Excursus on Rock N Roll
First there was everything else
that absolutely existed,
and then there was rock and roll, circa 1950;
named after a 1934 song by the Boswell sisters,
popularized by Cleveland DJ Alan Freed,
devolved into Rock N Roll of the mid 60s,
music for teenagers, by 1968 expanding into ROCK—-
all popular music with roots in Rock and Roll—
——a cultural designation.Rock is conflict based,
a by-product of the post WWII invention of the teenager.
The inherent dissonance gave rock music
a distinct non-musical importance for a long time.
That period is over.
The decline of Rock’s importance
coincides with the rise of the internet
and the destruction of
anecdotal storytelling.
–excerpt from But What If We’re Wrong
By Chuck Klosterman
