Rock and Roll Culture

African-Americans used singing the blues as an escape path; although pain, suffering, and disappointments were the topics of the blues, the reason for singing them was for a temporary relief f the pains and struggles of their oppressed lives. (Townsend, 1997) Later on into the sass’s, when slavery had long been abolished, African- Americans were still greatly oppressed by the Whites; they were nowhere near as wealthy nor did they hold any kind of political or social power.Despite of all of this, their music began to catch on. The Whites started to fall in love with this soul-inspired music, and because of their wealth and popularity, they took blues to a whole new level. The culmination of White and African-American culture in the late sass’s was the solid “birth” of Rock and Roll.

Although this event is marked by some as the birth of rock and roll (rock), it laid dormant for many hears until around the 1 ass’s, which is, for the purpose of this paper, the true start of rock.

Townsend, 1997) The Radio; a gateway for rock The invention of the radio in the early sass’s and its beginning widespread use in the sass’s served as a gateway for rock to begin really growing. Before the invention of the radio, there was no widespread way for people to listen to rock, other than going to see a band play live or listening to a friends recording. Radio provided a way for people to listen to music before archiving it; something that no one would dream of doing in today’s world. Townsend, 1997) WWW; Rock’s catapult In the uses, the adult generation was not particularly fond of loud and fast music; they had gone through WWW and it was “all the excitement they could handle” (Townsend, 1 997, p. 9). This generation returned from the war and started producing children at an alarming rate, known to us as the “Baby Boom” and the children coming to be known as the “Baby Boomers.

” These baby boomers were the generation that grabbed a hold on rock. They had been during or immediately after the war, so felt none of the reservations hat their parents had. As described by Townsend (1997, p. ) “If we begin to understand that perspective, then we can find some insight into how rock ‘n’ roll did appeal to the post-War generation. By 1954, anyone who was a teenager was personally unacquainted with World War II; even a 19 year-old had only been ten when it ended, and the younger teens had been infants while the War raged. By the mid-sass, the Baby Boom was starting to grow up, and to listen to rock ‘n’ roll. This vast new chunk of humanity between our shores could not possibly share the feelings and memories of their arenas, could not know what the War had meant, and how profoundly it had influenced the older generations.

They could not, in truth, share their parents’ complacency with the post-War world, peaceful and prosperous and entertaining as it was in contrast to what came before. If anything, it was the absence of any great challenge, whether war, depression, industrialization, or political change, that spawned the celebrated restlessness of young Americans in the sass. ” Explosions happens in an instant When someone from today’s world looks back at the 1 ass’s as the explosion of rock, they generally see it as taking a while to happen. Today listening to the radio you may have only handful of really big hits every few months in rock.However, this was not at all the case in the sass’s rock explosion. Almost weekly there would be a new hit that everyone was talking about, and as soon as everyone had heard about that one, there was another right behind it. Following is a “small” list provided by Townsend, all readily recognized by anyone at all familiar with classic rock, just to represent the way that the hits of the ass’s seemed to all happen at once: Bill Haley and His Comets, ” Rock Around the Clock”.

BOB Diddled, “BOB Diddled”. Released early 1955. The Platters, ‘Only You”. Released mid 1955. Chuck Berry, “Embeddable”. Recorded May 1955.Little Richard, “Tutu Fruit”.

Recorded September 1955. Carl Perkins, “Blue Suede Shoes”. Recorded December 1955. Elvis Presley, “Heartbreak Hotel,” “l Want You, I Need You, Love You”. Recorded February 1956. Chuck Berry, “Roll Over Beethoven”. Recorded February 1956.

Little Richard, “Long Tall Sally”. Recorded February 1956. Roy Robinson, “Booby Dobby”. Recorded April 1956. Gene Vincent, “Be-Bop-a-Lull”. Released June 1956. Bill Togged, “Honk Tank”.

Released June 1956. Elvis Presley, “Don’t Be Cruel”. Recorded July 1956. Fats Domino, “Blueberry Hill”. Released September 1956. Elvis Presley, “Too Much Released January 1957.The Coasters, “Young Blood”.

Recorded February 1957. Chuck Berry, “School Days”. Released March 1957. Elvis Presley, “All Shook UP”. Released March 1957. The Overly Brothers, “Bye Bye Love”. Released April 1957.

Jerry Lee Lewis, “Whole Lotto Shaking’ Going’ On”. Released May 1957. Buddy Holly and the Crickets, “That’ll Be the Day’. Released May 1957. Little Richard, “Lucille”. Released May 1957. Hey “Piano” Smith and the Clowns, “Rocking’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woozier Au”.

Released mid 1957. Elvis Presley, “Loving You”. Released June 1957. Overly Brothers, “Wake up, Little Susie”. Released August, 1957.Buddy Holly, “Peggy Sue”. Released September 1957.

Danny and the Juniors, “At the Hop”. Released November 1957. Jerry Lee Lewis, “Great Balls of Fire”. Released November 1957. Chuck Berry, “Sweet Little Sixteen”. Released January 1958. Elvis Presley enters the scene The entrance of Elvis Presley into the rock scene was something that parents never saw coming and definitely weren’t ready for.

Their kids wanted to walk, talk, dress, and dance just like this new rocker. This new rocker who, when first aired on TV, was only filmed from the waist up, due to the immense controversy of his antics and movements on the stage. Wisped, 2008) Parents of the time hated Elvis. Most of all, they feared that his “grunt-n- groin” style of dancing was a terrible influence to their children. Often accused of being everything from a savage to an extreme racist to the personification of evil, he was just living out what he loved; rock. In 1956, a judge in Jacksonville, FL told Elvis that he was a savage and that if he danced as he usually did they would arrest him for “Undermining the out of America” (Wisped, 2008). While on stage in Jacksonville, Elvis refrained from dancing, other than ‘giggling a finger in mockery at the ruling’ (Wisped, 2008).

Despite any and all hatred and criticism by the parents of the time, Elvis was the fastest growing and most popular rocker of the 5(Yes. Only three years after his recordings became available, a poll conducted by the Johannesburg Sunday Times showed Elves as the number one musician of all time, with more than 2,000,000 records sold in the US. In comparison; Being Crosby, who lost his number one spot to Elvis, had at that point in his 30 years of fame old only about 1 (Wham, 1985) The impact that Elvis had on rock and the rock culture Of the ass’s youth was truly immense.As described by William T. Belly, the actions of the average boy in the ass’s and early ass’s was to: 1. See Elvis on TV 2. Decide you want to be Elvis 3.

Ask Mom and Dad to get you a guitar 4. Discover that you are not Elvis 5. Now what to do with the guitar? Learn how to play 6. Start a band (Belly, 2004, p. 4), Rock Continues On After the explosion of rock in the ass’s and ass’s, rock settled down for a while on the rate of its growth. It kept making progressive changes, all according to he desires of the musicians.