IN 2000, A TOTAL OF $14.3 BILLION WAS SPENT ON music recordings in the United States. Of those purchases, the most popular genre was rock music, which constituted almost one—fourth of the market. For almost fifty years, rock and roll has been a predominant musical style in the United States and much of the world. Yet despite its popularity, rock music remains in many ways the music of the marginalized. Many of its greatest artists have been those who have been left on the outskirts of society because of their race, gender, class, or sexuality. Throughout its inception, and into modern times, the link between rock music and society's outsiders has led to negative reactions from certain segments of mainstream society.

The Beginnings of Rock and Roll

In the 1950s, during the earliest days of rock and roll, the most influential musicians were those who had the least...