11/17/99 -- Popular Cultural Dissent in the 1950s: Rock'n'Roll

Summary: Howard Temperley and Malcolm Bradbury write that "It is in the more intimate expressions of a culture -- the records of conscience and consciousness given to us by its intellectuals, artists, and writers -- that we will usually find the dramas of an age most fully and tensely explored." Do you agree? Today we will ponder what can be learned about the "conscience and consciousness" of post-World War II America from popular culture, and specifically from rock'n'roll music. Beginning with a brief consideration of popular film, we will then move to a primary consideration of history, content, and performance context of rock music. Arguably, the work of early rock musicians such as Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Elvis Presley affords rich insights into the "conscience and consciousness" of the postwar age. Many of its thematic preoccupations mirror those reflected in postwar literature and art. Moreover, the early history of rock'n'roll affords unique insight into theclass, racial, and generational dynamics of postwar popular culture and postwar society. Certainly, the early history of rock'n'roll adds a rich layer to our ongoing consideration of race and American cultural formation.

I. Introduction

A. Reflections on Beat literature and Abstract Expressionism
B. What do these cultural forms tell us about the "conscience and consciousness" of postwar America?

1. "new cosmopolitanism" to go with the "new nostalgia for the past"
2. critique of affluence, sexual repressiveness , complacency

3. modernist note of despair and preoccupation with the underside of American life

4. new ways of thinking about the self and about human nature, derived from modern theoretical perspectives in the fields of sociology, philosophy, and psychology

5. shift from clear moral framework to moral ambiguity

C. Howl and On the Road as reflections of these themes

II. Question for today: How do particular popoular-cultural forms of the 1950s illuminate the "conscience and consciousness" of the age?

III. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

A. Thematic concerns
1. critique of affluence and the complacency borne of affluence
2. despairing look at the underside of postwar youth culture and family life

3. critique of the "organization man" and a call for a new, more courageous model of manhood exemplified in the figure of Jim (James Dean)

B. Contexts

1. James Dean as a rebel hero of the 1950s
2. popular hysteria over juvenile delinquency

IV. Youth Culture, Race, and Rock'n'Roll

A. Musical influences: rhythm and blues, country music, gospel
B. Social influences: urban black culture, white working-class culture

C. Performance and recording contexts: nightclubs, radio, record companies, television

D. Rock'n'Roll pioneers: Little Richard and Chuck Berry

1. Little Richard: working-class African-American with gospel roots
a. "Tutti Frutti," "Long Tall Sally" (both 1956)
b. White fear, white opportunism: Pat Boone covers "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally"

2. Chuck Berry: middle-class African American with country influences

a. "Johnny B. Goode" (late '50s): innovative use of guitar, references to country music
b. "School Days" (1958): likens the experience of youth to that of the working poor

E. Elvis Presley: Southern, white, working-class youth who brings together rockabilly and rhythm and blues

1. "Hound Dog" (1956)
2. "Don't Be Cruel" (1956)

V. Conclusion: Rock'n'Roll Music, Popular Culture, and Postwar American Consciousness