Music has a far reaching influence on many aspects of life and it is impossible to avoid it. Music can bring people together, invoke a memory, or most importantly it can inspire a feeling within. In art, the artist uses his medium to express their feelings and as an outlet to their thoughts. For example, the fans of Rock ‘n’ Roll saw the genre as was a way to demonstrate that they were different from their predecessors. Throughout the 60s and early 70s there was a generation of people that did not accept the actions of the previous generation and artist produced music that reflected these sentiments. The Rolling Stones, through their songs, expressed the feelings of not only themselves but of their generation. They were reacting to the wars …show more content…
In the year 1962, the world came very close to a nuclear war breaking out due to hostilities between the United States and the Soviet Union. A year prior, an event known as the Berlin Crisis took place where both the United States and the Soviet Union ramped up their presence in Berlin but would lead to the building of the Berlin Wall(Powaski). This event would be significant because of how the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, would test the waters with the U.S President John F. Kennedy’s. A year later, fearing that the United States was preparing to invade Cuba, Khrushchev sends missiles with nuclear warheads off the coast of Cuba. In response, an with pressure from the public, Kennedy geared up the United States which would lead to a confrontation between both countries in the waters of Cuba. The amount of nuclear weapons present were extremely high; although the United States outnumbered the Soviets nine to one in terms of physical weapons there was still enough to destroy many parts of the world(Powaski). On multiple occasions war seemed imminent between the two countries but in the end the retreat of Khrushchev's forces and U.S presence in Turkey was reduced. This crisis, later to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, was a very public affair that would have affected many citizens not only in the United States but also globally. Entering a war by using nuclear …show more content…
At the beginning of the song the listener is met with conga drums and screaming voices which immediately transport a person to an earlier time from when the song was produced. More instruments are layered in once Mick Jagger begins to sing almost as if the story is starting anew and the listener should sit down for whats about to come. The beginning of the song, working with the lyrics, starts off slowly to allow the listener to interpret what the narrator is saying which is accompanied by a steady piano melody. It allows for the listener to be disconnected to the narrator. It is not until the tempo changes and the piano speeds up that the identity of the narrator is revealed and by this point the listener is strapped and unable to escape. In very similar manner that a rollercoaster that is mounting to an eventual drop and its passenger just realizing what is actually happening this song straps the listener down until the end. Jagger, with the help of the instruments, lays out the details and not until the change in tempo does he make the audience face what is really at stake. In very similar fashion that the Cuban Missile Crisis builds up to the standoff on the waters of Cuba and the eventual realization of what could possibly happen, this song makes the audience face all the bad things that have happened and could happen if they don’t wake up to this realization. The song builds up to a climax which