CFA: Classic Rock and Philosophy

Call for Abstracts!

Classic Rock and Philosophy: Dispatches from the Dark Side of the Moon

Edited by Joshua Heter and Richard Greene

Abstracts are sought for a collection of essays to be published with Wallace & Jacobs Press on any philosophical topic related to classic rock, encompassing the era of rock and roll from approximately the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s with a focus on album-oriented rock, blues rock, hard rock, and arena rock (including but not limited to bands and artists such as Led Zeppelin, Queen, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, REO Speedwagon, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, The Who, Eagles, The Doors, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Judas Priest, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kansas, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Journey, Rush, Def Leppard, Cream / Eric Clapton, Steely Dan, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Styx, Van Halen, Motley Crue, ZZ Top, Kiss, Metallica, Boston, Chicago, and many more). Potential contributors may want to examine previous volumes from Heter and Greene: Punk Rock and Philosophy: Research and Destroy (2022) and Post-Punk and Philosophy: Rip it Up and Think Again (2024). Abstracts (with an approximate length of 100 – 500 words) and eventual essays (with an approximate length of 3,000 – 3,500 words) should be written for an educated but non-specialized audience. Potential topics include but are not limited to…

- What exactly is rock music? Is it the type of thing that can be defined, or do you simply know it when you hear it?

- What is the greatest rock band of all time? Is this even a meaningful question? If so, how can we go about answering it?

- Who is the greatest (rock) guitarist of all time? Is this even a meaningful question? If so, how can we go about answering it?

- How can philosophers help us think about death and the afterlife (about which so many classic rock artists sing)?

- What explains classic rock’s longevity (i.e., why does it continue to be beloved still today)?

- What is decadence? What is indulgence? Can classic rock be considered decadent or indulgent? Does that make it inferior or bad?

- Does rock music have anything (important) to say (or is it too focused on hedonism)?

- Is it ethically problematic to consume the art (e.g., rock music) of artists we know do bad things?

- What does it mean to “sell out”? Is selling out inherently bad?

- Why did the counterculture of the late 1960s and ’70s fail to produce any real, meaningful change (or did it)?

- How does seeing a rock show in a large venue (e.g., such as an arena or a stadium) change or alter the aesthetic experience of it?

- What caused the satanic panic? Is the music (at all) to blame?

- What is nostalgia, and how does nostalgia play a role in our evaluation of classic rock?

- What is authenticity, and does it make for better music?

- What are the values of the baby boomers, and do those values lead to the good life? How is that reflected (if at all) in classic rock?

- What would prominent philosophers from history think about classic rock (and everything that came with it)? Would Epicurus be a fan?

- Who were the meaningful feminist voices in classic rock?

- How are women portrayed in classic rock? Is it immoral to listen to songs with misogynistic lyrics?

- What makes classic rock so appealing? What makes classic rock uniquely aesthetically valuable?

- What’s the relationship between freedom (e.g., like the type sung about in songs like Free Bird) and the good life?

- Did America experience a loss of innocence in the late ’60s and ’70s? What role (if any) did rock music play in that?

- Is it irresponsible or morally problematic for rock artists to pen songs about drug use (when they can be reasonably confident that a large percentage of their audience are young people)?

- Is the way rock stars are celebrated in the culture morally problematic? If so, who is to blame? Is there anything that can be done about any of this? What is the psychology behind celebrity worship?

- What is the relationship between popular music and social justice? Do anti-war songs (e.g., “Fortunate Son”) actually do anything; if so, what?

- What was the cause of the Altamont Festival disaster? How about Disco Demolition Night? Is the music to blame?

- Was Woodstock just a happy accident? Or was it a demonstration that the ideals of the counterculture can actually work when they are put into practice?

… and many more!

Contributor Guidelines:

Mail abstracts (and any questions) to: [email protected]

            1. Abstracts should be between 100 – 500 words.

            2. Potential contributors must include a resume/CV for each author/coauthor.

            3. Initial submissions should be made by e-mail as either a Word doc. or a PDF.

            4. Deadlines:

                        Abstracts due by: January 5, 2026

                        First drafts due by April 9, 2026

                        Final drafts due by May 18, 2026

                        (Early submissions are encouraged and welcomed!)