It might sound like something out of a recent Jack Black movie,but students in Steve Waksman's classes can expect to discuss JimiHendrix, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page during lectures without beingreprimanded.
Waksman, a professor at Smith College in Massachusetts, teachesa course titled the History of Rock 'n' Roll and will bring hisunlimited knowledge of electric guitars and music culture to TheUniversity of Memphis Friday at 1:30 p.m. in MitchellAuditorium.
"The electric guitar changed the way popular music sounded,"Waksman said. "It was the first technological advancement of the20th century that impacted popular culture."
This professor of rock has been fascinated by the electricguitar and its influence on popular culture since purchasing hisown axe at age 13.
"My first electric was pretty crappy. I bought it off some guydown the street," said Waksman. "I hold on to it for sentimentalreasons though."
Once in college, Waksman began taking the guitar more seriously.In fact, he decided to write his doctoral dissertation at theUniversity of Minnesota on what else -- the electric guitar.
"You need to write something that you care about for adissertation," he said. "I had a lot to say about guitars as aplayer and as a scholar."
While Waksman admits that many people were skeptical of hischoice to write about electric guitars, in true rebellious rock 'n'roll fashion he pursued his passion anyway.
"I just dove in and worried about the consequences later," hesaid.
The dissertation was a success and was eventually published as abook by Harvard University Press.
The book, entitled "Instruments of Desire: The Electric Guitarand the Shaping of Musical Experience," explores the two distinctsound ideals of the electric guitar.
"It examines the initial desire (upon invention) for tonalpurity which allowed people to perfect the electric guitar,"Waksman said.
As guitar players and their amplified muses evolved, so did thecultural styles around them.
"The advent of distortion gave the musician a range of emotionsthat was previously unavailable," said Adam Woodard, a local rockhistorian. "It opened the pallet of the guitar more."
Distortion was initiated by blues artists but reached arenaissance during the '60s counter culture, Waksman said.
Waksman is emphatic about his adoration for distortion.
"The general inclination of artists using distortion is to makenoise that's not acceptable and anti-authoritarian," Waksman said."I'm really into that."
Aside from speaking about the dual tonality of guitars atFriday's free lecture, Waksman will also discuss how electricguitar virtuosos have roused popular culture.
"A virtuoso guitar player posses a bit of a contradiction. Atrock shows you have a large number of people submitting themselvesto this lone guitar player," said Waksman.
"People like heroes and guitarists have become heroes."
Others share Waksman's notion that electric guitar players havebecome center stage nobility.
"Virtuosos have expanded the guitar vocabulary," Waksman said."Guitar players have become like a second singer because the tonesof their guitars are comparable to the human voice."
Faculty at The University say students will be especiallyinterested in Waksman's lecture because of his views on rock musicand culture.
"The topic of rock music is something of natural interest tostudents," said Barbara Ching, director of the Marcus W. Orr Centerfor the Humanities. "And Dr. Waksman is a wonderful speaker."