The 1960's represented a time of change in America. One of the main contributors to this change in America was a development of a new style of music. During this time, bands like The Beatles and Rolling Stones began to sing about sex, drugs, and peace, which had not previously been done before. Because of these new lyrics, the younger generation of people began to form a movement where unity, togetherness, and rebellion against "the man " became of utmost importance. During the 1960's, The Beatles created a movement amongst young Americans while The Rolling Stones created a darker and grittier image that even went as far as frightening parents. .
During the 1960's, America was in the middle of a war against Vietnam. The military used tactics such as chemical and guerilla warfare to assault people in Vietnam. Many people throughout the United States did not agree with the tactics taken by the military and began to voice their opinions. The Beatles were becoming extremely popular during this time and decided that they would use their music as a means of displaying their feelings towards the war. One example of this is the song "Revolution ", written by John Lennon. Lennon wrote the song in order to show his concern of the leftist motives used in Vietnam. In the song, Lennon shows that he is not approving of the war by saying, "We all want to change the world, but when you talk about destruction, don't you know you can count me out. " Due to the Beatles' popularity, many young Americans also began to show their displeasure with the war. The most notable way this was displayed was in May of 1965 at UC Berkeley. Between ten and thirty thousand students and faculty sat on the college campus for thirty six hours straight and gave speeches about how displeased they were with the war. At this time in American history, thousands upon thousands of people were displaying how they were displeased with the war.