Comparison Of Chuck Berry's Life And Music

Rock and roll never officially started without a true performer named Buddy Holly. Holly pioneered in the new wave of rock and roll along with Elvis Presley. No matter what Holly did, his fans seemed to never leave his side and fell in love with a style of music all his own. Forever young, buddy Holly still has a musical impact on his fans.

Nick Tosches said in the “Unsung Heroes of Rock ’n’ Roll” that “When you saw Elvis, you were seeing a mild version of Wyonie Harris” (45-46). Wyonie Harris of course was a black blues performer. One of the major names that commonly goes overlooked in the creation of rock and roll is Chuck Berry.

Once it gained more and more popularity, labels began to realize that this could be a profitable market. Given the profitability, they knew they had to go mainstream yet this was a time where there was racism and where African American artists would not be viewed the same as there white counterpart. This was not the case with all the people but many during this time. Teenagers were only concerned with the music and whether they liked it whereas there was great opposition that white kids were listening to music sung by African

Coined by black artists, none of the whites listened until Elvis came around. His music, which was blues, gospel, jazz, and boogie-woogie, all created by black artists, blended to make rock n roll brought whites audiences to accept black culture. Presley’s music broke the racial barriers of that time, and was a key to the movement of racial tolerance between whites and blacks. Presley was one of the first singers to be appreciated and loved by both the black and white communities. (Introduction 3) Elvis tearing down barriers opened the world to so many opportunities. Opportunities not only arrived for white people, but mostly for the black. Elvis Presley’s music was a representation of the idea of racial tolerance and supported the concept, which stated that just because your skin color is different that doesn’t mean you don’t matter. (Introduction 3) Whites were now supporting blacks, which was unheard of before the 50’s. Without Elvis, it would have taken longer for whites to appreciate black

Blues, along with the artists that produced it, was noteworthy in the motivation of the Beatles. The Beatles had a great deal of respect for Chuck Berry and what he did for music. The Beatles credited Berry for being an important piece for creating rock and roll. Chuck Berry also prejudiced the Beatles with the lyrical content within his songs. It is easy to see that blues had an impact on rock and roll because a rock and roll band considered one of the best that ever lived, integrated it into their

What can be said for the music artist Elvis Presley, other than he is most undoubtedly the reason that Rock and Roll survived past its start, and grew to the massive popularity that it still grasps onto to this day. Although he may have been born a simple white southerner, he masterfully intertwined country music with the raw emotion of gospel and blues in order to create his own breed of unmatchable music. By him taking two vastly different genres of music from two equally different cultures, he successfully managed to blur the prominent color line that divided all of America up until the 1950s. He did all of this while enthralling the youth of America and singlehandedly caused an idea of teenage rebellion that lasted far past his popularity,

Rock ‘N’ Roll was the opportunity for African-Americans to get rid of segregation. It was also their opportunity to make black culture mainstream. But since white dictates, they fear blacks as part of their culture. They would shun and exploit performers, bleached their music and promote white Rock ‘N’ Roll instead. Whites believed that black Rock ‘N’ Roll promoted delinquency and sexuality to the children thus wanting it ban. When Nat King Cole was being assaulted and boycotted by the white community, the African-American have lost hope of being free. But it was when “Fats” Domino appeared. He becomes the first black Rock ‘N’ Roll millionaire. Many blacks were proud of him as he was the representative of influencing American Society.

King’s celebrated music career emerged from very modest beginnings. At the age of 18, King started to perform his renditions of traditional Delta blues music at churches around local areas in Mississippi; but his talents saw him gradually travel further up north over the years, as many blues musicians, and many other African-Americans

Gordy had created a new sound that was not only popular with the black community, but with other races as well (“Motown Music” 2012). He was able to change the world so that there was not just black record labels or just white record labels. He created a sound that produced songs with gospel and blues influences and then wrote catchy pop songs that appealed to everyone (“Motown Music” 2012).

Chuck Berry at this point had a climbing music career that would eventually have a great decline in 1961. He had been convicted under the “Mann Act” because he was illegally transporting woman across state lines for "immoral purposes." (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame). What would have been three years earlier, in 1958, Chuck Berry had opened his own Club Bandstand. He did this in what was a predominantly white business district of downtown St. Louis. That next year, while

This American guitarist, singer, and songwriter is one of the pioneers of rock and roll music and his songs are electrifying and his videos great to view. Chuck Berry whose full name is Charles Edward Anderson came out with such great hits in the 50s as “Maybellene”, “Roll Over Beethoven”, “Rock and Roll Music”, and “Johnny B. Goode”. He performed in such a way which left a lasting impression and greatly influenced rock music.

Elvis Presley was best known for his integration of R&B and country music. The public was scared that not only Presley would integrate music but also the white and black community. Which was something he did actually achieve according to Little Richard “He was an integrator. Elvis was a blessing. They wouldn’t let black music through. He opened the door for black music” (Elvis After 198). Parents were afraid of his music, considering it was said that he had a voice of a black man. He caused controversy, a white man singing black music on the radio.This controversy grew as Presley grew in

Thousands of white Americans came to Harlem to experience the night life. The nightclubs in New York appealed to the whites as they were very famous. Jazz music was thriving in the area. It originated in the Unites States among African-American musicians. It was at this time that jazz was at its most famous point. Many people would host rent parties which were very popular at the time. Apartment owners would hold a party and would charge a fee to those who wanted to enter. They used this money in order to pay off their rent (Worth). The influence of jazz also brought musical reviews. Soon white novelists, dramatists and composers started to exploit the musical tendencies and themes of African Americans in their works. Composers used the literary works of African-American poets in their songs. Negros began to merge with Whites into the classical world of musical composition (Wikipedia). Soon, the works of artists were being displayed in nationwide magazines. Their culture began to spread with great velocity.

In High School Berry was arrested for armed robbery with his group of friends in 1944 where he was sent to the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men at Algoa. During his time there he joined a singing quartet that eventually became good enough to perform outside the prison until he was released in 1947. Afterward, Berry played in a trio with "Johnnie Johnson", where they mainly played blues and ballads. In 1955 Johnson and Berry hit it big with the release of "Maybellene" (an interpretation of a popular country song called "Ida Red" by Bob Will) that sold over 1 million copies. Berry continued to perform and create songs afterward such as "Rock and Roll Music" and "Roll Over Beethoven". His performance of "Sweet Little Sixteen" at the New

Rock music has come a long way since its development in the early 20th century. The genre, defined “as a merger between rhythm&blues and country” (Scaruffi, The History of Rock Music:1955-1966), started out more as an underground market, but ended up becoming a significant aspect of American popular music history. Rock-n-Roll music produce many legendary artists who will for ever be known as innovators of the genre. Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry were some of the many artists in Rock-n-Roll who will always live on in their music.Many teenagers were also to identify it due to its rebellious nature their disapproval of the cold war. Towards the end of the 1950s, Rock-n-Roll was ending on a particularly bad note, with a brief decline: