What facts Should you leave out when teaching about the History of Rock and Roll?

I ask this question, because here at the Fun Music Company, we were editing our newest project (which is a complete set of lesson materials for teaching about the History of Rock and Roll), and this question came up.

Just how much do you leave out?

Teaching about the History of Rock and Roll is pretty much a standard topic these days in most schools. It’s interesting, exciting and it’s music that students of about junior high school level can really relate to….. but the whole subject at times seems coated in trauma, controversy and sometimes tragedy!

So many of the rock and roll stars of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s ended their lives in tragedy. If it wasn’t drugs and alcohol that caused it, then it was plane crashes and other tragic events.

When we got to the lesson planning ideas for teaching about Buddy holly and co, at first we realized that most of our ideas focused solely on that fatal crash rather than the more positive story of the young performer Ritchie Valens getting so famous at such a young age.

I would love to know what bits that you leave out when teaching about the history of rock and roll.

Do you talk about topics such as Elvis’s drug overdose and use it as a learning opportunity to teach about the effects and tragedy that drugs and alcohol cause, or do you focus solely on the positives of his music?

Are there videos that you don’t show?

Please let me know, I’m looking forward to a great discussion on this one!

P.S. The History of Rock and Roll Lesson Plans are now available – so check them out and let me know what you think!