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The Musical Lives of Charles Manson
The Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Invention of the Sixties —or, No Sense Makes Sense
The Musical Lives of Charles Manson
The Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Invention of the Sixties —or, No Sense Makes Sense
Description
Nicholas Tochka analyzes the role of rock music in the life of Charles Manson, the Family, and the August 1969 Tate-LaBianca killings, which also gives larger insight into Sixties counterculture.
Failed singer-songwriter. Devious cult leader, a rock Pied Piper. The product of a sick society. Just another dime-a-dozen singing hippy mystic. Did the guitar-playing guru personify the violence that the rock counterculture had inflicted on American society? Or did his music diagnose the dehumanizing effects of that society's broken institutions?
For nearly five years, commentators debated the meaning of Charles Manson and the Tate-LaBianca killings. The key thread linking these narratives was rock music: from the acid-drenched singalongs at Spahn Ranch, to a bizarre theology centered on Beatles songs, to Manson's own album, LIE: The Love and Terror Cult (1970). “They are afraid of it, because it tells the truth,” Manson told an interviewer about his music. What truths did the Manson Family's music tell? And how did stories about their music help Americans understand the true meaning of the Sixties?
Table of Contents
A Note On Obfuscation
Prologue: Who Are These People?
1 - March 1967 to October 1967 or, Disenchanted Seekers
2 - November 1967 to March 1968 or, Man's Son
3 - April 1968 to September 1968 or, A Group of Beatle Addicts
4 - October 1968 to June 1969 or, Rumor's Children
5 - July 1969 to November 1969 or, the Love and Terror Cult
6 – December 1969 to April 1972 or, Child of the State
Epilogue: The Invention of the Sixties
A Note On Reading No Sense Makes Sense
Acknowledgments
Endnotes
Index
Product details
| Published | 08 Jan 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 240 |
| ISBN | 9781501384578 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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