Nearly every time I get into my dad’s car, he is playing rock music, usually ACDC. From the time I was young, I learned the words and would play the air guitar as I sung (or screamed) along with the song. For me, this was normal.
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Most people would agree that music helps shape our identities and can help comfort us as we take the steps from childhood to adulthood. Though it seems helpful, it often causes debate among parents and teenagers, teachers and students, politicians and preforms, and others. When you look at music’s history, over and over again, popular music has been “banned by parents, school officials, and even governments for the purpose of protecting young people from corrupting influences” (Media & Culture).
Rock and roll is one of these music genres that faced debate. Today, rock and roll is a very popular and common music genre. Whenever I hear songs such as, “T.N.T.” or “You Shook Me All Night Long”, I just sing along and do not think anything about it. However, rock and roll has not always been accepted like it is today. When rock and roll first began in the 1950s, it faced a lot of criticism. This is because people believed that rock and roll was very explicit and sexual, addressed the idea of sexual identity and orientation, blurred geographic borders between the country and city, and was claimed as an offense against God.
Elvis Presley’s Controversy Dance Moves
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When rock and roll began in the 1950s, it was a blues slang term for “sex”. This led to instant controversy. However, since this was the first integrationist music, it was widespread and growing rapidly. To many, this was a problem because they believed this low culture music would badly influence people. Rock and roll was considered low culture because the lyrics were sexuality explicit and violent. If we were to look at the lyrics, they may seem tame for us, but in the 1950s, they were very sacrilege. Also, the way people behaved changed. Performers started misbehaving. For example, “Elvis Presley’s pegged pants and gyrating hips and Bo Diddley’s use of the Gautier as a phallic symbol” were not very professional on stage (Media & Culture). This idea of being less mannered and less professional also led to the idea of preforming at untraditional venues like bars.
Little Richard in the 1950s
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Not only was rock and roll very sexually explicit, it was the first to confront the issues of sexual identity and orientation. For example, Elvis’s most fascinating feature was his androgynous appearance. Also, Little Richard was very sexually outrageous and was considered to be rock and roll’s first drag queen. He blurred the line between masculinity and femininity. He blurred the gender and sexuality lines because “he feared the consequences of becoming a sex symbol for white girls” (Media & Culture). He said this image made him seem harmless. However, Little Richard’s playfulness with gender identity was said to lead the way for more modern performers like Marilyn Mason, Prince, Lady Gaga, and many others.
Another thing that rock and roll did was blur the line between the country and the city. This brought together different styles of white and black music. Although the songs and lyrics that came out of this were not overly provocative or political, the crossover music was seen as a huge “threat to long standing racial and class boundaries” (Media & Culture). In the 1950s, it was worried that rock and roll would pull “the white man down to the level of the Negro” as part of a “plot to undermine the morals of the youth or our nation” (Media & Culture). However, today, rural and urban music continue to blend and this is where we get genres like country rock.
Rock and Roll As an Offense Against God
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Also, in the 1950s, mainstream adults claimed the rock and roll’s “sexually explicitness and questioning of moral norms constituted as an offense against God” (Media & Culture). However, many of the early rock musicians had religious ties. Some musicians, like Ray Charles, even tried to convert gospel tunes into signature songs. However, that did not go over well because many people did not like or accept the mix of rock and roll and the sacred. Eventually, the public’s opinion and anger were so strong that some performers, like Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, “became convinced that they were playing the Devil’s music” (Media & Culture). However, the blur between rock and roll and the sacred never stopped. And, as ironic as it may seem, some churches today are using rock and roll to appeal to the youth and the younger members. Also, there are even Christian rock groups.
Rock and Roll Led to Juvenile Delinquency
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Since rock and roll started, it faced the battle against the blame that it causes juvenile delinquency. This all started in the 1950s when rock and roll was becoming popular and juvenile delinquency was on the rise too. The blame was placed upon rock and roll, rather than the young delinquents or their parents. This view that rock and roll corrupted the youth was widely accepted by social authorities, so rock and roll music was often censored.
However, by the early 1960s, record companies began to discipline some of rock and roll’s rebellious impulses. This helped keep the enormous profits that this new music had generated. “Rock and roll’s explosive violations of racial, class, and other boundaries were transformed into simpler generation gap problems, and the music developed and milder reputation” (Media & Culture). With the change of rock and roll in the 1960s, there was now somewhat less worry that the younger generations would be affected by rock and roll and how it was very explicit and sexual, addressed the idea of sexual identity and orientation, blurred geographic borders between the country and city, and was claimed as an offense against God. The masses were more accepting of the 1960’s rock and roll as it became tamer and safer.
Source:
Campbell, Richard, Christopher R. Martin, and Bettina Fabos. Media & Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2015. Print.
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