Heart Fire Propaganda - Rock and Its Cultural World

Author: Liu Shi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-09-01
Features: In the 1950s, the music world gave birth to a wild child—rock and roll. Its alternative form was rejected by tradition. Yet, it attracted generations of youth like gravity, creating waves wherever young people gathered. Its growth was marked by brilliant names such as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, and Madonna. What exactly is rock and roll? This book will provide you with the answer. The author revisits the legendary bands and artists in rock history with a free-spirited style, describing the rise of giants like The Beatles, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, and Jackson. The passionate narration will take us back to those exhilarating times.
The author writes: Rock—A sound. If you seek a music that conveys the thoughts and emotions of young people, it must be rock and roll. If you speak of a music whose spirit is closely tied to the era and has influenced the behavior of generations, it is still rock and roll. Looking back at those years half a century ago, we can't help but feel a sense of nostalgia. The ups and downs of public sentiment surged and ebbed with the music. Surrounded by too many voices and too many choices, the youth of that time sang rock and roll to express themselves, to reject the status quo, to vent their frustrations. As witnesses and expressions of society, rock recorded that history and the attitudes and thoughts of people during that time. Fifty years later, though society has become more peaceful and people more composed, rock has not changed its.
"It is a flame in the heart, and what is dazzling is not the shape of the flame burning, but the heat and light." After writing these words, a long-forgotten fervor washed over my heart. How long has it been since I last listened to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones? Some say the end of the century is a time for nostalgia. Today, in the rhythm of rock and roll, I am reminded of those exhilarating years half a century ago. Who were those young people? They rejected everything, left their homes, rebelled against existing norms and orders. They were sensitive and fragile, venting their dissatisfaction in solitude. Was it indeed the society that was deeply flawed, or was it the rejection and rebellion of young people as they grew? With much reflection, I once again followed the path of music backward to trace the origins of rock.
Over fifty years ago, The Beatles sang:
"In the midnight, a young bird sings,
With its broken wings, learning to fly,
You spend your life, waiting for this rising moment.
In the midnight, a young bird sings,
With its deep-set eyes, learning to gaze,
You spend your whole life, waiting for this free moment.
The young bird, with dreams of youth,
Soared in those dark and heavy times,
Rock and roll tells the hopes of people."
Despite the thunderous roar of heavy metal, the and decline of psychedelic rock, and the eccentricity of glam rock, rock still gazes at freedom and rebellion, singing with its deep-set eyes and passion. Grand performances are now a thing of the past, and those icons who led generations of youth have the background of history. The passionate era has passed. An unknown writer picks up a pen and writes about that history. It cannot be said that this book is a "history"—history is too heavy and solemn. I have looked at it with my eyes and thought about it with my mind, and that is all.
Facing the complex history of rock and the vast musical works, any words seem pale, and any conclusions may fail to capture its depth. But this is all we can do—this is how we gaze, this is how we write.
Author, June 2001
Excerpt:
1. Country Music (Country Music) – The Heartfelt Voice of Poor Southern Whites in the U.S. In the southern part of the U.S., a group of lower-class white people lived together, having moved from distant England to a land of freedom. Like people anywhere in the world, they had their own way of life and cultural patterns. Within this group, a musical form with a strong rural flavor emerged. As the early immigrants continued, so did it. It gently expressed the emotional world of these southern whites with its tender melodies and steady rhythms. The tunes of country music were simple, the rhythms steady, and it had a strong narrative quality. The singers used their voices to describe the beauty of their hometowns, express their longing for the past, convey the melancholy of lost love, the sentiments of wandering, express their yearning for the distant, and their religious fervor and genuine faith. In such slow songs, the joys and sorrows of the lower classes flowed, their incessant inner monologues.
The precursor of country music was known as mountain music. Over time, its influence expanded outward, from the southern regions centered around Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia to the Southwest and Central South. After World War II, country music officially gained its name and no longer called itself mountain music. At the same time, country music began to win national influence. However, despite these changes, country music remained a regional musical style with a very limited independent market and a fixed audience. It seemed destined from the beginning to appeal to adult white Americans. They saw their ancestors working in the southern mountains in these songs, inheriting the emotional legacy on their land, and feeling a sense of continuity in their hearts. The singers' heartfelt words in country music also began to show a tendency to blend with pop music. Thus, this fusion made country music and pop music start to share common features, and if you wanted to distinguish between them, it would take some effort. But it was precisely this tendency toward fusion and change that, in one way, prepared the waters for the emergence of the rock river. After a period of its own gestation, a source of the rock river naturally formed, waiting for that moment, waiting for the other two sources to mature, waiting for the birth of the child.
Afterword: Like many young people of this era, I love rock and roll. One autumn evening, I sat on a bus, wearing earplugs, listening to a song recently recommended by a friend. The lead singer was the famous heavy metal band "Guns N' Roses." The trembling bass that shook my heart suddenly carried the sound of rain. The waves of sound from the keyboards, bass, and drums instantly became quiet and gentle. As the bus swayed, a wave of tenderness surrounded me. My love for Western rock began at that moment. Walking into rock, I discovered not just music but also the colorful lives of rock. Many singers met rock when they were our age, so their frustrations, desires, and dreams struck us instantly across time. However, when I tried to systematically understand the history, genres, and artists of rock, I found that the information was too scattered, and few comprehensive introductions were available, making it difficult to grasp the full picture of this art. Like seeing a beauty with "half her face hidden behind her lute," I was charmed but even more eager to see her true beauty once the lute was removed. So, I collected bits and pieces of information, strung them together like a necklace, and presented them to my friends who love rock, either as a supplement to appreciation or as light reading when bored. Years later, flipping through it occasionally, I can still remember the people and songs we loved together in our youth.
This book was written with references to Mr. Zhong Zilin's "The History and Style of Rock and Roll" and "The Passion of the 20th Century" by Cheng Gong, for which I express my deep gratitude. I am also grateful to Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House for giving me the opportunity to allow lovers of rock to recall those exhilarating years together.
Author, July 16, 2001