Graham Reid | | 19 min read
1968: THE YEAR THAT ROCKED THE WORLD?
"Somehow Sgt Pepper did not stop the war in Vietnam. Somehow it didn't work. Somebody isn't listening" -- David Crosby of Crosby Stills and Nash, 1970
"Rock stars believed that they possessed the latent power to effect political and cultural change: one anthem and the walls of the citadel would crack, like Jericho under Joshua's trumpets. In 1968-69, rock star masqueraded as political activists (and vice-versa), swallowing and regurgitating whole the rhetoric of global revolution propounded by the short-lived union of hippies, Yippies [Youth International Party], anti-war campaigners, Black Panthers and all their fellow traellers . . . the music that resulted was tumultous and exultant, naive and overblown".
-- Peter Doggett in Electric Shock, 2015
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1968: it was a year of assassinations (Martin Luther King in April, Robert Kennedy in June in the US), rise of US commitment and casualties in Vietnam, anti-war marches in many Western capitals, the revolutionary left-wing politics in France (the alliance of workers and students in May which threatened to topple the government) then other European countries, the Mexico Olympics, the rise of Black Panthers in the US, riots on the streets in many American cities . . .
it was a volatile year as Mark Kurlanksy's book about it shows (here and an author interview here)
Dr Martin Luther King saw it coming: "Maybe we just have to admit that the day of violence is here, and maybe we just have to give up and let violence take its course. The nation won't listen to our voice. Maybe it will heed the voice of violence."
After King's murder in April '68, the Black Power leader Stokely Carmichael said, "Now that they've taken Dr King off, it's time to end this non-violent bullshit."
His political opposite, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, agreed. He told the National Guard to "shoot to kill" demonstrators.
And the music changed . . . much darker, more political and activist, more about Us Vs Them, mainstream political culture Vs the counter-culture which had emerged in the mid Sixties
In the US bands like Jefferson Airplane started as a "feed your head" hippie band but in '69 they were highly politicised.
It was the journey from head-trip to clenched fist.
White Rabbit (1967)
so from get out of it to get into it on this song, a call to arms and for unity in the face of repressive "Amerika". And perhaps the first use of "motherfucker" in popular music?
We Can Be Together (1969, alternate take)
We Can Be Together
Ah you and me
We should be together
We are all outlaws in the eyes of America
In order to survive we steal cheat lie forge fred hide and deal
We are obscene lawless hideous dangerous dirty violent and young
But we should be together
Come on all you people standing around
Our life's too fine to let it die and
We can be together
All your private property is
Target for your enemy
And your enemy is
We
We are forces of chaos and anarchy
Everything they say we are we are
And we are very
Proud of ourselves
Up against the wall
Up against the wall fred (motherfucker)
Tear down the walls
Tear down the walls
Come on now together
Get it on together
Everybody together
We should be together
We should be together my friends
We can be together
We will be
We must begin here and now
A new continent of earth and fire
Come on now gettin higher and higher
Tear down the walls
Tear down the walls
Tear down the walls
Won't you try
And in Britain?
In Britain, one step removed removed from Vietnam there was the rise of the radical underground (counterculture magazines, activism etc) and . . .
The Rolling Stones -- after the debacle of their "psychedelic" album Satanic Majesties Request of '67 -- get back to their roots in blues and bad-boy rock'n'roll with the bluesy Jumpin' Jack Flash in April
Jumping Jack Flash
Jumpin' Jack Flash
I was born in a cross-fire hurricane
And I howled at the morning driving rain
But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas
But it's all right. I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash
It's a gas, gas, gas
I was schooled with a strap right across my back
But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas
But it's all right, I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash
It's a gas, gas, gas
I fell down to my feet and I saw they bled , yeah yeah
I frowned at the crumbs of a crust of bread
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I was crowned with a spike right through my head
But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas
But it's all right, I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash
It's a gas, gas, gas
Jumping Jack Flash, its a gas
Jumping Jack Flash, its a gas
Jumping Jack Flash, its a gas
Jumping Jack Flash, its a gas
Jumping Jack Flash, its a gas
Sympathy for the Devil
recorded in June, the day after the assassination of Robert Kennedy
Sympathy for the Devil
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul to waste
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
Held a general's rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
(Woo woo, woo woo)
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
(Woo woo, woo woo)
Who killed the Kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
(Who who, who who)
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay
(Woo woo, who who)
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
(Who who)
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
(Who who, who who)
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
(Woo woo, who who)
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint
(Who who, who who)
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
(Woo woo)
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, mm yeah
(Woo woo, woo woo)
Hope you guessed my name, mm yeah
(Who who)
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, mm mean it, get down
(Woo woo, woo woo)
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
(Woo woo)
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, what's my name
I tell you one time, you're to blame
Woo, woo
Woo, who
Woo, woo
Woo, who, who [x2]
Oh, yeah
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And in September their song Street Fighting Man is banned by a number of US radio stations.
"I'm rather pleased to hear they have banned [the single] as long as it's still available in shops. Last time they banned one of our records in America it sold a million," says Jagger.
Jagger has been inspired by the street battles in France (where students and workers united) and the riot in Grosvenor Square, London when demonstrators marched on the US embassy to protest the war in Vietnam.
it was however also a time of "radical chic", of people posing as radicals and revolutionaries.
