Rock-and-roll is both a music and a lifestyle an has nurtured both since its inception. As a music, it was derived from earlier musical forms including be-bop and the blues. As a lifestyle, it has been manifested in the non-conformist behavior of its practitioners. Rock-and-roll came into being in the 1950s at a time of social conformity among the white middle-class who constituted the majority of the country. The nation was still recovering in some sense from World War II while at the same time facing a new sense of tension because of the Cold War, a new kind of confrontation that seemed to have no set rules. Young people as always wanted to differentiate themselves from their parents, and pressures to conform at home could be overcome through music when out in the world. Many of the rock-and-roll oriented movies of the 1950s acted out precisely the kind of social confrontation taking place between the conformity of the suburbs and the more radical social and sexual rhythms of rock-and-roll music.
The American Dream is based on the image Americans have of themselves as a people achieving much because they live in a country that is egalitarian so that self-improvement is the way to achieve success. While this might seem a very practical vision of the American Dream, there is also a mystic quality to it, as if Americans are more directly connected to some broader moral and empowering universe which gives them a stronger sense of self and the will to succeed. Achieving the American Dream then becomes a matter of connecting to this near-mystic national power. In the 1950s, the American Dream gained a sense of conformity, with people viewing success as having a home in the suburbs with a barbecue and crabgrass. It was expected that everyone would want this and would live up to the ideal to the beset of their ability, including embodying certain accepted American values such as patriotism, deference to authority, and hard work...