Rock songs that changed the world?

May 01, 2009|By Mark Caro, Tribune reporter

When people talk about "important" rock songs, some obvious candidates come to mind: Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'," John Lennon's "Imagine," Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A."

But the musicmaking world-changers of Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll," coming to the Goodman Theatre, are artists who bubbled resolutely beneath the mainstream, such as the Velvet Underground and the Plastic People of the Universe.



Stoppard's acclaimed play comes with its own idiosyncratic playlist: three decades of songs driving a story about a Czech communist living in Cambridge, England, after the 1968 Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia; his music-loving protege who bounces between Cambridge and Prague; and a young woman haunted by the beatific image of drug-addled visionary Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd.

And it raises the intriguing question: Which rock songs truly have changed the world?

Did the Beatles teach the world that "All You Need Is Love"?

Did the "Yes We Can" video affect Barack Obama's election?


Now the rest of you, lay 'em on us: the songs that changed the world. Send your suggestions to or post them on the Pop Machine blog (chicago

'Rock 'n' Roll'

When: Saturday through June 7

Where: Goodman Theatre,

170 N. Dearborn St.

Price: $25-$75; 312-443-3800