Influence of Rock Music on Society
Throughout history major social transformations have taken place that have changed, in very fundamental ways, how people perceive themselves and the world around them. With each social reformation, cultural forms and institutions also change as well as their meanings. For Example, the development of recording and electronic communication within United States capitalism spurred the unique coming together of disparate music traditions in twentieth century United States society.# The development of these technologies allowed music to reach beyond regional boundaries, which led to the clashing of vastly different cultures of all parts of the United States. The most influential form of music spread across the nation is unarguably rock and roll. Rock and roll is the fusion of several distinct types of music; an unlikely collaboration of artists and styles that had existed prior to the 1950's. Rock and roll's unique sound is a blend of the blues, country, folk and pop.
A cropped photograph depicts singer Elvis Presley'...
English: Elvis Presley meeting Richard Nixon. On D...
English: Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. cl...The fact that rock was a mixture of music from different regions and cultures meant an inevitable integration of people and ideas. Music has always been a popular means of likeminded people to express their ideas, but never before had rock music been able to influence society in such numerous ways. The startling success of rock and roll in transforming American popular music and culture owed much to the phenomenon of the mass-market adolescent subculture. While adolescence is normally a time of some rebellion against adult authority and norms, nothing seen before in history was quite as dramatic as the transformation of adolescents from an age group to a virtual class after the Second World War.#
The merged black and white musical traditions of the early white rock and rollers, most especially Presley, introduced the entire nation to elements of black music.# While...