The advent of rock and roll in 1955 1 and the ascent of the controversial figure of Elvis Presley signalled forthcoming social and cultural conflicts, as a growing fringe of America's postwar youth began questioning the established order. As the 1950s melted into the 1960s, the struggle for social change grew stronger, and the emergence of singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan, whose lyrics and music captured the zeitgeist, came to impact the counterculture movement. Presley and Dylan's music are a perfect illustration of the way in which music helped alter society shedding direct light on the importance of popular culture as an element of political and societal change. The present paper will examine how rock and roll and Elvis Presley in particular, "addressed issues greater than music" (Bertrand 122) as young white southerners began casting doubt upon the Deep South's legacy. I will then move on to discuss the role played by Bob Dylan, considered by many as "the Voice of a Generation," in the turbulent social climate of the sixties and early seventies. The harshness and anger in some of Dylan's lyrics encapsulate the major issues of the time, illustrating what Theodore Roszack observed: "Music inspired and carried the best insights of the counterculture" (Roszack, xxxiv). Finally, I will draw a comparison between Presley and Dylan who, although radically different artists are dominant figures in American popular culture and who, as individuals, mirror the complexity and ambivalence of American society. The significance of the musical links between Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan is often underestimated. The influence Presley, amongst others, exerted on Dylan illustrates not only the subversive nature of music, which posed a threat to the Establishment, but shows how popular music-blues and folk music-remained in touch with the country's social realities.