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The diverse age of Rock and Roll existed concurrently with the movement to grant civil rights to African Americans in the establishment of a new genre of music. When it first became known, with its wild sound and influence over a younger audience that involved sex, drugs, and a social change from past norms, white, religious, middle class and elderly groups interpreted it as a risqué and obscene music genre. Adults mainly disapproved of Rock and Roll’s sexual lyrics and its performers with the rebellious attitudes it created, and that it originated from African American culture. In most cases, parents disliked white youth listening to “black sounding” music and attending concerts where half the audience and artists were black. Changing racial attitudes and the popularity of Rock and Roll music encouraged American white racial barriers to be threatened by white and black teenagers. It further spread by the appeal of Rock and Roll songs to younger audiences, gaining ever-escalating popularity. As Glenn Altschuler, an acclaimed author and professor at Cornell University, quotes, “rock ‘n’ roll nonetheless provided a fresh perspective, celebrating leisure, romance, and sex, deriding deferred gratification… and delighting in the separate world of the teenager” . The rapid success of Rock and Roll spread from teenagers promoting up and coming artists, whether they were black or white, causing segregation to slowly dissipate and integration to come into play. This switch from previous lifestyles and behaviors of the 1950s to different and more relaxed attitudes about lifestyles and behaviors came in great part from the huge contrast in styles of music, both vocal and instrumental. Rock and Roll was ultimately controversial due to black a...
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...nfluence and sexiness compared to other musicians of his day and age.
The distinguished artists of the Rock and Roll generation brought forth innovative music, style, and influences, in turn constructing a new genre of acclaimed sound. Rock and Roll was conjointly the birth of mixing black and white sound and the availability of the radio in cars and in homes allowed it to do so. Additionally, teenagers across the nation prompted Rock and Roll’s popularity and pushed it to become one of the most beloved and controversial music sounds, with adult audiences argumentative towards the message it perceived. Chiefly, Rock and Roll was a sound that brought together youth and different races, even with the disagreement of white elderly groups, remaining through its importance and emphasis of new music, in return becoming one of the most famous genres in music history.
The book depicts the story of culture conflicts of the music, which arose from the introduction of the foot-tapping, hip-swaying music now known as rock n' roll (Graarrq). The outcome of rock n’ roll coincided with tremendous uproar in the movement to grant civil rights to African American. Trapped in the racial politics of the 1950s, rock n’ roll was credited with and criticized for promoting integration and economic opportunity for blacks while bringing to “mainstream” cloture black styles and values (Altschuler). Black values were looked over and kind of not important to whites. Whites were very much so well treated then blacks were, however no one spoke out until the outcome of rock n’ roll.
This book provides a very detailed outline on how and where rock and roll originated. It places much emphasis on the transition from Black to White rock artists and how society reacted to this change. Szatmary also presents sufficient information on the many aspects of rock and roll, ranging from what the lyrics are about, to the beginnings of rock and roll and new age rock.
Rock n - roll In the 1950s rock-n-roll established its own mark in history. It spread throughout the decade in a thrilling, substantial, and even livid manner to those Americans trying to get rid of all sorts of conflicts and challenges that occurred during this time period. As exciting as this music was, the novel “All Shook Up” portrays how rock-n-roll brought many changes to the American culture and later to the sixties. It expresses many concerns such as race relations, moral decay, and communism, but in ways that are partially true.
Although considered the day Rock ‘n’ Roll was born, many other events in American history have given foundation to this much loved idea. Rock ‘n’ Roll is much more than just music, rather it is the movement which underlines cultural imperialism. Rock had been promoting a culture of comfort and freedom from social constraints as well. Although the style of ‘Rock music’ is easily adaptable into many different sounds, it is still thoroughly identified by its definingly amplified rhythm. The sudden worldwide popularity of rock and roll resulted in an unparalleled social impact. Rock ‘n’ Roll influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language in a way few other social developments have equaled. The social impact is so large that rock stars are worshipped worldwide. In its early years, many adults condemned the style of music, placing a stigma on its name, and forbid their children from listening and following its ways. Many considered Rock ‘n’ Roll culture as a bad influence to all people, but as the genre aged and the now not-so-young crowds had matured, Rock was respected and
Rock and roll was very popular among a wide range of cultures it was heard around the world. The rhythm that it had was very
Rock ‘n’ roll and 20th Century Culture According to Philip Ennis, rock ‘n’ roll emerged from the convergence of social transformations which resulted from World War II (Ryan 927). Despite its pop culture origins, rock music is arguably one of the strongest cultural factors to develop in this century. Artists such as Lennon, McCartney and Dylan defined the emotions of a generation and, in the last decade, it as even been acknowledged by members of the establishment which it hoped to change as a major influence in the country. In order to understand how rock went from a sign of rebellion to a cultural icon, it is necessary to understand where it came from.
