Auburn may not be the School of Rock, but students taking a particular summer course may find themselves indulging in the sounds of youthful rebellion and powerful guitar riffs.
"The History of Rock Music," a special topics course being offered during the first summer semester, is looking into how the rock music genre originated and how it has evolved since.
Howard Goldstein, professor of the course, said he has been interested in rock music since an early age.
"What I like about early rock music is people actually wrote songs, songs that have a structure and a melody and a texture and interesting harmonies and lyrics that are observational," Goldstein said.
The course, which was offered last summer semester as well, is the first of its kind at Auburn.
Although Goldstein only got to the Jimi Hendrix and Woodstock era last summer, he hopes to cover more this time around.
"Since I favor that music to begin with, I guess I kind of emphasize it," Goldstein said.
Goldstein said he plans to definitely cover The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan.
"You can't really talk about the history of rock without those because everything that comes after relates to those groups I would say," Goldstein said. "What I'd kind of like to do is pick three or four representative albums and sort of concentrate on them and really see how they work."
In addition to the basic history, Goldstein focuses on explaining how the music works.
"I think it's fun when you know how to define a particular style by its traits," Goldstein said. "It makes it more interesting to listen to people because then you can find out what their influences are and how they conform to those expectations or go against them."
Stuart Finlay, a senior in marketing, said he thinks Auburn should offer more special topics courses.
"Ultimately, my goal is to do sports and entertainment management, and with this class I can get a better feel for the history and it actually shows a little bit of the business side of it as well," Finlay said.
Finlay said he is enjoying the class and Goldstein's method of teaching.
"He puts things together that I've probably always known, but he puts it in actual words and makes it collaborate so now I can explain it if need be," Finlay said.
Taylor Anderson, a junior in history who is also enrolled in the course, said rebellion against the norm is what he believes makes rock music stand out from other genres.
"I've always loved music," Anderson said. "It's what I love about life, really. I really like rock 'n' roll, especially classic rock, so I just wanted to learn more about it."
Goldstein said he believes the course is appealing to students because so many people take rock 'n' roll music seriously.
"They take it seriously as music and also for what it can tell us about the culture we live in and the culture we lived in," Goldstein said. "I'm trying to use rock music as a way to talk about music in general and also about recent history and culture as well. "
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