Kay - Rockin the free world!: how the rock & roll revolution changed America and the world

Rockin the Free World!

Rockin the Free World!

How the Rock & Roll Revolution Changed America and the World

Sean Kay

Contents

On November 13, 2015, Paris, France, was struck by a terrorist attack, which included mass killing at a rock and roll concert. Several hours later and thousands of miles away, in Columbus, Ohio, Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead took stage and shared the news from France. They were killed, Weir said, by, religious extremists who, if they had their way, would outlaw music in all the world. We should celebrate their lives and the joy that they found in music. Weir and his band, Dead & Co., rocked in defiance with songs of joy, defeating fear. The night ended with the band and the audience singing We will get by, we will survive! This is the power of rock and roll.

Rock and roll is more than a music formit is an idea, an attitude, a way of thinking about the world. This book shows that rock and roll has renewed and sent American values rippling across the worldfreedom, equality, human rights, and peace advanced via education and activism. The book also offers a warning that changes in the music business simultaneously expand and put at risk the rock and roll revolution. The central voices in this book come from interviews with people working across the spectrum of rock and roll, complemented by secondary sources. The list of people interviewed is not exhaustive but rather illustrative of the influence of artists and activistsand, the conclusions are the responsibility of the author.

Born in the San Francisco Bay Area during the Summer of Love, 1967, my family moved to Ohio in 1979where I came of age to the soundtrack of Americas heartland and where I began playing the guitar at age 12. In college at Kent State University, we made our own small contributions to the vibrant northeast Ohio music scene with our bands, the Good Rockers and the Flying Locomotives. While at Kent State University, I was privileged to perform at the annual May 4th commemoration. Since 1999, I have played with rock and roll groups around Central Ohio, even once opening for O.A.R (Of a Revolution ). From the 7th grade onward, I have worked with some of the best musicians one could hope to play with. I was inspired to do this book over pints at Grogans Castle Inn in Dublin, Ireland, by my brother-in-law Des Mullan. I subsequently received funding from the Great Lakes College Association. I would not have been able to do this project without the advice of Tim Prindleone of Americas great historians and musicians. Tim, his wife Heather, and their children Colin and Liam are the best of friends. Same goes for Jim Breece, who offered extensive comments and who rocks away in Ohio on any given weekend. This project would not have been possible without the friendship of Mark, Deb, and Raven Tilford and Jarrod, Amanda, Dylan, and Caleb Owens, who, with the Prindles, Josh Anderson, and Brooke Bloom, have rounded out the Michigan Crew. Thanks to Pam Laucher, Scott Calef, Ted Cohen, Mary Howard, Jim Franklin, Kim Lance, Deanne Peterson, Charles Stinemetz, and to Elaine McGarraugh, Jon Sisk and Chris Utter at Rowman & Littlefield. The author is appreciative of a number of artists who were able to meet but schedules did not allow for extended interviews including Jackson Browne, Joan Jett, Kenny Laguna, and Bob Weir. I am also appreciative to Nadya Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, from Pussy Riot, for fruitful exchanges on democracy and for their keeping the rock and roll spirit of freedom alive in Russia and beyond.

This book is a tribute to my grandmother, Anne Grimes. From 1942 to 1946 she was a music and dance critic for the Columbus Citizen in Columbus, Ohio. Also a performer, she recorded with Folkways Records. I am grateful for my parents, David and Jenni Kay, who exposed me to the power of rock and roll and to Matt and Anna Madigan for sharing Ireland with me. While interviewing, David Crosby asked if my daughter Alana (who was traveling with me) and I wanted to hear some new songs. Crosby performed just for us. I was thrilled to involve our childrenCria talking politics with Bob Weir, Siobhan hanging with Little Feat, Alana chatting with Joan Jettand my lovely wife Anna-Marie, a teacher, meeting Graham Nash who wrote the song Teach Your Children Well. Rockin the Free World! is dedicated to Anna-Marie and our childrenand to all the artists who have provided the soundtrack for our lives while making our world a better place.

Delaware, Ohio, November 2016

With God on Our Side

When inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner said: Bob Dylan is the voice of my America. What did it meanthat Bob Dylan voiced a vision of America? From the first beats of Bill Haley and His Comets singing Rock Around the Clock to Dylans With God on Our Side to the Beatles Revolution to the Clash rocking the Casbah to Joan Jett loving rock and roll to Kathleen Hanna championing a new feminism to System of a Down rocking B.Y.O.B. about war and to Pussy Riot championing freedomthe rock and roll revolution ripples across the world. Rock and roll affirms and spreads freedom, equality, human rights, and peace advanced via education and activism. As Irish rocker Sinad OConnor says: The most powerful words in rock and roll is, A whop-bop-a-luaa whop bam boom, Do you know what I mean? Although Little Richards intention, she says, may have been completely different when he authored those words, those were very political fucking words.

Troubadours of Truth

Rock and roll is as much an attitude or an ethic as a music style. As Ice Cube said on N.W.A.s induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016: The question isare we rock and roll? And I say you God damn right we rock and roll! He continued: Rock and roll is not an instrumentrock and roll is not even a style of music. Rock and roll is a spirit. Its a spirit thats been going since the blues, jazz, be-bop, soul, R&B, rock and roll, heavy metal, punk rockand yes, hip-hop. And, what connects us all is that spiritthats what connects us all, that spirit. Rock and roll is not conforming to the people who came before you, but creating your own path in music and in life. That is rock and roll. Rock and rolls power has consistently taken what was once marginal and brought the mainstream to it. As bassist for Nirvana, Krist Novoseli (being inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014) explained: Nirvana didnt go mainstream, the mainstream came to Nirvana. This revolutionary power exists in the interconnections that music creates between ideas and people. And, most of these rock and roll interconnections travel on the path laid down by Bob Dylan.