Rock and Roll and Transformation of America in the 50s and 60s
The development of Rock and Roll in the 1950s and 60s was later attributed to the erosion of American traditional family values. The trend was also linked to the dismantling of racial customs and sexual issues in the country. Rock and Roll had gained a formidable reputation that skyrocketed the air attracting high school students of the mid-20th century. Pennington holds a belief that Rock was the reason for the dismantling of the traditional values of families in America. For instance, in the southern parts of the United States, these types of music were considered “Black” music. Racially inclined white families restricted their children from listening to music genres associated with Blacks (Pennington 214). During the time, there were racially-spurred wrangles to bar radio stations from playing music with a Black origin.
According to Pennington, young people listened and watched music for about 5 hours in a day and later socialize with their friends to discuss and appraise the music. Music is critical to the youth, and they tend to focus on the redirection given by the music rather than instructions given to them by their parents. By this, Rock and Roll music tends to transform the young magnificently to being a defining factor for the youthful. As a result, conventional rock music has affected the youthful and general society. According to Pennington, music matters to the younger generation (Pennington 221). Adolescents, in particular, have been influenced and transformed with music significantly. However, the influence of music to the younger generation had both positive and negative implications. Music also served to educate the young about various societal such as educating the young on ways of treating their pre-adult female counterparts.
Oakley takes a different perspective regarding the influence of Rock and Roll on American culture and disagrees with Pennington’s opinion on the matter. He argues that the development of Rock and Roll in the period enlightened young people. It made the young people to concentrate most in their academic matters. Oakley says that Rock and Roll were being blamed for diverting the young people’s attention when it was actually making the clever and transforming them to modernity but retaining their cultural values (Oakley 13). According to the writer, Studies were still important goals of students’ life even after the emergence of rock and roll music. There may be other major factors that contributed to the dismantling of traditional American families, racism, and sexual issues as the music was just an era of transformation in arts.
Jody Pennington holds the best opinion on the subject of transformation in traditions and cultures. This is because music has had a great impact on the young people who later form the next generation carrying along the values adopted during their youthful ages. Music contributed significantly to the emergency of pop culture in fashions, wears, and hairstyles. It is through music that most of the behaviors propelled throughout American society, transforming most of its cultural observances. In the 50s and 60s, the radio and TV became the most popular mode of public communication in the United States. For the middle-aged, politics in the communication media were their areas of interest, but for the younger generation, music was their soul food. As such, cultural change and transformation of the American society occurred significantly because of the Rock and Roll music.