Martine Schroeder - Week 5
I found the selections taken from the film “The History of Rock-n-Roll” very interesting and entertaining. I never knew much about the background and origins of the music Elvis, the Beatles, and Dylan played. I enjoy all of their music, but to be honest didn’t know much of the history behind it. This documentary did a great job of making it more clear as to what and how this music came to be, and provided some of the speculative reasons for why it became so popular.
There is no clear reason for why the music of these artists, the Beatles in particular, became so popular with the young generation. However, there are a number of things that may have contributed. There was a lot going on in America at this point in time politically, socially, and culturally. And music was a way to respond to it.
The music of the Beatles was a bit more light-hearted and fun, yet the older generation didn’t care for it too much and was baffled as to why this music was so popular. This difference in generational opinions on music may have been a primary reason the younger generation liked it so much. It was a way to rebel against their elders.
The music of the Beatles, and the Beatles themselves, were especially popular with the young females. At this time girls had to walk a fine line of being prim and proper, but also had to adapt to the role of being sexy and modern. Becoming basically obsessed with the Beatles was a way for girls to break from the sexual repression of the time and show a side of their sexuality that had never really been seen. Girls expressed just how much they adored a group of good looking men. They mobbed, cried and screamed in excessive amounts to show their affection towards the Beatles. This had never been done to this extreme and I think it was a way to rebel against the social constraints that women were trying to break from at this point in history.