Todos juntos: hippies, rock music, and the Popular Unity era

Abstract

Scholars traditionally have characterized the 1960s and early 1970s as an era of political polarization in Chile stemming from an intensifying rift between those who supported the leftist Popular Unity government (1970–1973) and those who opposed it. While there is little question that this division was the fundamental political axis in Chilean society at that time, it was not the only one. This article traces the development of rock music and culture among Chile’s youth to assert that while Chilean society polarized over the Popular Unity government, an additional segment of society emerged as an additional socio-political pole. During the Popular Unity era, a significant number of Chile’s youth rejected both the political right and left by assertively refraining from taking stances in regards to party platforms or candidates, rejecting those sounds, images, and traditions tied to the right and to the left in favor of an alternative political and cultural orientation tied to rock music and hippie counterculture.