Early Rock and Roll
{
Rise of Youth Culture in the 1950s
What’s That Sound?:An Introduction to Rock and its History, 3rd Edition
Copyright © 2012 W. W. Norton & Company
Radio and Records

Rise of the disc jockey

The Moondog Show

Cleveland

Alan Freed

Red, Hot and Blue

Memphis

Dewey Phillips
 The Rock and Roll Party

Crossover



Record or song appearing on more than one
chart
Rhythm and blues crossovers from 1954
Cover versions by white artists
Crossover and Covers
Fats Domino






Imperial Records (LA)
Established career in rhythm and
blues
Among the first rockers to
consistently cross over
Thirty-seven Top 40 singles,
1955–1963
Listening example: “Blueberry
Hill”
The First Rock and Rollers
Cross Over
Chuck Berry




Chess Records (Chicago)
Vocal delivery influenced by
country music
Songwriting style




Often targeted teens
Story songs
Lead guitar bursts were
influential
Example: “Johnny B. Goode”
The First Rock and Rollers
Cross Over
Little Richard





Specialty Records (LA)
First to adopt "wild man" persona
in rock and roll
Target for cover artists
Example: “Tutti Frutti”
The First Rock and Rollers
Cross Over
Whitening rhythm and
blues

Replacing references to
sexuality with references
to dancing
Bill Haley and the
Comets






Pat Boone


The First Rock and
Rollers Cross Over
Originally a country
band
“Rock Around the
Clock”
“Shake, Rattle and
Roll”
“Ain’t That a Shame”
“Tutti Frutti”
Sun Records (founded by
Sam Philips in 1952)



First demo, 1953
First proper session, July
1954

"That's All Right (Mama)"


“Blue Moon of Kentucky”

Elvis Presley
Rhythm and blues
lineage
Bluegrass lineage
RCA Records



Phillips takes $35K buyout
First single, early 1956



Television


“Heartbreak Hotel”
Three-way crossover hit
Ed Sullivan, Toast of the Town
Importance of major label involvement with
rock
Elvis Presley
Elvis’s material



Song selector, not writer
Rockabilly



Most without drums
Acoustic bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Slapback echo
Elvis Presley
Broader appeal through RCA




U.S. Army, 1958–1960
Image makeover from 1960
Change to pop song-stylist
The Rise of Elvis Presley






Carl Perkins
Johnny Cash
Jerry Lee Lewis
Wanda Jackson
Brenda Lee
Buddy Holly
Rockabilly
Buddy Holly



Rockabilly
"That'll Be the Day,"
1957
Musical style
Motown Pop and Southern Soul
{

Pop hits by black artists in the late 1950s



Nat King Cole
Johnny Mathis
Gospel-influenced pop hits

Sam Cooke


“ A Change is Gonna Come”
Ray Charles

“Hit the Road Jack”
Sweet Soul
Drifters





“Sweet soul” style
Clyde McPhatter, featured singer
Ben E. King, featured singer
“There Goes My Baby”




Rhythm and blues
Orchestral strings
Ben E. King’s solo career
Dionne Warwick
Sweet Soul Artists
Greater opportunities for black artists to
have mainstream hits


Several regional centers




Detroit
Memphis
Muscle Shoals, AL
Atlanta
Black Pop between 1964 and
1970

Started by Berry Gordy

Motown, or "Hitsville U.S.A
Motown

Supremes




No hits until teamed with Holland, Dozier,
Holland
Long series of hit singles from 1964 to
1967
“Baby Love”
Martha and the Vandellas


Hits with Holland, Dozier, Holland
Clear gospel and rhythm-and-blues roots
Motown Artists and
Sound

Temptations







Initial hits written by Smokey Robinson
Listening Example: “The Way You Do the
Things You Do”
Then teamed with Norman Whitfield
Their “walk” choreography
Four Tops
Marvin Gaye
Stevie Wonder
Motown Artists



Southern take on black music
Very different than Motown
Much more heavily influenced by the blues and
gospel
Southern Soul




center of soul - Stax Records in Memphis
Named for founders - Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton
(founded 1958)
House band: Booker T. and the MGs
Integrated: Booker T. Jones (keyboard) and Al Jackson
(drums) black, Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass) and Steve Cropper
(guitar) white
Stax Records
Otis Redding



Gospel-influenced vocals
Driving accompaniment
Wilson Pickett



Signed to Atlantic
Recorded at Stax, 1965



Delayed backbeat
“In the Midnight Hour”
Recorded at Fame Studios (Muscle Shoals, AL)

Aretha Franklin

Listening Ex. “Respect”
Written by Otis Redding, who recorded it first
Isaac Hayes



“Shaft”
Stax artists
Doo-wop style records for King (Cinncinati)
Soul style





Tight, driving rhythm section
Aggressive singing
Famous for energetic, dance-filled stage
show
James Brown
Recorded album Live at the Apollo
Asserted extensive control over his music




“Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag, Pt. 1”
Led the move toward funk
James Brown