Baby Boomer Rock 'n' Roll Fans: The Music Never Ends

151 Pages·2012·0.66 MB·English

by  Joseph A. Kotarba

Baby Boomer Rock ’n’ Roll Fans
The Music Never Ends
Joseph A. Kotarba
THESCARECROWPRESS,INC.
Lanham•Toronto•Plymouth,UK
2013
PublishedbyScarecrowPress,Inc.
AwhollyownedsubsidiaryofTheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc.
4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706
www.rowman.com
10ThornburyRoad,PlymouthPL67PP,UnitedKingdom
Copyright©2013byJosephA.Kotarba
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorbyany
electronicormechanicalmeans,includinginformationstorageandretrievalsystems,
withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewerwhomayquote
passagesinareview.
Portionsofthisbookoriginallyappeared,inslightlydifferentform,inthefollowing
publications:CulturalStudies(partsofchapter3),QualitativeInquiry(partsofchapter7),
andSymbolicInteraction(partsofchapter8).Someofthismaterialalsoappearedin
editedcollectionsbytheauthoraswellashisbookUnderstandingSocietythroughPopu-
larMusic(Routledge,2009).
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
JosephA.Kotarba
Babyboomerrock’n’rollfans:themusicneverends/JosephA.Kotarba.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-8108-8483-0(cloth:alk.paper)—ISBN978-0-8108-8484-7(ebook)1.Popular
music—Socialaspects.2.Popularmusicfans.3.Babyboomgeneration.I.Title.
ML3918.P67K652013
306.4'84260973—dc23
2012025712
ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican
NationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary
Materials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
1 UnderstandingBabyBoomers 1
2 TheE-Self:iTunesandSatelliteRadio 15
3 TheIntimateSelf 21
4 TheParentalSelf:TeachingYourChildrenWell 37
5 TheBelievingandPoliticalSelves:ReligionandSaxinthe
WhiteHouse 57
6 TheIntegratedSelf:KLMFlight#0661 67
7 TheSociableSelfandtheBlues 73
8 TheTimekeeperSelf 89
9 AdultPop/RockMusicScenes:AGlobalSurvey 95
10 TheRecycledSelf:TheAmericanaMusicScene 115
11 TheOldSelf:ArtistsandAudiences 121
AppendixA:ALifelongStudy 127
AppendixB:JacquelynMitchard’sListof“16SongsEveryone
Over50MustOwn” 131
Notes 133
References 135
Index 141
AbouttheAuthor 143
v

Acknowledgments
Writingthisbookhasbeenpossibleasaresultofmanypeoplewhohave
hadpatiencewithmeandanappreciationforthevalueandmagicofrock
’n’roll.Thegreatestsupporterswerethosepeoplewhosharedtheirmu-
sic and their love of music with me: John Peterson, Nick Grygiel, Stan
Beyderman, Cindi and Lou Ramon, Nolan Chambers, Matt Tomaszew-
ski, Wayne Zawislak, Don Nolek, Mike Katovich, Phillip Vannini, Bryce
Merrill,ChrisSchneider,JoeyPolys,andRobGardner,amongmanyoth-
ers.
Muchofmyworkhasbeensupportedbyartisticandscientificgrants
from the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Cultural Arts Council of
HoustonandHarrisCounty,theHoustonArtsAlliance,theUniversityof
Houston,theJosephS.WerlinFellowshipinLatinAmericanandHispan-
ic Studies, the National Endowment for the Arts, Texas State Univer-
sity–San Marcos, the Center for Social Inquiry at Texas State University,
the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Texas Commission on
AlcoholandDrugAbuse.
Iwant tothankLouisMessinafrom theMessinaGroup,Jeff Messina
from the Warehouse Live in Houston, the staff at the Cynthia Woods
Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, and the staff at the Houston Live-
stockShowandRodeoforprovidingmegraciousaccesstoawiderange
ofconcerts,artists,staffmembers,andfansovertheyears.
I also want to thank my editor, Bennett Graff, for liking my manu-
scriptenoughtonurtureitthroughpublication.
IwanttothankmygoodcolleaguesandfriendsintheDepartmentof
Sociology at Texas State University–San Marcos. They gave me a breath
offreshair,inmorethanoneway,thathelpedmefinishthisprojectwith
energyandverve.
I dedicate this book to Chris, Jessie, and Andrew, who created a
soundtrackformylifeandmyworkthroughtheirsaxophone,flute,and
clarinet—theangelsmustplaywoodwinds—and...
ToPolly,myfirework.
vii

