Rock and roll is a profoundly American art form, the musical expression of revolutionary changes in popular culture and values, a Dionysian eruption that hit the white-bread fifties like a hurricane. It was a force destined to shake up subsequent decades and transform American culture.
Rock & Roll: An Unruly History is a full-scale salute to rock that is also a companion to the ten-part public television series, illuminating the roots of rock and exploring the rock and roll culture that surrounds the music.
Robert Palmer, a preeminent rock critic and musician who was the chief consultant for the public television series, explores the complex creative processes that have allowed rock music to endure as a living art, fed from sources deep within nonconformist, anti-mainstream, often multiethnic American culture. By focusing on its roots and branchings, Palmer charts rock's ongoing developmental processes, showing how its many tributaries - from blues and gospel to reggae, punk, and rap - converge and connect to create the most insightful history of rock and roll ever written.
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"An excellent history of Rock and Roll by the music critic (not the musician). The writing is engaging and focuses on the work more than the extravagance and fame of the people who make this industry so popular."
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Marcus (4 out of 5 stars)