New Music from April 1971

April 1971

I’ve heard it said that you usually see what you want to see, but today’s show has me drawing parallels between the national spirit of April 1971 and that of today. A spirit of restlessness and dissatisfaction permeated our culture back then. Politicians increased tension between people rather than relieving it. An unpopular war was raging, and the mood of our nation was growing ever more skeptical of political leaders. As unpopular as the ‘hippie-led’ anti-war movement was to Middle-America back then, I think that history has proven their cause to be justified. In other matters, though, the youth movement dissipated into a flaky mess, resulting in a backlash that moved politics even further away from their youthful idealism than existed before. Today, we face similar political circumstances, but there is no youth movement to provide a rallying cry. One disheartening observation that history provides us is that the intense politicization of 1971’s youth culture ultimately made very little difference. The war did eventually peter out, but with it went an entire generation’s faith in the political system. The youth movement disengaged themselves and thereby ceased to have an impact. Since 1971, how many truly progressive leaders have we had? Jimmy Carter might be the only president since then who represented the magnanimous spirit of the youth movement, but to those in opposition, his presidency also serves as the best example for why progressives should never lead.
As I type this, we are preparing for another election, and like then, the mood of the nation is extraordinarily restless. Change is in the air. The question, though, isn’t whether we are for change. The real question is whether we are committed to our convictions. If not, then the potential for change will amount to nothing. 1971 was thirty-five years ago. Do you think that the nineteen year-old students at Kent State University could have even imagined that such intense political divisiveness would still be haunting us in 2006? Next Tuesday, raise your voice and please vote, but recognize that voting is only one part of democracy. Personal involvement is just as important. Vote, and when you do, think about where you want to be thirty-five years from now.

Here are the songs featured in today’s show;
1) Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha Na Boom Boom) – The Staples Singers
2) Never Can Say Goodbye – The Jackson Five
3) I Am, I Said – Neil Diamond
4) Chick-A-Boom – Daddy Dewdrop (as a ‘Great Miss’)
5) Timothy – The Buoys (as a ‘Great Miss’)
6) 49 Bye-Byes/America’s Children – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
7) Ohio – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
8) L.A. Woman – The Doors
9) I Feel the Earth Move – Carole King