Rhythm, Noise, and the City: Music and Social Change

What is the role of music in social change-not only as protest music for social movements, but as a barometer of widespread changes in economics, politics, and culture? Rhythm and noise are crucial components of music and sound, but they also serve as sociological forces that embody community, social change, and resistance. This lecture will examine rhythm and noise as musical and sociological forces within a historical context, specifically by focusing on the intersections between popular music and urbanization in American history. 

Three historical periods are considered: 1) the evolution of jazz, rhythm & blues, and rock ‘n’ roll in the context of the Great Migration and urban growth, roughly between 1918 and 1960; 2) the growth of free jazz, soul, and psychedelic rock during the urban crises of the 1960s; 3) the rise of punk, hip hop, and indie rock in cities which have been transformed by dual processes of deindustrialization and gentrification since the 1970s.

Ryan Moore is an associate professor of sociology at Florida Atlantic University and the author of Sells Like Teen Spirit: Music, Youth Culture, and Social Crisis.