Rage Against the Sound

In the 1950s/60s, pop music such as rock ’n’ roll and beat was constructed as a threat to bourgeois norms. In his lecture, Dr. Martin Göllnitz (University of Marburg) examines the securitization of this music: Elvis’s hip swivel, the Beatles’ mop-top haircuts, or the Rolling Stones’ rebellious image served as projection surfaces for societal anxieties.

Using sound examples, song lyrics, and cultural practices, Göllnitz analyzes how pop music was deliberately portrayed as a security risk. The historian researches pop and cultural history as well as historical security studies and presents his habilitation thesis, which examines these dynamics in the Federal Republic of Germany (1955–1967) from a transnational perspective.