Syllabus: Music in the United States: The American Rock Music Canon since 1955
After an eight-year absence, I am back in the classroom as a Contributing Faculty Member in the Department of Music at Dickinson College. This spring I am teaching the course Music in the United States: The American Rock Music Canon since 1955. I decided to organize this course around the notion that since the 60+ years when rock ‘n’ roll emerged as the dominant form of popular music a series of patterns define the most common stories about the genre.
Rock 'n' roll pioneer Chuck Berry is one of the many canonical artists my students read about in the seminar.
Typically this means the following:
1955-59: Known as the Golden Age of rock ‘n’ roll when pioneers like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and the Crickets, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, and Jerry Lee Lewis establish the sonic and cultural blueprint for rock ‘n’ roll.
1959-63: The era signifies the decline of rock ‘r’ roll’s initial vitality with the emergence of ersatz rock ‘n’ rollers (e.g., teen idols, American Bandstand) and more producer driven pop (e.g., girl groups)
1963-65: Some glimmers of hope emerge including Motown, Surf Music, The Beatles and the “British Invasion,” and folk-rock
1965-69: The mid to late 1960s era parallels significant shifts happening within the social sphere signified by soul music, acid/psychedelic rock, and art rock.
1970s: Pop music reaches a new eclecticism. The prominence of singer-songwriters (e.g., Elton John, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell) and soft rock (e.g., Bread, The Carpenters) signifies a cultural “cooling” and a turn toward introspection; black pop expands into jazz fusion, funk and lush new territory (e.g., Quiet Storm, Philly Soul); mainstream rock (e.g., Led Zeppelin, Foreigner, Fleetwood Mac) grows more elaborate and commercially robust; bubbling from the urban underground come glam, punk, disco, which dominates the last few years of the decade, and the rumblings of a new urban dance culture called hip-hop.
Singer-songwriters such as Joni Mitchell represented a renewed interest in softer, introspective popular music in the 1970s.
1980s: MTV reinvigorates the promotional potential of pop, providing a platform for new wave, British synth-pop and the model for video pop exemplified by Michael Jackson’s triumph with Thriller. Record labels also take a strategic multimedia approach linking movies and soundtracks (e.g., Flashdance, Footloose). The combination of these and an increasingly deregulated economy foster a pop boom. Mainstream pop stars regularly generate multiplatinum sales a trend encompassing everyone from rockers such as Springsteen to video pop divas like Madonna and Whitney Houston to funksters like Prince. Youth oriented styles stimulate innovations including college rock, post-punk music, hip-hop, and New Jack swing.
MTV provided a major platform for British synthesizer pop bands such as the Human League in the early to mid 1980s.
1990s: Digital sales technology reveals country music and adult contemporary music as the most popular music in the country, and related acts like Garth Brooks and Mariah Carey dominate commercially. As these more traditional forms thrive, hip-hop and alternative rock become the lingua franca of a new generation of listeners.
2000-09: Musically, the angst laden nature of the 1990s surrenders to teen pop, boy bands, and a new generation of pop divas aiming for a young audience. New hybrids like rap metal emerge, and old ideas with a new twist, such as American Idol’s popular take on the talent show genre define much of the decade. The biggest industrial shift is the rise of MP3 technology and social media. Both make it easier for emerging artists to gain mass exposure without record companies, decentralize record stores as the primary sources of music for consumers, and shift sales dominance from physical albums to single downloads.
2010-present: The digitization of pop has also created an increasingly fragmented musical landscape devoid of a dominant style. Few acts have cross-generational appeal. Diva pop, afro-futurist R&B, EDM and teen pop compete for attention, though certain voices, including Adele, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and Kanye West have developed strong personae and established a commercial foothold. The story continues unfolding.
Hip-hop artists Kendrick Lamar is one of the most popular and acclaimed voices in popualr music of the 2010s.
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Buried within these generic narrative patterns are a host of overlooked artists, subgenres, movements, and innovations that challenge conventional wisdom. The ultimate aim for the course is for students to learn rock’s canonical narrative so they can challenge and deconstruct it in an informed, scholarly way. The continuity between pre-rock music genres, the influences of music originating outside of the United States, the strategies artists adapt to survive commercially, and other topics are rarely included in popular rock histories. By association, certain genres ranging from bossa nova to cabaret music to holiday music rarely figure into these stories though all three genres persist.
