Because Americans love pop-icons, prophets, and messiahs.Why do celebrities keep inserting themselves into politics?
It all started (as memory has it) with John Lennon. It wasn't his fault (from the beginning) but by the time the seventies came, pop-stars and all sorts of celebrities were established as more-knowledgeable-than-anyone-else-on-the-planet when it comes to world events and its' conscience.
So now, speaking out on "whatever" is as compulsory to celebrities as it is to rock-stars faking "a good time" on stage and guitarists getting up close to each other for a phoney "Right on, brother! We're rockin!".
No it didn't. It started before the 70s.
If you were alive in the 60s you would have heard tons of anti war and anti LBJ songs and chants.
The most memorable chant was Hey Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today? And One, Two, Three, Four, We don't want your fuckin war.
If you turned on your radio you would have heard songs like For What It's Worth by The Buffalo Springfield with Steve Stills singing about how the government oppressed the war protesters.
It was recorded in 1966 and was on the radio in 1967:
The Beatles stared singing and speaking out against the war in their songs in the 60s too.
Then there's Bob Dylan who wrote and released many anti war and government songs in the 60s.
In fact there were tons of anti war and anti government songs in the 60s.
It didn't start in the 70s.
I must be older than you. Read my post again. I didn't say it started in the 70's.
I'm 59 years old.
I was born toward the end of the baby boom.
I grew up with rock and roll and music as a very big influence on me and my life. I started playing a musical instrument when I was in 3rd grade.
I grew up during the 60s and 70s. It was a very interesting time.
Sorry if I misunderstood what you posted.
I was near the end of the baby boom and the 70's was full of artist and disco was coming on the scene. I hated disco at the time today, some of it I like, I graduated high school in 78 took a year off and then went to college. Music played a big part in my life then and still does today.