The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock & Roll
Little Richard reminded everyone, during his life, of the indignity he was forced to endure in comparison to Elvis. Never granted his rightful place in the history of rock and roll, he resented Elvis and he told the world about it, too. Little Richard’s prettiness was a transgression, and his profane and electric performances were provocative. He h
... See moreImani Perry • South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation
What people appreciate about rock and pop is less cerebral—the subjective notion of cool is the most critical aesthetic factor, and any emotional exchange can trump everything else.
Chuck Klosterman • But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past
The venues were tight, the stages were small (if there was one at all), and the band and the crowd would charge toward each other like frontline soldiers in a swirling mosh pit. At some shows, the singer would rush into the mob and lend the microphone to the fans for the majority of the songs. The songs were shared and communal, belonging as much t... See more
Bobby Hundreds • This Is Not a T-Shirt
When Elvis Presley, in the song “Jailhouse Rock,” sang the lyrics “If you can’t find a partner, grab a wooden chair,” he freed a generation of young people to love furniture and, by extension, to love any inanimate object in a way that heretofore would have been strictly verboten.
Mark Leyner • My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist: A novel (Vintage Contemporaries)
Since rock, pop, and rap are so closely tied to youth culture, there’s an undying belief that young people are the only ones who can really know what’s good.
Chuck Klosterman • But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past
The defining music of the first half of the twentieth century was jazz; the defining music of the second half of the twentieth century was rock, but with an ideology and saturation far more pervasive.