Rock And Roll In The 1960's

Music as a whole blends together. One style leads to another, the music becomes more progressive. It evolves to fit the new generation, leaving the old generation behind. From the spritual songs of the late 1800s to the gospel of the early 1900s. Then it changed into rhythm and blues, and when the 1950s rolled around it became Rock’ n’ Roll. With the invention of new iconic instruments like the Fender Precision Bass and then the Fender Stratocaster, the sound of the music changed. The sound that was soft and low was now crunchy and loud. While it did not sit well with the adults, it was a hit among the new generation. Even the African American roots of the music didn’t deter the youth listening

The social and political context of the 1950’s is crucial to any understanding of the birth of rock n roll.

Rock ‘n’ roll and 20th Century Culture      According to Philip Ennis, rock ‘n’ roll emerged from the convergence of social transformations which resulted from World War II (Ryan 927). Despite its pop culture origins, rock music is arguably one of the strongest cultural factors to develop in this century. Artists such as Lennon, McCartney and Dylan defined the emotions of a generation and, in the last decade, it as even been acknowledged by members of the establishment which it hoped to change as a major influence in the country. In order to understand how rock went from a sign of rebellion to a cultural icon, it is necessary to understand where it came from.      According to Albert

Rock ‘n’ roll music has widely influenced music and society and continues to do so today. Rock ‘n’ roll emerged in the 1950’s a time where whites and blacks were heavily segregated. Rock and roll music not only changed the nation’s current musical norms, but indicated the joy of the emerging youth culture of the generation. It influenced artists whether black or white to come into the mainstream music. Famous artists still remembered today also influenced rock and roll. Those pioneers helped change the musical norms and the overall history of music. White rock ‘n’ rollers helped build a ladder for black artists to come into the scene. It was certain that rock ‘n’ roll made it possible for greater acceptance, appreciation and a wider

Teenage Rebellion is a major influence on the popularity of rock and roll in the 60’s. Society as a whole was well reserved and private about their personal and sexual lives. A struggling economy left most families spending the majority of income on basic living needs. Few households had disposable income.

“The warden threw a party in the county jail. The prison band was there and they began to wail. The band was jumpin' and the joint began to swing. You should've heard them knocked-out jailbirds sing.” These lyrics from Elvis Presley’s hit song “Jailhouse Rock” clearly illustrate how teenagers reacted to his new brand of music, Rock ‘n’ Roll in the 1950s. Elvis and his music came in a time when the baby boomers were teenagers and beginning to identify themselves and discover music. The civil rights movement was just about to begin, and the tension between whites and blacks was just beginning to decrease. The two races found companionship when listening to music, and Elvis helped to connect the dots even more. Elvis was a music icon that the

“The rise of rock ‘n’ roll and the reception of it, in fact, can tell us a lot about the culture and values of the United States in the 1950s. According to historians James Gilbert, there was a struggle throughout the decade ‘over the uses of popular culture to determine who would speak to what audience, and for what purpose”. At the center of that struggle, rock ‘n’ roll unsettled a nation had been “living in an ‘age of anxiety’” since 1945” (p.15). Altschuler talks about how music and race interlock with one another. Rock had become a “highly visible and contested arena for struggles over racial identity and cultural and economic empowerment in the United States” (p.35). Other chapters within the book state the battles involving sexuality, generational conflicts, as well as other social issues. The author states ideas that are somewhat problematic. For example, he states that there is a myth that rock ‘n’ roll went into a “lull” following the payola hearings (the practice of record promoters paying DJs or radio programmers to play their labels ' songs) of 1959 and did not come about again until the arrival of the Beatles in 1964.

Music has always affected the society in which the notes are played. Times of class contained dignified pieces pleasing to the ear while times of upheaval produced performers with a bit of an edge. The arrival of rock and roll in the 1950s, at a time often deemed as a decade of concerns, does not fit the long thought pattern. This class will delve into the arrival of rock and roll and the decade that did not know what to do with the new sound.

In the book, All Shook Up: How Rock ‘N’ Roll Changed America, historian Glenn Altschuler submits that “the rise of rock ‘n’ roll and the reception of it, in fact, can tell us a lot about the culture and values of the United States in the 1950s. A major arguing point that is heavily stated is that the early developments of rock ‘n’ roll, which were tied to the development of the Civil Rights Movement, was an integral part of the post-World War II culture in the United States. As the major thesis of his book, Altschuler argues that rock ‘n’ roll deepened an already existing divide present within families, and that the genre further transformed the culture of the country by placing sexuality at the center of American society. By arguing that

The 1950s was largely dominated by Rock and Roll as the Rock and Roll era had emerged. This Genre of music developed from other styles of music such as country, Jazz, and gospel.

     From the sounds of Elvis many other important bands of the sixties were inspired, even people a thousand miles away from America. One of these important bands was the Beatles. The Beatles took the rock sound and added more lyrical and musical complexity to the sound. The Beatles were the starters of the “British Invasion” in 1963 when they released “I want to Hold Your Hand” (Kallen, 2012, 31). After their first single they had immense success with other hits such as “She Loves You” and “Woooo!” The Beatles continued to reinvent their music on the various other albums throughout the sixties delving into complex, heavy existential concepts and psychedelic elements, becoming the most relevant influence for modern rock.

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

During the 1960’s the United States music industry suffered an influx of British rock bands of which two bands excelled, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. These two bands personified an important division among British bands, both in terms of music and of image.

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:

Each year, new books declare rock and roll to be an active force in the moral collapse of American culture. To many, rock and roll has come to be seen as a social menace (Pattison 175-77).