Rock n’ Roll
Chapter 9
Dates and Type of Music
 1954-1964
 Rock
n’ Roll and Rhythm and Blues
Postwar Years
 1930s:
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The Great Depression put millions of people
out of work
World War II brought back power to the
economy
TV went from a luxury to a necessity and
record sales grew 25% per year
Rise of the teenage population with more
leisure time
“Generation Gap,” “Juvenile Delinquent,”
and “Rebels Without a Cause”
Doo-Wop and “Sh Boom”
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After WW II pop, gospel, and rhythm and blues
merged together in a new style that featured
mainly males singing groups
Doo-Wop was the most successful in making the
transition onto the pop market
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Doo-Wop- A pop-originated R&B genre that
typically featured remakes of popular standards or
pop-style originals sung by black vocal groups
“Sh Boom” by the Cords hit on the pop and
rhythm-and-blues charts
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Nonsense syllables
Scat singing- the practice of using the voice to imitate
instruments, especially percussive sounding
instruments, is a distinctively black practice mainly
used in jazz
http://youtu.be/SBgQezOF8kY
Cover Versions
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A rock-era concept, it depends on a
recording being understood as the song and
not simply a version of the song
Many doo-wop songs were remakes of
existing songs
Covers from this time were often points of
racial debates, many thought that it was
white acts riding on the coattails of black acts
and that the success of the song should go to
the original black artist.
White artists could break into the pop market
easier than black artists could.
Rockabilly
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Carl Perkins: “To begin with rockabilly music,
or rock and roll was a country man’s song
with a black man’s rhythm. I just put a little
speed into some of the slow blues licks.”
Rockabilly- a country take on rhythm and
blues, preformed mainly by white southerners,
that combined elements of country music
with rock and roll.
Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” was the
first big Rockabilly hit, it made a big impact
when it was put in the film The Blackboard
Jungle.
http://youtu.be/-qnOf-OMuAw
Elvis Presley
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Elvis recorded his first local hit at Phillips’s Sun Records , it
was a cover of Arthur Crudup’s “That’s All Right” and within
a year he had reached No. 1 nationally on the country
western charts with “Mystery Train”
He could emulate almost any style- pop, country, gospel,
R&B- and still sound like himself and was very much at
home with black music
Elvis's sound brought him radio attention but it was his looks
and his moves that made him famous
He signed with RCA and recorded several more No. 1 hits
and appeared on TV, he had become the symbol of rock
and roll but took a lot of heat for being so bold.
Other popular singers during the time were Frank Sinatra,
Perry Como, Pat Boone, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Little
Richard, and Ray Charles.
http://youtu.be/Q_eE0NPArEY
http://youtu.be/tpzV_0l5ILI
Latin Tinge
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By the 1950s New Orleans rhythm and blues
artists were creating Latin-flavored songs and
several R&B artists started to include Latininfluenced songs to their shows.
Bo Diddley only had one top 40 hit but was
considered a rock icon. He created the Bo
Diddley beat which is a distinctive rhythm that
is virtually identical to the clave rhythm .
http://youtu.be/iu3LjImHT6g
Little Richard and Chuck Berry
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Both Little Richard and Chuck Berry built their songs
on a rhythmic foundation that moved twice the
speed of the beat.
Little Richard made major contributions to rock and
roll through rhythm but also through being gay and
over the top performer, which lead generations of
rockers- gay, straight, androgynous, and crossdressing to follow him.
Chuck Berry was the ultimate architect of rock and
roll in “Jonny B. Goode” we can hear this. His voice is
neither bluesy nor sweet, but it is well suited to deliver
the rapid-fire lyrics that are the trademarks to his
songs. He also used Overdubbing and obbligato
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Overdubbing-the process of recording an additional
part onto an existing part
Obbligato- a second melody playing under the main
melody.
http://youtu.be/eWNykOk2ckE
Buddy Holly
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Buddy formed a band called the Crickets,
and were encouraged to go for a new sound,
his music had a different beat and lyrics that
could speak to everyone like in his song “Not
Fade Away”
On February 3rd, 1959 Holly died in a plane
crash. Don McLean noted in “American Pie” it
was the day the music died in the crash that
killed Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P.
Richardson
http://youtu.be/AyTtFNGzFsE
The Payola Scandal
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The scandal in 1959 contributed to the decline of
rock and roll
The Payola Scandal was the investigation of the
practice of record companies bribing disc jockeys
to secure airplay for their records.
Also at issue was the question of licensing rights.
ASCAP reportedly urged the investigation to
undermine its major rival BMI with was licensing the
music of so many black and country performers.
Investigation results were viewed as proof that
rock and roll was courrupt
Later Rhythm and Blues
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1955-1960
Rhythm and blues came of age around the
same time rock and roll became so popular.
It aquired a more distinct musical identity,
with greater cross-over appeal.
Gospel and pop became the new rhythm
and blues
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Gospel- a family of religious music styles. Black
gospel music has had the most profound
influence on popular music by far.
Gospel became a new outlet for solo stars with
focus on individual voices
Slow Doo-Wop
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of the most sucessful trends of the
new rhythm and blues style.
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backup singers and the slow tempo was
evidence that gospel had influenced
doo-wop.
 The Flanmingos’ popular song “I Only
Have Eyes For You” was the first hit from
the slow doo-wop era, sung in close
harmony at a slow tempo.
 http://youtu.be/FvzNeh4Mq1o
Solo Singers
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Ray Charles was the most important R&B
singer from the late 1950s.
He overcame many obstacles, like being
blind and having serious drug problems.
He was responsible for the synthesis of blues
and gospel, his music merged the emotional
intensity of both styles. He also included Latin
numbers that obviously had an effect on his
most famous song “ What’d I Say.”
http://youtu.be/65FOQpQpSwc
The Rise of the Producers
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With the rapid rise in the popularity of rock and roll
the producer assumed and increasingly important
roll. They wore several hats- artist and repertoire man,
songwriter, arranger, contractor, and recording
engineer.
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller stand apart because
they wrote so many of the songs their acts recorded.
They wrote their songs with a recording session in
mind. They crafted every aspect of the song, the
words, the melody, the beat, and the tempo.
Their first big hit was “Hound Dog” which Elvis then
sang, they also wrote “Jailhouse Rock” for him as well
They were the first to elevate record production to
an art.
They also wrote the song “Young Blood” for the
Costers.
http://youtu.be/NgX3a6ApQbs
Common Musical Features of
Early Sixties Music
 The
switch form acoustic to electric bass
boosted the low register of the rock band.
 The use of an amplifier made it easier to
play loudly. This made it easier for the bass
players and allowed them to play more
freely.
 Faster rhythm made rock and roll turn into
rock and rhythm and blues became a
new kind of black pop.
The Rise of Girl Groups
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Shirley Owens, Micki Harris, Beverly Lee, and Doris
Coley formed The Shirelles. Their first hit “I Met Him
on a Sunday” they wrote when they were still in
high school. There biggest hit though was “Will You
Love Me Tomorrow”
This was music that was written by women for
women
The song and the singers reflect the changing
attitudes of the early 1960s. It was written by a
white woman, produced by a black man,
supported with white-sounding string writing, and
sung by a young black woman. The message of
the song is colorblind, meaning teens of all races
could relate to it.
http://youtu.be/cbxxkwBQk_o
Regional Rock
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Surf Music was responsible for important firsts
in rock history: it was the first post-1959 rock
style to add significantly to rocks sound,
higher register close harmony vocals like that
of the Beach Boys and the array of new guitar
sounds.
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Surf Music- describes the late 1950s early 1960s
rock styles that glorified the southern California
lifestyle.
Regional rock made every teen feel like they
were in the midst of sun, surf, cars, and babes.
Multitrack Recording
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Brian Wilson was the first to experiment with
multitracking where he overlaid several sounds
over another.
Before this new invention the musicians had to
imagine the sound and then go from there and if
they didn’t like it they would have to start all over.
With multitrack recording musicians are working
with actual sounds throughout the entire process
and are able to add and remove whatever they
want.
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Multitrack Recording- the process of recording
each part of a performance sparely, then mixing
them into a complete performance.
The Beach Boys
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The most important and innovative of the surf
music bands.
“I Get Around” reached the top of the charts,
the song focuses mainly on their tight
harmonies and soring single line melody.
The fun in the sun lyrics belie the considerable
sophistication of the music: not only the
harmonies and key changes that range well
beyond the three-ford rock progressions of so
many bands, but also the beautifully
interwoven vocal parts and sharp textures.
http://youtu.be/mN7Xs9WVNBU
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
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In 1954 rock and roll was on the verge of national
recognition, in 1964 rock was on the verge of a
revolution.
Rhythm and blues crossed over to the pop charts.
The active aggressive rhythms in so much of the
music were matched by more assertive vocal styles
and instrumental sounds like the eclectic guitar.
They energy was in the look as well: Elvis’s gyrations,
Chuck Berry’s duck walk, Little Richard’s leg on the
piano, Jerry Lee Lewis’s piano pounding, and Ray
Charles’s rocking side to side.
For the audiences the sounds and looks promised
freedom- freedom from their parents, freedom from
the previous restrained music, and freedom to assert
their identity.
Terms to Know
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Doo-wop
Scat singing
Rockabilly
Overdubbing
Obbligato
Payola scandal
Gospel
Surf music
Multitrack recording