From Rock and Roll to Rock

According to famed music critic Robert Christgau, the transition from “Rock and Roll” to simply “Rock” occurred when “rock & roll” made conscious of itself as an art form. Whereas in the early 1950s, one might define Rock and Roll as primary a social dance music, by the 1960s it increasingly became a blank canvas through which musicians from across the country could paint their own unique perspectives.

This unit examines that transition by looking at how musicians across the country began innovating Rock and Roll, while still paying homage to the genre’s origins and history.