Rock music was originally “race music”; the middle-class white teenager’s way of saying no to his conservative parents. He listened to African American music. In the 1960s it was a crucial part of the countercultural revolution in America, where teenagers expressed their discontentment and their desire to separate themselves from their parents. Then it moved to grungy insouciance to whiny, pop punk and nihilistic rock.
Rock music is always about rebellion, delinquency and transition. This has always reflected the youth. However, many rock musicians aren’t young anymore. They’re aging. The purpose of this paper isn’t to say that rock music can’t be enjoyed by older fans. It’s to show that rock music doesn’t age. Rock music is only culturally significant to young people.
Rock music is a cultural phenomenon. What is rock music and what makes it so? It’s all about the energy. It’s all about energy. Elvis Presley was detected by the FCC due to its cultural significance. It is the reason why angry teenagers rioted outside Moondog’s Coronation Ball. Sid Vicious slit his own throat on stage using beer bottles.
According to a punk of forty-four years old, rock music’s cultural significance comes from the ability for people to identify and relate with it.
It determines your entire life in a certain sense, because whatever the case, you are affected by the phenomenon so deeply that it changes your course of life. You know, it is possible I would not have discovered punk or I might have gone in a totally different direction if the phenomenon had never occurred. It felt as if punk had changed my life.
He said that rock music changed his life. The music changed his life because it was always changing as a teenager. Teenage is a period of change and growth. It’s a time to find your own identity. He said that he would have taken different paths if not for punk. I don’t claim that adults can never change, but they must change. Rock music can shape teens because their lives are not stable yet.
It is necessary to examine the concept youth in order for us to better understand why rock music is so important and exclusive to youth. Youth are mostly teenagers, or perhaps early 20-year-olds. I started with the characteristics that drive adolescence to consume rock music. I also looked for characteristics which allow youths to be susceptible to the meaning of rock, which includes identifying more with rock than just its music.
Erik Erikson’s theory on psychosocial growth is well-known. He divided the life of a person into eight phases, each with its own crisis. Identity and role conflict is the major crisis in the teenage year. Richard Stevens, an American psychologist, called this a “time of radical change” in which the mind is able to examine its own intentions as well as those of others. It also becomes more aware of the roles that society offers for the future. Erikson claims that teens struggle with the question “Who are you?” Who am I?
Rock music has a greater impact on youth than adults because of the cognitive changes that teens go through. The brain’s gray matter, which is the bundles or neuron bodies of the neurons, reaches a maximum during teen years. The cortex’s basic functions, such as interpreting sensory information, are fully formed in the teenage years. However, the areas that control impulse and plan ahead haven’t matured. The emotional responses of teenagers are higher than those of adults and children, as the brain circuitry is changing.
Teenagers go through a pivotal, yet vulnerable stage of their lives. Teenagers are prone to embrace rock music because of their need to define themselves, coupled with poor decision-making skills and high emotions. In order to better understand youth and rock music, I needed to dig deeper into both concepts.
The black gospel and jazz influenced the development of rock music. The jazz music’s improvisational style and the spiritual energy of the organist at black Pentecostal Churches are emotionally and physically charged. The idea behind the music is just as important as the actual nature. Blacks in the 1950s had their radios, their magazines, and even their own music. The whites didn’t ignore black music, but they preferred a simpler, cleaner version of it sung in a simple way by a white singer. Little Richard’s 1955 single “Tutti Frutti”, with its raunchy lyric and his use of the piano, is a great example. It peaked at no. 17 despite the song being consistently named by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of rock’s best songs. Pat Boone, who had a more toned-down rendition that peaked No. 12.
In the mid-1950s, DJ Alan “Moondog”, Freed played both white and black music on his radio program. This is when rock and roller (a term Freed invented) really took off. Parents of middle class whites were scared when they realized that their children listened to loud music by African Americans. Rock and roll began when white kids rebelled against the mainstream by listening to black songs.
Rock and Roll was responsible for the fear of youth delinquency. Parents in 1950s thought post-World War II child were lazy, spoiled and disrespectful. They didn’t work any more and everyone was able to enjoy some free time and pocket money. Now that these teenagers had money, they were bored.
It was teenagers who started the cultural significance of rock. It was created by and for youth. Adults were afraid and felt attacked because they couldn’t relate. Due to their focus on finding a sense of identity, teenagers tend to be more open-minded. The middle class white youth were open-minded to black music.
Adults, however, tend to be less open-minded. The crisis in Erikson’s adult psychosocial stage is between generativity and stagnation. The adult stage of Erikson’s psychosocial development is a crisis between generativity and stagnation. They are motivated to make a difference and to feel productive in society. They believe that their lives have meaning beyond themselves. Erikson stated that it’s best to ignore thoughts of death, while balancing them with the only lasting happiness – to increase goodwill and order in the sector you are a part of.
