Date of Award
2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Humanities
First Advisor
Clark, Maribeth
Area of Concentration
Music
Abstract
Rock and roll blazed through the popular music charts of the 1950s, leaving a distinctive mark on the popular sphere. Shortly after, the genre evolved and prospered for the decades, eventually giving birth to the subgenres of punk rock and heavy metal in the 1970s. Each of these subgenres represents an iconic transformation of the original rock and roll style. Since the 70s, much has been written on these two genres, from Greil Marcus’s Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century to Robert Walser’s Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Drawing upon these texts, as well as the additional scholarship of Jacques Attali, Amber Clifford-Napoleone, Jon Stratton, and others, I create a more comprehensive understanding of the sociopolitical context through which punk and metal were created. In doing so, I demonstrate the inter-genre dialogue between punk rock and heavy metal as evidenced through thrash metal, hardcore punk, and later, grunge. Additionally, I construct a historical perspective on the genres as unique takes on challenges to political noise through musical noise, establishing a spirit of rock and roll that transforms throughout the decades, undergoing cycles of commodification and rebirth. As punk rock and heavy metal revitalized the oppositional origin of rock and roll, the spirit manifests through a variety of genres and artists to represent a broader movement against bourgeois power.
Recommended Citation
Hanson, Trent, "FRESH FRUIT FOR ROTTING VEGETABLES: POWER IN PUNK & METAL" (2020). Theses & ETDs. 5862.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/5862