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- Title
The Politics of Dancing: When Rock 'n' Roll Came to Australia.
- Authors
Sturma, Michael
- Abstract
This article discusses the politics of dancing and the emergence of rock 'n' roll music in Australia. The new rhythms rock 'n' roll brought to Australia were in a sense revolutionary, and they came to represent new perceptions. The link between rhythm, the unconscious and the body, made rock 'n' roll both powerful and threatening. Rock 'n' roll music evolved in the U.S. from a fusion of black rhythm and blues with country music. Driving rhythms and a spontaneity distinguished rock 'n' roll from earlier popular music. Australia's introduction to rock 'n' roll came in 1955, with the film Blackboard Jungle and Bill Haley's soundtrack Rock Around the Clock. Many adults respond to rock 'n' roll in Australia as if told they had a terminal disease. Rock 'n' roll, like death, elicited a good deal of fear. Denial is always a powerful mechanism against the unexpected and unwanted. One of the first responses to rock 'n' roll was to ignore it or hope that it would go away. Once denial was no longer possible, the tone changed to one of anger, outrage, resentment and envy. Occasionally newspapers managed to directly link rock 'n' roll with delinquency. Yet it was not juvenile delinquency which made the new music appear most threatening and powerful. To adults rock 'n' roll signified a more general loss of control. Rock 'n' roll appeared most revolutionary in the realm of sexuality. Discourse on rock 'n' roll was mainly sexual discourse.
- Subjects
AUSTRALIA; ROCK music; POPULAR music; ROCK &; roll dancing; ROCK music fans; JUVENILE delinquency
- Publication
Journal of Popular Culture, 1992, Vol 25, Issue 4, p123
- ISSN
1540-5931
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.0022-3840.1992.12331148.x