The Music that United the Counterculture

Rock-and-Roll at Littlejohn

Much has been written about rock-and-roll music’s part in the counterculture of the 1960s and ‘70s. It united many sectors of the youth movement and several rock-and-roll bands played at Littlejohn Coliseum on Clemson’s campus.

Rock-and-Roll was the international language of youth rebellion during the 1960s and 1970s. It united the youth of the counterculture like politics could not. Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum hosted a number of rock-and-roll bands, including the Allman Brothers in September 1971, and Lynyrd Skynyrd in February 1975 as part of its Nuthin’ Fancy tour. The Marshall Tucker Band and Chuck Berry also performed during this period.

Interesting to note is that most of these bands hailed from Southern states. This could indicate one of the ways that local culture shaped youth movements around the world. While this genre of music connected the imagined global community of youth rebels, perhaps each community’s own local culture influenced the movement.

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