How music fueled protests against the Vietnam War

Music United States of America

28.04.2025 April 28, 2025

Fifty years ago, the Vietnam War ended, and the United States was forced to admit defeat. The conflict had long been controversial there. The American cultural scene protested the deployment in countless songs.

The Vietnam War , in which the United States fought alongside South Vietnam against the communist North, began in 1955 and ended on April 30, 1975 - the day North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon.

For most Americans, it was incomprehensible that their country, despite its military and political greatness, had suffered a defeat. The trauma ran deep; the war had become etched in the cultural memory of the United States.

One person who can literally sing a song about this is Justin Brummer. The US historian researches the musical legacy of the brutal and costly conflict. For decades, Brummer scoured record stores around the world in search of songs about the Vietnam War. Finally, in 2007, he founded the digital "Vietnam War Song Project (VWSP)" . With its more than 6,000 songs, it is today part of the memory of US pop culture .

Brummer's research revealed 700 English-language protest songs, mostly anti-war songs, created in the United States in the 1960s and early 1970s. Among them were songs by iconic singer-songwriters such as Joan Baez , Bob Dylan , John Lennon , and Marvin Gaye.

"The 1960s were an important time of cultural and social change, in which traditional barriers fell and youth music exploded," says Brummer, reflecting on the rich legacy of protest music from those years. Whether listening to the radio, watching television, at universities, or at festivals—basically, nowhere else where music was heard—you could avoid the Vietnam War. Even the more conservative country music scene expressed criticism of the Vietnam campaign because the war's costs and losses were rising immeasurably.

Given the countless songs, it is difficult to identify the most important ones, but some "essentials have emerged," Brummer tells DW. For example, Barry McGuire's often covered number one hit "Eve of Destruction" (1965) denounced the Vietnam War as the "eve of destruction" and warned of the nuclear threat.

Phil Ochs' "Draft Dodger Rag" (1965) was particularly popular among the political activist scene. "The Universal Soldier," written by Canadian Buffy Sainte-Marie and popularized by Donovan in 1965, discussed the responsibility of the individual. Country Joe & The Fish's "I-Feel-Like-I'm Fixin'-to-Die Rag" (1967) also became a hit and provided one of the most famous Woodstock performances. Its refrain, "1, 2, 3, what are we fighting for? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn!", brought the audience to their feet.

"Fortunate Son" (1969) by Creedence Clearwater Revival lamented that the sons of ordinary people were being sacrificed in war. "I Should Be Proud" (1970) by Martha and the Vandellas questioned patriotism and heroism. And "Ohio" (1970) by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young criticized the brutal police response during the Vietnam War protests on May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio. Police shot four students, sparking nationwide protests.

The longer the Vietnam War lasted, the more depressing news reached the homeland. More and more anti-war songs emerged. US protest culture grew. By the 1960s, millions of Americans owned portable radios, record players, and later audio cassettes (introduced in 1963). Protest music became ubiquitous—in cars, kitchens, living rooms, and parks.

Not least in Vietnam, US soldiers heard this music, which was brought back from home and even played live at performances by popular acts.

A number of iconic moments have become etched in the cultural memory of the United States. These include "Composers and Musicians for Peace" (1968), a large concert in New York dedicated to the recently assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. And, of course , Woodstock (1969) , a three-day open-air festival in the small town of Bethel, New York. Thirty-two bands and solo artists, including stars such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and The Who, performed before an audience of around 400,000. To this day, Woodstock embodies the myth of a peace-loving, artistic, and "different" America.

But the protest culture also spread to other concerts, festivals, and demonstrations. In November 1969, around 250,000 protesters came to Washington, D.C., and several hundred thousand people gathered in San Francisco to demand an end to the US Vietnam disaster. The so-called May Day protests of 1971, when more than 12,000 people were taken away by police – one of the largest mass arrests in US history – made history. The soundtrack to these protests was provided by the hundreds of protest songs of those days.

It's hardly surprising that the Vietnamese perspective played no role in protest music in North America in the 1960s and 1970s. At least 1.3 million Vietnamese soldiers died. Around 58,000 American soldiers were killed. The number of civilians killed was between one and two million.

According to Brummer, hundreds of political songs were released in communist North Vietnam alone during the war. Most appeared on the state-owned Dihavina label.

"Much of this music was known as Nhạc Đỏ ('Red Music')," explains the music historian. "Music that developed at the beginning of the 20th century and incorporated elements of Western classical music, while the lyrics focused on socialism and independence, expressing an anti-imperialist or anti-colonial sentiment."

A well-known example was the Vietnamese composer, poet, and painter Trịnh Công Sơn (1939-2001). Because of his anti-war songs in the 1960s, he was considered the "Bob Dylan of Vietnam."

Vietnam remained a prominent topic in pop culture even after the war ended. Influential anti-war films such as "Apocalypse Now" (1979), "Platoon" (1986), and "Full Metal Jacket" (1987) were released, each with world-famous soundtracks, including "The End" by The Doors. The song, which eloquently declares, "This is the end, my only friend."

On the pop music scene , Bruce Springsteen achieved commercial success with "Born in the USA" (1984) and Paul Hardcastle with "19" (1985) – and sparked new debates. Among the now more than 6,000 songs with a Vietnam War connection, there are also many reinterpretations of classics. Historian Justin Brummer has collected them all in his archive – complete with lyrics and interpretations.

"There's a lot of politically conscious music out there today. What's missing is great music that deals with the wars and is also very popular and widely heard," Craig Werner, co-author of "We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War," noted in his 2017 book.

In fact, unlike during the Vietnam War, there is a lack of pop-culture-driven protest movements today. Political posts can be found on social media channels from stars like Taylor Swift. There are songs in support of the Black Lives Matter movement from artists like Kendrick Lamar and demonstrations against the Trump administration and his advisor Elon Musk . But a broad movement with a specific soundtrack and concrete goal cannot currently be identified. One of the reasons: the transformation of the music scene. In the age of smartphones and streaming, music consumption has changed; the shared cultural moments of the 1960s and 1970s have largely disappeared.