Course

This course covers the first ten years of rock and roll, which shook the world during the mid-1950s to the early 1960s. It spans the ascendance of pioneers like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard to the harmonizing vocal groups, surf, soul, and girl groups of the early ’60s. It features greats like the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Ray Charles, and the Beach Boys, with plenty of rare film clips of the heroes in action. It also celebrates the record labels, the producers, disk jockeys, songwriters, and teenage audience that helped make it happen.

Faculty Bio

Richie Unterberger is the author of numerous rock history books, including volumes on the Beatles, the Who, the Velvet Underground, and Bob Marley. His most recent book, published in 2022 by Taschen, is San Francisco: Portrait of a City.

This is an In-Person, Livestreamed + Recorded Course

• Classes meet in person at the Golden Bear Center, Suite 365 (3rd floor), at 1995 University Ave., Berkeley
• Classes will also stream live simultaneously, and be recorded
• You must be a current OLLI @Berkeley member to register. Learn about membership, including our fee assistance program.

Schedule Highlights

• Course starts on Monday, Jan. 26, and ends on Monday, March 9
• Classes meet for six weeks, two hours per session (1–3 PM)
• There is no class on Feb. 16
• All course materials will remain in Member Dashboards through March 29

Member Praise for Richie Unterberger

Everything worked! His class is academic in nature and he has a very deep understanding of the subject matter, and imparts his knowledge so professionally!

Yay, Richie! Mr. Unterberger has an impressive encyclopedic knowledge of rock music and blues. Add to that a skill at assembling historical notes and ferreting out film clips (sometimes obscure) to create a comprehensive, entertaining, and empathetic narrative of his subject. 

Faculty Q&A

• Read an interview with Richie Unterberger from our archive.