Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Hippie Movement

Starting point is 00:00:00 In the 1960s, a generation of young people rejected the world that their parents had built. They turned away from war, conformity, consumerism, and traditional authority, and instead braced music, peace, love, psychedelics, communal living, and a radically different vision of freedom. And for a brief moment, it seemed like they might change everything. Then, almost as quickly, the movement began to fall apart. Learn more about the rise and fall of the hippie movement on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Hey y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder, what if?

Starting point is 00:00:46 Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.cair.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast with Benjamin Boster.

Starting point is 00:01:06 If you're tired of sleepless nights, you'll love the I Can't Sleep podcast. I help quiet your mind by reading random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. Each episode provides enough interesting content to hold your attention, and then your mind lets you drift off. Find it wherever you get your podcasts. That's I Can't Sleep with Benjamin Boster. The hippie movement did not emerge out of nowhere.

Starting point is 00:01:57 Its intellectual and cultural ancestors can be traced back to several earlier traditions. One major influence was, bohemianism. Bohemians who began in the early 19th century in Europe rejected conventional middle-class life, embraced art, poetry, free love, unconventional dress, and often lived in poor but creatively vibrant neighborhoods. Another influence was the 19th century transcendentalist tradition, especially figures such as Henry David Thoreau and Rolf Waldo Emerson. They offered models of simple living, resistance to unjust government, and spiritual independence. The Beat Generation and the Beatniks of the 1940s and 50s were the most direct predecessors.

Starting point is 00:02:39 Writers such as Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Neil Cassidy rejected the conformity of post-war America. Beat culture drew influence from jazz and intellectual subcultures. Jazz music played constantly, and fashion was inspired by musicians. Poetry was also a major part of beat culture, as artists sought to express themselves spontaneously through beat poetry, challenging existing American literary standards. The American hippie movement began in San Francisco in the mid-1960s. It started in the Hate Ashbury District when artists, students, and dropouts began to move into the region. Individuals were initially drawn to Hate Ashbury because the rent was cheap.

Starting point is 00:03:19 Additionally, the area offered a more bohemian lifestyle distinct from mainstream America. This unconventionality was vividly reflected in the local businesses, including coffee houses, boutique shops, and stores selling drug paraphernalia. This environment drew teenagers and young adults eager to escape their conservative middle-class upbringings. The term hippie comes from the word hip, which was borrowed from the earlier beatniks. In the hippie movement, the term hippie was actually mostly used by older outsiders to mock young people in the movement.

Starting point is 00:03:52 The term was picked up by journalists who brought the nickname to widespread attention. Despite being called hippies, the group typically did not use the term or identify with it. They often called themselves flower. children, freaks, or the underground. The majority of hippies were part of the baby boomer generation, the children born in the aftermath of World War II. The 1950s saw consumer culture at an all-time high, and it was also the height of the Cold War with duck and cover drills and fear of the Soviet Union. Despite their background, many felt isolated by the mainstream world, and they wanted something more. This desire led them to seek others with unique lifestyles. They separated from society and often

Starting point is 00:04:32 lived in large groups. Many adopted holistic medicine and unprocessed organic diets. Their style also broke from traditional norms. They rejected conservative fashion. Men often had long, straggly hair and beards. Women also kept their hair long and wore it casually. Their clothes were vibrant often with psychedelic colors. Many more flowers in their hair. Long, loose clothing such as bell-bottom pants and Victorian shawls were common as were beads and sandals. The hippie aesthetic bled into popular culture. It was found in the clothing, advertising, and design of the 1960s, even among people who wouldn't be described as hippies. The hippie lifestyle was also heavily defined by drug use, particularly psychedelics such as LSD, which could alter a person's moods, thoughts, and perceptions.

Starting point is 00:05:21 Marijuana and LSD became deeply ingrained in the community, frequently present at parties, protests, and music events. The substance use contributed to the emergence of new musical styles, including psychedelic rock and the subgenre of acid rock, and it also played a major role in the eventual fall of the movement. More on that in a bit. Hippies also felt passionately about the environment. Because their lifestyle was connected to nature, they believed in eco-living. The hippie compounds tried to be self-sufficient, and the food was usually grown on-site and was organic. Hippies played a major role in the establishment of the first Earth Day. Many of the members of the hippie movement lived in communes.

Starting point is 00:06:03 During the movement, about 3,000 hippie communes existed, each having its own culture shaped by its members. Communes allowed hippies to reject mainstream culture and allowed them to live in the free-love lifestyle and peace that they wanted. Commuter lifestyles varied significantly from one group to another. In terms of spirituality, some known as Jesus freaks were Christian. while others embraced Buddhism or Hinduism, and some adopted no faith at all. Substance regulations also differed, as drugs were permitted in most communes, but prohibited some others. Clothing standards ranged from traditional attire to complete nudity. Furthermore, while certain communities were mostly self-sufficient, others engaged in various forms of commerce.

Starting point is 00:06:47 Despite their various practices, problems arose in the communes. The main issue was the lack of a governing body. With lax rules, many skipped work choosing to hang out or do drugs over their responsibilities. Many communes also struggled financially, which led detention. Older members often left, either returning home or moving to another commune. Part of the hippie movement was public gatherings. These events were called B-ins. The term B-in was a combination of B and sit-in.

Starting point is 00:07:18 The initial B-in called the Gathering of Tribes took place in San Francisco in 1967. This gathering initiated what was known as the Summer of Love, a major cultural phenomenon that highlighted protests, spirituality, and music. The Summer of Love successfully expanded the awareness of the hippie movement to the rest of the population. During the Summer of Love, 100,000 people visited the Hate Ashbury District of San Francisco, seeking to experience the city's music, peace, and love. The enormous influx of people created chaos in the area rather than fulfilling these promises. The Woodstock Music and Art Fair held in August of 1969 in upstate New York became the defining symbol of the hippie movement.

