[BLANK_AUDIO] The second major theme is that rock and roll was a threat to mainstream American culture in the 1950s and after. It's hard to imagine now how threatening rock and roll seemed to a society that was used to hearing popular songs such as (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window, which was a number one song and 2 million seller by Patti Page in 1953. Before rock and roll, pop songs were about happy, innocent things, certainly not about sex, and not about adult relationships. So in that world, Que Sera, Sera, released by Doris Day in 1956 was a heavy, meaningful song. To mainstream society, rock and roll was something from outer space. It was so different from what mainstream America had been listening to for generations, that it was an immediate threat to their values. I know because I was there. Well, one look at a guy like Ersel Hickey was enough to drive my dad into a rage about hoodlums, low-lifes, and what he called poor white trash. By the way, here's what Ersel Hickey sounded like. Circa 1958. [MUSIC] Now I want you to take a close look at his picture, as well. Notice that his hair is long and unkempt. His collar is turned up. It's not such a big deal now but at the time, it was very rebellious. Look how he held his guitar. It's almost as if it was like a rifle or a machine gun with which he would destroy the status quo. Hickey's actually a fascinating story. He was born Ersel O Hickey, named after the family doctor. In 1954, he heard Elvis sing, I Don't Care if The Sun Don't Shine, and became a devoted rock-and-roll fan. He was encouraged by Phil Everly and he went on to write Bluebirds Over the Mountain, a song you may very well have heard. [MUSIC] The other thing is that, that picture, the one you just saw, was used on the opening page of the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll in 1976. Well, Rock and Roll and Rhythm and Blues in particular we're not so innocent as the pop music that came before. And as we will see, movies and newspapers equated the new music with hoodlums, juvenile delinquency, teenage crime and all sorts of other debauchery. When artists such as Elvis Presley came along with loud clothes, long hair and gyrating rhythms, not to mention gyrating hips, many Americans saw it as an erosion of everything they considered important. An assault on God and county, literally an assault on everything they held sacred. This music represented resistance to conformity. Refusal to stick to general practice. Rejection of tradition. Rock n' Roll was a badge of rebellion. And it still is. It had attitude, it had fashion. And its lyrical content was not innocent, it was adult. All of this demonstrated the rebellious nature of the music, and it even brought about some level of social and political consciousness. I mentioned movies, newspapers, media in general portrayed this music and all it stood for as threatening. As eroding the values Americans held most dear. And this was going on, remember, shortly after 16 million Americans had served in the military during WWII. As far as they were concerned, rock and roll was unpatriotic, it was sacrilegious, it was dangerous. Rock and roll and all its ingredients, blues, country, jazz, western, and all the rest, are folk art. From a social science perspective there is a clear distinction between fine art and folk art. Also known as high culture and low culture. Now, obviously, fine art refers to the ones you see here. Literature, music, painting, sculpture, theater, drama. All these sort of high-brow art forms. These are art forms that can be achieved successfully only through expensive training and formal lessons. Mostly it's art for art's sake. Folk art is just the opposite. And I say this without prejudice, but it's often self taught, it is utilitarian rather than purely aesthetic. Folk art expresses cultural identity by conveying shared community values and aesthetics. It is often created by non-professionals. It is from a fine arts perspective, illiterate, cheap, and low-brow. But the times change. Before the 1950s, record sales were mostly about fine art. But in the 1950s, folk art became the dominant form of art as far as popularity and sales were concerned. Thanks to the prosperity of the music industry Rock 'n' roll added fuel to the fire. And that low class, decadent, obscene music that America feared became an important cultural and economic force. When we come back, we'll talk about rock n roll and technology.