ONE
Understanding Baby Boomers
The evening of September 24, 2010, was warm and breezy in Houston,
Texas.ThecrowdattheCynthiaWoodsMitchellPavilionwasgathering
just before sunset for the Tom Petty concert. The Mitchell Pavilion is a
gorgeous setting for outdoor concerts. The stage is flanked by tall and
statelysouthernpinetreesandcoveredbyaflowingwhitecanopy—with
multiple peaks—to provide welcomed shade to the performers and re-
served-seat patrons alike. The unreserved seating is out on the lawn,
whichfansoutonarisinghill.AfewFrisbeescouldbeseencrisscrossing
theclearblueskyabovetheaudience.
The audience was not, however, a typical rock ’n’ roll audience—
whateverthatmightbeinourpostmodernworld.Infact,the15,300fans
gatheredtherecontributedtotheincreasingdifficultyindecipheringjust
whatatypicalrock’n’rollaudienceis.Theaudiencewasapproximately
50 percent male and 50 percent female but overwhelmingly adult—no,
specifically,middle-ageorolder.Mostfanswereinmale-femalecouples,
buttherewasasmatteringofgenerationalmix:afatherwithhisteenaged
sonhere,ateenageddaughterwithhermiddle-ageparentsthere.Ieven
witnessedadadplayingFrisbeewithhissonwhilethebandwassetting
up.Thelawnwasfloodedwithchairsrentedfor$20apiece.Therewere
relatively few fans sitting on blankets, given the lawn’s incompatibility
with often sore, increasingly fragile, and unquestionably aging backs.
Thereappearedtobemorefansdrinkingwhitewinethanbeer,andthere
were many sets of binoculars available to provide assistance for eyes
weakened by age. Similarly, there were many ear plugs visible in the
crowd to protect ears weakened, if not damaged, by too many years of
loud rock ’n’ roll. Of course, the lawn chairs, binoculars, earplugs, and
whitewinewereallavailableatnumerousconcessionstands.
1
2 Chapter1
The commons area just inside the entrance way was most notably
marked by three significant symbols that served to define the situation.
The first was the traditional T-shirt stand, which was also well stocked
with Tom Petty CDs. The second was the kiosk covered with ads for
satelliteradioservice.Theseadswereclearlydirectedtothematureand
affluentmusicfanwhohasoutgrownbroadcastradio,withitsoverabun-
danceofurbancontemporarynoise,veryoldoldies,anddepressingtalk
shows. The third was a BMW sedan, all silver with silver leather uphol-
stery and a silver iPod case with BMW logo. Put simply, the BMW was
not anything like the VW “Flower Power” love bus that some of the
audience members drove before they converted to and achieved the
AmericanDream.
Anyone couldgazeacrossthelawnandseemiddle-classrock ’n’ roll
fans,albeitagingrock’n’rollfans.Asociologistcangazeacrossthelawn
and see approximately 3,400 men who take Viagra or Cialis to restore
theirsexuality,almost4,500womenandmenwhotakehighbloodpres-
sure to keep their cardiac systems young and functional, 2,100 men and
women whotake anaspirinaday tominimizetheriskofstroke,almost
2,000 women and men who take statins to reduce their bad cholesterol
levels, 900 men and women who have had cosmetic surgery or Botox
treatments in an attempt to regain the appearance of youth, and at least
1,950 women who take calcium supplements to reduce the rate of bone
loss. Approximately 3,000 fans have been married and divorced—and
probablyremarried.1
The baby boomers—born between 1945 and 1964—present at events
suchasthisTomPettyconcertaregettingold.Manyprofessionalandlay
observershavenoted inrecentyearsthewaythatthebabyboomergen-
eration uses relationships, occupations, investments, religion, hobbies—
and medicine—to accomplish one task: to forestall, master, and/or en-
hancetheagingprocess(Kotarba2011).Thepurposeinwritingthisbook
is to describe, sociologically, the many ways that people in our society
who were raised on rock ’n’ roll music and its cultural baggage have
continued to use the rock ’n’ roll idiom to make sense of, celebrate, and
mastereverydaylife—throughadulthoodandfortherestoftheirlives.
Thescholarlyliteratureonpopularmusicingeneral,androck’n’roll
in particular, has traditionally focused on music experiences among
young audiences. Specifically, the focus has been on the rock ’n’ roll
idiomasafeatureofadolescentcultureand,therefore,teenagers’every-
daylifeexperience.AsSimonFrith(1981)notedinhisfamoussociologi-
cal text Sound Effects, rock ’n’ roll music has been fundamental to the
experience of growing up ever since the end of World War II. Similarly,
sociologistshavedemonstratedincreasinginterestovertheyearsinrock
’n’rollmusicas anindicatorof dramaticchangesoccurringinthesocial
andculturalworldsofteenagers.Wecantracethisinterestatleastasfar
back as David Riesman’s (1950) classic examination of the emergence of