Rock ’n’ Roll (Archipelagic American Music Studies)

Rock 'n' roll, often celebrated as a quintessential American genre, is revealed to be deeply intertwined with U.S. imperial violence and nuclear politics, particularly through its connections to the Bikini Atoll Nuclear Test Site in the Marshall Islands. The study challenges conventional narratives by decentering continental America's dominance in music historiography and highlighting the erasure of Indigenous Marshallese voices, lands, and experiences within the genre's genealogy. Through an analysis of songs like 'Sh-Boom' (1954) and contemporary Marshallese rock 'n' roll and hip-hop, the research exposes how atomic power—both literal and metaphorical—has shaped rock 'n' roll while marginalizing Indigenous perspectives. The study also critiques the 'crossover' success of certain songs as a form of systemic appropriation, emphasizing the need to rethink rock 'n' roll's global production and its ties to U.S. imperialism.

Schwartz, J. A. (2022). Rock ’n’ Roll (Archipelagic American Music Studies). American Music, 40(4), 553–559. https://doi.org/10.5406/19452349.40.4.22