Social Impact of Rock & Roll

“Rock music can change things. I know that it changed our lives.”
~ Bono

I don’t remember where I have read it or heard it but I am certain that in few occasion I have seen the existence of Rock mania in the Society. This may not have been the most perceptive analysis but it draws attention to an important point. The music of a country - a culture, an era - can tell us a great deal about that country - that culture, that era. Musical production and consumption are not accidental. They do not exist bracketed off and isolated from the country - the culture, the era - as a whole. Music is integral.

I have spent my precious two and a half years in a famous University of India though I was not a legal student of that University. There I got chance to meet real Rockers. Like other Teens I was also addicted to rock music. I had accepted Rock as a fashion and followed Punk style uncombed hair, cigarette and torn out jeans. There were few rock bands in the university. Many of them use to smoke marijuana, grass, and tobacco in joints and then they start feeling very happy and it stimulates their mind. Even I believed that someone who is “high” has a positive view on the world and on life.

Rock music is one of the world's most popular and adaptable musical forms. When it originated in the United States in the early 1950's, rock music was known as rock 'n' roll. From the start, it was party music, dance music, and music that appealed to young listeners. It often celebrated the joys of being young, and it occasionally expressed the frustrations of the youth.

Many adults dismissed rock 'n' roll as a passing fad or condemned it as a threat to society. By the mid-1960's, however, rock 'n' roll had earned wide respect as a legitimate art form. The music's popularity spread internationally and among older listeners as well. By the end of the 1960's, the music had moved far from its roots in blues and country music, and it became known simply as rock.

In the 1970's, rock became a bigger business than ever. It not only dominated the music industry, but also influenced everything from film to fashion to politics. As rock music became increasingly accepted, it lost much of the rebelliousness that had originally given it its power.

Since the early 1980's, rock music has continued to defy musical barriers and has drawn much of its strength from international musical influences. Today, rock music is no longer only the music of young Americans. It is music of the world.

The massive popularity and worldwide scope of rock and roll resulted in an unprecedented level of social impact. Far beyond simply a musical style, rock and roll influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language in a way few other social developments have equalled. The social impact is so large that rock stars are worshipped worldwide and often performances of several artists in diverse arts and cultures are scaled to and appreciated as being close to that of a "rock star".

Rock as a culture has some darker aspects. Rock is often linked with sex, drugs, suicide, and violence. Today, at almost any "heavy-metal'' rock concert one can hear the audience being exhorted to rape and murder in the name of Satan. Lyrics such as the following are typical:

"We come bursting through your bodiesRape your helpless soulTransform you into a creatureMerciless and coldWe force you to kill your brotherEat his blood and brainShredding flesh and sucking boneTill everyone's insaneWe are pestilent and contaminateThe world Demonic legions prevail""DEMONS" by Rigor Mortis

Any loving parent today would be horrified and shocked to learn that their sons and daughters are eagerly listening to such evil.

Long hair, torn out jeans, long T shirts, satanic necklace, Tattoo, Leather jackets, pierced body and all accessories that normally parents call it indecent are all rock style. Basically rock is all about being rebellious. Rockers want to look tough both physically and mentally. Listeners want to look like their favourite rock star. A cultural war broke out in the mid-1960s in the UK over the rivalry between the "Mods" (who favoured high-fashion, expensive styles) and the "Rockers" (who wore T-shirts and leather); the songs were composed to praise one style and abuse another. Today we can see among teens that majority of them have long hair and wear printed T-shirts of their favourite rock star. Like in India t-shirts of Kurt Coben, Bob Marley, Linkin Park, Eminem etc are very popular among urban teens.

Drugs were often a huge part of the rock music lifestyle. Rock music also espoused the use of marijuana. Reggae singer of 70’s Bob Marley popularised the use of marijuana in his famous song “smoke two joints”. Even in many colleges and universities in India one can find students taking joints, marijuana is mostly smoked in a joint. This experiment is now internationally recognised and practised everywhere in the world. Marijuana is very common among youth because they believe taking marijuana affects and stimulates thinking and leads to a philosophic, positive life attitude. It causes an euphoric feeling. The use of marijuana was not the worst; the mass distribution of LSD came next.


