The History of Rock and Roll
The History of Rock and Roll
Every musical genre has its roots and “Rock and Roll” is a musical genre that traces a long way back to the modern past, as well as influences the Rock music scene in the world today. It started in the late 1940s when the earliest of most legendary Rock artists started to add a little of their own spice to old Blues songs which further created “Rock and Roll” music. The expression “Rock and Roll” was coined a few decades before the music actually existed. The term was unraveled from the Trixie Smith song “My Baby Rocks Me With One Steady Roll,”; that was the first time the expression was ever heard and used.
In the beginning, Rock was seen as an “underground attraction,” (The History of Rock and Roll, 2007). which was moderately appealing to the African Americans. However, it all started to change when Alan Freed, a disc jockey from Cleveland, Ohio decided to market this music as “Rock and Roll.” The reason why he did so was because of his fascination towards the fact that young Caucasian teenagers were starting to buy African R&B. This led the ambitious Freed to start setting up Rock concerts, which managed to be the first Rock and Roll concerts ever held; this was the birth of Rock and Roll history. (Freed produces first rock and roll dance concert in NYC, 2008).
The 1950s was the era when Rock and Roll became better known. At the time, racism was prevalent in the United States and Rock and Roll came to be a unifying force between races. (Rock and Roll, 2003). From a sociological point of view, Rock and Roll had an amazing impact on society. Song lyrics penned by Rock legends such as Elvis Presley were truly inspiring and politically influencing than other competing genres. Elvis Presley performed a song called “In the Ghetto” which was released further on in the 1960s, however portrays a strong example of a song with politically influencing lyrics. Moreover, it was a man named Mac Davis, who is still a very well known songwriter, who wrote the lyrics to the song. The words and music reflected poverty, “describing a child who cant overcome his surroundings and turns to crime, which leads to his death.” (In the Ghetto by Elvis Presley, n.d.) However, on the other hand, there were also songs written by various artists that expressed personal feelings that many of the teenagers and youth could relate to. The 1957 hit “School Days,” a song written and performed by Chuck Berry, characterized the personalities of the teenagers during that period of time. “Many would listen to the rock tune and say, “Thats just how my day was.” Surprisingly, the lyrics hold up very good to describe todays school experience.” (Kurtus, 2003) In other words, the songs and music composed gave the teenage population motivation to rebel and fight for what they believe in.
A popular style of Rock and Roll during the 1950s was called the Rockabilly. Rockabilly comes from a mixture of Country, Blues and Swing. Furthermore, the typical Rockabilly look was the “all greasy pompadour, suggestive stance and hollow body guitar.” (Schultz, 2007) Stars like Elvis Presley, Billy Lee Riley and Ersel Hickey were known to reflect Rockabillys iconic image and not to mention influence many others to dress this way as well. This particular Rock and Roll genre appealed to a wider variety of people from different age groups. Due to of its multiple influences, the Rockabilly Rock and Roll genre attracted many individuals who liked different types of music from one another. In the world today, Elvis Presley is known as the King of Rock, yet in the past, he was also one of the most well known Rockabilly artists to ever exist. Teenagers who admired Elviss creative dance moves like the hip-shake and his catchy tunes like “Thats All Right,” surrounded Elvis making him rise to the top. “More than any other one rock artist or group, Elvis symbolizes the Rock and Roll era.” (Cloud, 2000). Furthermore, the Rockabilly genre led on to “influence the surf rockers of the 1960s.”
“Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll” was known to be the year of the Sixties. At this stage, the Rock and Roll music scene transformed itself into something that was completely different from its previous years. Garage Rock and Psychedelic Rock were the two genres that took over the entire decade. “The term psychedelic was an homage to the hallucinogenic drugs which were only recently entering the public consciousness.” (Pollick, 2003) Furthermore, the Rockstars of the Sixites dedicated themselves to their music and drugs. The drugs were known to be a major influence on the lyrics and tunes that were created by the band. In relation to the influence that drugs had on lyrics, one well-known song titled “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix was and still