History is the teller of truths, and like most truths, it's quite grey.

It's the way in which we remember the yesterday, and all it's tell-tale moments. The irony in which we tend to paint history in such shades of black and whites, that we forget how colorful the moment really was.

Our opinions and bias strangle the vibrancy — but our music lives on. Our music lives to advocate in a way politicians never could.

Our music is our legacy and a reflection of our culture as Americans.

Admittedly, musical controversy has the comfortability of an old friend. We've witnessed it come and go, but he never stays afar. In forms from Johnny Cash to N.W.A, It's made an everlasting debut from decade to decade; mirroring societal's ideals and even at times steering them for the better.

In the 50s, segregation was all the norm. In fact, it was a way of life you'd never know to be strange unless you had the presentism to witness it. It's a concept we tend to ridicule in disbelief, but some artists were ahead of their institution. Artists such as Little Richard broke through the bigotry that plagued the venue managements. He proved to be a paradigm of talent that even the openly "White-only" venues couldn't deny. The idea of being remarkably talented is what gives him and future artists a voice.

It's the very thing that flatters our mind into wanting to listen to more than their lyrics, and come to listen to their views.

This is what made the 60s psychedelic scene seem so contradictory. It was a voice that fought the generations before. Breaking the boundaries into a division with no wrong or right. Introducing the idea of an open-use of recreational drugs for creativity and spiritual freedom. It was an idea boosted by the movements of Pink Floyd and artists such as the Doors.

More than before, generations learned to challenge their parents and embrace their peers. To question the ethics of ideas, such as reform. To question the very idea of racism and drugs, and discover an answer through their experiences, rather than listen to the hand-me-down wisdom of tradition

Perhaps, this was the period we learned music could change our thinking for the better.