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1、 Rock Superstars:What Do They Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society? 这篇文章选自美国1974年的一期高中生杂志（Senior Scholastic）,作者在文中着重从社会学的角度探讨摇滚乐的社会意义。在文章的头三段里，作者以相同的手法描写了三位摇滚歌星的表演盛况。青少年把他们视为偶像，赞美不绝，而成年观众则觉得他们恶心，难以忍受，这反映了青少年和成人社会对摇滚乐截然不同的态度。接着作者引用社会学家和音乐家的话，指出摇滚乐是“一种社会心理的表现”，它“表现其时代”，是各种思想交锋的场所。在这个辩论的论坛上，摇滚歌星们不但表
2、达了青少年对各种政治与社会问题的立场和观点，帮助社会解释其信仰与态度，而且也表达了青少年的情感和愿望。作者在文章的结尾重又提出副标题里的问题，旨在鼓励读者认真考虑这个问题。 Rock摇滚乐的英文全名叫Rock & Roll, RocknRoll或Rock music，于20世纪50年代兴起于美国，继而风靡世界。初期的摇滚乐基本上是由典型的黑人音乐“节奏与布鲁斯”（Rhythm & Blues）和传统的白人音乐“乡村与西部”（Country & Western）两类乐种融合而成的。1954年白人乡村音乐歌手比尔.黑利（Bill Haley）首次把R & B 的曲式融于自己的音乐中，于是，一种白人
3、和黑人青少年都酷爱的新型音乐摇滚乐诞生了。此后，摇滚乐以其顽强的青春活力茁壮成长，蓬勃发展。民谣音乐（Folk Music）、爵士音乐（Jazz Music）和流行音乐（Pop Music）等音乐形式也都相继融于摇滚乐中，形成了各种不同风格的摇滚乐；摇滚歌星们也以各自不同的舞台形象和演唱风格争奇斗艳，大放异彩。从50年代直到90年代，摇滚乐走过了一个又一个辉煌时代，一直深受广大青少年的喜爱。 T Rock is the music of teenage rebellion. John Rockwell, rock music critic By a mans heroes ye shall k
4、now him. Robert Penn Warren, novelistIt was mid-June,1972, the Chicago Amphitheatre（圆形露天剧场） was packed, sweltering, rocking. Onstage, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones was singing “Midnight Rambler.” Critic Don Heckman was there when the song ended. “Jagger,” he said, “grabs a half-gallon jug of wat
5、er and runs along the front platform, sprinkling its contents over the first few rows of sweltering listeners. They surge to follow him, eager to be touched by a few baptismal drops.”It was late December, 1973. Some 14,000 screaming fans were crunching up to the front of the stage at Capital Center,
6、 outside Washington, D.C. Alice Cooper, Americas singing ghoul, was ending his act. He ends it by pretending to end his life with guillotine. His “head” drops into a straw basket. “Ooh,” gasped a girl dressed in black. “Oh, isnt that marvelous?” Fourteen-year-old Mike Perlie was there too, but his p
7、arents werent. “They think hes sick, sick, sick,” Mike said. “They say to me, How can you stand that stuff?”It was late January, 1974. Inside the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New Work, Bob Dylan and The Band were tuning for a concert. Outside, in the pouring rain, fan Chris Singer was waiting to ge
8、t in. “This is pilgrimage,” Chris said, “I ought to be crawling on my knees.” How do you feel about all this adulation(过分赞美，奉承) and hero worship? When Mike Jaggers fans look at him as a high priest or a god, are you with them or against them? Do you share Chris Singers almost religious reverence for
9、 Bob Dylan? Do you think he or Dylan is misguided? Do you reject Alice Cooper as sick? Or are you drawn somehow to this strange clown, perhaps because he acts out your wildest fantasies? These arent idle questions. Some sociologists say that your answers to them could explain a lot about what you ar
10、e thinking and about what your society is thinking in other words, about where you and your society are. “Music expresses its times,” says sociologist Irving Horowitz. Horowitz sees the rock music arena as a sort of debating forum, a place where ideas clash and crash. He sees it as a place where Ame
11、rica society struggles to define and redefine its feelings and beliefs. “The redefinition,” Horowitz says, “is a task uniquely performed by the young. It is they alone who combine invention and exaggeration, reason and motion, word and sound, music and politics.”Todd Rundgren, the composer and singe
12、r, agrees. “Rock music,” he says, “is really a sociological expression rather than a musical force. Even Elvis Presley wasnt really a great musical force. Its just that Elvis managed to embody the frustrated teenage spirit of the 1950s.” Of course Presley horrified adult America. Newspapers editoria
13、lized against him, and TV networks banned him. But Elvis may have proved what Horowitz and Rundgren believe. When he appeared on the Ed. Sullivan Sunday night variety show in front of millions, a kind of “debate” took place. Most of the older viewers frowned, while most of the younger viewers applau
14、ded. Between Elvis and Alice, rock critics say, a number of rock stars have helped our society define its beliefs and attitudes. Bob Dylan touched a nerve of disaffection. He spoke of civil rights, nuclear fallout, and loneliness. He spoke of change and of the bewilderment of an older generation. “S
15、omethings happening here,” he sang. “You dont know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?” Others entered the debate. The Beatles, Horowitz said, urged peace and piety, with humor and maybe a little help from drugs. The Rolling Stones, arrogant street-fighting men, demanded revolution. The Jefferson Airplan
16、es “We Can Be Together” and “Volunteers (Got a Revolution)” were two further statements of radical youth. But politics wasnt the only subject debated in the hard rock of the sixties. Feelings, always a part of any musical statement, were a major subject. Janis Joplin sang of her sadness. The Beatles showed there were a range of emotions between love and hate. Then
