TheCapitalClinic

An article that I read in the 40th Anniversary July 2007 edition of Rolling Stone Making of Sgt. Pepper in the now characterized epoch-defining “Summer of Love” (1967) got me to thinking that, if the premises are true, I may be having the rare opportunity (i) to experience forty years apart two defining periods in “the history of rock and roll” [a description that I use for modern music of an entire generation of disaffected youth in the broadest sense of both of these terms] and, more importantly, (ii) to witness twice the prospects for cataclysmic change in our culture and society - for good or for naught. I would like to blog a bit about both the promise and failed possibilities during these unique windows of time precisely because they don’t occur often.

The first period of disruptive change, what has been described in RS and elsewhere as “the single greatest leap forward in popular-music history” occurred in 1967 when I was a returning Vietnam vet pissed off by, but at the same time drawn towards, the spirit of independence and flower-power of a whole generation of baby boomers trying to use their music as an energizing vehicle for change to drive a stake into the heart of privilege and ossified thinking.

While it is now mainstream, back then Rolling Stone reflected the heartbeat of independent musicians everywhere and, indeed, was one of the first to give them an organized voice. At the time, RS gave musicians a platform for framing their work as independent artists where none existed before with a fierce and uncompromising dedication to their indie cause.

Many have argued persuasively with the retrospective view of 40 years that the phenomenon of 1967, energized by powerful forces compressed in time, not only precipitated a revolution in music, but changed the established political and social order, leading to destabilizing cleavages that exist to this day. This period may well have been represented by the Beatles’ most important album in rock history, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” [We will leave to the historians to debate the fine points of this characterization of a still-born promise.]

Truth be told, although I sensed that something important was going on then, and was stirred by the sensibility and its possibilities, I resisted the call to action because I thought the imperative was immature, full of false idealism, too disruptive and uncontrollable, drug-induced, irresponsible, or whatever [any reason to deny.] Looking back at the Summer of Love, I probably was too much a product and captive of the establishment, as were many of my brethren and so, as had been observed, the more things changed, the more things stayed the same. Most of us listened; but not enough of us, cared enough.

The second period of dramatic disruption is occurring right now, forty years later in 2007. Music is again going through a mind-numbing transition, as a new generation of liberated and empowered artists make the final assault to crush a music industry already in the throes of a death of its own making. Ironically, the major labels that were empowered by anti-establishment forces four decades ago are now part of the established order so that in the end nothing changed,…until now.

Our artists, who have always had a heightened sensibility about what touches the heart or stirs the soul, have both the burden and the calling to be the pathfinders of the possible to induce us to effect profound changes regarding everything in our life that their music touches. Unlike the failed promise of 1967, this time around changes must take hold or we will have to wait for another 40 year cycle or longer and more social decay, depending on reactionary forces and whether we are energized enough,…or indifferent, again.

Musicians challenge our false perceptions of reality everyday by being the poets of what is true. This time around, I for one am determined not to be a by-stander but an active participant for change. I’m lucky. You don’t have many second chances like this.