Short Stuff: Flower Power | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hey and welcome to the short stuff I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and we're going. to talk about flower power so let's. start doing that right now yeah uh kind. of specifically the the two flower. Powers because uh there was one flower. power movement uh in the 1967. specifically uh an end of 68 that had to. do with politics and uh protest and then. there was a second flower power movement.

kind of either concurrently or on the. heels of that that was a little bit more. about like hey man like wear this cool. shirt and listen to this music we're in. San Francisco yeah that is a good point. um and one more from the other um I. think the the the whole thing originally. had its um origin in. 1965 thanks to Alan Ginsburg who had. become one of The Luminaries he was um. like Neil Cassidy one of those rare Beat. Generation Um guys who was able to kind.

of make the transition over to hippie um. and so he became a luminary of this this. whole scene the very beginning of like. the the um hippie movement in the 60s. and um so by this time he was already a. very respected counterculture person and. so when a bunch of um Berkeley students. uh decided that they were going to. protest um uh basically a clamp down on. political speech on campus uh they asked. Alan Ginsburg if he had any advice for.

boy did he ever yeah he wrote a uh essay. to give out to the protesters called. demonstration were spectacle as example. as communication or how to make a March. SL spectacle and they said what and he. said just read. it he's I love alen Ginsburg great poet. and he he always had these kind of funny. long titles like that yeah or very short. like. how well yeah good point thanks man so.

um the the there there's a lot to this. but the the thing that really has to do. with our um episode is that he he was. searching for a way or advising them to. look for ways to basically take the. psychology of war and people who are for. war and um that kind of stuff and just. kind of change it like like take this. scary thing and this violent thing and. just turn it on its head if you're. trying to protest it just don't follow. its Rules of Engagement like create your.

own yeah and you know one of the things. that was they knew for sure was going to. happen at this Berkeley protest was the. Hell's Angels were going to come in uh. to counter protest the protest or I. guess just counter protest and he said. kind of like kill him with kindness he. you know he didn't actually say the. words flower power but he mentioned. flowers uh as what he called a visual. spectacle um like masses of flowers a. visual spectacle especially concent Tred.

in the front lines and also little toy. soldiers and toy guns and uh candy and. little tiny musical instruments and to. basically just sort of be like yeah just. throw a bunch of like silliness and. Whimsy at them and these Hell's Angels. aren't going to know what to do they're. don't going know they might want to beat. you up but they'll probably maybe even. feel bad trying to right so this was. really good advice and that was. definitely the origin of flower power um. and so you can make a really good case.

and it would be totally correct that the. flower power movement or idea um came. from anti-war protests or even before. that uh Free Speech protests among young. liberals and counterculture types even. before there was such a thing as hippies. like sunny and Sher were just starting. to get into this it was so early right. um and so those those students at. Berkeley were successful the. administration at the at the University. was like fine say whatever you want we. don't care anymore just get off the lawn.

um and then that got parlayed into okay. well this is a we're we're creating a. movement here these kids really care. about stuff how about we we start. targeting the Vietnam War and that. really quickly easily translated into it. and there was a very very famous picture. that was essentially the culmination of. this whole ideal that Alan Ginsburg. suggested and that those Berkeley. students first adopted and it came in. 1967 I believe uh with a march on the. Pentagon yeah there were more than.

100,000 people at this March uh peaceful. protest and a very very famous picture. like you mentioned was taken by a guy. named Bernie Boston uh of the Washington. star when he captured a young guy. 18-year-old um aspiring actor named. George Harris uh when. 2500 Reserve troops with M14 machine. guns came out and surrounded uh the. place he very calmly walked up and stuck. a daisy in the end of that Gun Barrel.

creating one of the most iconic photos. of the 1960s yeah it's pretty neat it's. called The Flower Power photo it's. really great to see and also his sweater. is just. amazing it is so uh I say we we come. back and and uh talk about how flower. power morphed from that uh into what we. think of it today how about that let's. do it. [Music]. [Applause]. [Music].

[Applause]. [Applause]. [Music]. all right so now we're in San Francisco.

uh the hippie movement is genuinely. underway at this point that's the. epicenter of it all uh during one of the. many Summers of love that we've talked. about and flower pow sort of gotten. morphed a little bit and it wasn't so. much political protests anymore it was. just like hey man like violence is in. the way you got to love your neighbor uh. you got to just get on board with these. cool clothes it became more more of sort. of a a cultural um even fashion.

