ABSTRACT
Formal education constitutes a key foe for angry rap chanters and aggressive heavy metal headbangers. Their words depicting school experiences are invariably harsh. But 1990s lyrical indictments of teachers, principals, and curricula as unresponsive, unintelligible, and irrelevant can be traced to the earliest rock performers. In fact, throughout the first quarter century of the post-big band era (1955–1980), audio portrayals of junior and senior high school experiences ranged from mockery to rage. With ancestral roots as deep as Chuck Berry and images as vitriolic as those vocalized by Pink Floyd, it is little wonder that through present-day singers and songwriters, adolescent American society continues to deride public schooling. The following commentary provides a detailed analysis of recordings from the early rock era that illustrates young America's disenchantment with institutionalized learning.
