Let's put this into proper time context. Acoustic guitars were the tools of hippies. Donovan, The Beatles with their "Mother Nature's Son," The Mamas and the Papas, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Crosby Stills Nash...all hippies, all strumming their acoustic guitars.
Now after the '60s and that hippy flower power nonsense faded, the only acoustic guitars on Earth were played by country western artists, the solo Beatles, and Jimmy Page. That was it. Punk came around, disco...and thankfully the acoustic guitar was set aside with love beads, acid, and lava lamps.
So in the early/mid '80s I am into this band New Model Army. Great rock band. Yeah, in the pictures I saw of them I saw that they had long hair and wore blue jeans. Hmmm. Thought that was a bit strange, but I just ignored that. Then I go to my music store and buy their new release, something called "The Acoustic E.P." Huh? I put it on my turntable and it is the band singing along to strumming acoustic guitars! HIPPIES! I knew these guys were hippies!
I laughed to myself. Hippies after all. You know The Clash had not one acoustic guitar on their albums. The Specials, none. Joy Division, none. The Gang Of Four, New Order...short hair and no acoustic guitars. I loved all those bands, so imagine my surprise when I played "The Acoustic E.P" for the first time. Hippies! For those that weren't around then, have to remember this acoustic release by NMA was years before MTV's unplugged. Years before acoustic guitars were seen as normal tools for rock bands. I now sure do give NMA a lot of credit for being so far ahead of the curve with this acoustic E.P., but back then when I first bought it...HIPPIES!
Well, I gave the acoustic E.P. a good listen and sure enough, I loved it. "Better Than Them" may be played on the same instrument The Cowsills used, but it sure wasn't hippy music.
I am new to this forum and want to say that nearly 30 years after that "New Model Army are hippies!" moment, I still follow the band, still love them, still buy all their releases. And, yes, I am still waiting for their "The Sitar E.P."