Holiday albums have been perennially popular in the post-1955 rock era, but rarely factor into the mainstream story of contemporary popular music.
Mainstream rock history can be very ethnocentric in detailing the music of the 1960s. Where does the Brazilian style bossa nova fit?
Rock era crooners such as Barbra Streisand, who has roots in "non-rock" fields like cabaret and musical theater, still record and tour successfully. How has mainstream rock hisotry addressed the continuity of these musicla stlyes?
I am excited to share the readings on my syllabus for the spring 2018 semester. I have structured the class in two parts. Part One, functions as a literature review. Students either lead group presentations focused on readings from canonical texts, or they select readings from a “reader’s choice” menu. These readings complement, counter, challenge, and and/or complicate the themes from the canonical readings. In Part Two, students will focus on an overlooked or underdeveloped part of the rock story and develop final projects that illuminate these missing or overlooked pieces so we can expand the story and appreciate how multiple stories constitute post-1955 popular music. I hope you enjoy the readings; I am excited to refine the course in future semesters and welcome suggestions for future readings!
Books (Required):
Flowers in the Dustbin: The rise of rock and roll, 1947-1977, James Miller
Rockin in Time (8th edition), David Szatmary
Rockin’ Out: Popular Music in the USA (6th edition), Rebee Garofalo and Steve Waksman
Reader’s Choice Reading Menu (Articles, chapters, and /or essays posted on Moodle)
Students have required readings from the books listed above and will also select readings from a reader’s choice “menu” of reading options drawn from the following:
Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture (1999), Bruce Horner and Thomas Swiss, editors
How the Beatles Destroyed Rock and Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music (2009), Elijah Wald
Great Pretenders: My Strange Love Affair with ‘50s Pop Music, Karen Schoemer
The Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader: Histories and Debates (2005), David Brackett, editor
It’s Too Late to Stop Now: A Rock and Roll Journal (1972), Jon Landau
All Shook Up: How Rock and Roll Changed America (2003), Glenn Altschuler
Sexing the Groove (1997), Sheila Whiteley, editor
The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond (2003), Ed Morales
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The Story of Pop music from Bill Haley to Beyonce (2013), Bob Stanley
Love for Sale: Popular Music in America (2016), David Hajdu
Rock and Roll: An Unruly History (1995), Robert Palmer
Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination (2016), Jack Hamilton
The Essential Ellen Willis (2014), Nona Willis, Aronowitz, editor
The Rock History Reader [1st ed.] (2006), Theo Cateforis, editor
Any Old Way You Choose It: Rock and Other Pop Music, 1967-1973 (1973), Robert Christgau
Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music (2011), Nona Willis, Aronowitz, editor
What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture (1999), Mark Anthony Neal
The Sound of the City: The rise of rock and roll (multiple editions), Charlie Gillett
Right to Rock: the Black Rock Coalition and the Cultural Politics of Race (2004), Maureen Mahon
World Music: The Basics (2004), Richard Nidel
Understanding Popular Music Culture [3rd ed.] (2008), Roy Shuker
American Popular Music (2006), Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman
Check It, While You Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop culture, and the Public Sphere (2004), Gwendolyn D. Pough
Home Girls Make Some Noise: Hip Hop Feminism Anthology (2007), Gwendolyn D. Pough, Elaine Richardson, Aisha Durham, and Rachel Raimist, editors
The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic (2015), Jessica Hopper
Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black & White, Body and Soul in American Music, (2017), Ann Powers
Popular Music in Theory (1996), Keith Negus
Part One: Exposes students to the canonical contours of post-1950s pop music from rock ‘n’ roll to hip-hop, which are typically organized by genre.
Unit 1: Mid 1950s-1964
January 22: Welcomes & Introductions
January 24
What is the “Rock Era?”
