Back in first year of university, I was looking for any kind of distraction from my major and quickly gravitated towards looking for something musical in background. All the courses that actually involved an instrument were locked out unless you belonged to the program, so I ended up picking the "History of Rock and Roll" course. It wasn't really what I was hoping for, but it was pretty divorced from my maths and programming courses so I went for it.
Straight up one of the best courses I've ever taken. I went in expecting a bird course for music students and instead I found a new love for the anthropology and history of rock, rap and underground production during the mid-1900s.
Learning more about how soul, jazz and proto-rap formed a deep influence within the music industry as it plowed into the 50s and 60s was fascinating and I still think about it often. A lot of this led to underground productions that would continue to define music for decades to come, but by far the most interesting element is the gentrification and appropriation of black music for white audiences.
I'm not an expert on this subject, and don't intend to try and sound like any kind of authority. I'm just some white guy who's spent their whole life trying to be less ignorant. The subject matter just struck me and I still think about it often, most recently when I thought to look at the background for some commonly used samples in popular music like James Brown's "Funky Drummer" and the ever-classic "Amen Break".
The textbook for this course still sits on my shelf, and I occasionally revisit it. Also look at the artwork on this thing:
I'd totally encourage anyone who's interested to read it. I'll update this post later with a source for anyone who can't find a copy. The whole book is full of colour and explores so much of the genre's rich history in a remarkably accessible format.
