OLIVEIRA, Selmane Felipe de (2003) Rock and Roll Music: a way of life. http://profelipe.weebly.com/music.html
It is not possible to write about twenty century without talking about rock and roll music. It doesn’t mean to say it was a revolucionary movement as it happened in Russia (1917) or in Cuba (1959). The changes of rock movement were different. It changed the way of life of society.
In the fifthies, it was the cold war period. One, communism, shown as dictatorship and, on other side, capitalism, mainly United States, shown as democracy. The reality, howerver, was that simple. Behind theAmerican way of life there were racism, prejudice against poor people and an external politics that justified dictatorships in, for example, South America.
There would not be rock n’ roll without blues. It remenbers slaves and pain. It remenbers the sounds of Africa and the contradictions of the colonialism. Of course, the first great idol wasn’t Chuck Berry or Little Richards. It was Elvis Presley.
Being white didn’t mean it was easy for Elvis in the fifthies. The main problem was the symbol of rock and roll. It was like the American youth needed to be protected from dangerous ideas. In the case of rock, these ideas came from black people. Rock and racism in the fifthies: these problems shown another America for the world beyond that ideology of cold war.
There was another problem: people didn't believe that rock music could last. In his early interviews, Elvis Presley talked about it:
Rock n' roll has been for five years. I can't say it's gonna last, 'cause I don't know. But, all I can say it's good, people like it and it's sellin' ... (Hayride Shows CD)
Basically, as Elvis tried to show, rock also meant selling records. In other words, it could be, at the same time, protesct and a cultural industry.
About the fifthies, there was one more thing: beatnic mouvement. Its ideas, poetry and experiences were important to change people’s behaviour. Probably hippie mouvement would not be the same without new ideas from beat generation. New social mouvement, new idols in the sixties. They came from England: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and others. With The Beatles, rock n’ roll was an international music for teenegers. They meant a new way of behaviour: sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. Of course, The Beatles were not just songs as Love me Do. They were also known for the lyrics of Lucy in the Sky with Dimonds. The association with LSD was clear. There were yet My Generation (The Who) and Simpathy for the Devil (The Rolling Stones). These lyrics shown another side of rock music.
In the sixties, rock n’ roll was not music for angels, but, at the same time, it tried to show some answers for the society. Young people lived in hippie communities, wtih new valours and not lots of rules. Sexuality meant freedom. Feminism fight for women’s rights. There were protests against racism too. The world was changing: 1968 in France, protests in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet's dictatorship, Woodstock festival in the U.S.A and left movements in Latin America (trying to repeat the 1959 Cuba experience).
In fact, rock mouvement changed people’s behaviour, but it did not change much about political relations. In the seventies, people seemed not to believe in revolution anymore. These were heavy metal andprogressive music years. The music was more important than the lyrics. It was clear at the symphony sound of progressive rock and, in the other side, the ‘noise’ of the heavy metal groups. One example: Led Zeppelin. With the 5 minutes of music in The song remains the same, the lyrcs are:
I had a dream. Crazy dream. Anything I wanted to know, any place I needed to go Hear my song. People won't you listen now? Sing along. You don't know what you're missing now. Any little song that you know Everything that's small has to grow.
What does it mean? Probably nothing. The important was the sound. Robert Plant’s voice was as an instrument in this music and the meaning of the words was not essencial. Some people could remenberStairway to Heaven or The Rain Song, but here, as in the most progressive songs, the lyrics tell about love or supernatural meanings, not about what really happens in people’s life. With punk mouvement, in the late seventies, it was different. They were not musicians. It was just noise. They didn’t care. The important was the lyrics, the protetc against the ‘old’ rock bands (as Led Zeppelin or The Rolling Stones) and the rules of capitalist society. Punk was more than music. It was a way of life. The lyrics of Anarchy in the U.K.:
I’m an antichrist I’m an anarchist I don’t know what I want But I know how I get it I wanna destroy.
Anarchism and rock music. Of course, this combiantion didn’t make punk a social movement, but, at least, it tried to put rock to what it was in the beginning: a music against rules. It was not only about the musicians. The behavior of the audience was important. It was true in the fifthies and the seventies.
Punk was not the last movement of rock music - after that, there were different styles as disco music, new wave, hip hop and so on. Rock became important to the industry of music. Musicians became millionaires. Any new kind of music tried to change people’s ideas and, at the same time, it tried to make money as any capitalist area. By the way, it was the main problem: to use rock as protect became a way of making money. It sold almost everything: records, t-shirts, concerts, sodas... It worked as any product. Basically, rock music became mainstream. Young people of Woodstock were the parents in the eithies. They were different, of course, but rock and roll wasn’t a surprise or any symbol of protect. It was the decade of yuppies. Money was the only thing that mattered. Music as disco or new wave was their soundtrack.
In fact, lyrics of rock music never tried to show some left political views. There were some Bob Dylan’s songs, punk music and others, but they were not the majority. It doesn’t mean, however, that rock music did not changed the way of life in the second half of the twenty century.
Bibliography
BARA, Guillaume. La techno. Paris: E. J. L., 1999.
BYRNE, John. The story of Pop. London: Heinemann, 1977.
DAVIS, Stephen. Hammer of the Gods. London: Sidgwick & Jackson Limited, 1985
DUCARY, François. Les Beatles. Paris: E. J. L., 1999.
GUILHEMINOT, Hervé & RAJON, Florence. Le rock des annés 70. Paris: Prelude e Fugue, 1997.
