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Race, Rock, and Elvis. By Michael T. Bertrand. Music in American Life. (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, c. 2000. Pp. xii, 327. $32.95, ISBN 0-252-02586-5.)
In his ambitious Race, Rock, and Elvis Michael Bertrand poses a central question: "Did rock 'n' roll represent an experience capable of affecting the ideology of race?" (p. 47). The black influence on rock 'n' roll was no secret, yet becoming a fan rarely signaled support for integration. Many white southern youth growing up in the 1950s embraced rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll music-and segregation. The black roots of this music and the accompanying style invaded all levels of southern society, provoking both adoration and condemnation. Bertrand has examined ideology, politics, and consumerism in seeking the connection between music and social change.
While African American music had exerted enormous influence on U.S. culture earlier, after World War II rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll infiltrated white society through the radio, jukeboxes, and recordings. Rock 'n' roll, which incorporated both rhythm and blues and country music, emerged from the working class and exerted a powerful influence on the younger generation. Elvis Presley was the messenger. "In Elvis Presley," Bertrand argues, "the complex...