“Sex, drugs, and rock & roll” is not just a cute saying. It is a true statement about the fundamental character of rock music. You could add several things to the saying to make it even more true. It could be “sex, drugs, rebellion, moral license, narcissism, and rock & roll.”
Of course, this does not mean that everyone who listens to rock music is involved in sex and drugs. To define the essence of rock music,
we look at its creators, its most prominent artists, its historic fruit.
The book Rock Facts, which is published by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, an organization that knows a thing or two about rock, acknowledges that rock is not just a type of music, IT IS A LIFESTYLE.
“…rock and roll has truly become a universal language…rock and roll also refers to an attitude, a feeling, a style, a way of life…” (Rock Facts, 1996, p. 7).
And the rock & roll “way of life” is all about moral relativism.
In his interviews with Playboy, John Lennon said, “The whole Beatles idea was to do what you want.”
The philosophy of rock & roll was encapsulated in hits in the 1960s by prominent bands.
– the Rolling Stones (“I’m free to do what I want any old time”)
– the Animals (“It’s my life and I’ll do what I want”)
– the Mamas and the Papas (“You got to go where you want to go/ do what you want to do”)
– the Isley Brothers (“It’s your thing/ do what you want to do”)
…He likens rock music to classical music.
But whereas some classical music is written by wicked men and w
hereas all classical music cannot be recommended, AS A GENRE classical music is not openly identified with end-time rebellion. Where did Bach, Handel, Beethoven, or Mozart shout, “It’s your thing, do what you want to do”?
But as for rock music, it was born of evil and carried along by evil and has always preached an evil philosophy of “do your own thing,” which is the heart and soul of end-time apostasy as described in 2 Timothy 3. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be LOVERS OF THEIR OWN SELVES, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy”
(2 Timothy 3:1-2).
As a genre, classical music has never openly and universally represented evil and preached rebellion, but as a genre rock music most certainly does preach this.