Rock music is often criticized for being self-centered, but does that make it a selfish genre? Daryl Hall said in a Hall and Oates interview that rock and roll was primarily a celebration. Many rock songs have lyrics like “do anything you want.” But those lyrics are not the cultural significance of rock music. Rock music is not only about how it was created and teenagers’ love for it. Next, we need to ask why it is only for youth.
Rock music is not just for kids. I spoke to adult rock fans. Johnny Thunders (of the New York Dolls) said that “rock and roller is simply an energy.” That attitude is what gives rock music its cultural significance. It is the physical contact and togetherness that heightens energy and attitude. Live music is important in illustrating the cultural significance and impact of rock music.
Cleveland, Ohio was the starting point. On the twenty-first of March, 1952. Moondog’s Coronation Ball was able to sell 20,000 tickets for a venue which could only hold 10,000. Both the lineup and audience were racially diverse. Alan Freed’s whiteness was actually a surprise to the audience. Black and whitish teenagers crammed the venue. Those that could not fit in rioted. Police arrived. A man had been stabbed. The first rock-and-roll concert took place in the history of mankind. The teenagers attending the concert were looking for something more than they could get from their records or Alan Freed’s show. The teenagers who attended wanted to experience the live music with others, even if they were not of their race.
The ideas of French sociologist Emile Durkheim, who wrote The Elementary Forms of Religious Life in 1897 about primitive religious rituals and religion, can be easily applied to rock concerts. Jefferson Airplane guitarist said that rock concerts were today’s churches. Music can put [concertgoers] into a spiritual state. Durkheim defined this as “collective energy” which is the energy people experience at concerts. The energy flowing through rock concert goers is collective effervescence. It is a shared emotion that usually causes euphoria.
As I’ve mentioned, youth is the only age that can find an identity. This means we must examine how to evoke strong emotions within a group (again at a concert). I spoke to a female African-American who is 18 years old and has attended over 50 concerts. She says that she started going to rock shows when she was about 12 years old.
I’ve seen a number of concerts on my own… but never really felt alone. I sing with many different people. Our lives are different, but the song is the same. This reminds me to not be alone and to not worry about what I do. Everyone is young and has no clue. It’s okay for me to be stupid because everyone else is. I especially like rock concerts, because they are so easy to jump or head-bang to. Everything about it is so easy. Everyone seems to be your friend. I like to go to concerts because that is the best feeling. Everything else does not matter.
This interview reiterates my previous statements about teenagers experiencing identity crises. I also discuss their emotional responses in emotionally charged situations. The collective effervescence at concerts will affect teenagers’ emotions more than an adult. This interview explains how rock is more than just music. In general, rock music uses a 4/4 beat with an emphasis on “on”. It is also centered around electric guitar. My interviewee said that it’s energetic and simple. She also mentioned the lyrics. But she felt that there was more. She felt she was not only understood and supported by the lyrics but also her friends.
Because this essay is about aging in relation to cultural significance, it was necessary for me to interview someone older. Both interviews will not only reveal the differences in attitudes between younger and older fans but also how rock music affects people differently. This historical consistency can help explain why rock music is so popular with youth. I also spoke to a 69 year old African American who grew up Detroit, Michigan.
We went to concerts, and we’d say, uh oh. You enjoyed the music and the performers. The music was good. The Temptations were my favorite group when I was growing up… Solid harmony. Nice smooth beats. The songs had a narrative… I’ve been to at least five Temptations concerts. I was raised in the Motown age, which had many great performers. We saw all these artists in action. It was fun and entertaining. It was always a treat to go to the Motown Revue. Marvin Gaye was there with Stevie Wonder and The Marvelettes. Smokey Robinson, Martha Vandellas and the Miracles were also present. Everyone was chilling. There was nothing really wild. It was a great time for everyone. They knew songs that you didn’t, but you didn’t know the person next to them. They were just like your brothers or sisters, right?
This interviewee has a similar concert experience to my previous one despite being over 50 years older. There was more than music to him. The music made him feel like strangers became his family. He hasn’t attended a music concert in 40 years and yet still remembers feeling together.
The teenagers that I interviewed on rock music all mentioned the live performances they have seen, why they were important to them and the impact it had on their music. Although my older Motown-loving fan hasn’t attended a live concert in over forty years, I still asked him how he enjoys listening to music.
I love to listen records. Relax at home. I still use CDs or DVDs.
Similarly, the Grateful Dead’s fan, a thirty-nine year old Caucasian man, explained to us his listening style and commitment.
I am married and have a child. We have a house. We have a house and a car. I don’t follow the band all over the country, but I do go when they are in town.
