At the same time, Chuck Berry only died earlier this year, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard are still alive, and I'm sure a bunch of less well-known rock pioneers are still around. After all, they did fewer drugs in the 1950s.
Still, there was a huge breakdown in Rock and Roll in 1959 - Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper died, Elvis got drafted and was sent away for a few years, Jerry Lee Lewis's scandal broke with his new "wife" (13 years old, his cousin, and before he was officially divorced from his second wife), Chuck Berry went on trial for violating the Mann Act, and Little Richard found Jesus. Because of that, I think people sort of see rock as being reborn with the Beatles, and everything before then is ancient history, the authors of which are assumed to be already dead.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
