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To what extent where the sixties "a period of exceptional cultural and social change"?In a century that has seen atoms split and genes spliced, the birth of space travel and pop culture, and the virtual demise of representational art and mainstream religion, the 1960's is hailed as a period of exceptional cultural and social change. In any other century this would be inarguable, but it has been an exceptional century, so how true is it? The sixties were a time for re-thinking established ideas, for shaking off the constraints of the previous generations. It was a time of unprecedented affluence. In particular it saw for the first time a distinct youth culture, with sufficient resources to exercise a degree of independence. Natural teenage rebellion could find outlets in alternative music, alternative politics, alternative religion, or any other alternative that presented itself. In turn, this culture of alternatives grew and flourished. Never before had such a widespread rebellion been undertaken by ones so young, or ones with so little need to rebel. These were not oppressed peasants or a persecuted minority: these were the children of affluent middle class families. This was exceptional. There was much to rebel against. Since the Second World War, the cold war between the USA and the USSR had been steadily intensifying. Global nuclear devastation seemed very possible. America's involvement in Vietnam gave rise to a large and vocal anti-war movement. Compared to the pro-war sentiments of 1914, when people were prepared to lie about their ages to join the war effort, this was a profound change that lasts to this day. The aftermath of the Second World War brought other changes. During the conflict, men of every race and social background had fought and died together against a common enemy. At the end of the war, society attempted to re-establish the old order, sometimes forcibly. This was most marked in the USA, where institutionalised racism reached quite fantastic levels. A black woman (Rosa Parks) refusing to give up a bus seat to a white man was an incident of national importance in 1955. When James Meredith attempted to enrol at Mississippi University in 1962, President Kennedy was forced to send in troops to restore order. In 1963, Governor Wallace barred admission of blacks into Alabama State University. Police spent three days suppressing a riot in Detroit in 1967 using high-calibre machine-guns and tanks, even though the demonstrators were unarmed (source A16). In this turbulent environment, Martin Luther King rose to prominence as one of the most charismatic leaders of the century. Even now millions revere him, and his speeches are still quoted. Through rallies and demonstrations, and despite riots, racism at the highest levels, and his own assassination, he led the civil rights movement to victory. Meanwhile, feminism was taking shape. Two major developments were the increasing availability of abortions, and the release of the contraceptive pill. This brought on a fundamental shift in women's views of themselves. Freed from the fear of pregnancy, they could for the first time have sex for pleasure and explore sexual possibilities. Feminist books such as Anna Koedt's Myth of the vaginal orgasm (1968), along with an increasing number of large-scale surveys and academic studies into sexual practices, began to question the 'facts' of sex. This change in attitude can still be seen. Sex and sexual technique is discussed openly on serious television. The contraceptive pill is taken routinely by teenaged girls. Compared especially to the priggish Victorian attitudes, the change has been exceptional. Interestingly, abortion is still as controversial a topic now (especially in the USA and many Catholic countries) as it was fifty years ago, so perhaps that change was less exceptional. Of course, it is simplistic to say that feminism began with the pill. The suffragette movement had its roots in the 19th century. It would also be simplistic to say that woman achieved equality in 1970. Equal pay for women was not legally enforced in Britain until 1975, and sexism is still common today. Similarly with racism and civil rights. Consider the Rodney King case in America - four LA police officers beat a black man to death; or the Stephen Lawrence case in Britain - a racial murder virtually ignored by a whole police department. The sixties certainly saw some exceptional changes, but as part of a wider change that is still going on. The pop music revolution was altogether different, but no less exceptional. Before the 1950's, there had been popular music, but not as we now know it. There was no real concept of 'pop groups', or 'teen idols', or even 'fans' as such until the emergence of rock and roll, and in particular of Elvis Presley in 1956. The significance of the change, and the controversy and fear that it brought, is difficult to appreciate now (although the attitudes can still be seen among conservative commentators today). But the changes did not stop with Elvis. Bob Dylan turned pop music into an instrument of social change (Blowin' in the Wind: 1963; The times they are a-changing: 1964). He inspired generations of politically aware songwriters to come. Everything from Band Aid to Punk Rock and Gangsta Rap owes a debt to him. Pink Floyd experimented with electronically synthesised sounds to create psychedelic music the like of which had never before been heard or been possible (Astronomy Domine: 1967). They paved they way for the synth-pop of the eighties (Depeche Mode, Jean-Michel Jarre) and the techno-dance of the nineties (Chemical Brothers, the Prodigy). The Doors turned their songs into a kind of drug-inspired poetry. Jimi Hendrix turned guitar playing into a dissonant art form. The Rolling Stones set the standard for live performance to which bands are still compared. Of course, it is difficult to over-estimate