The History of
Rock ‘n’ Roll
The Sound of America
How would
you describe
Rock ‘n’
Roll?
Where did Rock ‘n’ Roll originate?
Where did Rock ‘n’ Roll originate?
Where did Rock ‘n’ Roll originate?
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Motown, USA
Why is Detroit called Motown?
Motown is also known as Motor City.
Detroit is referred to as Motor City
because it has been the center of
America’s motor vehicle production since
Ford opened the Ford Motor Company in
1903.
Detroit, before R ‘n’ R
 In the 1950s, people from the south were moving to
Detroit in hopes of landing a job in the automobile
industry.
 Many people congregated to the East Side of Detroit,
which ended up creating a “rough and tumble”
neighborhood.
 In this neighborhood, the beat of the blues could be heard
in the streets.
 Artists like John Lee Hooker were popular.
“The Sound of Young
America”
 Motown’s motto: “The Sound of Young America.”
 Motown’s blend of gritty urban blues mixed with pop and
soul music made the sound appeal to both black and white
young adults listeners.
Berry Gordy
 Berry Gordy was the founder of “Motown Records”
 Gordy almost single handedly helped create and promote
the “Motown Sound.”
 The “Motown Sound” involved the upbeat catchiness of
pop music, the soulfulness of rhythm and blues, and the
intensity of gospel music.
Smokey Robinson
 Smokey Robinson founded The Miracles, a singing group,
while still in high school.
 Smokey Robinson and The Miracles were the first singing
group that Berry Gordy signed.
 Robinson encouraged Berry Gordy to start the Motown
Record company
Smokey Robinson
 Smokey eventually became the Vice President of Motown
Records.
 Smokey wrote songs for The Miracles, but also for The
Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and others.
 Smokey eventually went solo and was very successful.
The Temptations
The Supremes
The Four Tops
Martha and the Vandellas
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Stevie Wonder (and Grover)
Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Jackson 5
Jackson 5
Why Motown was so successful?
 Berry Gordy was a master at finding talented performers,
composers, arrangers, and producers.
 Motown has the best of everything (stylistically).
 It’s stars promoted an image of upright, clean, and
wholesome fun.
Find out more
about Motown
Your assignment is to use your
laptops and the web to find 10
informative facts about any
Motown artist. It should be new
information and interesting. NO
WIKIPEDIA ALLOWED!! Send it to
me over first class when you are
done 
Motown Artists
 The Four Tops
 Marvin Gaye
 Berry Gordy
 Jackson 5
 Martha and the Vandellas
 Smokey Robinson
 The Supremes
 The Temptations
 Stevie Wonder
Where did Rock ‘n’ Roll originate?
Los Angeles
California
Los Angeles before RnR
 In the 1950s LA was competing with Detroit for the
highest number of automobile manufacturers.
 Factories were popping up everywhere. People were
traveling to LA for jobs in sewing factories, furniture
factories, in radio broadcasting stations, and in motion
pictures.
 Rail car systems were being shut down and replaced with
bus systems, which contributed to the massive amount of
pollution that LA is famous for having.
Southern
California
had developed a “surf
sound.”
What do you think the “surf
sound” sounded like?
In music, how might composers and artists convey this “surf sound?”
What group of people do you think
this sound appealed to most?
White American Teens
The Beach Boys
Overdubbing
 Layering the tracks during the recording process.
 Record one track, then play it back and add another track
on top of it, etc.
 This was a very common way for recording for the Beach
Boys and other bands.
The Beach Boys
How did this differ from the sound
of Motown?
 Motown:

 LA Sound:

Why do you think this sound didn’t
appeal to older generations, or to
black teens as well?
California’s folk
music scene
In the 1960s, LA had a growing
interest in folk music. People
would gather at coffee shops and
hootenannies to listen and play
folk music.
What in the world is a
hootenanny?
 A hootenanny is similar to what we might call an “open
mic night” in which anyone could come and perform for 510 minutes a piece.
 Hootenannies were very popular in the 60s, especially
among college students.
