Between Tradition and Experimentalism: “Misirlou” and Dick Dale The American music industry in 1959 was in critical conditions: amidst the death of many of its main artists and the payola scandal which dragged down many of the independent labels, the industry drastically changed as the majors became the new key players in the market. As the Vintage Years of rock and roll drew to a close, new genres of music were being created to effectively target the emerging demographic segments: one of them was surf rock, or as it was later called hot rod music. One of its pioneers was Dick Dale: with Deltone Records he recorded “Let’s Go Trippin” in 1961 which is considered to be the “first surf rock song” (Brackett 208) creating the “surf craze”. This …show more content…
In 1960, during a live performance, Dale was challenged by a kid in the audience to play a melody on only one string (Wikipedia “Miserlou”): the next day, the artist arranged a rock instrumental version of “Misirlou”. In 1962 he recorded it as a single with Deltone Records, an independent label founded by his father, accompanied by the Delt-tones. The record was at first spelled as “Misirlou” and in a later release in the same year “Miserlou”; the credited composers were Tauber, Wise, Leeds, and Roubanis: Wise and Leeds, along with Bob Russell, wrote the original English lyrics to the record, while Roubanis supposedly firstly arranged “Misirlou” in 1941. The B-side of the record was “Eight Till Midnight”, composed by Dick Dale himself, in which the characteristic roll of drums is accompanied by electric piano and sax, while the electric guitar sustains the rhythm with experimental scales. Dale’s cover of “Misirlou” was pressed on vinyl, 7’’, 45rpm records: the format introduced by RCA-Victor in 1949 was by 1962 already in widespread use throughout the country, as the old 78rpm shellac records were lastly commercially produced in …show more content…
Dale was particularly known for his use of Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, which was used in the record, and of Fender’s amplifiers. His help was fundamental in the development of the 100-watt electric amplifier (Wikipedia), which gave to his records the “wet” sound of the waves, and allowed him to perform live over screaming masses of “surfers”. Dale’s “Miserlou” is radically different from any other precedent version: there are no vocals backing the instruments, and only at the beginning of the verses can Dale’s deep, unarticled yells (“Ah! Eh!”) be heard, and are immediately buried by the instruments. The major contribution to the record is made by the electric guitar’s fast scales, which emulate the string sections in Roubaris’ version and give “Miserlou” its characteristic Oriental vibe. Another stark difference is the use of the electric piano to accompany and echo the guitar’s scales, and of the drums to set the rhythm behind the sax. There is no orchestra behind Dale’s electric guitar: it is, after all, a record published 20 years after Roubaris’ version, and the culture which the record belongs to cares more about the volume of the music than its
Into the 2nd half of the decade came the arrival of The Rolling Stones and The Who. These continued along the Blues Rock path pioneered by Cream and Zeppelin, and both had great success. It was these acts that led to the nickname, ‘the swinging 60’s’. 1966 saw the beginning of psychedelic music. It was The Beatles who first began to experiment like this. Adding new
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.
This song was written by husband and wife team Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, and the producer Phil Spector. Tina’s voice was believed as the perfect voice for the song and for the wall of sound. Spector went all out to make the song as famous as his last hits were, but unfortunately, it didn’t turned out as he expected (Robert Webb). Since, the song only made it to the top chart of the UK and was unsuccessful making at the top of United States’ chart position (nonetheless, slowly overtime it did got accepted as a classic music in America too). However, the song did reflected the wall of sound recording technique every “Individual instruments [were] largely indistinct; instead the soaring onslaught of a seemingly infinite number of instruments and backing vocals chugs along with Tina shrieks atop the proceedings” (Bill Kopp). Basically, he used the same technique that he utilized in his earlier recording of combining all sounds of different instruments into single sound to make indistinct sound along with doing pre recording
The social and political context of the 1950’s is crucial to any understanding of the birth of rock n roll.
Rock n Roll was everything the suburban 1950’s were not. While parents of the decade were listening to Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and the Big Bands. Their children were moving on to a new beat.” (U.S. History) Teenagers started to like this new type of music called rock and roll. It became very popular and artists started to experiment with it which influenced the development of rock n roll throughout the 50’s and 60’s. The experimentation with rock n roll changed music forever and greatly influenced our music today. Rock n roll was mixed with country, rhythm, and blues when this combination happened rock n roll kept developing through the fifties and sixties.
In the sixties, the psychedelic music scene was at its prime and the world was full of hippie musicians that loved to drop acid and create some of the most interesting and innovative music known to man. During this time, drugs were a very popular part of the hippie culture and the prevalence of LSD helped to create the distinct genre of psychedelic music known as psychedelic or acid rock. Many bands and artists such as Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Beatles, and The Byrds were heavily influenced by LSD, which led to the creation of some very popular music. This decade was full of adventure, music, sex, and drugs, and it was all made possible due to this powerfully trippy drug.
During the 1900s, passion of composing music arose and encouraged many young teens to create garage bands and elder to perceive music as career. Famous musicians like Robert Johnson, Bill Monroe, and Elvis Presley were seeking the same. Although many were composing songs, most of them adapted their own versions from many which created a list of similarities and differences between them. Most commonly similar were themes or forms yet some differentiated in delivery style or instrumentation. Many artists got more creative and used similar instruments but give a twist into the sound play. This can be seen in the script or heard in the audio of the songs “Walkin’ Blues” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky” like many others.
Although both men were similar in many ways the outcomes they faced were very different. One a rhode scholar,and the other incarcerated for life, and no parole. Due to what obstacles they faced,and the twist and turns they encountered,Made them what they are today.
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
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 and roll (often written as rock & roll or rock 'n ' roll) is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States. The music we know as rock and roll emerged as a defined musical style in the mid 1950s, even though a form of it had been on the horizon for at least a decade or so. A quarter of the American population moved during World War II, and that is what brought southern, rural, sacred and secular traditions into contact with urban-based music and its audiences. Rock and roll drew on many different styles. It derived most directly from the rhythm and blues music of the 1940s, which it developed from earlier blues, boogie-woogie, jazz and swing music. It was also influenced by gospel, country, western, and traditional folk music. With the combinations of all of these genres of music, that help to create this new style of music excited a worldwide generation of young listeners. Even though it had the attention of young listeners it started to upset the already established social, cultural and musical authorities. With this new music style coming into full affect along with new dances and people having voicing out their own opinion caused a lot of turmoil. Many people began to question this new genre of music and labeled it as the devil music while other loved it and couldn’t help but dance
Rock ‘n’ roll has played a major role in some known historical developments post World War 2. Music plays a significant part in America 's Cold War culture. Music gave us a sense of new technologies and helped the world to prosper. It also is linked with African Americans living in the South. Music was known for shaping the lives of the people during the 1950s and 1960s. Music was geared towards the youth, race, ethnicity, gender and class. “All Shook Up: How Rock ‘n’ Roll Changed America” by Altschuler, Glenn C, tells us the story of the birth of rock and roll during the concrete years of 1955 to 1965. Altschuler gives us a overview of how rock ‘n’ roll has an historical context. “ For two years the Times printed dozens of
There are many artists that made enormous impacts on rock and roll music in the fifties, and one such significant artist was named Connie Francis.
Alan Freed had been playing rock and roll types of music on his radio program but it was Leo Mintz that changed history. During this current time period the new music was called race records and Leo was having trouble getting white customers to buy them. So Leo, being a sponsor of Alan’s show, encouraged him to use the term rock and roll to describe this type of music. Once the brand of rock and roll caught on, the records shot to popularity within all ethnicities.
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: