Here's how I see it: Everyone knows that life sucks and that there is some happiness but it's just out of reach. There's always some sort of world issue going on and nothing is going to change that.
We've had different ways of expressing these feelings every decade. We just did it better in the 60's and 70's.
There were hippies, there was pot, the beginning of rock n' roll, and they didn't make such a big deal about it! I wish I could warp back to those times.