As the product of two baby boomers, I grew up listening to classic rock and other older musical genres. I was that kid who brought The Beatles Anthology and Elvis’ pocket biographies to silent reading time in elementary school. Naturally, when given the chance to take a History of Rock course, I seized the opportunity. The idea of engaging in scholarly discussions about my favorite bands from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s held excellent appeal.
Thankfully, the course did not simply serve as a review of everything I had already learned through my own independent curiosity and research. During lectures, Professor McEvoy incorporated lesser known facts about famous musicians (including Sam Cooke’s nymphomaniacal tendencies and stories of the Beatles’ comically heated arguments during their later recording sessions). I also had the opportunity to discover songs I hadn’t heard before by artists I already knew and loved. One of these was a very early Elvis Presley recording of the song “Mystery Train” (attached below). I am very glad to have taken this class to fulfill one of my general education goals. Even if it didn’t hold direct connections to my major, I gained valuable skills such as interpreting others’ complex words and interacting with others (through our weekly Socratic discussions) to develop insight.