As a standard overview, the course is fine. However, the lecturer skirts around or hand waves away controversial or difficult subjects, and he's apparently afraid of offending anyone by getting too close to saying "fuck" or "sex" even in an academic setting. Additionally, this course won't introduce anyone to forgotten and erased artists of the past - women are largely absent from his history of rock, even though Janis Joplin and The Supremes didn't come out of nowhere. The quizzes are also too heavy on the trivia - "who published what when" questions rather than critical thinking questions about why or how.

It's a great course and so is the book that accompanies it. However the Course and Book titles are not entirely accurate. It should be called 'An American History of Rock'. There is relatively little discussion outside of America and this is only to serve the discussion of American rock.

The book in particular would benefit from a section at the end of each chapter or sidebars 'Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic'. As music becomes more fragmented in the 70s I imagine this criticism will become more important.

Another thought would be if the Course put a play list together in 'Deezer' and 'Spotify'. That would definitely 5-star the course

Still it's a great course and I really enjoyed it.

I found the course to be very interesting. I enjoyed learning about the artists and songwriters that shaped the birth of Rock and Roll and made it into the genre that so many are great fans of.

I thoroughly enjoyed the class! I would do 5 stars but sometimes the professor begins to talk about a topic you think you need to take notes on but then goes "but we'll talk about that in another week" or he jumps around a lot. Sometimes it is hard to follow. But other than that I enjoy the class a lot! Music is a passion of mine so being able to take course to dive deeper and to discover new music is amazing.

Really enjoying this course (nearly done).

The subject is perfect for my age (about 50) as I grew on much of this music and play guitar.

Wish there was a way to incorporate the music.

I am pausing, going to youtube and back constantly but it is worth it.

Sorry but although I found the topic of interest I found the delivery very dull. Yes, Prof Covach knows his stuff but basically what we got here was little more than a reading of text from his book. I know he explained why the actual music was not included but think he could have done more to provide links and stimulate listening. I eventually just started reading the transcribed text of the lectures as I did not find looking at Prof Covach's talking head at all stimulating. Prof Covach did nothing to stimulate discussion in the forums and although I posted a few things there was very little going on in the forums. I bought the book on the basis of being interested in the topic but it is not at all necessary for the course.

Excellent course that explores the history of Rock from the early 20th century to 1969. Alongside the various musical genres and currents that defined Rock, and the artists it involved. Though I wish some of the videos could be shorter or divided into 5 minutes format, allowing more relaxing time frame listening to them, the subjects are fascinating as we explore the important topics surrounding Rock (ex: The racism that black artists have experienced (and still face) over their artists' rights, the psychedelic era, the Payola scandals, the culture of UK Rock versus USA rock, etc.) In sum, a course that explores so many society issues that still affect us today. Since the teacher offers courses on the Rolling Stones and Beatles, it would be interesting to have courses dedicated to other artists as well (ex: Michael Jackson, Prince, James Brown, The Supremes, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, etc.). To conclude, an excellent course everybody should discover.

Fantastic!! Really enjoyed the course

Informative and enjoyable course which helped me understand the history of Rock/Popular music upto 1970. Prof Kovach's lectures helped me explore music and artists who I had long forgotten or did not even know of. This is a good course for both professionals like Dj's, student's as well as lay people like me who love both music as well as history.

The only problem I had is that one had to do a lot of hunting on the net and that took a lot of my time. But it was well worth it because of what I heard and saw.

The quizzes were sometimes too detailed and memory oriented. Maybe a more conceptual framework of questions can be considered in the future.

Will definitely do Part 2 shortly!

Thanks Prof Kovach and the Team. We are blessed by your effort and dedication

Did not think I could learn this much about music when I first enrolled in this course. It not only expands one's rock music knowledge but general music knowledge as well. Changed my perception about music and definitely improved my taste. The professor is a perfect teacher and he is so easy to listen to, easy to understand. If I could give more stars, I definitely would. I would recommend this course to any music nerd.

Amazing teacher with incredible knowledge of the history of rock. From the very beggining you're hooked with all the many different and interesting stories he uses as references.

I recommend 200%.

This is a very comprehensive course. I learned a lot about both the major and lesser-known bands important in the rise of rock music. I am looking forward to taking part two of this course.

Very, very well done course -- great information, well presented and well paced. Highly recommended!

Until what I have seen today it is a great course. However it is in many ways "too american". It should be rebranded History of American Rock. Despite that, it is very informative and have quite a good insights of what has been happening in America at the time and how Americans perceived themselves their culture and the British Invasion. Congrats. To this extend I am loving it!.

A compact course pulling together a vast amount of information. The quizzes could be designed to provide better help in storing the newly acquired knowledge in long term memory. Currently they seem to be designed to support the memorization of inessential knowledge.

Enjoyed class. Got a little weary of watching videos toward the end. Definitely will consider future classes. More time on The Beatles and Rolling Stones would make the course more interesting.

Thanks for

Could be improved using musical videos or complementary material. Is a little be boring just listening to lectures. :(

Everything perfect, but quizzes sometimes dig really deep in dates

Undoubtedly, the instructor has a mountain of musical knowledge and is eager to share it all. Problematic for me was the free-association-style of lecturing that seemed to bounce around and meander. Eventually, I just followed along with the script, gleaning points of interest. It might also have been helpful, at the end of some of the lessons, to have a list of songs to listen to along with what to listen for. I would have preferred much more linear organization and a more formal style of lecturing, though I realize some will definitely lean toward the conversational style of this course, which is fair. I felt it rang a little too Wikipedia-like and suspect the course would benefit from being split into smaller components that had more depth of coverage.

Sorry, didn't meet my expectations. Far too much US-centric perspective, which largely bypasses the development of rock music in the UK, for example. The delivery became repetitive and I found myself losing interest rapidly about 20 per cent in.

No use for me. No music examples because copyrights did not allow, so the course is pretty boring.

Sorry, not for me.