60s Rock and Roll

[nailatixela]

Hey everyone,

In Modern US History class we have a research paper to do. There was a long list of topics, nixon, johnson, cuban missle crisis, blah blah blah. Then I found one titled "Rock and Roll" So I jumped on it yesterday, and am glad to have such a topic - one of the best parts of history is it's music, IMO.

The exact topic is questioning if rock and roll music (from it's emergence in the 60s) was constructive or deconstructive to American society. Right now I am leaning towards the constructive end. There are negative points of course. However I think I would rather write from the constructive point of view.

I'd like to ask some of our (ahem) "older" members if they could give me some of their thoughts. I'm playing with my thesis still, but one of my points that I want to make is that rock music was very much needed for teens in the 60s and 70s. Not being a teen in the 60s I can rely only on internet and books...but I would like to hear first hand from anyone here who was a rock and roll fan in the 60s, and/or early 70s. Didn't you need this challenge to conformity, as a teen, or were the effect drugs had on the era just not worth it? There were so many young talents who died because of drugs...but they were there an gave some great music. What was it like, and how did you feel living through it?

Thank you - I respect and would love any thoughts you have to share. I wish I was there with you!

[trackaghost]

Well I wasn't around in the 60s and only part of the 70s but I don't think it was just about challenging conformity myself (although that was part of it), rock and roll gave a voice to teenagers where they didn't have one before. You have to remember that the popularity of rock and roll was a symptom of a youth culture that didn't really exist before WWII. Post-war, there was a rise in affluence in the 50s that meant teenagers had more free time and money to spend on music, movies and clothes that allowed them to express themselves and as a new force in the marketplace that meant they had a much bigger influence on social change . In particular I would say that the protest music of the 60s had a significant impact on American society and that was certainly driven by youth culture (if teens hadn't been buying Bob Dylan's records he wouldn't have been on TV, giving a platform for his anti-war views etc) . It rallied people together and expressed a common view. There's a pretty good article on it here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4498011.stm

I don't know if I've helped at all, or just sprouted obvious stuff but I tried

[nailatixela]

Thanks trackaghost for your post. Also for the article, I will read it for sure.