ALL: Rodman, 35-45, Key Terms in Popular Music [Moodle]
ALL: Wald, 1-12, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock ‘n’ Roll [Moodle]
In-class workshop: Précis peer review session
January 26
Rock ‘n’ Roll’s “Golden Age”
Group 1: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 4: Crossing Cultures: The Eruption of Rock ‘n’ Roll, 81-123
Group 2: Miller, Chapter 1, 80-94
Group 3: Szatmary, Chapter 1: The Blues, Rock-and-Roll, and Racism, 1-27
Reader’s Choice Menu (Choose at least two):
“Chapter 11: Producers Answer Back,” Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader, 44-49 [Moodle]
“Chapter 20: Langston Hughes Responds,” Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader, 80-82 [Moodle]
“Chapter 21: From Rhythm and Blues to Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader, 82-88 [Moodle]
Landau, “Introduction,” It’s Too Late to Stop Now, 13-18 [Moodle]
In-class workshop: Thesis writing
January 29
Rock ‘n’ Roll’s “Golden Age”
Group 4: Miller, Chapter 2, 97-128
Group 4: Miller, Chapter 3, 129-137
Reader’s Choice Menu (Choose at least one):
Altschuler, “Brown Eyed Handsome Man: Rock ‘n’ Roll and Race,” All Shook Up, 35-66 [Moodle]
Sanjek, “Can a Fujiyama Mama Be the Female Elvis?” Sexing the Groove, 137-167 [Moodle]
Morales, “Ch. 9: The Hidden History of Latinos and Latin Influence in Rock and Hip-Hop,” The Latin Beat, 275-301 [Moodle]
In-class workshop: Integrating evidence
Unit 2: Teen pop, girl groups, and Motown
January 31
Group 1: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 5: The Empire Strikes Back: The Reaction to Rock ‘n’ Roll, 124-48
Group 2: Miller, 138-56
Group 3: Szatmary, Chapter 3: The Teen Market: From Bandstand to Girl Groups, 55-69
Reader’s Choice Menu (Choose at least one):
Altschuler, “The Day the Music Died: Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Lull and Revival,” All Shook Up, 161-184 [Moodle]
Schoemer, “Introduction,” Great Pretenders, 1-21 [Moodle]
Stanley, Chapter 9: The Trouble with Boys: The Brill Building and Girl Groups, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!, 65-73 [Moodle]
February 2
Group 4: Szatmary, Chapter 8: Motown: The Sound of Integration, 135-46
Group 4: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 6 (excerpt): The Civil Rights Movement and Popular Music: “Girl Groups, Male Producers, and Brill Building Pop”; “Motown: The Integration of Pop” 150-163
Reader’s Choice Menu (Choose at least one):
Landau, “Motown: The First Yen Years,” It’s Too Late to Stop Now, 143-150 [Moodle]
Wald, “Twisting Girls Change the World,” How the Beatles Destroyed Rock ‘n’ Roll, 213-229 [Moodle]
Unit 3: Mid to late 1960s
February 5
British invasion
Group 1: Miller, Chapter 4, 177-217
Group 2: Szatmary, Chapter 6: The British Invasion of America, 102-20
Group 3: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 6 (excerpt): “The British Invasion Occupies the Pop Charts,” 163-68
February 7
Folk-rock
Group 4: Miller, 217-31
Szatmary, Chapter 5: The New Frontier, 80-101
Group 4: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 6 (excerpt): “Breaking the Sounds of Silence: New Voices in the Music,” 169-71
Reader’s Choice Menu (Choose at least one):
Palmer, “Chapter 4: A Rolling Stone,” Rock & Roll: An Unruly History, 99-111 [Moodle]
February 9
Soul
Group 1: Szatmary, Chapter 10: Fire from the Streets, 170-85
Group 2: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 6 (excerpt): “Black (Music) is Beautiful” 171-75 and “Latino Rock ‘n’ Roll,” 175.
Reader’s Choice Menu (Choose at least one):
Palmer, “Chapter 3: R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” Rock & Roll: An Unruly History, 79-97 [Moodle]
Hamilton, Chapter 4: Being Good Isn’t Always Easy, Just Around Midnight, 169-212 [Moodle]
“Chapter 36: Aretha Franklin Meets the Mainstream,” Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader, 164-170 [Moodle]
February 12
Acid rock & the Counterculture
Group 3: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 6 (excerpt): “Rock and Revolution: The Counterculture,” 181-96
Group 4: Szatmary, Chapter 9: Acid Rock, 147-69
Reader’s Choice Menu (Choose at least one):
Landau, “The Death of Janis Joplin,” It’s Too Late to Stop Now, 210-213 [Moodle]
Miller, Chapter 5, 260-70
Willis, “Janis Joplin,” The Essential Ellen Willis, 59-63 [Moodle]
February 14
Art Rock
ALL: Please select two of these three selections from Garofalo, Landau, and/or Brackett and be prepared to discuss them in class.
Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 7 (excerpt): “Creativity and Commerce: Rock as Art,” 203-11
Landau, “Rock and Art,” It’s Too Late to Stop Now, 129-134 [Moodle]
Brackett, Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader, Chapter 48: The Aesthetics of Rock (all three pieces below must be read and count as one selection):
· Williams, “Get Off of My Cloud,” 216-218 [Moodle]
· Goldstein, “Pop Eye: Evaluating Media,” 218-220 [Moodle]
· Willis, “Musical Events—Records: Rock, Etc.” 221-223 [Moodle]
Unit 4: The 1970s
February 16:
Soft(er) Rock
Group 1: Szatmary, Chapter 13: Escaping into the Seventies, 214-25
Group 1: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 7 (excerpt): “Singer/Songwriters, Soft Rock, and More,” 218-224
Corporate rock/Album-Oriented Rock (AOR)
Christgau essay on Classic Rock: https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/60s-det.php
Heavy metal, blues-rock, psychedelia, etc.
Group 2: Szatmary, Chapter 11: Guitar Heroes and Heavy Metal, 186-205
Group 2: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 7 (excerpt): “Mad with Power: Heavy Metal,” 234-42
Reader’s Choice Menu (Choose at least TWO):
Hiwatt, “Chapter 23: Cock Rock: Men Always Seem to End up On Top,” The Rock History Reader, 125-129 [Moodle]
Christgau, “Trying to Understand the Eagles,” Any Old Way You Choose It, 265-269 [Moodle]
Stanley, “Chapter 20: Pop Gets Sophisticated Soft Rock,” Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!, 178-189,
[Moodle]
Stanley, “Chapter 45: American Rock (Ooh Yeah),” Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!,400-408,
[Moodle]
Willis, “Randy Newman,” Out of the Vinyl Deeps, 104-106 [Moodle]
Willis, “Women’s Music,” Out of the Vinyl Deeps, 142-145 [Moodle]
Brackett, Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader, “Chapter 60: Jazz Fusion,” 290-298 [Moodle]
February 19
Glam Rock
Group 3: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 7 (excerpt): “All that Glitters Does Not Sell Gold,” 242-46
Group 3: Szatmary, Chapter 14: The Era of Excess, 226-45
Soft-Soul/Quiet Storm
Group 4: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 7 (excerpt): “Sweeter Soul Music,” 211-18
Group 4: Neal, Chapter 5: Postindustrial Soul, What the Music Said, 125-29 [Moodle]
Reader’s Choice Menu (Choose at least two):
Christgau, “Bette Midler: The Art of Compassion,” Any Old Way You Choose It, 294-299 [Moodle]
Stanley, “Chapter 28: The Sound of Philadelphia: Soft Soul,” Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! 250-259,
[Moodle]
Willis, “Bowie’s Limitations,” Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music, 38-41 [Moodle]
Willis, “Believing Bette Midler, Mostly,” Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music, 93-95 [Moodle]
February 21
Funk and Disco
Group 1: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 8 (excerpt): “Disco: The Rhythm without the Blues,” 271-84
Group 1: Neal, Chapter 4: Soul for Real, What the Music Said, 112-24 [Moodle]
Punk
Group 2: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 8 (excerpt): “Punk: Rock as (White) Noise,” 250-71
Group 2: Szatmary, Chapter 15: Punk Rock and the New Generation, 246-71
Reader’s Choice Menu (Choose at least one):
Kopkind, “The Dialectic of Disco,” Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader, 298-308, [Moodle]
Hajdu, “Chapter 10: Punk Versus Disco: Who Needs Love?” Love for Sale, 171-184 [Moodle]
February 23
Rock’s Epitaph?
