Craig Mosher's Influence On Rock And Roll

Most people have preconceptions about what influenced the popular genre of Rock and Roll. Many think that Rock and Roll was heavily influenced by either Jazz or Blues music, but there are a few scholars who agree or disagree with this thought. Writer Craig Mosher argues the point that pentecostalism was the biggest influence on Rock and Roll. Not only does Mosher think that pentecostalism was the heaviest influence on Rock and Roll, but Randall Stephens also attests that pentecostalism had a large impact on Rock and Roll. Writer Russell Roberts takes the stand that blues is what influenced rock and roll the most; he even claims that blues is what rock n roll was morphed into. Also, penman Mike Daley stakes to the position that blues is what

Avant-Mier says that latino music has influenced rock and roll to make the genre what it has become today. Avant- Mier gives the example of Antoine ‘‘Fats’’ Domino’s music. Mier says that Domino's music copied Spanish beats, calypso downbeats, rumba and mambo (Avant-Mier 559). Avant-Mier also gives the example of the Coasters, he says the one of the group’s influence Gil Bernal was an American- Mexican who stayed with the coasters and influence some of their songs and perspective of music. When Bernal and the coasters took some singing classes together and combined what they learned in class with Bernal’s latin roots to make the rock music they produced. Avant-Mier’s final example is Ritchie Valens who had the “greatest [l]atino contribution to early rock and roll history” (Avant-Mier 571). Valens grew up in San Fernando, California with an immigrant family background; his biggest hit “La bamba” can be found in groups like Ramones, the Stooges, the Kinks and the Kingsmen. Mier states that latin music like tangos, rumbas, cha-chas, and mambos, can be found all throughout different kinds of rock and roll back then with the examples he gives and can be found in rock today (Avant-Mier

The author starts off by giving some background information on the blues and how the blues actually became music. Then, the authors transition quickly into how the blues and rock and roll are intertwined. They say that “blues guitarists were the first to use rock 'n' roll techniques, such as feedback and distortion”(Roberts). After this they transition on to say how rhythm and blues came about saying how Muddy Waters, an R&B singer had a “heavy electric guitar sound” that influences kids that grew up to be famous rock singers. In the 1950’s Alan Freed began playing R&B songs on his radio station and and referred to the morphed blues music as rock and roll; kids loved this new type of music and were now constantly listening to it (Roberts). The authors acknowledge how people did not originally like blues and the new rock and roll music because of the black influence and black culture it brought to the table, but when Elvis Presley came up in rock and roll people started to accept this new genre. The authors finish up the article by telling how after the new rock and roll style was in, the blues were out even though rock and roll is an expanded version of