(Teen smoking marijuana)


In the 1960s psychedelic music arose; some musicians encouraged and intended listeners of psychedelic music to be under the influence of LSD or other drugs. In 1967 The Beatles had released their first album dedicated to the promotion of psychedelic drugs, Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album contained a fantasized version of an LSD trip, called "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", or L.S.D. for short. It became a top seller.

One month after the album's release, the Beatles shocked the world by announcing, publicly, that they were regularly taking LSD. Beatle member Paul McCartney, in an interview with Life magazine said, "LSD opened my eyes. We only use one-tenth of our brain." They also publicly called for the legalization of marijuana. It is common for rocker stars to experiment with different kinds of drugs. The popularity and promotion of experimentation with drugs by rock stars may have influenced use of drugs among youth of the period. One can say that the consumption of drugs is increasing with the popularity of rock music.

During the past four decades, rock music lyrics have become increasingly expressed -- particularly with reference to drugs, sex, and violence and even of greater concern, sexual violence. Heavy metal and rap lyrics have elicited the greatest concern, as they compound the environment in which some teenagers increasingly are confronted with pregnancy, drug use, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and other sexually transmitted diseases, injuries, homicide and suicide.

Suicide is a prominent theme in music as a generation cries out having no hope. Today death and suicide are a consistent part of the Rock music lyrics as the artists voice their own despair in living in a fallen world. This prompts people to take others lives as well as their own. Ozzie Osborne became famous many years ago called the “Suicide Solution”:

“Suicide is the only way out ... why don't you kill yourself cause you can't escape the Master Reaper...”

Eric Anderson, a 14-year -old fan committed suicide in response to the song. He told his father that he couldn't cope with the pressure. He then went into his room and took a .22 rifle and killed himself.
For decades, Rock music has been blamed for antisocial or inappropriate behaviour in teens. Ozzy Osborne’s “Suicide Solution,” AC/DC’s “Shoot to Thrill,” and Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper”, these are few examples that provokes depressed teens to commit suicide.


( Ozzy Osborne’s “Suicide Solution” )

Sometimes rock music encourages violence too. Just read the lyrics of a song by Dead Kennedy and judge yourself –

“I kill children, I love to see them die.
I kill children to make their mothers cry.
I crush them under my car and I love to hear them scream.
I feed them poison candy and spoil their Halloween.
I kill children, I bang their heads in doors.
I kill children, I can hardly wait for yours.”

Some people believe that rock music stimulates casual indiscipline. Contemporary rock music is saturated with elements of cohabitation outside of marriage, infidelity, sadism and masochism, homosexuality, rape and necrophilia. According to Christian point of view rock music often encourages sex with anyone you like. From the late Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" to Queen's "Body Language" to George Michael's "I Want Your Sex" to Madonna's "Chemical Reaction" to White Snake's "Still of the Night" and to the lyrics of Prince and endless others the theme is the same: promotion of sexual licentiousness.

If I went long just talking about sex, drugs and rock n roll then it doesn’t mean rock music has only darker side. Rock musicians have sometimes attempted to address social issues directly as commentary or as calls to action. In 70’s Reggae singer Bob Marley revolted against American imperialism like his famous song “Buffalo soldiers in the heart of America” .

During the Vietnam War the first rock protest songs were heard, inspired by the songs of folk musicians such as Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, which ranged from abstract evocations of peace Peter, Paul, and Mary's "If I Had a Hammer" to blunt anti-establishment diatribes Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young's "Ohio". Other musicians, notably John Lennon and Yoko Ono, were vocal in their anti-war sentiment both in their music and in public statements.

Famous rock musicians have adopted causes ranging from the environment (Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (the Ecology)" and the anti-apartheid movement (Peter Gabriel's "Biko"), to violence in Northern Ireland (U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday") and worldwide economic policy (The Dead Kennedys' "Kill the Poor"). On occasion this involvement would go beyond simple songwriting and take the form of sometimes-spectacular concerts or televised events, often raising money for charity. Recently in 2004 a concert was organised by Linkin Park to raise fund for the victims of Tsunami.