The Civics Of Rock and The Promise of New Sounds

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Introduction

The political possibilities of popular music particularly in the sixties served as a reflection on the society of the United States of America, as it has been suggested throughout my thesis. I have argued that blues revolutionized music and folk politicised it. Now, I will demonstrate how rock contributed to a widespread and far-reaching cultural exchange between black and white America in regards to the issues the counter-culture was concerned about. Rock also reflected the political conflicts of the day and through which the young generation sought liberation and self-respect. In this process they found personal identities and at the same time experienced collectiveness. What cannot be overlooked in this discussion, is the commercial climate; an important factor that successfully managed to fuse the folk and rock worlds as saleable commodities in the age of “constitutional re-play of mass production. ” In this crossover of music styles, deep soul and R&B even further revolutionized the sixties countercultural protest music and the American popular culture. Part of this debate will be the importance of Otis Redding, whose 1967 performance at Monterey Pop Festival marked a pivotal moment in the future preservation of black culture. First, in this chapter the intention is to point out to the promise and the power of rock music as a revolutionary and authentic 1960s political and cultural resource that forever transformed U.S. society (and the world in a broader sense.) Second, I also intend to demonstrate the significance of black and white musical intersection in order to explore the political uses of popular music of this era. Ultimately, I wish to illustrate the controversies about countercultural protest music, wh...

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...bilities of popular music particularly in the sixties served as a reflection on the society of the United States of America, in which culture - and therefore music as fine art - “is a complex and contested reality.”

Bibliography

Books

Hill, Sarah. “When deep soul met the love crowd: Otis Redding: Monterey Pop Festival, June 17, 1967” in Ian Inglis, eds., Performance and Popular Music: History, Place and Time. UK: Ashgate, 2006

Pratt, Ray. Rhythm and Resistance: explorations in the political uses of popular music. New York: Praeger, 1990

Periodicals

Rolling Stone Magazine:

Landau, Jon. “Soul ’67.” Rolling Stone Magazine, Feb 24, 1968.

Traum, Happy. “The Swan Song of Folk Music.” Rolling Stone Magazine, May 17, 1969.

Interviews

Dylan, Bob. Rolling Stone Magazine. The Rolling Stone Interview: Bob Dylan. January 20, 1968. Print

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