Recently I watched the Netflix documentary entitled “Echo in the Canyon”. It consists of performances of some current singers/musicians (including Jakob Dylan) with interviews of iconic performers of the 1960s who lived and created in the Laurel Canyon area of Southern California. Most of my teenage years were spent in the 60s so this documentary brought up memories and reflections.
I believe that the period from about 1964 to about 1972 was the golden age of rock’n’roll. The Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Byrds, the Beach Boys, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Buffalo Springfield and many other singers/songwriters/musicians exploded on the scene and turned rock/pop into a much more sophisticated art form. No doubt a good many talented folk were involved in this “Laurel Canyon” explosion. Even today I must admit that I enjoy the music of that time, that I appreciate the sophistication of both music and words of that music compared to the rock music of the 50s and early 60s.
However, it was also a time when social license turned into licentiousness. As a child of the 60s I look back and recognize that the “free love” being expounded by many, including many in this documentary, and the drug use again being proclaimed by many in this documentary placed America on a path that eventually led us to where we are today. The anything goes attitude of the 60s has turned us into the anything goes society we are today. The “choice” society, the substance addicted society, the sexual revolution society we are today traces its roots to this time.
As I watched “Echo in the Canyon” I was struck by the openness and lack of repentance that many of these 60s musicians expressed in their interviews. There did not seem to be any great concern about what was wrought from this time, nor any concern about the part they played in the society we live in today. One of these musicians/songwriters said that he believed music could change the world. I had to ask myself, “Really? Do these artists truly believe that they changed the world for the good?”
Are we now a better society than we were before the 60s? Certainly we are better at treating the various ethnicities in an equitable fashion. And we are more open to equality of opportunity for the fairer sex. Beyond that I doubt our evolution. We are more quick to terminate our progeny, we are open to normalizing that which is not normal, and we are a society with even more chemicals to abuse. And, we have as a people moved farther away from the God who was the foundation stone for a great many of the patriots of our past who created the documents that became the foundation of the greatest, freest, most prosperous nation the world has ever known
“Echo in the Canyon” is an interesting and, to a certain extent, entertaining documentary. It echos the talent of man, but it also echos the stench of depravity. Is it worth a watch? I think so. Is it worth emulation? No.
