The end of the 60s

[mjz]

All of these sixties threads perhaps this thread is appropriate.

So when did the 60's end?
Chronologically we, of course, could say January 1, 1970.
But about the cultural phenomenon?

We could point to 15 August 1973 and the official end of the Vietnam War from a US perspective -- or maybe the fall of Saigon a few years later.

Maybe there's not a specific moment. I think there is.

For me the 60's ended on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976. That's the day The Band held their farewell performance. The 60's were over -- and I couldn't help feeling that I had missed it.



max

[HHP]

Not everyone in the 60's was having the same experiences so their end point would vary based on their perspective.

Most in my circles would peg it to 1974 and the resignation of Richard Nixon. Was the ultimate expression of counter-culture power and was also maybe the beginning of the end as many were forced to confront the necessity of practical goals over the ideological goals they grew up with.

[SongwriterFan]

Probably ended for each person when his drug stash ran out.

Actually, I think it simply had to do with the fact that people finally got old enough to realize that they actually had to survive in this world and make a living for themselves and their family. One can only avoid personal responsibility for so long.

[ewalling]

Interesting question.

I think The Band were a little too obscure to carry such weight with Britons. From my perspective from across the pond at that time, I'd agree on the year, though. For me, it was when punk made its dramatic entry. Until that point, there had been, in my view, a lot of tired and uninspired big production bands in immaculate faded denims who wore the same long hair and dragged out the same old message about freedom from social restraint, anti-materialism (from Hollywood mansions!), and mental 'travel'. Not that there's anything wrong with those laudable themes, but they seemed, by the mid-70s, to have become jaded and perfunctory. Nonetheless, if we the people had any intentions of being cool, then we echoed the same sentiments and wore the same uniform.

Then came Punk. Suddenly, a completely different way, not just of playing music, but of dressing, feeling, relating, and thinking about the world kicked in. It was as if young people woke up to the fact that their lives were a million miles away from the pampered, easygoing lifestyles of dignitaries like the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac. The economy had changed, people were poorer, prospects grimmer, life more earthy. I think the Sex Pistols and the Ramones rang the changes more clearly and stridently than any other form of expression.

[martind42]

For some, the '60's has never ended.

[Glennwillow]

I'd be the first to admit that I was oblivious to many of the sub-cultural things going on in the 60s and my musical tastes were never particularly mainstream.

For me, the 60s ended when 1970 started. The Beatles broke up in early 1970, Simon & Garfunkel, as well. It took another 3 years before the Vietnam War ended, but in 1970, when I got married and graduated from college (on the same day), the Vietnam War was very real and very significant. So some of the major weight of the 60s certainly carried over for a while. The resignation of Pres. Richard Nixon was certainly part of that carryover.

I was glad to move away from the 60s, from the huge polarizations in the USA, from the 3 major assassinations, and ultimately from the Vietnam War. For me, 1970 was when I started my adult life, when I first started working as an engineer and when I started my married life. From a music standpoint, music continued to flow and for the first time in my life I had enough money to buy some music.

I suppose looking at it from that viewpoint, when the 60s ended is going to be rather personal and subjective for each of us. Maybe I need to read some more David Halberstam to see what I missed.

- Glenn

[Tahitijack]

For me the '60's ran from 1965 to 1975. The first wave of baby boomers graduated from high school and entered college or the job market around 1964/65. The music evolved to about 1975 when songs shifted away from the war, which as over, Pres. Nixon was out of office and the first wave of boomers were 10 years into their adult life.

Sadly some acts from the 1960's that continue to tour don't think that era is over even today.

[Wadcutter]

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Wadcutter

Do I ever remember that scene!

[buddyhu]

I've read the posts, started three replies (and then erased them). I feel drawn to the question. I miss the optimism.

And, I am not sure why it matters to me at all.

It's gone. Way gone.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by buddyhu

I've read the posts, started three replies (and then erased them). I feel drawn to the question. I miss the optimism.

And, I am not sure why it matters to me at all.

It's gone. Way gone.

It's true; there was an optimism, at least among the younger people. There was also plenty of pessimism, then as now. It just depended on who you were talking to. Not everyone is pessimistic today.

The changes in our world may seem like miniscule advancements, but if I look back over the last 44 years, I think the human condition across the globe has been improved a little. Maybe I am being too optimistic...

- Glenn

[RandyL]

They ended for me 6/5/68 when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by RandyL

They ended for me 6/5/68 when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.

Yeah... a very sad day for me, too. And then MLK and then Kent State and on and on...

When I look back, I find real understanding of the bewildered confusion of my parents' generation who struggled through the Great Depression and World War II only to see society seeming to unravel during the 60s.

- Glenn

[Bikewer]

I pretty much missed... In high school (and Catholic high school at that...) from 60-64. Thought "drugs" were what you bought at the Rexall pharmacy.
There was not even a hint of any kind of radicalism locally.
Went into the army from '64-67.... Cooled my heels in Germany for 3 years while Vietnam was heating up...
Knocked around odd jobs for a year and went into the police academy in '68.

My only brush with anything to do with 60s radicalism was the riot at the local university where I am now employed. They burned down the ROTC building...

No typical 60s experiences to relate... No drugs, no Woodstock, no hippie lifestyle, no flower-power cars... (I did have a VW bug, but nary a stick-on flower). Oh... No free love either. I didn't get married till the mid 70s.

[ewalling]

For me, what really counted in the 60s was Batman and Superman, ice-cream lollies, football (the round kind!) in the park, Tarzan, drawing books, more football in the park, Top of the Pops, The Beano, and cowboy and strong man films.

Did something else happen?