power to send self-proclaimed protectors of American culture into fits of anguish. The
implications of this music's underprivileged birthright, the complex temper of
American society since its emergence as a mainstream phenomenon in the wake of
World War II, its identification with the thought and behavior of teenagers, and its
potential as a means for acquiring almost limitless wealth have all contributed to its
perceived menace.

As a result, rock and roll has become a prime target for censorship campaigns by
a host of special interest lobbies -- religious, political, economic, and musical. ³ Such
opposition, be it well-intentioned or vested in self-interest, has existed as an almost
chronic condition throughout the music's rather short history. It can be argued,
however, that the passion and energy expended in attempts to alter or suppress rock
and roll expression have only spurred rockers to flaunt or exaggerate the "objection-
able" aspects of their music and worldview in a spirit of defiant celebration. Rock fans
have affirmed the behavior of musicians with unbridled enthusiasm and, by their
adulation, have encouraged them to challenge the status quo.

At the heart of the issue is the mainstreaming of attitudes and practices, musical and
otherwise, that represent fundamental departures from those institutionalized by the
power culture since the colonization of the United States. This change in taste was
even more dramatic -- in fact, revolutionary -- because it symbolized broad acceptance
of the musical customs of black America and rural white America, sectors of society
with little prestige and long dismissed as irrelevant to national standards and priorities.
The actual musical language of rock and roll had long flourished, primarily in the
South, without the sanction of upper- and middle-class white Americans who
acknowledged the music of these outsiders begrudgingly as "race music" and "hillbilly
music," respectively. What was new in the 1950s was an enthusiastic audience of
middle-class teenagers from white America and a new designation "rock 'n' roll,"
which ironically is derived from blues imagery for sexual intercourse. These young
people with their new fascination for minority music -- with no malice aforethought,
initially at least -- proved to be an irrepressible force in reshaping many social patterns
in American society during the second half of the twentieth century.

What made this transformation of American popular music the source of such
violent debate is the very fact that it was generated and sustained by the youth of the
power culture without the blessing of their parents. Few other musical movements
have been defined so emphatically in terms of age. A house divided by rejection of
parental preferences and the attending perception of betrayal and even subversion set
the stage for a power struggle that marked the early years of rock and roll. Once the
music established itself as more than an irritating fad and then quickly achieved status
as the social emblem of rebellious youth, initial skirmishes faded as opponents
regrouped to wage what has proved to be an ongoing war, one in which calls for
censorship were raised as periodic battle cries and attempts at control took various
forms.

Much of the negative response to rock and roll by voices in the establishment must
be identified as both racist and elitist. ⁴ The music was roundly condemned by

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