Rock 'n' roll is one of the great achievements of mankind. No music today better speaks to people, or means more to them. Especially that of the 1960s and '70s from Britain and America. Groups like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, The Momas and The Popas, The Doors, ABBA, Elvis, Springsteen, etc., and too many others to name, created great songs which are too many to name.
Altho' usually radical and controversial when first composed and arranged -- and resisted mightily by the artistic establishment -- many of these tunes are now musical "standards." The intelligence, passion, vitality, power, energy, and liveliness of these is too profound to ever be decently denied.
Yes, at times even good groups can be too loud, overwhelming, simplistic, and focused on a driving, primitive beat. These innovator and warrior bands can sometimes got caught up in their own magnificence and rebelliousness. But when aimed at true musicianship and a lofty craftsmanship -- and when properly creative, inventive, sophisticated, harmonic, and tuneful -- these groups are simply wonderful. Intellectuals and cultural analysts today very much need to study the greatness thereof.
And connoisseurs of artistic triumph and transcendence should take care not to be fooled, or turned off by, the current gross over-repetition of just one version of a top quality or hit song, as currently played on the radio. Nor by the long hair, scruffy looks, crude mannerisms, odd public images, and wild lifestyles of many or most of the musicians involved. These are open, provocative, flamboyant, rebel artists -- and they want it known. But...when not being overly pretentious, or caught up in their own rock star/musical god persona, these revolutionaries and heroes of mankind often manifest genuine artistic genius and stunning musical greatness.