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Editorial
Byways
Editorial
Byways|
ROCK ‘N’
ROLL REVISITED (This article was written back
in the mid 1980’s, but we believe it is still relevant today.) GETTING
INFORMED ABOUT ROCK MUSIC
MOST OLDER adults know little about rock
‘n’ roll music except that it is loud and unpleasant to their ears. To them the volume of
the instruments is so loud and intense that the lyrics cannot be
understood. It
is dismissed as undesirable nonsense without even trying to consider
the
message of the music.
But is this just so much innocent noise listened to by so
many
young people? I
had always thought rock music was not exactly right, had discouraged
young
people from listening to it, but had not really looked into the matter
with
depth. So, when I read a book recently, Why
Knock Rock, I was provoked to do
what they said.
They suggested that parents “get smart.” If you don’t know what you are
talking about, young people will call your bluff. Check out the record
department of the local variety store, then a rock record shop. You
will be
shocked (as a Christian) at what you see. Looking at the album covers
will make
you feel as if you are flipping through the pages of Playboy magazine. You
will see sex, violence, drugs, hedonism, along with Satanism, being
peddled.
Drug paraphernalia (at the rock record shops) may be for sale along
with the
records.
Obtain and browse through magazines that give the latest
on
rock music and rock groups; magazines that are prepared for, aimed at
and read
by young people. Such magazines are Rolling
Stone, Hit Parader, Circus,
Musician, and Creem.
Here you will see what is
going on with the rock groups and be able to read the lyrics of songs
you could
not understand.
I did this, and I became educated really fast! You get it
straight from the “horse’s mouth” here. No second hand “stuff.” I was
very
uncomfortable with a lot of the “gutter” talk about sex by the rock
stars, but
I was determined to become informed.
There were two words which kept surfacing
in these magazines in talking about the rock ‘n’ roll world. They were hedonistic
and androgynous. “Hedonistic”
In the November, 1984, issue
of
Hit Parader (page 12), a mother wrote this publication: “I’m
getting
sick and tired of reading about the lewd and lascivious lifestyles that
every
heavy metal performer seems to lead. I’m the mother of a 14-year old
son, and
I’m thinking about preventing him from reading about rock and roll
until he
learns that not every rock star is only concerned with drugs, alcohol
and
premarital sex. Would you please write something that would explain
this to my
son?” The straight-forward answer to the letter (by the magazine) is
very
revealing: “Unfortunately, rock and roll is perhaps the most hedonistic
of all
entertainment forms. Bands like Motely Crue, Quiet Riot and Van Halen
truly do
lead lives that would make Julius Caesar green with envy. Thankfully,
from what
I’ve been able to observe, the use of illegal drugs among rock
performers has
dropped sharply in recent years—but their love for booze and sex
remains as
strong as ever.”
In case “hedonistic” is not
one of your words, it comes from a Greek word that means pleasure. It
is used
in English to describe a lifestyle; the self-indulgent pursuit of
pleasure, any
kind, as a way of life. It is fleshly and animalistic and has no
hang-ups in
reference to morals. Anything goes. If it brings sensual gratification,
do it.
Unrestrained illicit sex,
liquor and drugs are marks of the trade in the rock world. Gene Simmons
of KISS
is quoted in Entertainment Week (Winston-Salem
Journal, January 5, 1985) as saying, “Rock ‘n’ roll is all about
promiscuity, you know.” He continues, “Rock ‘n’ roll literally means
sex. The
term comes from a Leadbelly song saying, ‘let me rock you all night
long.’ He
wasn’t talking about reading Nietzsche to her.”
Nikki Sixx of
Motley Crue in the October 31, 1984, issue of Circus
(page 66) ties in
their hedonistic lifestyle with their success, “The kids who come to
see us
want to identify with that. They see us living a reality that’s just
fantasy
for them.” Then Dee
Snider of Twisted Sisters says his music
is like psychotherapy. Appealing to rebellious youth, he said, “If you
can’t
afford to go to a doctor to find out why you’re ________
up, then listen to metal. Dance around and you wanna go home and kill
your
parents!” (page 111 of same issue of Circus). “Androgynous”
Also in the November, 1984,
issue of Hit Parader magazine (page
29) upcoming rock groups are singled
out for consideration. One group is said already to be “an
international press
favorite due to their hard rock sound and androgynous image,” and they
were
expected to make a go of it. The word “androgynous” keeps reoccurring
as the
common denominator of successful rock groups, and is considered as one
of the
necessary ingredients to bring this about. What does it mean?
Actually it is weird! The
term “androgynous” is a compound word formed from two Greek words,
This explains a lot of
things. It explains the image the rock groups are trying to project, as
well as
many times living it out in their lives. Look at the very appearance of
the
rock singers. In one sense they look crudely masculine, but at the same
time
they may have long effeminate hair, be wearing makeup, ear rings, and
other
jewelry commonly associated with women. Some of their clothing would be
more
appropriate on the opposite sex (if appropriate is the word we should
use).
The names they choose by
which to identify their groups projects the androgynous image. What
about the
AC/DC group? This is said to mean either heterosexual or homosexual
(bisexual).
