(Rock and roll is) the most brutal, ugly, desperate, vicious form of expression
it has been my misfortune to hear. [It is written and sung] for the most part
by cretinous goons [and] by means of its imbecilic reiterations and sly --
lewd -- in plain fact dirty -- lyrics . . . (it) manages to be the martial music
for every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth.

Frank Sinatra at 1958 congressional hearings, as quoted in Steve Chapple
and Reebee Garafolo, Rock and Roll Is Here to Pay

If it screams for truth rather than help, if it commits itself with a courage
that it can't be sure it really has, if it stands up and admits that something is
wrong but doesn't insist on blood, then it is rock n' roll.

Pete Townshend of the Who

Rock n' roll, at its core, is merely a bunch of raving shit.

Rock journalist Lester Bangs

One crucial way in which the institutions of popular music try to maintain
their dominance is through ignoring musics which contain elements of alien
discourses (e.g. politics, obscenity, explicit sexuality), for if those elements are
brought into popular music, they may have a disruptive effect. When they
are brought in . . . there are procedures for incorporating those external ele-
ments (be they rhythms, hairstyles or lyric statements) to minimize their dis-
ruption of orderly consumption.

Music-history scholar Dave Laing

THIS BOOK CHRONICLES the first thirty years of rock/pop music history. Picture
the various musical styles as locations on a giant unfolding road map. As you
open the map, you travel from place to place, stopping at each chapter to sample
the artistry. Take in the tales, pictures, sounds, and feelings of each location; re-
member the people you met there. And don't forget to dress your imagination ap-

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