# Those Kids with their Awful Rock and Roll... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 10, 2019, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-kids-with-their-awful-rock-and-roll/832327 "2019-04-10T11:51:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-kids-with-their-awful-rock-and-roll/832327/21 "2019-04-12T22:59:27Z")
I always got the sense from “I Dig Rock and Roll Music” that Peter, Paul & Mary did anything but. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-kids-with-their-awful-rock-and-roll/832327/22 "2019-04-13T01:24:01Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Oh, hell. We’ve all forgotten the most obvious example. > > [Chuck Berry, born October 18, 1926.](https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/chuck-berry) Not only that, the father of rock and roll didn’t even like it; he stated that he preferred big band, but played rock to make money. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-kids-with-their-awful-rock-and-roll/832327/23 "2019-04-13T01:49:01Z")
I know it doesn’t totally fit the conditions of the OP, as it is a country song in the first place, but a lot of the emerging country rock scene drew heavily from Merle Haggard before he released [“Okie Fom Muskogee”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68cbjlLFl4U), belittling those hippies. Maybe it was just a joke, though. I always hear it as a counter-piece to Grams Parsons’ songs [“Drugstore Truck Drivin’ Man”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piNF7LUehsM) or [“Hippie Boy”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4M0_4hgFpE). ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-kids-with-their-awful-rock-and-roll/832327/24 "2019-04-13T08:24:20Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I know it doesn’t totally fit the conditions of the OP, as it is a country song in the first place, but a lot of the emerging country rock scene drew heavily from Merle Haggard before he released [“Okie Fom Muskogee”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68cbjlLFl4U), belittling those hippies. Maybe it was just a joke, though. I always hear it as a counter-piece to Grams Parsons’ songs [“Drugstore Truck Drivin’ Man”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piNF7LUehsM) or [“Hippie Boy”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4M0_4hgFpE). Oddly enough, it was a country song–[Gone Country](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si-ja75bFvI) by Alan Jackson–that kind of inspired this thread. It’s a firm middle finger to the influx of fake country musicians who, not long earlier, had no use or affection for country music. He didn’t like the idea of country music as a dumping ground for failed rockers who really looked down on the south and its music. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-kids-with-their-awful-rock-and-roll/832327/25 "2019-04-13T08:54:21Z")
> [@bmoak](#): > > I always got the sense from “I Dig Rock and Roll Music” that Peter, Paul & Mary did anything but. YMMV. I always got the sense that PPM could not only do folk well, but go the Mamas & Papas one better. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-kids-with-their-awful-rock-and-roll/832327/26 "2019-04-13T10:05:42Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Oddly enough, it was a country song–[Gone Country](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si-ja75bFvI) by Alan Jackson–that kind of inspired this thread. It’s a firm middle finger to the influx of fake country musicians who, not long earlier, had no use or affection for country music. He didn’t like the idea of country music as a dumping ground for failed rockers who really looked down on the south and its music. The closest equivalent I can find would be The Byrds’ _So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star_ (1966)… alas, writers McGuinn and Hillman were born in '42 and '44 respectively. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-kids-with-their-awful-rock-and-roll/832327/27 "2019-04-13T10:31:24Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > The difference, I think, is that Joe Walsh was drawing on things that actually happened to him, whereas Silverstein wrote about things that he was kind of shocked that 1970-era rock stars were getting away with: “All kinds of pills,” “ten thousand blue-eyed teenaged groupies who’ll do anything we say,” “sing about truth and we sing about beauty/for $10,000 a show,” etc. He was either unimpressed with their integrity, or jealous that he was to old to get in on the action; either way, he did not seem thrilled with what he saw. > [@Wheelz](#): > > I really think you’re reading more into the song than is there. It’s a tongue-in-cheek ditty about the excesses of the rock & roll lifestyle. I don’t get any of the bitterness or jealousy or disdain that you’re talking about. This. Regardless of who experienced what, the songs share the same MO (putting all the weird trends and excesses of rock n’ rollers of the day into the life of one band or performer) and certainly seem to share the same attitude (amused by and poking fun at it all). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-kids-with-their-awful-rock-and-roll/832327.md?page=1)