Review
“I found “The Secret History of Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Mysterious Roots of Modern Music” to be a good read… entertaining and thought provoking. Anyone who’s interested in rock and roll, especially its history, I expect will enjoy Christopher Knowles book.”
— soulofrocknroll.com
“[Knowles] manages to capture the fascination and religious fervor that rock ‘n’ roll can inspire. Knowles manages to be both educational and juicy as he explores ancient cults and their counterparts in modern music. If this book is anything, it’s fun. “
— Star Foster, patheos.com
“Do you believe that rock music has only been around since last century, or do believe that is possible for it to have roots dating back to the Stone Age? Perhaps those alive during ancient times had their own rock stars. This theory is explored in the new book titled “The Secret History of Rock n’ Roll: The Mysterious Roots of Modern Music.”..This book shows us a valid possibility worthy of checking out.”
— Lisa Rene Plumlee, metal.com
“Rock ‘n’ roll music — that hip-gyrating, innocence-robbing, beat-driven racket that ate the world — is really an ecstatic heathen ritual. Tell us something we don’t know. Author Christopher Knowles aims to do just that in his new book, The Secret History of Rock ‘n’ Roll, which investigates the historic correlation between the pantheistic priests of yore and the gender-blurring, mutilation-prone avatars of rock. Everyone knows that Jim Morrison was the Lizard King and David Bowie the Starman, but were you aware that the Greek god of debauchery Dionysus “was also closely identified with various groups of long-haired, armored priests, whose thrashing musical performances were the headline act of Mystery rituals from Phrygia to Samothrace, from Eleusis to the Vatican Hill”? And there’s even more to this ancient analog of glam and metal. Knowles has some persuasive evidence that tight trousers, trashy makeup and high decibels are hardly new under the sun.”
— Casey Rae-Hunter, thecontrarianmedia.com
“Christopher Knowles’s “The Secret History of Rock N’ Roll” is a hit…Christopher presents an intriguing case for his unusual observations and thesis. Because of his scholarly research, which I found illuminating, and of his clear and concise writing style, Knowles’s argument “is” convincing…In the end, The Secret History of Rock ‘N’ Roll is a “wish I’d read this when I was younger”-type book. Indeed, it is a well-written tome positing an unusual thesis not without precedent but uniquely expressed and detailed here in a learned yet friendly manner.”
— Acharya Sanning, truthbeknown.com
“Knowles has done an excellent job of throwing light on the origins of mankind’s myths and their rebirth in the rock ‘n’ roll era, with stories and concepts that transcend time and continue to exert their powerful hold on the nature of what people are.”
— UFO Magazine
“Finally, someone with obsession, intelligence, and (most importantly) taste has placed the gods of rock against the backdrop of the ancient pagan mysteries, to establish what ecstatic fans have known all along: that the transports of rock are the transports of spirit.” — Erik Davis, author of “Led Zeppelin IV”
“Mr. Knowles always finds the hidden gnosis at the heart of the seemingly profane, from comics and cartoons to sci-fi, and now to his fascinating treatment of modern popular music. Knowles actually identifies the individual divine archetypes at work, the mystical personae embodied by each of our most widely worshiped rock and pop idols. “The Secret History of Rock ‘n’ Roll” elucidates the ancient mystery dramas that many of us were unwittingly initiated into during our youth by an industry merely looking to make a buck from the sale of these apples of forbidden wisdom No wonder our parents instinctively felt threatened by the music we listened to.” — Tracy R Twyman, “The Merovingian Mythos and the Mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau”
“Christopher Knowles has done it again. Having traced for us the esoteric and mystical roots of the superhero comic in “Our Gods Wear Spandex,” here he traces for us the ancient ecstatic and mystical roots of rock n’ roll, all the way back to the Greek Mysteries and the archetypes of the ancient gods and goddesses, it turns out. Boldly speculative, beautifully written, and eerily onto something, this is a book that reaches out to recover, celebrate, and understand the musical geniuses who helped birth a colorful counterculture that is still with us, humming just under the surface of things.” — Jeffrey J. Kripal, J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Religious Studies, Rice University, author of “Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred”
From the Back Cover
Sex. Drugs. Loud music. Wild costumes. Dazzling light shows.
These words can all describe a great rock concert or a hot dance club, but they were also part and parcel of the ancient cultural phenomenon known as the “Mystery religions,” whose rites often made Lollapalooza look like a church picnic.
The Secret History of Rock ‘n’ Roll picks up where other rock histories leave off. It tells the story of the Mysteries — their rise, their fall, and their eventual rebirth in the New World, where rhythms and melodies from the West African and the Celtic diasporas collided and changed the sound of popular music forever. You’ll meet history’s first pop divas, headbangers and guitar heroes, and learn the true story of the Puritan Woodstock.
The Secret History of Rock ‘n’ Roll also traces the development of rock’s most popular genres such as punk and heavy metal, and explains exactly why stars like Jim Morrison were called “modern Dionysians.” You’ll learn why rock legends like The Rolling Stones, Beatles, and Led Zeppelin mixed gurus and gods with guitars and groupies. And you’ll see how Deadheads, PhishHeads and many of rock’s other great cults are simply following in their ancient ancestors’ footsteps.
Get ready for a wild ride that will take you from the Stone Age to the Space Age.
About the Author
Christopher Knowles is the author of the Eagle Award-winning Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes (RedWheel Weiser) and the critically-acclaimed Clash City Showdown: The Music, The Meaning and The Legacy of The Clash (PageFree Publications). He’s co-author of The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series, the Myths, and the Movies (Insight Editions), the authorized companion to the long-running TV series.
Christopher was a longtime associate editor and contributing writer for the five-time Eisner Award-winning magazine
Comic Book Artist and has contributed feature articles to magazines like Comic Book Marketplace and the popular industry website, Comic Book Resources.
Christopher has also written features, columns and reviews for
Classic Rock, one of the top music magazines from the UK. His Jimmy Page cover-story was featured in the best-selling issue in that magazine’s history.
Christopher has appeared at the New York Comicon and lectured on pop culture and mythology at the Center for Theory and Research at the legendary Esalen Institute in Big Sur in 2008 and 2009.
Christopher has appeared in the documentaries
Wendy O. Williams and The Plasmatics (MVD Visual), Wonder Woman: Daughter of Myth (Warner Bros.) and The Man, the Myth, Superman (Warner Bros. Christopher has appeared on the popular ABC newsmagazine 20/20 as well as numerous podcasts and radio talk shows on NPR, Voice of America and various commercial stations.
Christopher lives in New Jersey with his wife and family.
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