Violence and Non-Violence at Rock Concerts: 1970s French Society Confronted With Its Contradictions

“The hopefulness of ‘Love Power’ has gone out the window,” Michel Lancelot wrote in 1971, adding that “just about everywhere, the revolt is armed” (Campus, 1971). The author was describing the state of violence on American campuses, comparing it with the fate of public figures who championed non-vio...

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Main Author: Joann Élart
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Criminocorpus
Series:Criminocorpus
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/criminocorpus/5886
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author Joann Élart
author_facet Joann Élart
author_sort Joann Élart
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description “The hopefulness of ‘Love Power’ has gone out the window,” Michel Lancelot wrote in 1971, adding that “just about everywhere, the revolt is armed” (Campus, 1971). The author was describing the state of violence on American campuses, comparing it with the fate of public figures who championed non-violence. In France, this dichotomy spread from the usual arena of public demonstrations and found its way into pop music festivals held in the South as well as a few concerts in Paris, like the Palais des Sports, where violence erupted among rioters and ticket dodgers on January 31, 1971. On that occasion, France was in the midst of discovering pop music, and its soothing effect was said to have dissuaded the young audience from joining in the fray. The contradiction was not lost on the journalists of the time, who repeatedly noticed the apathetic, intellectual audiences who attended concerts by bands like Soft Machine. A completely different atmosphere reigned at Johnny Hallyday’s shows, which attracted a fringe group of aggressive, rebellious roughnecks and led to the implementation of considerable security measures to protect the idol. The vocabulary of violence and non-violence was systematically employed in newspaper columns to describe the wild energy emanating from performers and audience members during live performances. It was used to analyze the musical components of pop music and pub rock. Their harmonies, rhythms, intensity, loud volume, and lyrics left listeners with an impression of musical violence. The vocabulary of violence also became the norm for slogans created by advertising agencies in order to sell increasingly larger and louder amplifiers.
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spelling doaj.art-b4de53bae38d40528f60c51051d4a2e72024-02-14T16:24:54ZengCriminocorpusCriminocorpus2108-69071110.4000/criminocorpus.5886Violence and Non-Violence at Rock Concerts: 1970s French Society Confronted With Its ContradictionsJoann Élart“The hopefulness of ‘Love Power’ has gone out the window,” Michel Lancelot wrote in 1971, adding that “just about everywhere, the revolt is armed” (Campus, 1971). The author was describing the state of violence on American campuses, comparing it with the fate of public figures who championed non-violence. In France, this dichotomy spread from the usual arena of public demonstrations and found its way into pop music festivals held in the South as well as a few concerts in Paris, like the Palais des Sports, where violence erupted among rioters and ticket dodgers on January 31, 1971. On that occasion, France was in the midst of discovering pop music, and its soothing effect was said to have dissuaded the young audience from joining in the fray. The contradiction was not lost on the journalists of the time, who repeatedly noticed the apathetic, intellectual audiences who attended concerts by bands like Soft Machine. A completely different atmosphere reigned at Johnny Hallyday’s shows, which attracted a fringe group of aggressive, rebellious roughnecks and led to the implementation of considerable security measures to protect the idol. The vocabulary of violence and non-violence was systematically employed in newspaper columns to describe the wild energy emanating from performers and audience members during live performances. It was used to analyze the musical components of pop music and pub rock. Their harmonies, rhythms, intensity, loud volume, and lyrics left listeners with an impression of musical violence. The vocabulary of violence also became the norm for slogans created by advertising agencies in order to sell increasingly larger and louder amplifiers.https://journals.openedition.org/criminocorpus/5886Franceviolencenon-violencepop musicpub rockhard rock
spellingShingle Joann Élart
Violence and Non-Violence at Rock Concerts: 1970s French Society Confronted With Its Contradictions
Criminocorpus
France
violence
non-violence
pop music
pub rock
hard rock
title Violence and Non-Violence at Rock Concerts: 1970s French Society Confronted With Its Contradictions
title_full Violence and Non-Violence at Rock Concerts: 1970s French Society Confronted With Its Contradictions
title_fullStr Violence and Non-Violence at Rock Concerts: 1970s French Society Confronted With Its Contradictions
title_full_unstemmed Violence and Non-Violence at Rock Concerts: 1970s French Society Confronted With Its Contradictions
title_short Violence and Non-Violence at Rock Concerts: 1970s French Society Confronted With Its Contradictions
title_sort violence and non violence at rock concerts 1970s french society confronted with its contradictions
topic France
violence
non-violence
pop music
pub rock
hard rock
url https://journals.openedition.org/criminocorpus/5886
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