Folk Music
 Folk music has been heard for many years in the US and in
other countries.
 In folk music, the most important part of the music is the
story the music tells.
 During the 1960s, people wrote folk music about the
Vietnam War, the opposition to the government and the
Civil Rights Movement.
 If you wrote a folk song today, what might you write
about?
Folk Music
 Folk music is most often passed down by rote.
 Passing things on by rote means that people learn the
music by listening to it, not by reading music. “Learn by
hearing.”
 What songs might you have learned by rote?
Joni Mitchell
Roger McGuinn
David Crosby
Gene Clark
Chris Hillman
Michael Clark
The Byrds
 The Byrds were greatly
influenced by many
different artists.
 They brought many
different styles together to
create a new “electric folkrock” sound.
 They were influenced
equally by Bob Dylan and
by the Beatles.
The Byrds
The
Troubadour
The center of LA’s hit
music scene
The Troubadour
 The Troubadour opened as a jazz club in the 1950s.
 It was THE hotspot for music in LA.
 During the 1960s they featured artist like Crosby, Stills,
Nash, and Young.
 Many artists that played there ended up gaining great
commercial success.
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
During the 1960s…
 LA seemed to be swarmed with singer/songwriters, but in
reality it featured a very diverse musical culture….
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Randy Newman
Randy Newman
The Eagles
By 1976, LA
was the center
of the music
industry
The Eagle’s “Hotel California”
was a major climax in the LA
music scene
Hotel California
Around 1980 LA’s music industry
declined
and the focus was turned back to New York where punk,
New Wave, and rap were gaining popularity.
Study Time!
There will be a quiz next
class over Motown and
LA. All questions in your
follow along worksheets
may or may not be on the
quiz!
Movies
 Stevie Wonder and John Legend
 Stevie Wonder and Jeff Beck
 Bonnie Raitt
 The Supremes
Where did Rock ‘n’ Roll originate?
San Francisco
California
San Francisco before RnR
 San Francisco attracted many artists, musicians, and
social rebels during the late 1960s.
 Long before this time, SF had become a “literary
bohemia” which attracted many non-conformists.
 Bohemia: “a district inhabited by persons, typically artists,
writers, and intellectuals, whose way of life, dress, etc.,
are generally unconventional or avant-garde.”
Non-conformist
 Someone who doesn’t want to adhere to the rules or laws
applied to them.
 Someone who goes “against the flow.”
 In LA, many non-conformists were into what genre of
music?
Folk
San Francisco, CA
 "There was a community in need of music, and music in
need of a community," explained Grateful Dead drummer
Mickey Hart.
 San Francisco people were very free thinking, and it made
sense that these kind of people could have created a whole
new style of music.
SF’s contribution to music
 Songs were no longer confined to two or three minutes in
length. Some songs were 20 minutes long!
 SF artists changed the way music was performed and
experienced.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
psychedelic
Visual
“of or noting a mental state
characterized by a profound
sense of intensified sensory
perception, sometimes
accompanied by severe
perceptual distortion and
hallucinations and by
extreme feelings of either
euphoria or despair.”
The Grateful Dead
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReEIOJBYOeA
Fueling the Movement
 Sweeping changes in concert promotion and FM radio
fueled the movement.
 Underground radio was born here, as local stations KSAN
and KMPX embraced the daring new music.
 Rock journalism found a literate voice in such San
Francisco-based publications as Rolling Stone.
Other psychedelic elements
 Not only did musicians use a “psychedelic sound” but they
also appealed to listeners visually.
 Old ballrooms and halls were converted into spaces that
were for live music performances.
 Light shows developed, and soon the audience was
experiences a whole multimedia performance.
Experiencing Music
 What does it mean to experience music?
 While watching this next video, come up with some ways
that you think the artists changed the way music was
performed or experiences.
Jefferson Airplane
Haight-Ashbury
A neighborhood around
Golden Gate Park which had
many Victorian houses which
could be rented for a small
amount.
This was the center of San
Francisco’s music movement in
the 1960s.
Country Joe and the Fish
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dATyZBEeDJ4