Glossary entry for
hippies
The hippies appeared in the second half of the 1960's, a decade of social
upheaval and rapid change. The hippies did not want to join the soul-destroying
rat-race, preferring to drop out and enjoy life in the here-and-now. Their
philosophy of "make love not war" and "flower power" was a reaction against the
disastrous Vietnam War, and contained hope for a better world.
Hippies made long hair fashionable and wore colourful loose fitting clothing.
They listened to the acid rock of bands like Quicksilver Messenger Service,
Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and
Country Joe and the Fish. With "Sgt. Peppers Loney Hearts Club Band", a trip to
India and meditation, The Beatles promoted hippiedom to a world wide audience.
Despite the hype surrounding Woodstock (1969), the Monterey Pop Festival (1967)
best showed the hope and innocence of a nascent hippiedom. Real hippies were
only a small minority of youth, but they captured the imagination of a
generation.Many tried alternative lifestyles, some forming communes in the
countryside.
There were many who sympathised with the hippie ethos but did not drop out,
preferring to be part time or week-end hippies. Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco
symbolised hippiedom: its rise and fall. Naivety, economic realities, hard drugs
and commercialisation exploded the hippie dream in a few short years. The brief
crack in the cosmic egg was papered over in no time by an ever more cynical
society. Though caricatured by the next generation, hippies at their best held in
their hearts a true dream of a better world for all people.
Contributed by Alan Pert, Sydney, Australia
More information is available at:
Van references in:
- "The Great Deception"
(on Hard Nose the Highway)
|