American Music: Where Did it Come From?

Who would have guessed that a set of drums, guitar, bass, and vocals would have had such a profound effect on American history. Even at a time in history, when all was well in the country, some people still felt the need to “escape” from the troubles in their life and other negative circumstances. At one point in American history, people were oppressed as slaves and to try to cope with their situation emotionally, they would sing. They would create music to be able to express the feelings and emotions that they would have otherwise not have been able to express. As time progressed, many musicians who were victims of racism in the South, used the same coping mechanism and expressed how they truly felt about their position and circumstance through songs. Their music was filled with such emotion, that others who felt oppressed within their own life would make a connection while listening to the older music, which was the blues. These younger musicians would turn to the blues music to help them escape from their problems. Specifically, these same musicians, who were fans of blues music, were influenced by what they liked, but they did create their own type of music. Their music, which came to be known as rock and roll, was not simply black music under another title it was its own type of music. On the surface, rock music did seem to challenge the systems of inequality and oppression that plagued America in the 1950s and ‘60s, however after further analysis it is evident that it in fact did reproduce those systems of injustice. In analyzing several artists, it will be concluded that rock and roll is its own distinct type of music and it did reproduce the systems of inequality and oppression that plagued America in the 1950s and ‘60s.

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