The Vietnam War Music

The Vietnam War Music

Black Sabbath, Paranoid (1971)

One of Black Sabbath's best selling, most notorious albums, Paranoid has been cited as one of the first "heavy metal" records in rock and roll history. Paranoid is thunderous, demonic, and bass-heavy with chilly tracks such as "Iron Man," "Paranoid," and "War Pigs," an anti-Vietnam song with references to bloody battlefields and corrupt politicians.

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Willy and the Poor Boys (1969)

This group is a San Francisco Bay Area rock legend from the Vietnam era. The band's sound is distinctly rock and roll, but flavored with a soulful country tone. Willy and the Poor Boys is perhaps CCR's most moving record, featuring a number of memorable working-class anthems.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced (1967)

Some music spoke to the soldiers on the warfront who, whenever they could, listened to transistor radios on the base or in their bunkers. Many radio stations played Jimi Hendrix hits, like "Purple Haze," "Foxy Lady," and "The Wind Cries Mary."

Country Joe and the Fish, I Feel Like I'm Fixin to Die (1967)

I Feel Like is an early album from one of the most outspoken anti-war rock bands of the '60s. The title track, "I Feel Like I'm Fixin to Die Rag" (also called "The Fish Cheer") was a popular anthem of the anti-war movement. It's an ironic, up-beat singalong that comments on the lunacy of the Vietnam War and the ultimate price paid by those who must fight it.

Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)

Though it was released during the early years of the Vietnam War, before mass anti-war protests had taken shape, this record contains some of the songs that have come to be most associated with that movement, including "Blowin' in the Wind," "Masters of War," "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall," and "Talkin' World War III Blues."