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The 1960s Counterculture

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             One large aspect of the culture of the counterculture was drugs. Marijuana and LSD were two of the most abundant things found around the hippies and especially in their communes. But on October 6, 1966 the state of California made LSD a control substance therefore making it illegal and this being such a key part of the hippie lifestyle many people were very unhappy. The areas of Haight-Ashbury and the other communes of hippies in the area gathered in the panhandle area of the Golden Gate Park to show their defiance of this new law. This became know as the Love Pageant Rally. This rally however was one of the celebration rather than a protest. The leader of the organization Allen Cohen said, " Without confirmation we wanted to create a celebration of innocence. We were not guilty of using illegal substances. We were celebrating transcendental consciousness. The beauty of the universe. The beauty of being."1 Up to two thousand people gathered in the park that day and bands such as the Grateful Dead, the Holding Company, and Wildflower played. The people that gathered in the park that day to celebrate their drug of choice and listen to music were also encouraged to ""the color gold photos of personal saints and gurus and heroes of the underground children flowers flutes drums feathers bands beads banners flags incense chimes gongs cymbals symbols costumes."2 This rally only lasted a day but to finish the day of celebration a group reading from a psychedelic manifesto was done while at the same time many people place a tablet of acid on their tongues' in unison. This was just another way to celebrate their drug of choice and to show their continued use and beliefs in LSD. Although this rally was not one of the largest events for the counterculture it was one event that inspired the events of that summer which became known was the Summer of Love and the Human Be-In movement which took place in the Golden Gate Park as well.


Essays Related to The 1960s Counterculture

1. How The Music Of The 60's Influenced The Differences And Beliefs Between The Older And Younger Generation

... lifestyles were less pronounced Class distinctions were more pronounced." The younger generation, those of the "counterculture," as opposed to the "consensus era," embraced anti-commercialism, sexual freedom, drugs, and generally revolted against the conventions of society and politics as usual. Thus the society was divided, and this partition shone through in the music. Some musicians in the 1960s tried to unite the age-divided country, or at least tried to ... make those who opposed the counterculture movement understand it, but their songs ended up widening the rift even further. Som...

  • Word Count: 2539
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Protest Music and the Vietnam War Movement

... concert (which rolled into a fourth day) that involved lots of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll. Woodstock is still remembered today as one of the greatest, if not the greatest concert series of all time. The festival has become an icon of the 1960s hippie counterculture. Woodstock shows just how popular protest music was (Rosenburg). Jimi Hendrix was a major artist who was known for his rendition of ... the Star Spangled Banner he performed at the Woodstock music festival. He played a dramatic virtuoso on a screeching electric guitar that simulated the sounds of bombs dropping, explosions ...

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  • Approx Pages: 4
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3. The Beatles and LSD

... and public perception. LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) is a psychedelic drug that alters the thinking process, closed- and open-eye visuals, sense of time and spiritual experiences. The drug played a key role in the 1960s counterculture. LSD was a key influence in the changes in The Beatles' music between 1965 and 1968. The drug played a pivotal role in the group's studio experimentation for Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ... that "It's easy to overestimate the influence of drugs on the Beatles music." The Beatles increasingly tapped into the LSD counterculture o...

  • Word Count: 1069
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
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4. Profanity in the media

... audiences seeing television shows intended for more mature audiences, such programs were often showed at night, when children were presumably in bed. In the 1970s, movies and television shows became much more graphic, partially due to the sexual revolution and counterculture movement of the late 60s. R-rated movies began to depict graphic violence, coarse language, and nudity. Television shows like All in ... the Family used profanity and addressed many issues that were considered taboo in the more conservative fifties and sixties. What was considered to be profane seemed ... to change...

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5. History of the underground music culture

... define the underground. To quote the legendary Frank Zappa "The mainstream comes to you, but you have to go to the underground." gives us an idea. The definition of underground culture I use, is, culture that has not reached the mainstream but that has gained popularity among a small and loyal audience. During the 1960s, the term underground acquired a new meaning in that it referred to members of the so-called counterculture, i.e. those ... people who did not generally conform to the mainstream of human experience such as hippies. Applied to the arts, the term "underground" typically m...

  • Word Count: 630
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6. Social Norms of the 1950s and 1960s

The 1950's is known as a sterile, homogenized, consensus-driven society. This image, however, changed in the period of 1952 to 1966 when America experienced a shift in the social norms and civil unrest. Social norms between the suburban families and middle class families changed as well as stereotypes and the mass media and popular culture. After the war the suburban population in America was changing increasingly. The 1950's mostly consisted of small towns and suburbs as shown on page 823(Document A). This is due to the statistics stating that 37.5% of the population lived in rural or small t...

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7. The Great American Identity

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  • Word Count: 852
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8. 1964 - Turning Point of the Civil Rights Movement

... them fulfill their political rights. Finally, "Moses had hoped for 400,000 names" (Watson, 235) to sign up for the Freedom Democratic Party. To achieve those ends, the movement necessitated protection because "Mississippi [was] the only state where you could drag a river any time and find bodies you were not expecting." (Watson, 147). While Mississippi ... called for free speech at Berkeley, inspiring student protests across America against the war, the draft, and the patriarchy. Each of the movements were led by veterans of Freedom Summer, returning to their homes angry and disillusione...

  • Word Count: 1331
  • Approx Pages: 5
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9. The Hopeless War - The War on Drugs

... prohibition of debate about our opinions" (1Gray 6). Nixon's programs and speeches caused a great distress among society, alienated young people, turned the society against the counterculture and also had the public turning against the addicts. While Nixon created various programs to help with the arrest of persons using or selling illegal drugs, he failed to create programs to help those with addiction. Bush fared ... term for violent offenders has decreased by thirty percent (1Gray 32). The federal government has pushed the focus of the police departments onto drug offenses. The Los A...

  • Word Count: 1189
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