Behind-the-scenes look at rock concerts from 1950s through 1980s chronicled in new book

Readers who attended, heard about or wished they were at any of the evolutionary rock concerts of the 1950s through 1985 will be eager to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what really went into the making of these phenomenal performances now in the history books.

Longtime music writer, journalist and author Marc Myers takes readers through a lively account of this era of music nostalgia in his new book “Rock Concert: An Oral History as Told by the Artists, Backstage Insiders, and Fans Who Were There.”

The book examines live rock performances through these years, highlighting how this entertainment genre became a rite of passage for young people as it evolved along with the music, technology and cultural changes of the times.

The book is based on first-hand information gleaned from more than 90 interviews with musicians, promoters, stagehands and many others involved in the production of live rock concerts during those years, serving as an oral history of what Myers calls the “golden age” of the rock concert experience.

Myers is a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, where he writes about music and the arts. His critically acclaimed previous books include "Anatomy of a Song" and “Why Jazz Happened.” He also appears monthly on SiriusXM's Feedback, and posts daily at the award-winning website JazzWax.com.

Why and how did you become a music writer, and what is your role now?

I started at The New York Times in the late 1970s as a college intern. After graduation, I worked there full-time for five years before leaving to become a magazine and newsletter journalist. Then I wrote on taxes, finance and New York real estate. Since 2010, I’ve had a dream job—writing on music and interviewing movie and music stars for The Wall Street Journal as a regular contributor and columnist, including “Anatomy of a Song” and “House Call.” Yes, a long and winding road, but I finally wound up doing what I love most: writing about music.

Your new book “Rock Concert” offers a thorough history of music’s role as an influence on American society, mostly from the 1950s through 1985. Please briefly recount some of the artists who you believe were most significant in shaping the rise of rock music during those years.

The rise of the rock concert was a natural outgrowth of rock ‘n’ roll’s radio appeal and fame-seeking artists and entrepreneurial promoters who saw value in live performances. While the popularity of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and other top 1950s rock ‘n’ roll artists was initially driven by their radio, TV, records and film appearances, the rock concert only became a phenomenon in the late 1960s when sound systems could satisfy large crowds. Also critical to rock’s expanding popularity was the rise of no-alcohol venues in major markets that admitted teens.

Popular artists who significantly contributed to live rock’s supersized growth between 1950 and 1985 include Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Who, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen and Queen.

As they became more sophisticated, how did rock concerts, as you put it, “change society at large”?

The rock concert unified the youth culture starting in the 1950s. Prior to the 1950s, the music industry had no interest in the youth market. They couldn’t afford phonographs, radios or records and were left to listen to their parents’ favorite artists. Rock ‘n’ roll created a commercial mass market in young listeners. The themes of popular 45s focused on teen dreams, anxieties and hassles. Lyrics were about dating, breakups, cars, surfing, school life, strict parents, uptight teachers and being misunderstood or unfairly treated.

In response, the youth culture redefined cool with new approaches to fashion, language and behavior. But perhaps the biggest cultural impact of the rock concert was new ways of thinking about social and political issues. The youth culture developed new values and pushed back against parents and institutions. Causes they took up that were echoed by artists included rebelling against middle-class conformity, segregation and racial discrimination, the draft and the Vietnam war. Rock artists and fans also supported civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, the environment, family farms, ending world hunger and the push for AIDS research. For decades, the rock concert was a rite a passage, a place where the youth culture was unified and the anxieties of school life and growing up were replaced by a collective passion for the music and artists.

Please describe the impact that Black musicians and fans brought to music during those years, and its influence in shaping rock music and rock concerts.

Black artists and fans played a significant role in laying the groundwork for rock ‘n’ roll with the development and support of R&B in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Black rock ‘n’ roll artists such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Little Richard, among others, became major influences on many white rock artists who followed. This also is true of Black American blues artists whose records influenced the blues-rock bands emerging from Britain in the early 1960s. By the late 1960s, Jimi Hendrix, Pops Staples, Ike and Tina Turner, Sly and the Family Stone, Sam and Dave, Billy Preston, Richie Havens, and other Black artists made significant contributions to the rock concert’s energy level, vocals and solos.

Near the end of your book, you discuss how the internet, social media, cell phones, downloading, iTunes and other technologies have vastly decreased the societal impact that rock artists and rock concerts once delivered. What do you think about today’s rock, pop, rap, country and other live concerts?

All live pop concerts today owe a debt to the inception and development of the rock concert over the past seven decades. In recent years, the model that the rock concert pioneered and perfected was skillfully supersized by global entertainment conglomerates. Yet today’s concerts still cope with the same challenges and risks faced by Elvis Presley’s Cotton Bowl concert in 1956, the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965, Woodstock and Altamont in 1969, California Jam in 1974 and Live AID in 1985—crowd control, security and safety.

The big difference now is that no matter where you are seated at a venue, you can see the performer up-close on stage thanks to massive LED video screens. Special effects also are more visually spectacular and cinematic in scope. As a result, seeing favorite stars perform live remains just as dramatic, relevant and rewarding as it did many years ago.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Music writer and author Marc Myers on rock concerts of 1950s through 1980s