An introduction of the matter...

…batteries of spotlights pick out the band in multi-coloured light and bits of perfetti against the darkness of the stage. The hall trembles under the thunderous noise of the fans. The singer steps up to the front of the stage. The music begins to the stamping rhythm of the drums…scene change: the shadows of young people dance with the psychedelic lights. The noise is deafening. Nothing disturbs their abandonment to the music. The energy which keeps their bodies moving seems inexhaustible…

Rock music – who can fail to recognize these descriptions of young fans which are so inextricably bound up with it? But what is it actually that lies behind these descriptions? What experience of reality is to be found in the music? What significance and what cultural values are locked up in the hammering, motoric rhythms?
Rock music – powerful, sensual, loud and full of energy. It has changed the face of modern music. It has seeped into the innermost circles of the remotest of human civilizations. It provides a seemingly strange colour to the grayer shades…the freedom of expression, through loud and practical lyrics…that can address any issue. Is it the new religion of mankind……in words of Marx, “…it is the soul of the soulless and opium of the masses” was what he thought of religion. Music has always been known to have given humanity its due windows of satisfaction and contentment, however, rock music comes with that something that has the world stand up on its feet and take notice. But the current massification of this particular phenomenon is what is most striking, as is it’s acceptance throughout the world.
I intend, here, to understand the smoke surrounding this phenomenon which postmodernists fiercely defend as to be a paradigm of Hyper-Reality. Moving on from the post-modern gaze, I wanted to find a practical and historical evidence of its emergence, as well as explain its observable character of steady multiplicity. My research is based on Bengal’s reception and reaction to the movement. I have attempted to look beyond its apparent manifestation and locate traces of its origin in the socio-political ambiance of post-Independence Bengal to its cultural saturation in today’s time.