‘a lesson in the art of morale.“

The function of music in war has always been twofold: as a means of communication and as a psychological weapon. The history of the Vietnam War has been told many times in hundreds of books, movies and plays. But the 13-CD box ’The Next Stop Is Vietnam’ explores the impact of that conflict through the popular music it inspired. The first Vietnam War protest song to become a commercial hit was a three-and-a half-minute rant by Barry McGuire. "Eve of Destruction” (VIDEO) was banned by many radio stations and the entire Armed Forces Network. If you ask a lot of veterans, the song that captures their feelings about Vietnam is “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” (VIDEO) a 1960s pop hit by The Animals, which was really about young people trapped in a British urban slum. There are more than 300 songs on a new 13-CD box set, they range from a folk ballad released just before U.S. troops landed to a 2008 song about the aftereffects that veterans still suffer. Dutch born Pop music archivist Hugo Keesing whom is Professor at the University of Maryland and a popular culture scholar worked on this project since the early 1970s, when he taught psychology courses to U.S. troops a few hundred miles up the coast from Saigon. An “essential American history in sound — and a lesson in the art of morale” said Rolling Stone….a true gift for all music lovers out here! Buy here, here and Spotify preview here...(photo credit Bear Family)