Starting point is 00:08:00 Roughly 400,000 people attended. Despite rain, mud, food shortages, traffic jams, and logistical chaos, the festival was remembered as a largely peaceful gathering built around music cooperation and shared idealism. Performers included Jimmy Hendricks, Janice Joplin, The Grateful Dead, The Who, Santana, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and many others. Woodstock became the movement's great myth, a temporary city of peace and music where young people proved that they could gather without descending into violence. Of course, you can't really talk about the hippie movement without talking about the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was one of the most important forces behind the rise of the hippie movement.

Starting point is 00:08:40 At first, many hippies were more cultural than political. They wanted to change consciousness relationships in daily life, but as the war escalated, it became impossible to avoid. The draft meant that young men could be forced to fight in a war that many considered immoral and didn't want any part of. Television brought images of bombing, burning villages, wounded soldiers, and civilian suffering into American homes. Hippies often overlapped with the broader anti-war movement, though the two were not identical. Groups such as the students for a democratic society were more explicitly political, while hippies were more likely to emphasize peace, love, personal liberation, and spiritual transformation. One popular slogan during the protest was Make Love Not War.

Starting point is 00:09:24 First printed during a Berkeley California anti-war protest, the slogan was the epitome of hippie ideology. The beginning of the end of the hippie movement is usually dated at just four months after Woodstock at the Altamont Free Concert in California. Held in December of 1969 and headlined by the Rolling Stones, Altamont was a poorly organized, chaotic, and violent event. The Hell's Angels were used as security. During the Rolling Stones' performance, a young man named Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death by a Hell's Angel near the stage. Altamont is often described as the symbolic end of the 1960s counterculture. It's a simplification, but it captures something real.

Starting point is 00:10:07 The hopeful image of Woodstock was replaced by images of violence, bad planning, drug abuse, and danger. That same year also saw the Manson family murders, which, terrified the public and badly damaged the image of hippie culture. Charles Manson was not representative of hippies, but he used countercultural language, communal living, sex, music, and drugs in a horrifyingly manipulative way. To many Americans, already suspicious of the movement, Manson seemed to confirm their worst fears. As you can probably guess, the hippies were not universally loved. In addition to the expected criticisms from more conservative supporters of, say, President Nixon, criticisms also came from unlikely sources.

Starting point is 00:10:50 One surprising critic of hippies was George Harrison, a member of the Beatles. Harrison visited Hayd Ashbury in 1967 at the peak of the summer of love, and found the whole scene to be disturbing. He said, quote, I went to Hayd Ashbury expecting it to be this brilliant place. I thought it was going to be all these groovy kind of, gypsy kind of people with little shops making works of art and paintings and carvings. But instead it turned out to be a lot of bums, and many of them were just very young kids who had come from all over America and dropped acid and gone to this mecca of LSD.

Starting point is 00:11:25 It certainly showed me what was really happening in the drug cult. It wasn't what I thought of all these grubby people having spiritual awakenings. It was like any addiction, so at that point, I stopped taking it actually, the dreaded lysurgic. End quote. He further went on to say, quote, Heyd Ashbury reminded me a bit of the Bowery. There were these people just sitting around the pavement begging, saying, give us some money for a blanket. These are hypocrites. They're making fun of tourists and all that, and at the same time, they're holding out their hands begging off of them.

Starting point is 00:11:56 That's what I don't like. End quote. The hippie movement waned in the 1970s for multiple reasons. First, the Vietnam War began winding down, especially after the draft ended in 1973 and American combat troops withdrew. Anti-war activism didn't disappear, but the central issue that had a united millions of young people lost urgency. Second, the movement suffered from drug problems. Psychedelic experimentation gave way in many places to heroin, amphetamines, cocaine, and alcoholism.

Starting point is 00:12:27 The romantic image of expanded consciousness became harder to sustain amid addiction, homelessness, and mental breakdowns. Third, the movement was weakened by poverty and impracticality. Many hippie communities were built on lofty ideals, but lacked structures for long-term survival. shared property, open relationships, anti-leadership attitudes, and disdain for ordinary work produced real problems. Those who grew their hair out, dressed in vibrant colors, and participated in drugs and free love eventually got older and returned to their previous life. They left their communes, went back to school or work, and conformed to the same society they once rejected.

Starting point is 00:13:06 Many of the hippies of the 1960s became the suspender-wearing yuppies of the 1980s. The hippie movement burned brightly and briefly, but its cultural impact actually lasted longer than its moment in the spotlight. It became one of the defining cultural revolutions of the 20th century. Hippie fashion and aesthetics remain evident today, and many of their beliefs persist in other social movements. The hippies did not create the utopia that they imagined, and their movement was often undermined by naivete, drugs, and internal contradictions. In the end, the hippies failed as a revolution but succeeded as a cultural force, leaving behind a world that was less rigid, more expressive, and permanently shaped by their dream of peace and love.

Starting point is 00:13:52 The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Akin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode were provided by the Olivia Ash. Today's of you come from listener, Lees, on Apple Podcasts in the United States. They write, Love this podcast. Hi, Gary, thanks for this always interesting podcast. I look forward to learning something new with every episode. I'm proud to be the newest member of the southeastern Pennsylvania Completionist Club.

Starting point is 00:14:22 My 12-year-old who listens with me asked if I get removed and reinstated to the club each day as new episodes come out. I told him we just have to keep up. Thanks for covering the gamut of interesting topics and go birds. Well, thanks, Lisa. Just so you're aware, our Completionist Club chapters in your region, all serve Philly cheese steaks. Please enjoy responsibly.

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Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Hippie Movement

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