Rock n Roll

It is often said that music defines a generation as each one comes to age and finds its sound, often pushing back against the previous generation. In the 1950s, that music was Rock n Roll.

The 1950s saw an end to a catastrophic World War and then a subsequent economic boom and suburbanization. The younger generation that came of age during this time differed greatly from their parents. The younger generation wanted to rebel against their parents, and the new version of music from a mixture of country music and rhythm & blues became a perfect vehicle.

Rock n Roll Timeline

Rock n Roll Facts

• Rock' n Roll was formed from the merging of African American rhythm & blues music and country music.
• Rock n Roll was valuably marketable to teenagers.
• Rock n Roll began to emerge in the early 1950s.

Rock n Roll Origins

African American Influence

The origins of rock n Roll can be traced back to African American rhythm & blues and gospel music. However, it was rare for that type of music to be played on air. Much like society at the time, music was segregated in a way. Before the 1950s, music recordings recorded explicitly for and by African Americans were known as race music.

With the emergence of white performers singing rock n roll music, it became more widespread and played on the radio. However, as this new type of music grew in popularity, it was also a common phenomenon for white performers to cover songs by African Americans without giving due credit to its original writer and performer, often profiting.

Rock n Roll History

Music before the 1950s was dominated by the sounds of big bands and singers such as Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. These sounds got the previous generation through the war as they sought out houses in suburban America and leaned into the idea of conformity.

Post-War Era

The teenagers and young adults of America came of age during the economic boom and the stability that came with it. The generation was also more significant than those in the recent past. They had the time, ability, and, most importantly, the money to spend on things like music records and phonographs. Teenagers were being marketed explicitly to. There were television shows, like the Ed Sullivan Television Show and Bandstand, that highlighted artists.

Advertisers took note of the extra spending money lining teenagers' pockets and targeted them as profitable consumers. The decade also saw a significant boom in commercialization, contributing heavily to television and radio.

Radios became smaller and more portable, and records became more accessible and less expensive, meaning that teenagers could take their allowance to purchase records, leading the music industry to grow exponentially during this decade.

Disk Jockeys

While radio and television weren't exactly new to the American people, they became much more affordable and common in the 1950s. Hosts of music radio shows, called disk jockeys, became celebrities in their own right, and the spread of the popularity of rock n roll music is indebted to many disk jockeys that cropped up all over the country.

The term rock n Roll came from Alan Freed, a disk jockey from Cleveland, Ohio, who hosted a rhythm-and-blues radio show. Freed's show "The Moondog House" was top-rated and one of the first to play R&B records on air. Freed also hosted the first rock concert, the Moondog Coronation Ball, in Cleveland on March 21, 1952. The show lasted only 45 minutes and was oversold, causing a fittingly chaotic scene for the first rock n roll concert.

Controversy

The previous generation balked at the rhythmic and beat-heavy sounds of rock n Roll - and the accompanying dance moves. Many parents, government officials, and school officials regarded the music style as a bad influence - some going as far as to call rock n roll "devil's music."

Rock n roll held messages that encouraged the youth to rebel and question authority - something that went very much against the conformity of their parent's generation.

Rock n Roll artists

There were many artists who significantly contributed to the rock n roll genre.

Elvis Presley

Fig 2. Presley appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show on September 1956. Elvis Presley was eighteen when he walked into the famous Sun Studios recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee. He met the studio owner and recording legend who worked with Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash, Sam Phillips, who immediately saw the potential for star quality in Presley. Combined with his natural talent and some marketing magic, Elvis Presley became one of the most well-known rock n roll artists seemingly overnight.

His music exemplified the 50s Rock n Roll sound, combining his gospel roots with rhythm & blues.

Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry grew up listening, playing, and singing gospel music in church, which he took into his career as a musician. His music was trendy and marketable and peaked after the release of his hit "Johnny B. Goode" in 1958. Berry often played for integrated audiences, with African American and white audiences coming together over music.

Fig 3. Chuck Berry became known as the "father of Rock n Roll."

Rock N' Roll Significance

Rock n roll transcended as a form of music and began to affect other areas of life. In addition to changing the audio landscape of music, it began to influence other areas of pop culture, including movies and television shows. The music of the 1950s exemplifies a crucial transitional period in post-war America. For the first time, music was seen as a way of expression and primed the country for future movements in the 60s, such as the Civil Rights Movement.