Jerry Lee Lewis's Contribution To Rock And Roll

Rock and Roll was the start of a new revolution in America. It introduced the world to many of the famous artists that continue to be a part of our lives today. "Artists who became popular in the 1950s such as Elvis, began to pave the way for others such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly" (The History of Rock 'n' Roll until 1960). With the introduction of rock 'n' roll, there came many new changes to the lives of many Americans. Rock and Roll was a major contributor for the change in teens' behavior in the 1950s because it encouraged new freedoms for teenagers, encouraged new fads among teenagers, and caused a generation gap.

After graduating in 1953 from L.C. Humes High School in Memphis, Elvis worked many jobs to pursue his musical dream (biography.com). Later that year he cut his first demo record at Sun Records, and not long after that the record label owner and producer was impressed by the emotion in Presley’s voice and decided to help Presley pursue his dream of becoming a musical star (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame). In 1954 Elvis recorded “That’s All Right Mama,” it became his first commercial release selling 20,000 copies (Elvis Aron Presley). This began Elvis’s legendary rise to fame.

Loud, soothing, meaningful, and deep, rock music has many characteristics. These characteristics are ones that rock music fans appreciate. But, many people have different preferences of music, such as pop, rap, country, and other genres. Although there are several types of music, most modern music comes back to the foundation of rock and roll. Many artists have been influenced by the heart-wrenching power of rock music. Most people that enjoy rock music do not know how rock started. It is a genre that has evolved over the years.

Jerry Garcia’s most obvious influences deal with music and the modern pop music band’s role. He has changed the way music is produced, the way music relates to its listeners, and how the band interacts with its fans. Jerry Garcia was the renaissance man of the 1960’s singing, writing, and playing many instruments including the acoustic, bass, and electric guitars, the banjo, and the piano, which was a revolutionary idea for the time. He and the Grateful Dead worked to successfully enable the elimination of a record company in the music world. Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead all worked together- blending different musical genres- to create new styles of music that will continue into modern day. Jerry Garcia is largely responsible for the revolution in the identity of the music artist, for the increase in popularity of the live album, for the divergence of many musicians from record companies, and for the changes in bands’ touring style and interaction with their

Both the radio and records have had significant impact on the development on rock n’ roll. Similarly, the radio and records gave musical artists an extended ability to stretch their audiences. Strongly intertwined, while they both gave listeners the ability to find artists they like, there are some clear differences between each the developments of the radio and that of records. In the years prior, the music industry was built on the “Tin Pan Alley” system that strictly controlled musicians and popular music (Schloss, Starr, and Waterman, p. 2-7). And much like the spirit of rock n’ roll itself, people within the industry eventually grew tired of conformity and no longer felt the need to follow the rules. Radio stations started forming separate licensing companies (BMI), which allowed them to play what they want (Schloss, Starr, and Waterman, p. 7). With an “open door” policy that allowed broadcasters to play music they wanted, radio stations had the important job of sharing a variety of music that could be heard all across the country. The radio began to function as a way of transporting records and genres of music all over the country from the traditional cultures they formed, which includes R&B, blues, and country. This reshaped the music industry by expanding its reach to new audiences. This, “allowed songwriters working outside of mainstream pop to claim royalties on the use of their songs on broadcasted

He was a poor man who became rich, a white boy who dressed and sang like he was black, and a mamma’s boy who was also a rebel. Elvis scared white children’s parents. They saw this child who could be their kid acting like a juvenile delinquent and they feared his music would ignite rebellion in their children. The teenage population was huge and the people were well enough off that the kids had money to spend and a desire to spend it. When Elvis started singing, suddenly they knew what they wanted to spend their money on. They wanted everything that Elvis had and they wanted to do everything that he did. He inspired a whole generation to be different. He showed them they could dance and they could be feminine and manly at the same time. Elvis showed the kids that they could have fun and they could have fun together regardless of race. Elvis inspired a graduation and he consequently became known as the King. He was the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the King of the baby boomers generation. Not only did Elvis encourage blacks and whites to get along together and have fun, inspire the fashion and musical tastes of a generation, and demonstrate that not all men must be manly, but he also started America on the path of children and their parents listening to different music. The teens of the 1950s loved rock music and that started the trend of each generation having their own music that they felt spoke to them. The 60s folk music, the 70s

He had more than two thousand songs that where a hit at that time. He

Rock ‘N’ Roll’s birth came after the Great Depression and World War II. It was in the 50’s called the baby boomers that started it all. It expanded the teenage population with 3.4 million babies born. The 1950’s scrap the ideology of a conservative family, where the father is the bread winner and the mother was a stay home mother. The young adults found an escape and enjoyment in Rock ‘N’ Roll.

Rock 'n' roll reflects the values of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and helps the movement convey its message. The Civil Right Movement addressed three areas of discrimination: education, social segregation, and voting rights.

George Jones started from nothing and made his way to be a country music hall of famer. He is one of the best country music singers of all time. Between car accidents, fighting with his wife’s, money, alcoholism, and drug abuse all almost ended his career many times. George Jones, one of America's greatest country music stars of all time, he had a rough time with his alcohol and drugs, but still found a way to receive the Lifetime Grammy Award.

Hank kept his interest in music throughout his whole childhood and began performing in Montgomery, Alabamas main radio station WSFA radio. He remained there from 1937 to 1942. While he was performing on the radio station a street singer and a good friend of Hank Williams Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne an African American influenced his sound and helping him with his guitar playing skills. Once Hank picked up the style that Rufus was doing he made it famous and this is the first time that the honky tonk type of style of music was created. While Hank was performing on the radio station he attracted some kids that lived nearby that knew how to play some other instruments. They called themselves the Drifting’ Cowboys, while Hank was singing and playing guitar in this band his singing voice was as strong as an artists today because since he did have any amplification he had to sing above all of the instruments and this is where he mastered his singing and yodeling without losing control of

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

Other artists such as Jerry Lee Lewis capitalized on the sound of Elvis but did not achieve the designated place in history.

The emergence of Rock and Roll was one of the most pivotal moments of our nation’s history. The impact that this genre of music made is still evident in our culture. However, before this genre was able to gain momentum, it faced many cultural conflicts. The book, All Shook Up: How Rock ‘N’ Roll Changed America by Glenn C. Altschuler analyzes the impact that rock and roll music has made on American culture. It explores how the Rock and Roll culture was able to roughly integrate and later conflict with preceding cultural values. This is especially apparent in chapters regarding race and sexuality. Overall, Rock and Roll was extremely controversial amongst parents and educators. This new music genre was condemned by the previous generation as

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: