Is Rock and Roll About Sex?

I don't want to lead the witness or anything.... but with the release of "the Runaways" there is a clamor again to say: rock and roll is about sex.

I thought, what rock? Stupid, vulgar, amateurish non-rock? Prog has much higher ambitions, even at the relative low ends of the genre, than the "pelvic thrust."

What about the Who or the Beatles? I mean what a crock of sh*t.

There is constant referencing to firstly Elvis... who by no means was the founder of Rock that they make him out to be, then to the stupid 70s metal bands and hard rock bands. I don't listen to that crap* and I listen to a LOT of Rock music. Even THEN, sex isn't the overriding driving force and this is in the WORST** of rock-related music.

I just think it's a stupid and ignorant assertion of people who don't listen to Rock, who are way too involved in Freud and psychological adventures and who are contemptuous of the ability of music to be meaningful, serious, socially critical and imaginative.

What say you?

*Sorry
*Sorry Again

Logan wrote: Without sex there would be no rock & roll.

Explain how.

RoyFairbank wrote: Logan wrote: Without sex there would be no rock & roll. Explain how.

Where did all the rock & rollers come from? Their parents had to have done something.

Slartibartfast wrote: You may not know this but Rock 'n' Roll was slang for sex when it was first applied to the music.

He's absolutely right. As such, rock and roll really is about sex.

RoyFairbank wrote: Logan wrote: Without sex there would be no rock & roll. Explain how.

You can extend it to other music too.  Without sex, rock and roll would never have been born -- biological reasons that led to the birth of rock and roll musicians.  Was a little joke.

To answer your initial question though, I think rock and roll was about dancing to a  large extent, but dancing is often a courtship/ mating / copulation ritual. And yes, rockin' and rollin' is a sexual term

 Sex and drugs and rock & roll are commonly linked, of course.

Is rock and roll just about sex; no.




Edited by Logan - May 05 2010 at 14:40

Logan wrote: Is rock and roll just about sex; no.

Of course, it would be funny to assume that it is.

If that's the case, then that seasoned witch could rearrange my liver anytime!

*exasperated*

Yes but Dancing was transformed by the need to express certain moods and ideas into something else: rock.

Its like this: we evolved from fish, but we don't eat zooplankton in the benthic zone anymore.

In 20,000 BC, the tribal constitution was based on the Gens, the family structure, today society bases itself on the Nation State.

The nation state traces back to the Gens, but it expresses new relationships, new ideas and new levels of culture.

See? Dancing may be about mating.... but Rock isn't. If it is, it a regression. Prog is a progression.

Why do I try?

The saying "Sex, drugs and rock & roll" comes from somewhere and has to be based on something.

RoyFairbank wrote: *exasperated* Yes but Dancing was transformed by the need to express certain moods and ideas into something else: rock. Its like this: we evolved from fish, but we don't eat zooplankton in the benthic zone anymore. In 20,000 BC, the tribal constitution was based on the Gens, the family structure, today society bases itself on the Nation State. The nation state traces back to the Gens, but it expresses new relationships, new ideas and new levels of culture. See? Dancing may be about mating.... but Rock isn't. If it is, it a regression. Prog is a progression. Why do I try?

Where does jazz fit into this? Bluegrass? Country? Samba? Different forms, different functions, different expressions. No linearity, just parallel and occasionally overlapping sensibilities for distinct effects.

RoyFairbank wrote: WalterDigsTunes wrote: RoyFairbank wrote: *exasperated* Yes but Dancing was transformed by the need to express certain moods and ideas into something else: rock. Its like this: we evolved from fish, but we don't eat zooplankton in the benthic zone anymore. In 20,000 BC, the tribal constitution was based on the Gens, the family structure, today society bases itself on the Nation State. The nation state traces back to the Gens, but it expresses new relationships, new ideas and new levels of culture. See? Dancing may be about mating.... but Rock isn't. If it is, it a regression. Prog is a progression. Why do I try? Where does jazz fit into this? Bluegrass? Country? Samba? Different forms, different functions, different expressions. No linearity, just parallel and occasionally overlapping sensibilities for distinct effects. THEY DO its the same for them None of them express Sex absolutely and many of them barely do at all relatively 20,000 BC cave dancing largely maybe would have but we don't do it anymore because our music expresses things more complexly

Now then, where do hip-hop, techno and reggaeton fit in. It's not 20,000 BC anymore and yet those are pandering to very particular social/sexual needs.