To celebrate Bumbershoot’s 40th Anniversary, so far we’ve tested you on the depressing ’70s, the Reaganized ’80s, and the apolitical (we thought) ’90s.
Now comes our final question. There hasn’t been a decade since the 1970s (when even Fresca commercials were political) in which everything was so culturally and politically charged. A decade that began with a contested presidential election and the calamitous 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and D.C. gave way to historic headline after historic headline (and not in a good way): Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, domestic surveillance, deficits; Katrina; and the Wall Street fiasco.
It all ended with a formal rejection of President Bush’s divisive politics (thanks for that, Ken Mehlman) and the historic Obama election—and all of this against the blinking background of the new app age.
Just whoa. If you had gone to sleep in 1966 and woken up in 1999, you wouldn’t have been too shocked (OK, maybe Crystal Pepsi would have startled you). Woken up in 2009? You’d be dumbfounded. It was a jump cut decade.
This week’s essay: Name a tectonic-plate-shifting song (musically speaking) that matched the historic decade, and explain why it was inspired by the tumultuous times.
Send essays to Wes@publicola.net—be sure to put “Bumbershoot contest” in the subject line.
Full Bumbershoot schedule here. Full Festival details here.
Go.
