PSC 374 - Pop Culture & Rock Music in the 1970s

Course Units: 1

The 1970s was a remarkable decade of transition and turbulence. Stagflation, the oil crisis, the fall of Saigon, de?tente, Watergate, Three Mile Island, the women’s movement, left-wing terrorism, urban decay, the rising gay movement, and the looming dread of ecological disaster were just a few of the trendlines. The writer Tom Wolfe dubbed the 70’s the “Me decade,” by which he meant the transition away from 1960s communitarianism and New Deal-style politics and towards an individualist ethos of hedonism, self-realization, and personal freedom. Rock music, which was the dominant musical style, reflected and promoted this culture shift, emphasizing a libertine attitude and downplaying the social consciousness, egalitarianism, and anti-capitalist motifs that prevailed among the youth in the 60s. This course surveys the cultural, economic, and political landscape of the decade through the prism of rock music, which reached a zenith of aesthetic creativity, genre-expansion, and commercial success. CC: SOCS