Unrocking Rock & Roll

Cohen was not, like many devotees of the scene in the 1950s and early 1960s, a folk purist. Bob Dylan seemed to be the figure who gave Cohen the idea of becoming a singer-songwriter, and the Dylan that influenced him had already adopted rock & roll. While musically Cohen’s early albums are not rock & roll, he found himself from quite early on in the culture of rock. His early musical contacts included Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground and others who lived in or came through New York. His record company packaged his albums and sent him out to tour behind them as rock stars did. And by the middle of his career the influence of rock music on his recordings became apparent, not only in his incorporation of rock riffs and song forms, but also in instrumentation, including drums, electric guitars, and synthesizers, and in arrangements that feature rock-inspired backing vocals. This chapter explores rock’s influence on Cohen and Cohen’s influence on rock, the latter demonstrated by the rock musicians who have covered his songs or made reference to him in their lyrics.