CLYDE − From hip shaking to swooning teen girls, rock ’n’ roll has had its share of headline-grabbing incidents, but there has always been music behind the controversies.
Bowling Green State University pop culture professor Matt Donahue, Ph.D., will present “The History of Rock & Roll" at the Clyde Museum and General McPherson House at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. It will cover the inception of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s, through the early 2000s, discussing how it emerged and evolved.
Donahue touching on a variety of genres associated with rock ‘n’ roll, including rhythm and blues, rockabilly, the teen idol movement, Motown, soul, surf, the British invasion and '70s, '80s and '90s rock. He will scratch the surface on the genres to inspire the audience members to explore some of the styles and artists presented.
He will use a documentary style, with PowerPoint and video, as part of the presentation.
“I find it interesting that, in the history of rock ‘n’ roll and popular music, history often repeats itself. You can find bits of gold everywhere, in regard to the different genres of music and musical groups,” Donahue said. “In my own shows and music, I’ve been influenced by an array of artists, everyone from rockabilly artist Link Wray, the King of the Surf Guitar Dick Dale, to 21st century blues musician Skip 'Little Axe' McDonald, to reggae producer and mixologist Adrian Sherwood.”
Donahue has been a part of the Ohio Humanities’ Speakers Bureau for more than a decade and has been presenting on popular music and culture topics throughout Ohio.
Bringing popular music, culture into people's lives
“I love giving these types of presentations and see it as a way to bring popular music and popular culture into people’s lives, showing its importance, and the impact it can have on individual’s lives and society,” Donahue said. “I love doing these around the state of Ohio, because I am a native, creative and resident of Ohio and see this as a way of bringing the gospel of popular music and culture to our citizens.”
The presentation is a distillation of Donahue’s pop culture classes at BGSU, which have gone in-depth with everything from Motown, fold and the blues, to the origins of rock, punk, electronica and rap.
His course coverage of rock ‘n’ roll makes his classes some of the most popular at the university. It’s one of America’s favorite genres of music, but Donahue’s wealth of knowledge and presentation style brings life to the granular details and the broad spectrum of the evolution of the art form.
Donahue, aside from teaching pop culture classes on modern music, has played in punk bands since the early 1980s and still records and produces music today.
Admission is free. Donations are encouraged and appreciated, but not required.
The program will start at the Clyde Museum and General McPherson House at 124 W. Buckeye St., at 6:30 p.m. Donahue recommends planning to come early to find a good seat. He will be available for questions.
The event is hosted and sponsored by the Clyde Heritage League of Clyde.
rlapointe@gannett.com
419-332-2674
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: BGSU professor will delve into rock 'n' roll history, bringing pop music, culture audience
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