Group 3: Gillett, “End of a Revolution,” (339-42) and “Goodnight America,” (401-411) The Sound of the City, 1970 and 1984 [Moodle]
Group 3: Landau, “The Cooling of America,” It’s Too Late to Stop Now, 213-216 [Moodle]
Group 4: Miller, Chapter 5, 270-277, 285-294
Group 4: Miller-Chapter 6: “Rock and Roll Future 10/75,” “Anarchy in the U. K. 12/2/76,” “My Way 8/16/77,” Epilogue: “No Future”
February 26
Class Visit from the DIVA Jazz Orchestra! (Website: http://divajazz.com/)
Discussion: Women in the performing arts and music
Unit 5: 1980s & 1990s
February 28
MTV era pop
Group 1: Garofalo, Chapter 9: Are We the World? Music Videos, Superstars, and Mega-Events, 285-316
Group 2: Szatmary, Chapter 17: I Want My MTV, 279-94
Reader’s Choice Menu (Choose at least one):
Mahon, “Chapter 1: Reclaiming the Right to Rock,” Right to Rock: The Black Rock Coalition and the Politics of Race, 1-32 [Moodle]
Nidel, “Introduction,” World Music: The Basics, 1-3 [Moodle]
Shuker, “U Got the Look: Film television and MTV,” Understanding Popular Music Culture, 147-159 [Moodle]
Stanley, “Just a King in Mirrors: Michael Jackson,”( 409-414) and “Highs in the Mid-Eighties: Prince and Madonna,” (415-422) Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! [Moodle]
Starr and Waterman, “Globalization and the Rise of World Music,” American Popular Music, 307-313 [Moodle]
March 2
Hip-hop
Group 3: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 10 (excerpt): “Hip Hop, Don’t Stop,” 333-46
Group 4: Szatmary, Chapter 23: The Hip-Hop Nation, 350-71
MENU (Choose at least one):
Hajdu, “Chapter 12: Hip-Hop: Beats Want to Be Free,” Love for Sale, 197-209 [Moodle]
Pough, “Bringing the Wreck: Theorizing Race, Rap, Gender, and the Public Sphere,” Check it While You Wreck It, 15-40 [Moodle]
Powers, Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader, Chapter 93: R&B Divas Go Retro, 494-498 [Moodle]
Starr and Waterman, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” excerpt American Popular Music, 270-289 [Moodle]
Worsley, “Loving Hip-Hop When It Denies Your Humanity,” Home Girls Make Some Noise, 274-299 [Moodle]
March 5
Modern rock/alternative music
Group 1: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 11 (excerpt): “From Indie Scenes to Alternative Nation,” 370-80
Group 2: Szatmary, Chapter 21: The Generation X Blues, 322-41
Reader’s Choice Menu (Choose at least one):
Cateforis and Humphreys, “Constructing Communities and Identities: Riot Grrrl in New York City,” Musics of Multicultural America, 317-42 [Moodle]
France, 1996, “Chapter 51: Feminism Amplified,” The Rock History Reader, 295-302 [Moodle]
Hopper, “Nevermind Already: Nirvana’s 20th Anniversary Boxset,” The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic, 143-145 [Moodle]
Starr and Waterman, “Alternate Currents,” American Popular Music, 291-300 [Moodle]
Unit 6: 2000-2010s
March 7
2000s
Group 1: Garofalo & Waksman, Chapter 11 (excerpt): “Country into Pop”; “The Latin Boom and Beyond”; “Black Music at the Base,” 381-406
Group 2: Stanley, “Chapter 59: A Vision of Love: R&B,” Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! 536-546 [Moodle]
Group 3: Szatmary, Chapter 22: Post-Grunge Party, 342-49
Reader’s Choice: Please read one of the readings listed above.
March 9
2000s and Beyond
Group 1: Garofalo, Chapter 12: Changing Channels: Music and Media in the New Millennium, 417-64
Reader’s Choice Menu (Choose at least one):
Brooks, “Amy Winehouse and the (Black) Art of Appropriation,” September 28, 2008, The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/amy-winehouse-and-black-art-appropriation/
Hajdu, “Chapter 13: Digitization: The Immaterial World,” Love for Sale, 212-235 [Moodle]
Hopper, “Emo: Where the Girls Aren’t,” The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic, 15-20 [Moodle]
Sanneh, “Chapter 59: The Rock Against Rockism,” The Rock History Reader, 351-354 [Moodle]
Powers, “All the Single Cyborgs,” 312-326, and “Epilogue,” 343-349, Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black & White, Body and Soul in American Music [Moodle]
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