Compare and contrast what you find to the music from the 1950s and explore what has changed and what has stayed the same.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME

As the blues told the story of the African American experience in America and country music told the story of rural peoples, so rock and roll told the story of young people in America in the 1950s and rock and roll has continued to be the voice of the young ever since. One can think of rock and roll as a kind of historical record of teen life in the second half of the 20th century and it appears that rock and roll will continue that historical record well into the 21st. Rock and roll in the 1950s was a chapter in that story, rock and roll in the 1960s gives us another chapter, the music of the 1970s still another, and so on.

We can look back at the 1950s and listen to the music and find a terribly revealing portrait of young people from that time. By listening to that music we can learn what young people thought and cared about and understand what in meant to be young sixty years ago. Although those songs were mostly about love, loss, confusion, being misunderstood, and not being taken seriously, they nonetheless tell us a lot about sex, race, politics, religion, and social problems if we take the time to “read between the lines” and listen carefully.

Today’s popular music is in many ways different, both contextually and stylistically, but it is still the place where the story of young people is expressed most honestly and directly. On the surface, most of today’s songs are still about “love, loss, confusion, being misunderstood, and not being taken seriously,” but, like those songs from the 1950s, they continue to tell us more if we listen closely.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Examine some aspect of today’s music and take the time to “read between the lines” and find out what it tells us about being young in the second decade of the 21st century. Compare and contrast what you find to the music from the 1950s and explore what has changed and what has stayed the same. Cite musical examples to explain and defend your thesis.