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, 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. 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. A Clockwork Orange , for example, was released in Paris on April 21, , and prohibited to those under the age of Both topics also found their way into the constantly evolving realm of rock concerts, which was in the midst of a revolution.
He confirmed this impression in the first editorial:. At last, things are shifting! It may well maintain its audience from older generations and retrograde nostalgics, but this dwindling audience has already shrunk considerably. In March , the magazine Actuel published a drawing by Jo. In France, pop equals helmets, batons, cops, iron rods, riot, repression, free concerts. Outside of the factories or work, young people only have one place of their own where they can meet up: the pop concert.
It provides a vast forum for underlying ideas, suppressed ideologies, and shared questions. This is a good reason to ban them, to limit the number of participants, to try to contain the phenomenon within the confines of a small group. Cops everywhere, helmeted, armed to the teeth, and terribly threatening. Millions of cops. And endless provocations, insults, and threats to the poor young people trying to get in to hear the music, their music.
