Authenticity, Empathy, and the Creative Imagination

This article reviews the changing beliefs about artistic integrity and aesthetic value that feed into judgments of rock authenticity, taking issue with scholarship that reduces authenticity to acts of misguided judgment, myths, conceits, and fakery. It argues that there is no consensus about the meaning of authenticity in rock music, as understandings change according to the varied experiences, perceptions, circumstances, and vocabularies of participants. Authenticity in rock should not be approached cynically as if based on deception, gullibility, and ideological illusions, but for the insights it can provide into the circumstances that afford imaginative acts of creative connection and experiential empathy.