"When anti-war protestors stormed the US embassy on Grosvenor Square that spring, Jagger rode to the affair in his Bentley, then jumped out and mingled among the rock throwing rioters. Between signing aurtographs and allowing himself to be shot by press photographers, Jagger locked arms with demonstrators and led the protest before climbing back into his limousine" -- Christopher Andersen in Jagger, Unauthorised 1993
"The violence gave me a buzz" -- Mick Jagger
Street Fighting Man (ambiguous lyrics, is he with them or can't be bothered)
'Cause summer's here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy
Well what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock 'n' roll band
'Cause in sleepy London town
There's just no place for a street fighting man
No
'Cause where I live the game to play is compromise solution
Well, then what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock 'n' roll band
'Cause in sleepy London town
There's just no place for a street fighting man
No
Hey! Said my name is called disturbanceI'll shout and scream, I'll kill the king, I'll rail at all his servants
Well, what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock 'n' roll band
'Cause in sleepy London town
There's just no place for a street fighting man
No
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The Stones' Beggar's Banquet album which includes SFMan, Sympathy for the Devil and the equally ambiguous salute to the working classes on Salt of the Earth.
The original album cover (right) was rejected by their record company so the album was delayed for some months until a new cover was designed.
Eventually it came out in December, a month after the Beatles double album.
People could not help notice the unintentional similarity again.
Just as Satanic Majesties' colourful cover seemed like a copy of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper so too Beggar's Banquet looked alarmingly similar to the Beatles' White Album cover.
Salt of the Earth
Salt of the Earth
Let's drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Spare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth
A swirling mass of gray and
Black and white
They don't look real to me
In fact, they look so strange
Let's drink to the uncounted heads
Let's think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio
A swirling mass of grays and
Black and white
They don't look real to me
Or don't they look so strange
Let's think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's drink to the two thousand million
Let's think of the humble of birth
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The Animals -- who had written the peace/love songs and celebrated hippiedom went back to their Northern cynicism
Sky Pilot
and their '65 song We Gotta Get Out of This Place enjoyed a new context, it became big in Vietnam
and while all this is going on the Beatles -- who are gradually pulling apart -- seem missing in action: early in the year they fly to Rishikesh in India to meditate with the Maharishi Mahesh Yoga, then hole up in Abbey Road recording what will be their double album The Beatles (aka The White Album).
During the sessions Ringo quits but returns 10 days later. The animated feature Yellow Submarine is released in July.
Their sole contribution to the political debate is Lennon's ambiguous Revolution recorded in June (and appearing in a slower version on the White Album).
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Revolution
You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be alright
Alright, alright
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're all doing what we can
But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be alright
Alright, alright, al...
You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You'd better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know know it's gonna be alright
Alright, alright
Alright, alright
Alright, alright
Alright, alright
Alright, alright
Revolution (single version, B-side of Hey Jude)
But note the additonal word in this slow version after "don't you know you can count me out . . ."
Revolution 1 (from The White Album)
George Melly writing in 1969 for his book Revolt into Style : "Their song Revolution was attacked as reactionary but as they pointed out 'if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow' which was basically what most people in the pop world feel but were unwilling to admit to feeling"
Harrison (and others) continued to prefer the philosophical path of enlightenment and spiritual freedom from the material world (cf Donovan's "first there is a mountain then there is no mountain then there is . . "
They were confused and confusing stays when many paths (violent revolution cf spiritual detachment from maya) co-existed.
Were post-hippies a bit tripped out and elsewhere when the Real World was crashing around them?
The Inner Light
1968: the year rock became adult?
If you were 13 in '63 and caught up in Beatlemania, you were 18 in '68 and seeing the world as a young adult.
In 1967 albums had outsold singles for the first time (the transition from a pop market to a rock market); in May on US television in New York, Lennon and McCartney announce the formation of the Beatles multi-media company Apple ("like Western communism", says McCartney) . . .
The radicals questioning whether the Beatles were selling out by joining the capitalist establishment. And whether they'd ever been part of any political movement anyway, or were just rich rock stars.
Questions were being asked . . . and they were often angry questions.
In this clip McCartney -- in New York with Lennon to launch Apple -- can barely contain his laughter when he speaks of the label's altruistic nature. Even he didn't believe it.
Later in the year McCartney records Blackbird, allegedly inspired in part by the race riots in the US, black activist Angela Davis and the Black Panthers/revolution . . .
And elsewhere:
In April Deep Purple make their first appearance (in Denmark, after having changed their name from Roundabout); Elvis Presley makes an unexpected comeback asa rock'n'roll star on a US television special in June; Jeff Beck (formerly of the Yardbirds) releases a debut album Truth under his own name (the singer is Rod Stewart) and in June Pink Floyd play Britain's first ever free outdoor rock concert in Hyde Park (Jethro Tull open)
The Yardbirds break up (July) but in October the New Yardbirds make their live debut and two shows later will perform for the first time as Led Zeppelin; the first Isle of Wight Festival in August has Jefferson Airplane, Tyrannosaurus Rex (later to become glam-rockers T. Rex), the Move and others on the bill . . .
BUT
"This was surely the moment when you might have expected pop to provide the anthems, the marches, the songs for the barricades. In fact it did nothing of the sort . . . pop [music] acts out revolt rather then provokes it. It's almost a substitute for revolution in the social sense, and is anyway geared, even these days, to the capitalist system.
"At all events the political upheaval of 1968 proved that pop music, in the revolutionary sense, was a non-starter, a fake revolt."
-- George Melly writing about '68 the following year
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Bob Harvey - Nov 20, 2023
Would you include Pete Townsend's 'Won't Get Fooled Again' in this listing of pop/rock songs that failed?
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