Music and History of the '60s: A Tumultuous Decade

• Week 1: Rock and roll is here to stay
  The world wanted to put the horrors of the Second World War behind it and turn its attention to what was most important: home and family. From this came a young generation, eager to experience a new peaceful world, with new technologies and a new optimism. And they wanted their own music. Meanwhile, blues and jazz were making their way up the Mississippi to a more affluent North. Radio stations began to play “race music” and kids began to dance to a new beat: rock and roll. 
• Week 2: The peaceful transition
  After a few tragedies and legal missteps by leading rock-and-roll artists, music took on a more commercially polished, less edgy style. Marketing frequently emphasized the artist’s physical looks rather than the music, leading to the creation of “teen idols”. At the beginning of the ’60s, the sounds on the radio were softer, more conservative and much less rock-and-roll. Parents breathed a sigh of relief as their kids listened to Connie Francis and Ricky Nelson– “safe” white teen idols with glowing white teeth. 
• Week 3: Let’s dance!
  The early ’60s ushered in new sounds, with small groups of musicians writing their own songs and playing their own instruments. The sound of the surf came from California; the British Invasion brought “Swinging England” to North America. Soul music moved from Memphis to the mainstream, and a small Detroit label named Motown made a big sound in dance music. But things had changed: the U.S. president was assassinated and the Cold War heated up with Russian missiles in Cuba. People needed this new music to take their minds off world tensions. 
• Week 4: For the times, they are a-changin’ 
  The mid ’60s saw the rise of the Civil Rights movement and the beginning of the anti-Vietnam War movement. Protests often turned violent and the world became polarized. Music lost some of its happiness and optimism, becoming a little more introspective and taking on a decidedly political edge that reflected the world of the time. The music no longer asked “Do You Love Me?”; it asked “How Many Roads Must a Man Walk Down?”
• Week 5: Turn on, tune in and drop out
  The late ’60s continued the urgent call for a Civil Rights Act and the withdrawal from Vietnam. These years brought violent protests and, when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, racial tensions exploded with riots in Memphis and Detroit, homes of music that actually broke down racial barriers. Add LSD to the mix and a whole new movement began, starting in San Francisco: “Tune in, turn on and drop out.”
• Week 6: Reality bites!
  The 1960s began to fade with the death of Meredith Hunter at a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California. Music was becoming more aggressive and more strident as the country became yet more polarized and yet more fatigued by the continuation of the Vietnam War. The year 1970 was the beginning of a new era, and a new music: disco. We’ll take a sneak peek at what ’70s music would look like. 

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

• Describe the evolution of popular music in North America over the 1960s
• Give examples of and describe different styles of popular North American music of the 1960s
• Explain how wider North American culture and historical events influenced popular music (and vice versa) during this period

• Lectures
• Participation in discussions
  
• Supplementary resources accessed through Canvas
  
• Reflective essay (applicable only to certificate students)

No textbook is required. We will provide all course materials online.