Rock n' Roll

Owens, Damon. Rikas, Jennifer. “Why do you think some people believe that rock music is from hell?” 20th January, 2010.

Why do some people believe that rock ‘n roll is from hell? Some would say that during the time period when rock ‘n roll first came out it was so ground breaking and different that people did not know how to react. “When rock came onto the music scene it shocked the senses of music listeners everywhere.” Rock ‘n roll music was a completely different turn from music at the time, “the ‘live fast die hard’ mentality of a rocker was baffling to the public and they didn’t understand it.” So thus since rock was viewed as the cause of this rise in an ok mind set for drugs and sex, people labeled it as satanic music. This however only increased the marketability of rock ‘n roll to the rebellious youth. Jennifer declared that “when I was young rock ‘n roll wasn’t allowed in the house, so naturally I loved it!” The youth were the main following of rock on its up rise, but even though it was frowned upon by the older more mature citizens it did not stop the enormous amount of sales that rock did and still continues to bring in. “Owning a Kiss album then was like having a car now, without one it was hard to be cool.” So overall was it the shock that it had to the music scene that made people jump the gun on rock? Or was a true honest belief that people thought it was form hell?

Questions:
Why do we always have to say music is from a certain location not a person?

Is rock considered still to be from hell in today’s society?

How much has rock affected the music scene?

Ways of Knowing:
Reason – Believing for so long that sex and drugs are the work of the devil, and then being shocked into hearing it on the radio would definitely make some people believe it is the work of the devil.

Language – the connotation of sex and drugs with the devil is undoubtedly what caused the belief that rock is satanic music.

Sense perception – hearing music like rock ‘n roll, when and jazz bands and swing were the norm, would be an awakening to any music lover.

Emotion – rock most likely made many people angry that music like this was being exposed to the general public, because it was viewed as satanic. People did not want their children exposed to it.

Areas of Knowledge:
Art – this is most definitely an art form, because music is a method of personal expression in a form that not everyone else can present.

Human sciences – it is normal for humans to be offended or afraid by something that they have never seen or heard before, and thus they make it out to be something terrible.

Natural sciences – in nature when something is foreign animals tend to stay away from it, or attack it to prove dominance, but it is usually the young that give it a chance. This in a way is like how we treated rock. We shunned it from society and only the young and curious took a liking to it.

History – History shows that when presented with something we have never seen before we claim it to be satanic. Native Americans for example were portrayed as wild savages who worship the devil. This was not entirely true, the worshipped the earth that gave them their food and water. Some were savages, but most likely only because they were exposed to something they had never seen before (the white man)

Ethics – is it right to call something we just heard satanic? How much satanic music did we have at the time to compare rock too?