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Introduction

Introduction lntrodudion During the forties "rhythm and blues" was a name that came to symbolize Afro-America; renaming it "rock 'n' roll" in the fifties nothing but a marketing ploy by the white musical industry to was steal and conceal black music and style. While white performers were fairly adept at appropriating the outward style of rhythm and blues, they were inept at fathoming the "germinal idea" and captur­ ing its inward soul. It is in this way that Elvis Presley failed to de­ velop the essential feature of his appeal- the germinability of "the idea." Unsuccessful at breaking down the partition dividing the sacred and the secular, white rock 'n' roll stars veered off onto their own sociomusical course, and "rock" came to represent a life-style of radical secularity fashioned by white teenagers of the sixties. The secularity notwithstanding, anthropologist Victor Turner says that "rock" not only refers to a kind of music but also to a spiritually heightened modality of community- "communitas" -that breaks down structural divisions and hierarchies. Turner says, "Rock is clearly a cultural expression and instrumentality of that style of communitas which has arisen as the antithesis of the 'square,' 'orga­ nization man' type of bureaucratic http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Black Sacred Music Duke University Press

Introduction

Spencer, Jon Michael
Black Sacred Music , Volume 6 (1) – Mar 1, 1992
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Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by Duke University Press
ISSN
1043-9455
eISSN
2640-9879
DOI
10.1215/10439455-6.1.229
Publisher site
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Abstract

lntrodudion During the forties "rhythm and blues" was a name that came to symbolize Afro-America; renaming it "rock 'n' roll" in the fifties nothing but a marketing ploy by the white musical industry to was steal and conceal black music and style. While white performers were fairly adept at appropriating the outward style of rhythm and blues, they were inept at fathoming the "germinal idea" and captur­ ing its inward soul. It is in this way that Elvis Presley failed to de­ velop the essential feature of his appeal- the germinability of "the idea." Unsuccessful at breaking down the partition dividing the sacred and the secular, white rock 'n' roll stars veered off onto their own sociomusical course, and "rock" came to represent a life-style of radical secularity fashioned by white teenagers of the sixties. The secularity notwithstanding, anthropologist Victor Turner says that "rock" not only refers to a kind of music but also to a spiritually heightened modality of community- "communitas" -that breaks down structural divisions and hierarchies. Turner says, "Rock is clearly a cultural expression and instrumentality of that style of communitas which has arisen as the antithesis of the 'square,' 'orga­ nization man' type of bureaucratic

Journal

Black Sacred Music – Duke University Press

Published: Mar 1, 1992

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