in turn, taking them while listening to the music. Rolling Stone also gives insight on the way that drugs were perceived by the youth of this time. They were being told that drugs were good for them, for example, and they were misled that illicit drugs such as cocaine were “not addictive” and will in fact “increase your intelligence”. This lead to artists utilising illicit drugs as a sort of ‘creative fuel’. Some of these drugs allowed people to stay up for days on end making music and creating (Hermes, 2016). American historian, W. J. Rorabaugh, observed firsthand the Hippie culture of the mid to late 1960s, he stated “The hippie counterculture, more than anything else, was about taking LSD. Seeking spiritual perfection through drugs, but particularly through psychedelic drugs.”

 

This drug culture was heavily fuelled by higher status people such as Dr. Timothy Leary, an American psychologist and college lecturer in clinical psychoanalysis, who was also a major activist for mind altering psychedelic drugs such as LSD. Allen Ginsberg, an American poet and writer, referred to Leary as “a hero of American consciousness”. The hippies, eager for a new form of spirituality and awakening, followed Leary’s guidance on altered states of consciousness blindly. Leary claimed that mind altering drugs such as LSD should be used in clinical psychiatry as a way of expanding one’s view of themselves and of the world around them. Leary openly admitted to regularly utilising LSD himself as a way to open up different channels of his mind to broaden his perception of reality (Leary, 1967). Leary did however, explain that psychedelic drugs are highly addictive and can sometimes be lethal, he never tried to hide the truth of the dark sides of drugs, but this did not stop him from promoting them until his final days. All that being said, the drug culture of the time effected not only the Hippies’ views of the world, but it also had an effect on the way they dressed. Psychedelic colour was used in their fashion, bright colours such as neon oranges and pinks were incorporated into their attire using tie-dye techniques and creating a trippy and psychedelic pattern, their clothes were often oversized, creating a flowy silhouette which coincided with their free personalities and spirits. 


 

 

 

MUSIC

 

Going hand in hand with psychedelics and spiritual freedom is the music culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Psychedelic music and protest songs were the playlist of the Hippie counterculture.  Artists such as The Beatles, The Byrds and Jefferson Airplane created music that would shape a generation. The beginning of psychedelic music was The Beatles’,‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, released in 1967, this song creates the illusion of psychedelics and nostalgia mixed into one. A sense of innocence and joy is paired with psychedelic sounds that can almost create visions on their own.  When paired with mind altering drugs, the Hippies would have been in their element. Music was not only meaningful to hippies as something to get lost in, music also helped to spread the messages that Hippies were trying to convey, while subsequently becoming their anthems. “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by The Byrds (1965) is another of the original Hippie anthems and has one of the strongest messages of the time; “to everything, there is a season”. Pete Seeger of The Byrds said “the world is full of opposites inter-tangled, the good and bad tangling up all the time” (Seeger, 2009). The song ends with a sense of hope for the future, that maybe it is time for the ‘good’, “a time for peace, I swear it’s not too late”. Through their songs, The Byrds spread awareness for social change, peace and love through music, this message was welcomed by Hippies and is still present and relevant today. Another prominent song is “All You Need Is Love” by The Beatles, released at the prime time for Hippie culture, 1967, it became the ultimate Hippie anthem. It was still early days for the Hippie movement and the message in this song was received loud and clear to the youth of the late 1960s “There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be, it's easy, all you need Is love”. The Hippie culture needed this song, especially in America due to the war in Vietnam, and the message was accepted with open arms, they believed that the world needed this message too, and change was vital. Although “All You Need Is Love” is a stand out song, in his solo career, John Lennon had a number of protest songs that took over the charts worldwide and have become timeless anthems for the Hippie movement. One of which being “Give Peace a Chance”, released in 1969, Lennon teamed up with partner Yoko Ono and performed this song with their band The Plastic Ono. The track is strong and the message is clear “all we are saying is give peace a chance”, that is, as an alternative to war, has ‘peace’ ever really been tried? It is meant to be chanted by a large group of people, thus its impact within the movement was significant, as it gave them something to sing along to and feel that sense of togetherness. The song has one clear and strong message of spreading peace. Lennon kept this message alive with his 1971 hit “Imagine”. The entire song is quotable and relevant toward hippie culture and values, within its lyrics is a constant challenging of societal norms and beliefs, leaving listeners wondering if there is a possibility of this life that Lennon is picturing “Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do, nothing to kill or die for and no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace”. Lennon sums up the entirety of the Hippies’ core values in just three minutes, while challenging the values of society.

 

It is the music that these artists provided us with that has fuelled the want for social change and spread this message all over the world, thanks to these artists using their platform for awareness, the Hippies’ message was loud and clear at a time when it was difficult to have their voices heard. Even to this day, these songs are relevant and still in use for social change in modern times, the Hippie movement created a lasting impact on the world and change began to take place fast. Seeger observed this and stated that “the agricultural revolution took thousands of years, the industrial revolution took hundreds of years and now the information revolution is only taking decades” (Seegar, 2009).

 

Music influenced Hippie fashion by creating idols that they could look up to, this meant that they would begin to dress like them. A prominent example of this is the way in which Janis Joplin dressed. From her flared bell sleeved blouses to her iconic accessorizing with round rimmed, coloured lense glasses and jewellery such as multiple statement rings and beaded necklaces. The youth began to wear similar items of clothing. Another prominent influence the music scene had on Hippie fashion was the widespread message of peace, as mentioned previously, Hippies displayed symbols of peace through the use of flowers, but what was also a central item of hippie fashion is the peace symbol necklace. The peace symbol necklace can be associated with their protest for peace and love, while also being a link to the music that they were listening too. Hippie fashion incorporated rhythm and harmony, although generally at the time these were clothes that weren’t often worn, somehow the elements of clothing paired together beautifully, creating movement and direction in the outfit.

 

 


Figure 2
Figure 2

Hippy at Woodstock Music and Arts Fair in Bethel, New York, 1969


 



In August of 1969 Woodstock music and art fair took place in Bethel, New York, an event that would go down in history as one of the most profound events in music, and society in general. 100,000 tickets sold but almost half a million people attended.  Advertised as ‘three days of peace, love and music, naturally it was ‘the place to be’. With some of the biggest acts of the time performing, such as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater, The Who and Jefferson Airplane. For Hippies there was a sense of community in going to festivals such as Woodstock together and meeting like-minded people, often they would arrive together in vans or buses that they had painted themselves. Hippies were often rejected and misunderstood by their own families because of their beliefs or lifestyle, so travelling and staying together provided them with a community and they became each other’s family. For some, festivals meant dressing extra bold with quite loud prints and patterns (see figure 2). Festivals sometimes meant that Hippies would show off their best clothing, often the most colourful. Due to the amount of traveling that was required not only to attend these festivals, but in general for a Hippie lifestyle, they would often pack light, meaning that those clothes would be worn for many days on end.

 

In conclusion, the Hippie countercultural movement was a short, unique period in history, which was formed by the convergence of the political, social and pop culture influences of the time. These influences were primarily The Vietnam War, psychedelic drugs and music. Ultimately resulting in the instantly recognisable fashion, strong standing views and distinct music of those who called themselves Hippies.


References


 
 
 

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Nelson King
Nelson King
a day ago
Rated 5 out of 5 stars.

Excellent work Luce 🩷🩷

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