African American Music Research Paper

As we have learned throughout this semester, music has a huge influence on culture in any area of the world. In America this is no different and we see this trend hold true through each era of the history of the United States. When we think of different types of music today we usually don’t think that where you live determines the type of music you listen to. In other words, we would be able to tell a person's music taste just by knowing where they live. However, this was not always the case in America. Going back to the depression era and several decades after music genres like country, Jazz and Broadway was generally listened to by certain demographic groups. Our family was a farm family from Oklahoma so naturally they listened to country

This was the era where television became widely popular and this in addition to radio began to generalize American culture. Before this point we still saw a divide in terms of which demographics enjoyed which type of music. Regarding the three we focused on throughout the semester, African Americans, whites, and farm families in general African Americans enjoyed genres such as Rhythm and Blues while white families enjoyed pop artists like Frank Sinatra and Farmers continued to listen to country. During the 50's artists like Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly hit the limelight with a new sound that incorporated a new sound with some country themes called "rockabilly". Some Popular rockabilly songs included "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" by Jerry Lee Lewis, "Rock Around With Ollie Vee" by Buddy Holly, and Billy Lee Riley's "Rockin' on the Moon". Rockabilly music was essentially the precursor to "Classic Rock and Roll" while also containing country

When Elvis hit the music scene in 1954 his innovative sound it changed the way Americans listened to music. Elvis successfully blurred racial and socioeconomic lines regarding music choice. He truly was the king of rock and roll because of how he incorporated so many themes into his iconic sound. Rock and roll music contains both themes of both Country (farm families) and Rhythm and Blues (African American Families). It was this and Presley's nondenominational brand of music that allowed him to be so widely liked, along with other factors. He was from the south where many country artistes were from, but he was a well maintained white male which appealed the white communities, in addition his sound was similar to those of many African American artists of the time. This trio of attributes allowed his popularity across demographics to soar. Some of his most popular songs included "Jailhouse Rock", "All Shook Up", "Can't Help Falling in Love", and "Heartbreak