Rock Eras: Interpretations of Music and Society 1954–1984 by Jim Curtis

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 343 jazz from the airwaves without taking racism into account. Individual radio stations, and later the networks, consciously avoided black music and performers for fear of alienating white listeners, exactly as happens on MTV today. The same lack of insight mars Douglas’s discussion of “Amos ’n Andy.” Without an understanding that this important early program emerged from the American minstrel tradition, a racist entertainment form stealing its ideas from AfricanAmericans and repaying them with degrading portrayals, “Amos ’n Andy” makes no sense. Finally, the text is too sparsely footnoted. While the bibliography is complete and current, many chapters have fewer than five footnotes, most of them citations to earlier, romanticized histories. Douglas discusses the important events, personalities, and trends in radio broadcasting of the 1920s, but gives the reader few clues about where he obtained his information. Students could find little help with research projects here. Teachers need a short history of radio broadcasting for use in colleges and high schools, but deficiencies in scope and content, a lack of historical vision, and poorly documented research make Douglas’s book unsuitable for this purpose. Susan Smui.yan Dr. Smit.v.-w, an assistant professor in the Department of American Civilization at Brown University, is writing a book on the commercialization of American broadcast radio. Recently she was a National Science Foundation Fellow at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Rock Eras: Interpretations of Music and Society 1954 — 1984. By Jim Curtis. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1987. Pp. 363; notes, index. $33.95 (cloth); $16.95 (paper). Jim Curtis has written an impressive account of the social and cultural significance of rock music. Profoundly influenced by Mar­ shall McLuhan’s Understanding Media, the author thematically chron­ icles the complex history of rock prior to its popularization by Elvis Presley and through the ensuing three decades. Curtis maintains that the combination of charismatic rock musicians and technological innovations forged an irrepressible tandem of societal influence in post-World War II popular culture, particularly in the United States and Great Britain. Rock Eras is one of the first scholarly treatments of the rock culture and industry. Curtis succeeds admirably in his analysis of rock’s symbiotic relationship with conventional society, especially as it existed in America. Because musical styles and tastes were evolving and transforming so rapidly during the thirty years Curtis examined, he divided the era into separate, five-year segments for scrutiny. Not­ 344 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE withstanding this piecemeal approach, Curtis accurately emphasizes the weight of such momentous events as the civil rights movement or Vietnam and rock’s connection with them. Curtis’s ruminations concerning rock’s effect are enlivened with provocative historical considerations. European immigration, reli­ gious versus secular input, Winthrop’s covenant theology, Turner’s frontier thesis, and Jefferson’s agrarianism are all explored. Curtis fails, however, to describe adequately the actual equipment that facilitated the electronic wizardry essential to rock’s flourishing and sustenance. Rock is brimming with examples of technological devel­ opments and refinements: electric guitars, amplifiers, synthesizers, improved drum kits, advanced recording techniques, music videos, and light shows testify to the crucial importance of technology. Unfortunately, Rock Eras does not sufficiently examine this decisive aspect of rock music. (One glaring sin of bibliographical omission is the absence of Rock Hardware, edited by Tony Bacon, which describes the nuts and bolts of rock technology.) Perhaps the most serious flaw of Rock Eras is the total dearth of oral interviews with those who actually made the music, many of whom are still living. The author’s heavy reliance on secondary sources is regrettable. Another limitation is the complete lack of photographs and illustrations that could have shown some of rock’s colorfully vivid performers and concerts, as evidenced in The Art of Rock by Paul Grushkin. Despite its shortcomings, Rock Eras is an important contribution to both the historiography of contemporary American history and rock music itself. Whether portraying Beatlemania or the mindless noise of some heavy metal groups, Curtis diligently depicts the various musi­ cians in question and their import. He is to be commended for his thoughtful approach to the...