Customer Reviews

All Shook Up: How Rock 'n' Roll Changed America (Pivotal Moments in American History)

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I just finished reading, "All Shook Up." Although some of Altschuler's sociological themes are very interesting, particularly those dealing with the lingering effects of rock and roll on white America, his discussions of the formative years of rock and roll and the seminal crosssover influences are vey weak, and from my perspective, inaccurate and superficial. Altschuler would like the reader to believe that it was primarily big name individuals (Presley, Berry, Boone, Nelson, etc.) who were the most influential in bringing rock and roll to the general culture. Although individual musicians played an important role in the evolution of rock and roll, it was the early rhythm and blues and doo wop groups that provided the most important and earliest crossover influences. There are many other books dealing with the early influence of such groups, but in this book, they are given relatively little attention compared to individual singers. Also, having grown up in the forties and fifties in Brooklyn, New York, my recollections are quite different from the accounting presented in this book. By the time Presley, Berry and other individuals mentioned in this book arrived on the scene, the crossover process was well underway. What happened before Presley, etc. is a critical part of the historical record and warrants much more attention than is presented in this book. In reading this book, I had the same feeling that I have had visiting the Rock and Roll of Fame - the creative and historical influences of rock and roll on our culture are lost, relatively speaking, to name recognition occurring several generations down the road.

"All Shook Up - How Rock `N' Roll Changed America" by Glenn Altschuler is a terrific and well documented book on the seismic social, sexual and racial changes in the United States that was both reflected and precipitated by a new music sweeping the nation in the 1950s and 1960s. This new music with its roots deeply entrenched in largely black American R&B and Gospel literally shook a nation that wanted to believe itself innocent but was undergoing rapid change with the return of combat vets, the ensuing Baby Boom and the suburbanization of our country. Disposable income was rapidly on the rise and technological marvels of the day, such as the transistor radio, rapidly spread this revolutionary new music. Altschuler does a superb job in his narrative documenting this revolution from both a societal and a musical perspective. He is perhaps at his best in describing the backlash against rock and roll as it began break in a color barrier that was still sacred to many, mostly white, Americans. He quotes authors of the day, "with tom-toms and hot jive and ritualistic orgies of erotic dancing, weed-smoking and mass mania, with African jungle background. Many music shops purvey dope; assignations are made in them. White girls are recruited for colored lovers . . . and guarantee a new generation subservient to the Mafia". Obviously some strong backlash.

Oxford University Press is to be commended along with the editors of this series, Pivotal Moments in American History, David Hackett Fischer and James M. McPherson for living true to their words of historical interpretation and reporting "they were the results of decisions and actions by people who had opportunities to choose and to act otherwise". Also by showing "increasing sensitivity to issues of race, ethnicity, class, and gender in the context of large structures and processes". This volume is a classical one of American Studies, an interdisciplinary review of a period of time where social change was rapid. Researching or writing about this time through the lens of only one discipline would clearly have short-changed this era. Neither Altschuler nor Fischer and McPherson allowed that to occur and, in a sense, showed academic bravery for writing a serious book about our social history with rock and roll interwoven throughout.

Rock n roll may seem like an odd choice for a pivotal moment in American history but altschuler supports his thesis very well and by the end I was convinced. This book is an overview of the business, politics, race relations, and generational relations stemming from rock and roll. It looks at rocks early years through the "day the music died". If you are looking for a book that will serve as an introduction to the rock n roll movement then look no further. I was very impressed with the information presented and as someone who knew nothing about the history of rock when I started I was pleased with how much I learned. It leaves a few places hanging such as what happens to Elvis after he joins the army but mostly it covers everything in the right amount of detail. Highly recommend.

Having been a teenager in the 50s, I found many sections of the book interesting. I especially enjoyed learning some of the hidden racial messages in songs I once thought to be simple love songs. I would recommend the book to anybody who lived during that time and/or who is interested in the background information of the early stars of Rock 'n' Roll and/or the politics behind the music business.

A well-written history of the early days of rock-n'-roll and the debate and controversies it provoked.

A fine and compelling read, even if the author fails to nail down the premise in the subtitle. One or two factual errors don't detract from the overall fascinating story of the rise of rock and roll in the mid-1950s and the payola scandals of the late 1950s. Recommended.

I bought this book because it's published by Oxford University Press. Well, not only because of that. I dig the subject matter too. But I was looking for a book that would give me some historical insight into the early years of Rock & Roll that I might not have already had, and this book (part of the O.U.P. series "Pivotal Moments in American History") seemed to be just that. After a short introduction focusing on the years 1945-1955, it is Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" (as featured in the movie "Blackboard Jungle") that really opens this story. Altschuler's book focuses on Rock & Roll through the lens of cultural history, and it's in that cultural aspect of the music's history that the book's most interesting tid-bits lie. While I loved reading the stories about many of the musicians (I was prompted to beef up my Fats Domino and Little Richard collections immediatlely after putting this book down), some of the most interesting dirt was about the payola scandals in the late '50s and early '60s: the rivalry between ASCAP and BMI (the music business, old and new), and the roles played in that rivalry (and in the pop music scene in general) by folks like Alan Freed and Dick Clark.

The missing piece of the Rock & Roll story that was filled in for me more than any by this book was the answer to the question: Why did it take 8 years to get from Elvis to the Beatles ('55-'63)? Unfortunately, a lot of that answer is Dick Clark and Pat Boone and their embodiment of squeaky-clean American conservatism, and a lot of it is that nasty old thing that never seems to leave the discussion of America(n music): racism. It's too bad that it took a bunch of British kids, 10 years too late, to turn us on to the fact that the best music in the world was being made right here in America, by black Americans. In fact, the whole story of the exploitation of black artists by white suits in the 20th century is a shame. But it is also a story full of incredible music and countless musicians, and it is a story (and music) that belongs to every American, and to every lover of American music the world over. This book delves into a certain piece of that story, and I, personally, enjoyed reading it.