A fact about the original Hippies that is seldom mentioned is that they were great believers in personal filth. That is, they often abhorred bathing, to the point where they could be smelled downwind from a block away. Even those attending university could horribly pollute classrooms with their stench.
And, by the latter part of the 1960s, they created such an explosion of venereal diseases that the public health authorities had to begin a multimedia advertising campaign against VD.
What began with the “love beads” Hippies, espousing idealistic claptrap, evolved into disgusting and violent chaos by the time of the Altamont Free Concert in 1969.
Importantly, in most of the US, Hippies were rare, preferring to flock to the coasts to spread their grossness. But middle American teenagers absorbed some of their fashion sense in little ways, and were much cleaner than the bona fides.
The unnerving nature of the military draft, and how it was unfairly and disturbingly applied, did much to create the Hippies, as did the first great burst of leftism in the universities, and the very limited mass media, basically just three TV networks and newspapers.
The flip side to this was the abject boredom found in the newly built midwestern and western cities and suburbs. Because there were so very few recreations, and yet there were inexpensive musical instruments, garage bands proliferated. And though there were a vast number of these, the competition forced a lot of creativity in music.
There is a website that streams recordings of a lot of “also ran” music from the time. While not good enough to make the big time, it was enough to be played on the radio, at least in regional markets.
http://www.beyondthebeatgeneration.com/
But for me, a chance to get cleaned up was more pressing than a chance to get a meal.