An Era of Punk essays

An Era of Punk essays Sex, drugs, and rock and roll was the rallying cry for a movement that changed American culture forever. Rock and roll first startled the American scene in the mid-1950s, but no one then could have predicted the remarkable vitality and staying power of this new music. The early tradition of rock has gone through many transitions. Provocative and outlandish stage attire and behavior have been an important resource since the birth of rock and roll. Decades following the birth of rock and roll, many have witnessed a steady ever changing parade of hair styles, costumes, gestures and props. As the level of tolerance and acceptance grew, rock stars adopted more bizarre and shocking images. It is in this context that punk rock, seen by some as a startling new direction in the late 1970s must be considered. Rock music achieved a new respectability and power at the same time (Ward, Stokes, Tucker, Rock of Ages, 547). Punk was rocks most notable attempt in the late 1970s to inject angry, rebellious, risk taking notations into the music. The musical style called punk rock developed in the United States out of raw and energetic music played by the garage bands of the mid-sixties. These bands were mainly teenagers playing basic guitar chords, and failing away at drums and cymbals in their own garages. This resulted in sounds that were rough, raw, and musically undisciplined, which expressed their interests and brought music to their level (Charlton, Rock Music, 204). Given that the greatest garage bands could barley play, we may assume not only that virtuosity has nothing to do the form, but also that the Utopian dream of every man and artist can come true right here, in our suburban land of opportunity the ultimate proof that rock and roll is the most democratic and all-American of art forms (Miller, History of Rock While teenage gara...