Cameron White
Rock-in-Roll was apart of the American culture from the 1950’s to the 1970’s. It was artist like the Beatles, Elvis, and Bob Dylan that paved the way for Rock-in-Roll to become so popular. Sexuality was also a large factor in heightening these artists’ careers and it was all done through there own sort of style.
The Beatles hit America by storm and had success what seemed like over night. They transformed the music industry with their clever comedy and English accents. Americans during this time in history were considered to be very clean cut and when the Beatles came over with their so called “Bull Cut� hair style was quite the eye opener. It is safe to say they were going against societies cultural norms because the hair styles became very popular and everyone started to wear their hair that way. Not only did Rock-in-Roll impact males, but also women. Before the Beatles women and girls were thought to be proper and pure. As stated in Ehrenric’s article, “To be popular with boys and girls – to be universally attractive and still have an unblemished ‘reputation’ – a girl had to be crafty, cool, and careful. The payoff for all this effort was to end up exactly like Mom – a housewife�. The Beatles became popular by creating a new image for teens and young adult in American, while Elvis was creating a name for himself through his amazing dancing ability.
Elvis became a sex symbol to many girls, due to the way he could dance and move his hips on stage. America was viewed as being very proper and the way that Elvis would dance upset many adults. They believed hip trusts and leg shaking was too much and should be censored. Some even viewed it as pornography! His sense of style was very different from the rest of the artists during this era and I feel he portrays sexuality more then any of the other artists.
Bob Dylan was the bad boy of the Rock-in-Roll era and had the “I do what I want� persona. He would be up on stage with his guitar, harmonica and a lit cigarette. It was not about appealing sexually to the audience he was all about creating great lyrical music. He wrote about politics because he felt that love songs did not reach out the same way.
Rock-in-Roll is a part in our history that will never be forgotten due to the remarkable artists and amazing music, which also brought great social change through sexuality.