Only Rock'n'Roll? Rock Music and the Cultures of Conservatism

Rock'n'roll traditionally appears to exhibit a rebellious, subversive and progressive connotation. Such ascriptions however not only ignore sub-genres such as Rechtsrock (right-wing extremist rock), but also criticism, which from the onset accused mainstream rock of merely portraying and supporting the social status quo rather than questioning it. Is rock'n'roll therefore a conservative genre? What do terms such as conservative and progressive really mean, when they are applied to pop culture, music and specifically rock'n'roll? Which findings are used to support these attributions? The article investigates these questions along an abbreviated history of rock from the 1950s to the 1980s in transnational perspective. The contribution shows that, inasmuch as rock is rebellious at all, it can be directed against a mainstream culture which is perceived as conservative just as much as against one which is perceived as progressive.