Changing the World:
Rock 'n' Roll Culture and Ideology
by
David N. Townnd
Synopsis
The premi of this work is that rock 'n' roll matters, and that it means what it says. It ems that rock 'n' roll music has ldom been given its due as an art form, that it is somehow relegated to a category of less "mature" or "rious" artistic pursuits by the media and the intellectual community (whatever that is). Some critics u the generic term "Pop" to refer to
any popular music, including all contemporary rock musicians, as if the fact of rock 'n' roll's immen commercial success implies that it cannot really be taken riously alongside, say, classical music, or even Jazz. Beyond artistic circles, rock 'n' roll is usually given even less credibility; the ideas and feelings and beliefs expresd and reflected in rock songs tend to be dismisd by non-fans, by the Establishment as a whole, as quaintly naive at best, childish and irrelevant at worst.
What's even more disturbing is that the attitudes often em to be held by fans of rock music themlves. We may still listen to the radio stations, dance and sing along to the old favorites or the new hits, but when we gather in rious intellectual or political forums, to share our views on the great issues and ideas of the day, we leave rock 'n' roll behind, back in the clot where old baball gloves and Barbie dolls gather dust. Especially for the Baby Boom generation, which grew up on rock 'n' roll, and certainly took it riously in youth, this dertion, or embarrassment, or hesitation, or whatever it is, casts a sad pall over approaching middle age: sure, in our youth we believed in all tho great ideals, but that was when we were young and carefree; now we've got responsibilities, and well,
it's just not so simple as
In defiance of this trend, and in view of the apparent retreats from idealism that have permeated the past decade or two, this book celebrates rock 'n' roll as a legitimate art form, and more, as a strong current in American and world culture, which contains a central and coherent ideology, as viable as any other ideology competing for primacy on the world intellectual stage. I prent the themes as justification, and excu, for examining rock 'n' roll music, history, personalities, and ideas from the standpoint of the unifying ideas and trends that have remained with rock from the beginning.
Rock 'n' roll can be described in such cohesive terms only if it is more than just a popular consumer entertainment medium: it must be a lf-contained "movement," which adherents choo to "join," and by so choosing accept its terms. In turn, rock 'n' roll can only be a movement if all of its widely disparate strains and offshoots are in some way connected to a common, unifying origin. This is in fact true; every rock musician today, from Alabama to Australia, from Sinéad O'Connor to Axl Ro, can trace his or her roots
directly to a single moment in history, the springboard of all rock music and culture, the explosive events of the mid-1950s that first introduced the idea of rock 'n' roll to the world. It is the themes and artistic styles of that very special, very brief time, that spawned the movement, and that subquent artists, from Dylan and the Beatles through Midnight Oil and Public Enemy, have merely refined and redefined. The 1950s were comparatively safe and innocent, and rock 'n' roll established a foundation for the ideals that youth could pursue in such an environment. When issues of race relations, war, xuality, drugs, ecology, and world hunger aro in later years, rock 'n' roll was forced, like every other ideology, to respond to them. That many of the concerns were of central importance to the kids reared on and reveling in rock 'n' roll as a lifestyle only heightens the significance of their common respon, as expresd in and through the music.
What we of the rock generations lack, then, is not a belief system, or a rious foundation for political, social, and creative expression, but simply a willingness to accept that what we have is good enough. Believers in Socialism or Conrvatism or Buddhism have no more coherent, sophisticated, or relevant conceptual system of how humans should inter
act, should respond to common problems and needs, and should understand their place in the univer. It's just that there are a lot more solemn, tedious books written about tho ideologies, and their promoters don't typically gross $15-million on a world tour. So this book tries to be slightly more of the solemn variety, although not tedious, and certainly entertaining, in the tradition of the genre, despite its rious intent. It traces the sources of rock 'n' roll's meaning, the paths which that meaning has taken over time and the performers and events that have shaped it, and how rock 'n' roll has confronted the many and potent challenges that have faced its millions of followers throughout the past four decades.
In attempting to paint this unified portrait, I have been responding to a perceived need, a need that is within mylf as much as in any other rock 'n' roll fan. When listening to countless heartfelt rock anthems, ballads, protests, and love songs, I have shared the feeling of purpo and hope contained therein. Then, when looking at the outside world, I have witnesd the frustration, hypocrisy, and despair that so regularly dominate headlines and events, and it always ems that rock 'n' roll is very distant from the sad
realities. The politicians and power centers--the Establishment--are almost always so un-hip, so far removed from the simple, sincere ntiments of the music. If we listen to the cynics, then this is becau rock 'n' roll is kid stuff, and has no place at negotiating tables or decisionmakers' desks. I prefer not to accept that view, to remain defiantly naively idealist. I prefer to asrt that not only is rock 'n' roll ideology real and viable, but that maybe its time has come.