Touchstone uh that had not much to do. with protest even though it was still. about living kind of a groovy peaceful. life it got co-opted and that's a really. great way to defuse an actual movement. is to commercialize it and sell it and. repackage it to the rest of the America. that's exactly what happened um because. a lot of those hippies were like yeah I. I don't want to hurt anybody I don't. want anybody to have to die in war but. really I'm kind of here for the chicks. and the acid uh and that's really what.

I'm into so it was kind of easy for it. to transition into a a yeah just a trend. a fashion trend I mean it eventually. trickled down to the Brady kids for. God's sake that's how far away it got. from putting flowers into gun Barrels in. protest of Vietnam um and that. definitely happened that transition did. definitely happen in 1967 in San. Francisco and this was not lost on. anybody who was really into this. movement at the time and was really. upset to see it turn into a.

commercialized fashion trend yeah for. sure uh but that's kind of what happened. in the hate Ashbury District uh a shop. open there called the psychedelic shop. um they this is just shortly before LSD. was uh criminalized in uh the United. States or at least in California uh but. at the time you could go there and like. get education on doing acid and like how. to best do it and buy it oh yeah it was. legal I mean it's just nuts you just go.

down the street to the the psychedelic. shop and buy some Barrel acid yeah for. sure so um it's a it's a fashion thing. at this point uh all the brightly. colored sort of tie-dye stuff and. literal like flower print dresses and. things like that was a it was a group of. kids kind of casting off um finally like. the garments of the 1950s of their. parents where you know women had were. wore girdles and uh you. know skirts that weren't very very. comfortable and too tight and too long.

and they're like hey put on this like uh. free flowing uh linen flower frock and. tell and take off that bra yeah and tell. me how that feels yeah and burn it in. this 55 gallon drum that we have a fire. going in right which did not happen no. that's awesome that you remembered that. because I had forgotten um so uh there. like I said there were people who were. not happy about this transition they. really believed in flower power and were. kind of bummed that like like all these. people had just kind of come out and.

were missing the point um so they. actually held a funeral for the hippie. in uh. 1967 it was in October. 1967 uh they had a a funeral March um or. procession I guess through ha ashberry. and um they even burned the psychedelic. shop sign and I was trying to figure out. if the Psychedelic Shop's owner would. have been like yeah that's the right. thing to do burn my sign or would have. been like hey uh stop burning my sign I. can't figure out how that would have.

gone down but it did go down like that. and also for anybody who's listened to. our bios ferian episode this is about. the time when the sygan probably left. for New Mexico yeah totally uh one guy. was pretty happy that it waited until. later in 1967 at least because uh a guy. named Scott McKenzie had a big hit. earlier that year uh with the song s. Francisco uh which we for one of our San. Francisco shows I believe it was the one. at the Palace of Fine Art years ago uh.

we played this song as our walkout song. uh which was a mistake cuz it's a little. too mellow uh if you're going to San. Francisco be sure to wear some flowers. in your hair so he got that in just. under the wire yeah less famously uh the. next line is or else those hippies will. mess you up real. good yeah but that helped kind of spread. flower power also to the rest of. mainstream America because that song was. such a big hit so all that stuff kind of. combined really led to the death of.

flower power and ultimately the image we. have of it today but hat tip to those. those uh kids that that gave it its. original meaning and Alan gburg too yeah. I mean that picture's iconic and I kind. of take it for granted now because I've. seen seen it so many times but it took a. lot of guts for that kid an 18-year-old. kid to walk up to a guy with a machine. gun and stick a flower in that Barrel. that was that was a a bold move yeah. yeah that's a great way to put it I also.

want to give a hat tip to our former. colleague and host of unladylike the. podcast um Kristen Conger who who wrote. this originally for how stuff works so. many years ago that's right Kongs is. great and uh I miss working with her and. I miss uh being in touch with her this. made me kind of want to um email her and. just say how you doing hey man it with. the spirit of flower power compels you. go ahead and do that Chuck all right.

wait I didn't say it short stuff is. out stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts ihart radio visit the iHeart. Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you. listen to your favorite shows. [Music].