Adults are different from teenagers when it comes to how they listen and use rock. Adults enjoy music as it is. Even though they like rock, they don’t add to the cultural significance of it. They don’t have that rebellious teenage attitude. They no longer attend concerts. Simon Frith, a sociologist, observed that adults listen to more music than youth.
The majority of older fans we interviewed do not attend concerts. The Deadhead cited above is an example of someone who does not invest much in concerts. Andy Bennett found out from his interviews with fans of the local venue that adults prefer to listen to music in their own homes. The fact that adults do not listen to rock music as much as teenagers or with the same intensity does not mean it is not valuable. You should instead look at why and how they listen to music. The angst is not what they identify with, but the nostalgia. John Strausbaugh is a cultural and literary commentator who said: “Nostalgia is death for rock.”
Rock is dead because nostalgia isn’t rock. Joseph A. Kotarba studied oldies radio. He observed that oldies stations played Motown and surf rock in the 1960s, but their primary audience was psychedelic. The older fans are not interested in listening to their childhood music because it’s harsh. It’s obvious that when they wish for their youth they don’t mean a time where they hated and didn’t understand their parents while living in a nation at war. They are trying to recreate a time in their life when they were young and innocent. Rock music, however, was never innocent, nor will it ever be. As French sociologist Jean Baudrillard put it, “the olderies” is just a sham. The way they’re consumed today is not how they were originally created. Rock music that has lost its authenticity loses significance.
Rock music can be used in other ways than nostalgia by older rock fans. This is a way they rebel as teenagers, and I know this from experience. My dad, an avid rocker who only attends live concerts when I drag it, is your typical adult and listens to his music privately at home. My dad’s stereo vibrates the house when he gets angry at my mom. Blind Melon is a favorite. Even though she loved rap and hip hop in her youth, my mom has never been a fan of rock music. She is boring and doesn’t really understand my dad. Rock music’s importance has not changed with my dad. The same 90s songs are still played for the exact reason. It’s the same middle finger he gives to his parents.
Rock hasn’t aged with the fans. James Miller and the baby boomers both believe that rock has died. Miller says in Flowers in the Dustbin he has not written about rock music since 1977 because he believes it is dead. Miller’s book was prefaced with the statement, “If i’m honest, I think the most exciting times [of Rock music] were in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, music dominated the way i lived, colored my memory, and shaped my desires. It also produced the wild, shared fantasy of my generation as part of the dawning of a brand new world.” Miller, then 22, was twenty-two. He was no longer a teenager. To him, his teenage years were the time when rock music was at its best. The best time for him to be influenced by music and culture was when he was a teenager, because he did not have an identity. Miller was no longer a teenager when 1977 arrived. Rock music had lost its appeal and Miller refused to write songs about it. The youth love rock music.
Rock stars are also aging and losing the youthful energy on which they built their careers. Ozzy Osbourne’s career was built on his role as the Prince of Darkness. Ozzy Osbourne has been a drug and alcohol abuser since the 1970s. He also bit the head of a dove. He’s an adult. The Osbournes made The Prince of Darkness look like an adult. He had a nagging, fashion-obsessed daughter and a sleepy son. It’s even an ironic cover of Osbournes Crazy Train that’s jazzy and Pat Boone like. Ozzy Osbourne’s career was spent as the face for heavy metal, the person who parents would blame when their children rebelled. Now Osbourne is a dad. He has to let go of his Prince Of Darkness persona because he is now an adult.
Some rockers, however, don’t forget that. In 2010, the bad boys of 1960 are the less-bad men who have half-dead bodies. The Rolling Stones have a reputation for never growing up, despite the fact that they are still able to sell out their tours and enjoy fame. Mick Jagger stated in People magazine that he only planned to work for two more years. He continued to write and perform, but he said that if a 45-year-old Mick Jagger sang “Satisfaction” he would rather be dead.
Why would Mick Jagger still sing “Satisfaction”, even though he is 45 years old? It’s not relatable for him or to his fans who grew with the song. Rock music would not be real and raw if the music was not. This is what I’ve heard from young rock fans. They love it because it feels real. The angst and horniness of the music is exactly what young people are experiencing. However, Mick Jagger who is 72 years old still sings about “Satisfaction”. This would not be rock. Rock is not arthritis or settling down. Rock isn’t nostalgia. It can’t be played by old, rich and successful white men to please old, rich and successful white men.
I discovered that youth culture and rock culture are not distinct. I analyzed my interviews, my literature research, and my previous interviews. They both are about rebelliousness. Rock music began as a way to shed the image of what music was supposed to be (clean and racially-segregated). Teenagers are also trying hard not accept the label their parents have given them. Both lament the fact that they are never understood. The confusion of feelings and the unnamable energy that youth is characterized by rock music was finally sounded out.