WEISSBROAD, Uli. Robert Plant: ein zeppelin kehrt zurürck. Bravo, 70-71, july 1982.
It is not possible to write about twenty century without talking about rock and roll music. It doesn’t mean to say it was a revolucionary movement as it happened in Russia (1917) or in Cuba (1959). The changes of rock movement were different. It changed the way of life of society.
In the fifthies, it was the cold war period. One, communism, shown as dictatorship and, on other side, capitalism, mainly United States, shown as democracy. The reality, howerver, was that simple. Behind theAmerican way of life there were racism, prejudice against poor people and an external politics that justified dictatorships in, for example, South America.
There would not be rock n’ roll without blues. It remenbers slaves and pain. It remenbers the sounds of Africa and the contradictions of the colonialism. Of course, the first great idol wasn’t Chuck Berry or Little Richards. It was Elvis Presley.
Being white didn’t mean it was easy for Elvis in the fifthies. The main problem was the symbol of rock and roll. It was like the American youth needed to be protected from dangerous ideas. In the case of rock, these ideas came from black people. Rock and racism in the fifthies: these problems shown another America for the world beyond that ideology of cold war.
There was another problem: people didn't believe that rock music could last. In his early interviews, Elvis Presley talked about it:
Rock n' roll has been for five years. I can't say it's gonna last, 'cause I don't know. But, all I can say it's good, people like it and it's sellin' ... (Hayride Shows CD)
Basically, as Elvis tried to show, rock also meant selling records. In other words, it could be, at the same time, protesct and a cultural industry.
About the fifthies, there was one more thing: beatnic mouvement. Its ideas, poetry and experiences were important to change people’s behaviour. Probably hippie mouvement would not be the same without new ideas from beat generation. New social mouvement, new idols in the sixties. They came from England: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and others. With The Beatles, rock n’ roll was an international music for teenegers. They meant a new way of behaviour: sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. Of course, The Beatles were not just songs as Love me Do. They were also known for the lyrics of Lucy in the Sky with Dimonds. The association with LSD was clear. There were yet My Generation (The Who) and Simpathy for the Devil (The Rolling Stones). These lyrics shown another side of rock music.
In the sixties, rock n’ roll was not music for angels, but, at the same time, it tried to show some answers for the society. Young people lived in hippie communities, wtih new valours and not lots of rules. Sexuality meant freedom. Feminism fight for women’s rights. There were protests against racism too. The world was changing: 1968 in France, protests in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet's dictatorship, Woodstock festival in the U.S.A and left movements in Latin America (trying to repeat the 1959 Cuba experience).
In fact, rock mouvement changed people’s behaviour, but it did not change much about political relations. In the seventies, people seemed not to believe in revolution anymore. These were heavy metal andprogressive music years. The music was more important than the lyrics. It was clear at the symphony sound of progressive rock and, in the other side, the ‘noise’ of the heavy metal groups. One example: Led Zeppelin. With the 5 minutes of music in The song remains the same, the lyrcs are:
I had a dream. Crazy dream. Anything I wanted to know, any place I needed to go Hear my song. People won't you listen now? Sing along. You don't know what you're missing now. Any little song that you know Everything that's small has to grow.
What does it mean? Probably nothing. The important was the sound. Robert Plant’s voice was as an instrument in this music and the meaning of the words was not essencial. Some people could remenberStairway to Heaven or The Rain Song, but here, as in the most progressive songs, the lyrics tell about love or supernatural meanings, not about what really happens in people’s life. With punk mouvement, in the late seventies, it was different. They were not musicians. It was just noise. They didn’t care. The important was the lyrics, the protetc against the ‘old’ rock bands (as Led Zeppelin or The Rolling Stones) and the rules of capitalist society. Punk was more than music. It was a way of life. The lyrics of Anarchy in the U.K.:
I’m an antichrist I’m an anarchist I don’t know what I want But I know how I get it I wanna destroy.
Anarchism and rock music. Of course, this combiantion didn’t make punk a social movement, but, at least, it tried to put rock to what it was in the beginning: a music against rules. It was not only about the musicians. The behavior of the audience was important. It was true in the fifthies and the seventies.
Punk was not the last movement of rock music - after that, there were different styles as disco music, new wave, hip hop and so on. Rock became important to the industry of music. Musicians became millionaires. Any new kind of music tried to change people’s ideas and, at the same time, it tried to make money as any capitalist area. By the way, it was the main problem: to use rock as protect became a way of making money. It sold almost everything: records, t-shirts, concerts, sodas... It worked as any product. Basically, rock music became mainstream. Young people of Woodstock were the parents in the eithies. They were different, of course, but rock and roll wasn’t a surprise or any symbol of protect. It was the decade of yuppies. Money was the only thing that mattered. Music as disco or new wave was their soundtrack.
In fact, lyrics of rock music never tried to show some left political views. There were some Bob Dylan’s songs, punk music and others, but they were not the majority. It doesn’t mean, however, that rock music did not changed the way of life in the second half of the twenty century.
Bibliography
BARA, Guillaume. La techno. Paris: E. J. L., 1999.
BYRNE, John. The story of Pop. London: Heinemann, 1977.
DAVIS, Stephen. Hammer of the Gods. London: Sidgwick & Jackson Limited, 1985
DUCARY, François. Les Beatles. Paris: E. J. L., 1999.
GUILHEMINOT, Hervé & RAJON, Florence. Le rock des annés 70. Paris: Prelude e Fugue, 1997.
WEISSBROAD, Uli. Robert Plant: ein zeppelin kehrt zurürck. Bravo, 70-71, july 1982.