Today, it is hard to believe that cherished 1950's musical icons and pioneers of rock n' roll such as Elvis and Chuck Berry were accused of corrupting the youth of America. However, Glenn C Altschuler reminds the reader in his book All Shook Up: How Rock n' Roll Changed America that rock n' roll was extremely controversial in its day amongst parents and educators. The new musical form was denounced as "musical riots put to a switchblade beat. From the beginning this new musical form was distained by the previous generation as noise, not art, as low rather than high culture. Today, rock n' roll still has questionable cultural, as opposed to popular legitimacy as opposed to so-called classical music.

             The questions Altschuler's book provokes touch not just upon controversies of what made rock n' roll so frightening to some, but also what constitutes good music, other than the ear of the beholder? What, if any difference exists between popular and high culture other than the listener's opinion? Can any work of be highbrow regardless of the genre, so long as it is good? And what do we mean by 'good?" Regardless, if Paul McCartney is now Sir Paul, a knight of the British realm, and if Disney cartoon stills are exhibited in museums, the distinction between the Beatles and Beethoven, between Mickey Mouse and Monet seems slim.

             Altschuler makes clear that one of the reasons for the rejection of early rock n' roll was politically or racially motivated. The birth of the Civil Rights movement coincided with the explosion of rock n' roll into the emerging teenage culture of America. Thus, the idea that the war between high and popular culture alone caused the divide is belied by the fact that at least some of the reasons for the rejection of rock n' roll were politically as well as artistically motivated. America's racial divide was a chasm in the era detailed by Altschuler, especially in the American South.