Communes, where hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of young people sought to rebuild the society that they viewed as severely flawed, were a significant part of the 1960s counterculture. The media stereotype consisted of funky architecture, outlandish clothing styles, deviant lifestyles dominated by drug use and free love. (Braunstein and Doyle, Miller, The Sixties-Era Commune, p. 327.)
However, reality was that communes of the Sixties were very diverse. (Anderson, p. 328.) For example, there were communes based on different religious beliefs, where indiscriminate sex and drugs of any kind were banned. (Miller, Id.) Common themes in hippie communities included free services performed by volunteers, small businesses to raise money for the community, such as book, clothing and/or record stores, “headshops,” farm or food cooperatives, or underground newspapers. (Anderson, pp. 275-278.)
One of the most well-known communes of the time included Tolstoy Farms in Davenport, Iowa. It was founded on the principles of pacifism, agricultural self-sufficiency, and avoidance of the use of money. It was still operating in 1999 as the oldest surviving 1960s commune. (Id. at 331) Another long, continually operating commune was The Lama Foundation in northern New Mexico, near Taos. It was a center for non-sectarian spiritual seekers and its leaders held spiritual conferences and workshops for fee-paying attendees. (Id., p. 336.) Drop City residents near Trinidad, Colorado, were “dropouts”, and congregated based on themes of anarchy, pacifism, voluntary poverty, sexual freedom, rural isolation, psychedelics and art. (Id.) Morning Star Ranch was founded by an ex-Limeliter (a popular, successful early 1960s folk group) named Lou Gottlieb on land he owned north of San Francisco. Gottlieb believed that land should not be owned by any one person, so he deeded his land to God and invited anyone to come and stay there. (Id. at 332-333.)
Other communes were Jesus People USA (“JPUSA”) was a Jesus Movement commune in the Chicago area. “Jesus” communes tended to be structured and often authoritarian, controlled by a single elder or small group of elders and living at poverty level. (Id. at 338-339.) And, Kerista, established in San Francisco in 1971, was based on the principle of “polyfidelity,” an arrangement where members were not committed to monogamy but to a group in which sleeping partners were rotated on a fixed schedule. Supposedly, this arrangement allowed them to overcome jealously and other “sex related hang-ups.” They survived economically by operating a Macintosh computer business. (Id., p. 340.)
The commune movement and its ideal of the noble life ultimately was a failure; human nature always got in the way. Professor Terry H. Anderson in his book The Movement and The Sixties) summarized the reality of the hippie counterculture experience as follows:
…[F]or many of the sixties generation, the counterculture was just a lark, a time to smoke weed and get laid, a long party. The hippie lifestyle of dope, free love, music, and values of brotherhood and sharing invited phonies, freeloaders, runaways, drug dealers, smackheads, and various self-appointed preachers and zealots. There were weak people who were lost, who could not think for themselves, those who would allow others to boss them, those who would join cults and submit to various hip heroes and gurus. A thousand rock stars, a hundred thousand groupies. And, there were criminals who grew long hair, the vicious bikers and drug runners who stalked teens searching for a free high and free love. Ed Saunders [a member of the rock group, The Fugs] noted that the counterculture was a noble experiment but that so many were vulnerable, ‘like a valley of thousands of plump white rabbits surrounded by wounded coyotes.’
Anderson, p. 286.
In 1968, the Broadway show “Hair”, written by James Rado and Gerome Ragni; music by Galt MacDermot, debuted. Depicting the “Age of Aquarius” when “peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars”, this rock musical was supposedly representative of the “hippie/counterculture” era. Several of the songs from “Hair” (including “Aquarius” and “Hair”) provide a good picture of the phenomenon.
“Aquarius,” is sung by the Fifth Dimension.https://youtu.be/kjxSCAalsBE
When the moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
And peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
Age of AquariusAquarius, Aquarius
Harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions, golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelations, and the mind’s true liberationsAquarius, Aquarius
When the moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
And peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
Age of AquariusAquarius, Aquarius
Aquarius, AquariusLet the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine inLet the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine inLet the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine
“Hair,” here sung by the Cowsills. (https://youtu.be/x3qhle8Oy9s)
She asks me why, I’m just a hairy guy
I’m hairy noon and night, hair that’s a fright
I’m hairy high and low, don’t ask me why, don’t know
It’s not for lack of bread, like the Grateful Dead, darlin’Give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there, hair, shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there, momma, everywhere, daddy, daddyHair, flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it, my hairLet it fly in the breeze and get caught in the trees
Give a home to the fleas, in my hair
A home for fleas, a hive for the buzzing bees
A nest for birds, there ain’t no words
For the beauty, splendor, the wonder of my hairFlow it, show it
Long as God can grow it, my hairI want long, straight, curly, fuzzy, snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty
Oily, greasy, fleecy, shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen
Knotted, polka dotted, twisted, beaded, braided
Powered, flowered and confettied
Bangled, tangled, spangled and sphagettiedOh say, can you see my eyes if you can
Then my hair’s too short
Down with here, down to there
Down till there, down to where it stops by itselfThey’ll be ga-ga at the go-go, when they see me in my toga
My toga made of blond, brilliantined, biblical hair
My hair like Jesus wore it, Hallelujah I adore it
Hallelujah Mary loved her son, why don’t my mother love me?Hair, flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair, flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair, flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair
The Sixties counterculture had lasting effects. Although not as pervasive as sometimes portrayed, many traditional values were nevertheless undermined.