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Since its birth, rock 'n' roll has been a music worm-eaten with the myth of the lone, outlaw rebel. From Larry Williams' "Bad Boy" to the Crystals' "He's a Rebel," from The Shangri-La's "Leader of the Pack" all the way to Sammy Hagar's "I Can't Drive 55," both the songs and the singers have paid humble homage to the idea of the music as dangerous and streetwise. New performers are challenged |
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to wear the mantles of excess reached by a cast of legendary
folk heroes from the golden age who, we are chronically reminded, sodomized
and opiated themselves into oblivion. The rebellion celebrated in these songs
and myths is the American sort, as typified by Dean's "Rebel" and Brando's
"Wild One"-a lone expression of non-conformity against the school and the
family structure, with the case study aloof and misunderstood, though always
adored by his singing biographer. Sometimes, the heroes of these popular legends
flaunt the breaking of society's rules, but always in an inarticulate and
reactionary way.
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