Political Folk Music in America from Its Origins to Bob Dylan by Lawrence J. Epstein

Author:Lawrence J. Epstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Published: 2012-08-23T00:00:00+00:00

Seven

The Great Folk Scare: The Revival of Folk Music

In the middle of the American struggle against Communism a new generation arose, one much larger and very different from the previous generation. The parents, shocked, hardened, and deprived by depression and war, had wanted to return to a normal America. They believed in the country and themselves—they had, after all, triumphed over enormous adversities—and were optimistic that their sacrifices and hope would lead them to a prosperous and happy future. Conditioned to sigh and shrug at difficult conditions, the parents were used to following authority, conforming because of an unyielding social need, and exercising intense self-restraint in spending and expressing their emotions. They believed, at least in theory if not always in actual behavior, in honor, virtue, stability, monogamy, sacrifice for the family, community, nation, duty, self-discipline, and modesty. They were adults, but adults who deeply valued conformity as the road to success. And they stayed on that road.

There was no housing available in cities, so the young parents moved outside the city limits. The G.I. Bill made veterans able to afford mortgages. The suburbs were seen as perfect places by the parents. Jobs were near but city crime, crowds, smells, noise, and filth weren’t. Families could live in a real home—with a yard—not in a cramped apartment. Parents believed their children would be safer and happier in this new lush Eden, with gleaming schools and dedicated teachers, with the gadgets that come with new homes, and with the refrigerators, stoves, furniture, and also cars to take workers to and from the office or factory.

And the greatest gadgets of all were the television sets, those magic boxes that provided them with pictures as well as sounds of the singers and comedians they had enjoyed on the radio and front-row seats to the daily distillation of history as presented on the news. Some of that history was unpleasant. Television brought Joseph McCarthy, the Cold War, and the looming presence of atomic and nuclear weapons into their living rooms.

Television became a required household item. In 1950, 9 percent of American homes had a television. Five years later, 64.5 percent of homes had at least one set. Television changed American lifestyles. Viewers stayed up later. They slept less. They ate pre-packaged “TV dinners” on small trays in front of the sets. They exercised less, read less, attended fewer movies, saw each other less. They viewed idealized visions of suburban family life on Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. With only one television set in most homes, families had to struggle to find programs acceptable to everyone. They didn’t talk during dinner; they watched shows. They knew less and cared less about each other’s lives.

And the suburbs turned out to be more of a velvet trap than the paradise the parents had imagined. There was tremendous pressure on the breadwinners, and in 1950s America that mostly meant the husbands. A husband’s commute to work jangled his nerves and separated him from his family for more time than his work hours.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.