7. The Beatles
Ok ok, so technically not a single individual, but still important in contributing to the countercultural and hippy movement. When the Beatles arrived in a pre-countercultural America, their long hair attracted more comments than their music. Part of the hippy movement rebelled against preconceived societal norms, and the Beatles helped spur this on.
The group also mocked gender distinctions that characterized the American landscape. They questioned those who believed sexuality hinged on difference and instead blurred the lines between genders and expanded possibilities. This rang true in particular when it came to fashion and hairstyle. It was not generally acceptable at this time for boys to have long hair, toss it over their shoulders, or to wear colourful clothing that stood out from a crowd.
The Beatles also helped to bring greater awareness to many social-political changes in both the United States and abroad. The Beatles, just liked most hippies, professed ideas of free love, freedom, civil rights, gay rights, pacifism, and ecology. Members of the Beatles were also characterized with fervent anti-war attitudes. John Lennon, for example, released a song titled ‘Imagine’. The single encouraged listeners to imagine a world without barriers, borders, or the divisions of nationality and religion, as well as a world without attachment to material possessions.
The Beatles also changed attitudes to sexuality and helped pave the way for the sexual revolution. The Beatlemania craze that swept the nation had girls screaming and fainting, abandoning control and protesting the sexual repressiveness and rigid double standards of female teen culture.
Most famously, of course, the Beatles also used several of drugs that hippies used too. The Beatles’ were turned on to marijuana by none other than the famous Bob Dylan. In August 1964, the two parties gathered in a hotel room in New York and Dylan rolled a joint to share with the group. They spent the next few hours getting high, forever changing the music they would go on to produce. Interestingly, it is alleged the group were first introduced to LSD by a dentist who slipped it into their drinks at a dinner party in 1965. This influenced much of their work to come. Their song ‘Day Tripper’ is about an LSD trip, while ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’, literally spells out LSD.