RHE 309K Fall 2006 Rock 'n' Roll Rhetoric

"I know it's only Rock and Roll, but I like it." – The Rolling Stones

This course will address and explore (rather than answer) a number of rhetorically-based questions: How has rock and roll been talked about and analyzed since its inception in the 1950's? How does the music itself transmit argument? What part do lyrics, album art, interviews, music critics, etc... play in popular music rhetoric. What kinds of audiences does/has rock and roll included and excluded? Can we locate a kind of rock and roll ethos common in a number of popular and iconic artists? How do musical artists (and their audiences) separate themselves from other genres of music, and are these boundaries mutable?

The class will explore various aspects or rock 'n' roll including writing about music, the music video, and music in film, always with an emphasis on the rhetorical arguments involved in these various media.