Music and Revolution: 'You Say You Want a Revolution?' at V&A

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London presents 'You Say You Want a Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966-70,' an immersive exhibition exploring the transformative music and social upheaval of the 1960s. Visitors wear headphones that trigger a soundtrack as they move through galleries filled with photographs, posters, clothing, films, and handwritten lyrics by artists like Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, and Bob Dylan. The show contextualizes the era's youth-driven movements against the backdrop of post-WWII baby booms: in 1947, over one million babies were born in the UK, and half the US population was under 25. By the 1960s, these adolescents and twenty-somethings sought revolution, inspired by John Lennon's song 'Revolution.' The exhibition highlights fierce police repression, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and the Vietnam War, alongside protests in France, England, Poland, Germany, and the US. It covers the rise of miniskirts, hippies, free love, multiculturalism, Woodstock, LSD, and the space race. As the 1970s approached, revolutionary fervor waned, giving way to environmentalism and the advent of Apple computers, foreshadowing the internet era. Curated by Victoria Brockes and Geoffrey Marsh, the exhibition runs until February 26, 2017.