There is a group called the “Iron Maiden” (and it is composed of men).
Another
one is called “Twisted Sisters” (men!). This is seen in the KISS group,
Alice
Cooper and Boy George. Even if they don’t
pick such names, they
try to project a mystic to keep you guessing about their sexual
identity. Such
an aurora surrounds Michael Jackson. The Prince in his “Purple Rain”
says, “I’m
not a woman, I’m not a man, I am something that you’ve never had…” (Entertainment
Week, Winston-Salem Journal,
November 3, 1984).
Recently as I was leafing
through a magazine while waiting in a doctor’s office, I saw this
write-up
about this rock group. It had a picture of them in concert. When they
came out
to perform, two of the macho-looking guys passionately kiss one another
in the
mouth. In another magazine, two fellows are seen pawing one another.
It is not a lovely picture,
is it? In fact, it is sick. And to think that somewhere along the way
music has
done a flip-flop. When a lot of us were younger, pop music referred to
the easy
listening kind. Not any longer. Now pop means rock. It is the music
commonly
listened to by the younger generation, and is it any wonder that there
are so many
mixed up people today? Looking to these rock stars, and identifying
with them
(even with their androgynous image), it is no wonder that so many are
confused
about their personal, sexual identity.
I am convinced that the field
of rock ‘n’ roll music has largely become the devil’s playground.
Diabolical
influences seem to be behind these performers as they preach their
hedonistic
philosophies of life to our young people as entertainment. Rock music
broke
down the middle class’ abhorrence to drugs, which theretofore had been
kept in
the ghettoes of the larger cities. So much of the music is
anti-Christian,
anti-marriage, and anti-family. One recent song asked, “WHAT’S LOVE GOT
TO DO
WITH IT?” Neither do we need any more Pink Floyds with their nihilistic
fatalism.
The book that I mentioned
earlier in this article gives four questions to ask about rock music
(or any
other kind of music) in determining whether it is right or wrong.
1. What are the lyrics
saying?
2. What kind of lifestyles
have the musicians chosen?
3. What do the graphics on
the album covers indicate?
4. What are the goals of the
songs and the performers?
YOUNG PERSON,
OLDER PERSON, think on these things. (End
of reprint
article) The
Story Continued Many Years Later That is the end of the
article this writer
put together back in the 80’s, but it is not the end of the story. The
story
goes on. We can’t help but think of the words attributed to men of
wisdom from
ancient times until now. It is said that Plato said, “Watch music. It’s a very important art
form. Rulers should be careful about what songs are allowed to be
sung.” To
Plato, music was “the movement of sound to reach the soul for
the
education of its virtue” (Plato’s Republic). Andrew Fletcher, a Scottish politician of
years leading up to more recent history, is said to have asserted, “I
knew a
very wise man that believed that if a man were permitted to make all
the
ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation.” Thus,
he was
supposed to have said, “I don’t care who writes a country’s laws; I
just want
to know who writes a country’s songs.” With these words in
mind, consider rock ‘n’ roll “music.” It is
our firm conviction that our society is experiencing fall-out from a
whole
generation that has been “brought up” on this kind of “music.” Times were more modest
and restrained when rock ‘n’ roll was
first introduced into our society. Therefore years ago when the
“godfather” of
rock music, Elvis Presley, first appeared on the Ed Sullivan variety
show, they
seemed to not know what to do with him. The television cameras would
not show
the lower part of his body as it “gyrated” indecently with his music.
This was
tame as to what would follow later in the name of this kind of “music.”
In
fact, go back and review the first section of this column as to the
meaning of
the expression, “rock ‘n’ roll” (the reprint article). The expression
has
reference to the sex act itself, as the DJ’s dubbed this music. Then as rock ‘n’ roll
gained momentum and massively impacted
our society, Columbia Encyclopedia
says, “All aspects of the music—its heavy beat, loudness, self-absorbed
lyrics,
and raving delivery—indicated a teenage defiance of adult values and
authority.” Rebellion, the hedonistic and the sex element always seemed
to be
there. Reread the first part of this article that we have reprinted.
Besides
the unsavory element of promiscuous sex, generally speaking, the
androgynous
image projected by the rock performers always hits us in the face.
There was a
crude and eerie mystic about them that left one questioning. What about
these
fellows? Are they male or female? They appeared crudely masculine, but
at the
same time, with their long hair and makeup, feminine. Who would have
ever
thought that their mixed-up and dual sexual identity would spill over
into a
whole society of human beings? It is our conviction that their music,
their
songs, their mixed-up sexual identity (and behavior) overwhelmingly
impacted a
whole generation of young and formative lives. Remember our quotation
from Plato
and the other one, “I don’t care who writes a country’s laws; I just
want to
know who writes a country’s songs.” People are so mixed up today, that
some
would even try to impose same-sex marriage on us. (And politicians
could care
less, except to get votes). We point our finger at rock ‘n’ roll music
as a
strong and contributing factor to the mixed-up modern world in which we
find
ourselves living today. This is our indictment.  TheSwordANDStaff| |
