Mantrams of Rock 'n' Roll

The sacred practice of Rock ‘n’ Roll emerged through an American music genre of the same name. As it rose to prominence among the youth of the mid 20th century, many adults feared that the genre was a Trojan horse for dark ideas and mysterious forces. They were half right; Rock ‘n’ Roll was carrying powerful messages covertly to their children, but these messages were reminders of lost wisdom. Through its living example, Rock ’n’ Roll encouraged its closest listeners to acknowledge passion as a spiritual tool for creation and connection. 

Today, Rock ‘n’ Roll remains a nonexclusive ideological practice fully grasped by only a handful of devotees. As open access to its many incantations has remained, its beliefs and core traditions have gone out of focus. To reconnect with these beliefs and traditions, let’s begin with a basic reeducation of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s transcendent mantras and mantrams.

The mantram AUM stands for the supreme state
Of turiya, without parts, beyond birth
And death, symbol of everlasting joy.
Those who know AUM as the Self become the Self;
Truly they become the Self.¹

Whether we believe in The Big Bang, Sabda Brahman (sound absolute), or The New Testament’s assertion that “In the beginning was the Word…”, we recognize that the cosmos is blossoming out of sonic vibration. Like individual notes in a melody, each mundane form arises out of the formless, and returns to the formless as it passes away. Leaving behind a sustained reverberation, each form echoes its influence on those to come. This same understanding rests at Rock ‘n’ Roll’s core, accepted by followers, seers, and prophets alike. Out of the silence comes vibration and back to the silence it goes, ringing out into the atmosphere. Such is the nature of life.

The single syllable sound vibration OH (OOH) is at the heart of all passionate creation. In moments of profound joy and unbearable pain, OH invokes itself from deep within us. It encapsulates the indescribable nothing and everything which binds us all together and defines our separate experiences of passion. OH is the wellspring from which all passion assumes form, the AUM of Rock. We become conduits for this sound vibration as we plug in an amplifier, screech, or bang a drum to ensure its further rippling out. Or we twist and shout OH, letting it dance its way through us at a Rock ‘n’ Roll sermon. As we create an environment suitable for our own surrender, OH meets us in its rattling omnipresence.

HEY is another of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s first recognized mantrams, the initial passionate call to attention. A one-word prayer often invoked with a shout, HEY calls out to the preeminent, asserting momentary separation of Self from the nameless and formless. This separation can be suffered or enjoyed, giving HEY a full-spectrum of possible passionate undertones. No matter the driving state, HEY is Rock’s impassioned declaration of separate existence. It says “I am here” and “You are there”.

YEAH (UH-HUH) is Rock ‘n’ Roll’s mantric affirmation. YEAH arises as we witness some breathtaking show of skill, a mind-expanding stunt, or the accomplishment of a near impossible athletic feat. It is YEAH we holler moments after a giant wave crashes or lightning strikes close by, shook by a reverence for the natural world. When we recognize the preeminent that peeks through the mundane, a regular happening in Rock ‘n’ Roll, our passion rises in tandem with our pulse. We are pushed to howl YEAH by an indescribable gratitude.

DOO, LA, and NA are basic expressions of passion, implemented for the sole purpose of establishing connection among participants. The mantras and mantrams of Rock ‘n’ Roll are rarely repeated in succession except in the case of DOO, LA, and NA. What’s more common is the subtle sprinkling of several mantrams within an incantation’s chorus. With DOO, LA, and NA, the seer conjures a mantra through improvised call-and-response during their sermon. When passions seem low, lost, or unfocused, a seer will ask the crowd to repeat after them. Several NA-NA-NAs later, followers reassemble as individual drops in a sea of passionate expression.

These sound vibrations keep revealing themselves through the decades, rising out of the formless and aiding us in transcending states of indifference. It was never prophesied that these specific vibrations would be ushered through Rock ’n’ Roll’s earliest records to modern times, nor was it planned. A natural unfolding began long ago as Rock ’n’ Roll first encouraged followers to establish a relationship with passion. It continues with each new adoption and adaptation of the form’s traditions.

In order to hold the warmth of passion without going up in flames, Rock ‘n’ Roll urges us to treat passion just the same as the figure of Strength treats it in the Tarot of Marseilles. She uses her hands, not to inflict violence on the beast in front of her but to transmute intense energies as she reaches toward her animal counterpart. Whether she is feeding it or holding it back from biting she maintains her composure, putting her hands right up to the beast’s open jaws. Strength is first acknowledging the wild animal’s existence, then establishing a relationship with the animal, and finally choosing to work with it.