Rock music during this time period reflected on the Vietnam War, and since music helps define a situation, Abernathy 3music helped define the Vietnam War and how people despised the fact that we were involved. Lyrics of popular songs were used in the context of the war. Rock-and-roll substituted for lock and load, referring to the procedure for readying the M16 for firing or for switching the weapon from semiautomatic to automatic fire. Songs were written in protest to Vietnam. One song that protested the war was "Purple Haze," by Jimi Hendrix. The song is about a paratrooper, landing in the jungles to purple smoke (Hendrix). During the Vietnam War there was a catch phrase, "sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll." Having sex with anyone and everyone was acceptable during this time period. It was called "Free Sex." The drugs were experimented with as well. Marijuana, LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), Cocaine, and many other drugs were tried. Many people believed that The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," was perceived as a song describing LSD. Of course rock-and-roll played a major part in the Vietnam War, and there is no better description of this than Woodstock. Woodstock Abernathy 4was a music and arts festival that took place in Bethel, New York, on August 15, 16, and 17 1969. This festival reflected the opinions of how people felt about having troops over in Vietnam, all they wanted was "Peace." Woodstock was place for people to put their worries behind them and speak what was on their minds, and that is exactly what they did. Music has always provided a needed relief during wartime, but in the Vietnam War music provided us with controversy. World War II was different from the Vietnam War in that the World War II the war was fought for a reason. Everyone agreed that we needed to stop the racism, and all the bad things that were going wrong. Most people at the beginning supported the Vietnam War, but in the later st...
