Legacy of The Anti-Greatest
On May 31, 1975 a man dressed in audaciously colored tights pranced around on a stage in Huntsville, Alabama1 and sang the lyrics of “Trouble” into the yearning ears of thousands of adolescents. This man was Elvis Presley. Known to the younger generation as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, and to the older as an entrepreneur of chaos, Elvis Presley symbolized both controversy and freedom. He, along with an extensive list of other bad boy rockers and their rock ‘n’ roll music, served as catalysts for the transformation of a new age of Americans: the Baby Boomer Generation. This generation came of age in the Post-World War II era and was known primarily for its activism, moral flakiness, and rebellious nature. Although these attributes can be traced to various reasons, an important point to consider is that baby boomers were the first to ever experience teenage life under the influence of rock ‘n’ roll. Before the 1950s, America was guided and governed by the Greatest Generation, a group renowned for its loyalty, patriotism, and moral conservatism. Rock ‘n’ roll was the antithesis of this conservatism. It neglected conventional morality, idealized sex, promoted drug abuse, and devalued the sanctity of marriage. For baby boomers, rock ‘n’ roll represented the unprecedented sovereignty they desired, and it was the newly introduced philosophy of life and living in rock ‘n’ roll that ultimately framed the baby boomer legacy as one of moral corruption and social liberation.
What Used to Be Is No Longer
If you’re looking for youth, you’re looking for longevity, just take a dose of rock ‘n’ roll. It keeps you going. Just like the caffeine in your coffee. Rock ‘n’ roll is good for the soul, for the well being, for the psyche, for your everything,” said Hank Ballard2, a proud baby boomer and one of the greatest voices in R&B history3.
Hank Ballard, like many of his contemporaries, was searching for youth in conservative America. Facilitated by a booming Post-World War II economy4, those who searched found a social and emotional outlet in the outgoing expressiveness of rock ‘n’ roll. Prior to World War II, teenagers had little if any social liberation; they were bounded by the necessities brought on by war, and life for them was plainly formal. After the birth of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s, teenage life was headed for change.
Sex: Why they learned to love it
In 1970 James Brown recorded “Sex Machine” in which he repeatedly attempted to entice his listeners to “shake their money makers”5. Teenagers all over America gladly obeyed, and conservatives dropped their jaws in utter shock as James Brown shamelessly shook what his mother gave him. Likewise, Elvis Presley was deplored by concerned parents who were highly disturbed by their youngsters’ responsiveness to the star’s gesticulating lower half. America’s youth was losing its innocence.
James Brown in “Sex Machine”
Elvis Presley in “Jailhouse Rock”
This entrenched disgust towards the indecorousness of rock ‘n’ roll and its artists is most bluntly summarized by Frank Sinatra who said that, “Rock ‘n’ Roll is the most brutal, ugly, desperate, vicious form of expression it has been my misfortune to hear.”6
Although this statement is extreme in its depiction of rock ‘n’ roll, it represents what was reality for conservatives appalled by the predominance of the controversial rock movement.
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Salman Rushdie , an Indian-British novelist, once said that rock ‘n’ roll music was ”music of freedom [which] frightens people and unleashes all manner of conservative defensive mechanisms.”7
This statement serves to explain the reasoning behind the increased antagonism towards liberal music. First of all, America had just come from a war, so cynicism and conservatism were at all time highs. War eras and post-war eras are known for increased paranoia and resistance. Furthermore, racial and social tensions were still ripe in America’s heart, and people were definitely not ready for a social revolution.8This is precisely why America could not handle having millions of erotically-crazed teenagers bouncing around and screaming that they too wanted to be Sex Machines. For all conservatives knew, baby boomers might as well just set the world on fire, for surely, they would all burn in hell for their erotic vandalisms.
