Why did people like pop music in the 60's?

Answer 1

Because it was something fresh, different, and a way for teens to rebel against convention.

Answer 2

I can't tell you why people in general liked pop music in the 60's, but I can tell you a little of why I liked it. I was just starting college as the 60's began. The Kennedy presidency had just begun and we had a young leader. The Cuban Missile crisis was near at hand. We expected that there could be a nuclear war. The Civil Rights movement was taking off. It was a time of ferment and change. After the 50's and the very old-fashioned and conservative ways, we were facing a new world sexually, politically, economically. There were many new ideas being discussed. They tell us that the poets show us how the world is--and the musicians were the poets. Just a few years before, we had had Elvis Presley, Rock and Roll, and the realization that it was OK to dance (even if the old people thought the dancing was lewd and sinful), it was OK to have sex outside of marriage, it was OK to question authority. The music just supported these and other feelings. The music shook us up just the way the whole world was shaking us up.

The above was at the start of the sixties. Then the Civil Rights marches and killings took place. Then the Missile Crisis. Then Kennedy was killed and we thought that the world had ended--for weeks and weeks there were meetings over what it all meant. Then came Johnson and Vietnam and the whole anti-war movement and teach-ins. We young people felt that we could change the world. That we could make governments fall. That we could usher in a time of peace and happiness for all humankind. That we could make love, not war. That we could all smoke (grass) and be happy. We felt that we could re-make the world and that a "new world" was coming just round the corner, with peace and justice for all.

Then the right-wing took over...and look where we are now.

Answer 3

Probably for the same reason why people like pop music today. There's some artists that appeal to a much wider audience than others.