1968 With Tom Brokaw

When people look back on past years and decades, they usually do so in a manner that summarizes how particular events helped define those years. People will often have says for each decade such as the Roaring’ Twenties, the GI Generation for the forties, and the 60’s may just have an endless list. One year in the 60’s though stood out from the rest; 1968 was quite possibly one of the most influential years in American History. A counter-culture tore through classic American Traditions, a controversial war segregated the population, protests, assassinations, and riots were front page news every couple of months. These were times of trouble yet growth in the American culture, and we are still feeling the effects of them today. 1968 With Tom Brokaw takes the viewer into the past by compiling footage and interviews with those who lived through the key events of 1968. Brokaw speaks with those who were first pioneers of the counter culture, those close friends and associates of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy (both assassinated), musicians such as Bruce Springsteen, Arlo Guthrie, Michelle Phillips who experienced how influential music was to the counter culture, police and protestors alike who prevented and participated in riots, and the list continues. Each of these interviews gives us, the viewer, a better understanding of chaotic of a decade the 60’s were, and how many up and downs there were within the single year of 1968. Focusing specifically on the music and events that shaped the music of the 60’s, it’s funny to actually see the various connections between the events and the music of the time era. In the opening clips of the documentary we are given a brief clip of Timothy Leary saying his classic phrase “Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out” which of course could be described as one of the phrases that summed up the entire counter culture as a whole. We can quickly see the other side of this peaceful and seemingly harmless phrase with Brokaw’s interview with David Smith, the founder and creator of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic which saw, and continues to see countless number of individuals who are treated for drug and substance abuse. Smith recalls numerous times of treating Janis Joplin for heroin while she was still alive; he mentions (because of a Brokaw question) that he isn’t really sure if drugs brought the music of this generation to another level, but he was sure that it took too many talented artists, such as Hendrix, Joplin, and Morrison (27 Club) much too soon because of the level of talent that each of these individuals had. Not only was drug use prevalent through the 60’s, but it was a time of severe unrest with college students everywhere. Columbia University to be specific was one of the more popular and eventful student protests that took place during 1968. Mark Rudd was the face and voice of student protests everywhere, and Brokaw takes his back to his old university to go over the events that took place in 1968. He says it wasn’t an eerie feeling being back, but it was weird in the exact spot he was in. He describes, from the spot he was standing, the last time he was there he can remember the protest happening in the school courtyard, and that the Grateful Dead was playing a free benefit concert for their cause; which of course was peace, and anti-war. All of these bands and musicians at the time had something to chime in about, and just as each individual in the time era was trying to distinguish who they were, so were these musicians with the messages each was trying to convey in their songs.