Nevertheless, it was time for change. Rock ‘n’ roll molded the minds of the baby boomers by liberalizing their views all across the social spectrum. Contrasting from their forefathers, baby boomers were for self-expressionism (obviously not in the traditional sense) and for sexual liberation. So let us face reality. The fact of the matter is that conservatives were right for being wary of rock ‘n’ roll music, because it did liberalize and corrupt hormone-dominated teenagers. Hormones, after all, are the little demons mostly to blame for why the vast majority of teenagers are insane. This explains why baby boomers could not help but give into the supreme addictiveness of rock ‘n’ roll.
Therefore, as the torch-bearing generation standing before American posterity, baby boomers indulged in the sweet deliciousness of the freedom they procured, and let the sexual idealism in rock ‘n’ roll seep into American mindset for generations to come. Sex was, by a large part, no longer revered as sacred. It is just too bad that purity rings did not exist until the 1990s.9
Copycat Kids
(From The Beatles song “Lucy in the sky with Diamonds”)
Picture yourself in a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies. Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly, a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.10
In 1967 The Beatles recorded “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” At first glance this song seems harmless and maybe even sweet. The naked eye may think, clearly this song is about a guy who is madly in love with a woman. Yet, to find the real meaning you must understand the corruption of the time period. In reality, this song is idealizing the use of LSD. The Beatles spoke from experience, as the brilliant Paul McCartney once said in an interview, “LSD opened my eyes. We only use one-tenth of our brain.”11 Clearly it is an excellent idea to promote the use of LSD to a nation of teenagers already high on sex -the LSD must have really been working for Paul McCartney that day.
This brings up the point of rock ‘n’ roll and its idealism of drug abuse. The bottom line is that drug abuse increased during the baby boomer era because of this idealism. The mindset was as follows: The best of the rock stars were doing it, and what better way to be cool, than to be like the people you idolize?
Pharmaceuticals are taking on a whole different meaning as we get older. Seems the illegal pleasures of our youth are being replaced by the anti-aging pharmaceuticals of today. It used to be enough to feel good, enter an altered state, or seek the godhead through chemistry. Now it seems that all we want is our lost youth. Maybe if we hadn’t indulged in all those little helpers in the first place, we wouldn’t be demanding a new set of them today,”12 said a baby boomer who experienced the drug-mania first hand.
It is plainly true that wisdom comes with age.
Courtesy of the Boomers
Elvis Presley died of a drug overdose on August 16, 1977. However, what he and his contemporaries left behind has surpassed the test of time. Rock ‘n’ roll continued to revolutionize American idealism by bringing forth a liberalized view of young American life. It was, in a sense, a tsunami amidst moral convention. Teenagers of the 1950s through the 1970s became the sole embodiment of rebellion and social corruption which went on to transcend into American posterity. Nevertheless, this is not to say that baby boomers are solely to blame for this cultural revolution. In fact, they were but victims of an uncontrollable destiny and of the weaknesses of the human condition. After all, not many a man can resist the urge to grasp freedom as it stares provocatively into his face. This is why any group of youngsters would have responded to the rock movement in the same way. Rock ‘n’ roll was to the baby boomers, as LSD was to the Beatles. It was the caffeine of a generation in search of revival and freedom, and so in turn, it tarnished the legacy of the booming generation.
1 Jensen, Ken. Elvis In Norway. January 2006. <http://home.online.no/~ov-egela/southernnights.html>.
2 Thinkexist.com.2006. <http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/rock_and/3.html>.
3 Benicewicz, Larry. Hank Ballard. <http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/rock_and/3.html>.
4 The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll. March 1998. <http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/rock_and/3.html>.
5 James Brown’s album “Sex Machine”
8 Altschuler, Glenn. All Shook Up: How Rock ‘n’ Roll Changed America. New York: Oxford University Press. 2003
9 AOL Music. 12 September 2008. AOL. < http://music.aol.ca/article/purity-rings-enter-world-of-sex-drugs-rockn-roll/340594/>.
10 From The Beatles album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
11 Azzam, Faroghe. “Social Impact of Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Marinews: Power to People. 20 April 2007: 1.
12 Aging Hipsters. 26 January 2005. <http://www.aginghipsters.com/blog/archives/000346.php>.