the influence of the Beatles. As early as 1964 they were recognised as something exceptional (source A11). Tomorrow Never Knows (1966) was ahead of anything by Pink Floyd. All you need is love (1967) had as big an influence as anything by Bob Dylan. Their experimentation with LSD and their interest in Transcendental meditation influenced entire nations. The sixties (if one extends 'the sixties' back to 1955) saw the birth and most significant changes in popular music, but it didn't end there. The revolution continued into the seventies and eighties, and to the present day. The examples I have given - rap, punk, techno - have been as revolutionary in their way as anything the sixties produced. In terms of pop music at least, the sixties may have been exceptional, but other decades have produced changes of comparable note. Classical music was undergoing its own revolution. Until the late fifties, the classical music establishment tended to restrict itself to a limited canon of works by respectable composers such as Mozart, Haydn or Beethoven. The Early Music Revival opened up the boundaries of classical music to include obscure works by unknown composers from hundreds of years passed. Although isolated groups of scholarly gentlemen had been looking at 'early' music for a hundred years or more, it was only now that it became a movement. Not only did the Revivalists attempt to rediscover medieval and renaissance music, they also attempted to rediscover an authentic style of performance. Musicians undertook historical research into what instruments would have been originally used, and how they would have been made. Some made their own instruments: hand crafted in as authentic a manner as possible (TV29). Others researched linguistics to recreate the accents of the day for greater authenticity in vocal performance (e.g. the pavane performed by Musica Reservata on AC12). Meanwhile, other composers took a different approach. Rather than attempt to recapture a lost musical form, they attempted to deconstruct and redefine musical boundaries. Toru Takemitsu drew influence from traditional Japanese music, and from the sounds of nature to produce works of almost pure timbre. By contrast, Steve Reich was inspired by a pair of Belgian Flamenco performers to write Clapping Music (1972) – a piece composed of a single repeating rhythm. Add pieces such as Peter Maxwell Davies' Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969), whose wild piano, tortured percussion and strange vocal sounds attempt to portray the tortured mind off King George III as he attempts to teach bullfinches to mimic an organ. But was it exceptional? The influence of the Early Music Revival has been far reaching. Most of us could now listen to a piece of music performed on a sackbut and recognise it as medieval. The more avant-garde developments however - like the modern art developments from Cézanne to Rothko - were really a progression of what had gone earlier. Stravinsky was experimenting with rhythm and dissonance as early as 1913 with Rite of Spring and Firebird in 1910, Toru Takemitsu composed Rain Tree as recently as 1981 but sites Debussy (1862-1918) as a major influence. So although the movement may be exceptional, it is not restricted to the sixties. Another progression was a general move of people from religion to science. From Darwin's theory of evolution, to the structure of atoms and DNA, science was explaining away more of life's mysteries, and the need for God was growing less. In the sixties however, a general movement became a fundamental shift. The emerging youth culture was growing weary of the establishment, and experimenting with alternatives. With the growth of television they could for the first time see into the cultures of faraway places such as India. Attracted perhaps by the vivid colours and the strange, exotic gods they begin to defect in large numbers to Hinduism (especially the 'Hare Krishna' movement), transcendental meditation, and other forms of religion and spiritual practices. At the same time, possibly as a direct reaction to this rebellion (a 'counter counter-culture culture'), there was an increase in fundamentalism. Cults and communes such as the "Jesus People" began springing up throughout the USA, recruiting just as many people as the new religious movements (NRMs). Additionally, there was a fundamentalist movement within the mainstream church. Figures such as Whitcomb and Morris in their book The Genesis Flood (1961) tried to reverse the trend of scientific encroachment by rewriting the theory of evolution and the Earth's creation to conform to the text of the bible. Charismatic evangelists like Billy Graham tried to revitalise religion and make it appeal to the new youth culture. Although of the thousands of people who joined cults and NRMs, most left within a year or two (source C3), still the effect of this rebellion can be seen today. Recent surveys in Britain (BBC 1; June 2000) suggest that the number of people regularly attending mainstream churches is at an all-time low. However, the number of people who think of themselves as 'religious' (or more often 'spiritual') is still high. It has become normal practice to follow a sort of indefinite private religion, believing without necessarily worshipping. Even though it is part of a movement that has been going on for 150 years, it is still an exceptional change. So were the sixties a time of exceptional cultural and social change? Undoubtedly yes, but so was every decade this century in one way or another. The early decades brought the car, the aeroplane, and the atomic bomb. More recent decades have seen the rise of computers, genetic engineering and satellite communications. However, the sixties were a decade that brought us more revolutions than any other. In a century of exceptional decades, the sixties were exceptionally exceptional. Bibliography
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