America was still changing rapidly as African Americans were allowed more and more rights and social justices. During this time in America’s history, racism was still largely found across the nation. It was almost customary for average white people to hold their black counterparts and lower regards. It was very rare for people of mixed races partaking in activities together, let alone creating music. Swing resolved some of these issues, and connected the races. The audience of Swing was also different in the sense that “college-age and high-school-age youth” built up a large majority of the common listeners (Edsford 1). The inclusion of younger aged consumers of Swing music is monumentally important contrasted with swing’s predecessors, where people of this age had no outlet of listening to music of any kind. The later part of the Swing revolution occurred during the first consumer era of America, allowing people of all ages to spend more time doing things they enjoyed, compared to just trying to survive. This brought a new flair to the world and transformed the bleak and monotone life of working all day into a luxuriant
Throughout history, music have defined or depicted the culture and social events in America. Music has constantly played an important role in constituting American culture, where people have expressed themselves through music during flourishing and turbulent times. In the 1930’s, Swing music created a platform for audiences to vent their emotions in the midst of Great Depression and political unrest. Such strong relationship between music and culture can be seen throughout history, especially in the sixties.
In closing, the undoubtable influence of music, more specifically of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society is responsible for a number of changes to the status quo. These range from sexual liberation and racial desegregation all culminating with other influences to create an intergenerational identity. Despite the desperate attempts of older generations to smother these influences, these changes ultimately shaped the years that followed, molding the country into what it is today. Along the way these changes as well as individual involvement in them has also eased the lives of many through empowerment and a feeling of community and purpose. Despite a lull and renewal Rock ‘n’ Roll continues to serve as an agent of influence and change in today’s youth culture and continues to burn in the heart of past generations of loyal fans.
While going through our history of rock and roll course, one thing has become apparent, and that is that music brings people together. Sometimes it takes music to get a point across, and our world has endured a lot of social and a cultural change, which is how we music today. Just like our world is evolving, music is the same way. When a baby is born until the day it dies, it has evolved internally and externally and that is the same way I view the history of rock “n” roll. For instance, the great wars and the civil rights movement help influence to history of rock and roll. It gave people a purpose to listen to music and let artist express themselves through their songs. I’m not saying by any means that all the struggles we as a nation have
The rise of rock and roll into the limelight is to a large extent attributed to the teenagers of the 1950’s. Early rock music listened to by teenagers during the 1950’s was formed by blending together Rhythm and blues with country music. This kind of ...
Rock and Roll was the start of a new revolution in America. It introduced the world to many of the famous artists that continue to be a part of our lives today. "Artists who became popular in the 1950s such as Elvis, began to pave the way for others such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly" (The History of Rock 'n' Roll until 1960). With the introduction of rock 'n' roll, there came many new changes to the lives of many Americans. Rock and Roll was a major contributor for the change in teens' behavior in the 1950s because it encouraged new freedoms for teenagers, encouraged new fads among teenagers, and caused a generation gap.
Rock 'n' roll came from a type of music called rhythm and blues (R&B), which consisted of doo-wop and gospel music. It was popular mostly in the south during the 40’s but it soon grew to urban cities. It was Les Paul’s invention of the electric guitar in 1952 that added a new sound and made rhythm and blues into the rock 'n' roll we all know and love today. Most of the artists from R&B were African American, and in their song they would reference sexual matters. So together it gave a bad connotation towards the music and their race, therefore both were never fully accepted in the north. The term “rock” was slang mostly used by African Americans meaning a form of music that was easily danced to. Meanwhile “roll” was usually a euphemism for sex, such as “a roll in the hay”. It was Alan Freed who first popularized the term “rock and roll” for this gen...
In conclusion this report has helped us understand the significance of Music in America. Also, the impact it has on music we listen too. Music is very much like a big chain reaction. Rock ‘N’ Roll, much like music today, stood out and was in a way rebellious. Parents now hate Rap and we love it. People in the 70’s loved Rock ‘N’ Roll and parents hated it. This shows that maybe no matter how much older people deny it, the time gap and generation gap is not too far apart. Without Rock ‘N’ Roll the World would without a doubt be changed. Any guess to that of which way would be a good one.
The textbook describes progressive rock as a form of rock music that has a complex and educated sound. Progressive rock gets its name because it is a progression of classic rock. In other words, technology, cultures, etc. progress with time and music is no different it progresses over time. The textbook describes this progression as being more complex than classic rock by having more technical skill going into the music, as well as the lyrics being more fantasy-based. In other words, progressive rock goes beyond the regular twelve-bar structure of classic rock and its lyrics are more about telling a story. The textbook refers to progressive rock as having a smarter sound than classic rock. To describe this point the textbook uses