The Ancient World in Rock Music

The first book to consider the influence of antiquity on rock music from Bob Dylan to Pink Floyd.

This is the first volume to investigate how Classic Rock music engaged with the ancient world from lyrics to performance to the curation of the personalities of the singers and bands themselves. Though Classic Rock is treated simultaneously as the leading edge of modern music and already a thing of the past, the contributors to this volume break this dichotomy. They consider how artists such as Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, the Doors, Bruce Springsteen, Marc Bolan, Pink Floyd, Queen, Rush, Meat Loaf, and Stevie Nicks looked to the ancient world for direction and inspiration: for example, Freddie Mercury to Zoroastrianism, Stevie Nicks to Celtic myth, and Jim Morrison to Nietzsche’s reading of the Greek god Dionysus.

The contributors come from across musicology and classical studies, and from across the globe. Their sixteen chapters are organized around examples of musicians who employed elements of ancient history and myth, performative features, and philosophy and religion. Ultimately, as a study of reception, this volume demonstrates how this overlooked aspect of Classic Rock can contribute to the classical tradition and its continued significance for our world.