Rock & Roll

Rock ‘n’ Roll. I hope I’m spelling it correctly with the right punctuation…

Anyway. Hopefully you have been exposed to this music genre and its hard core-ness.

So apparently after doing my research it is read: Rock and Roll. (or Rock & Roll)

It arose around the 1940’s or 1950’s in the United States. We could say with just about any genre that it was originally thought to be scandalous. Your parents didn’t care for it too much and thought it was the cause of most of your naturally rebellious adolescent stages. Well… they were wrong. Rock and Roll was supposed to set you free!

Where did it come from? Well, in my opinion, music builds off of each other. There isn’t a purebred genre out there! And if someone tells you differently, then they are lying. Rock and Roll was said to come from the following genres:

Rhythm and Blues

Gospel

Boogie-Woogie

Country

Jazz

Electric/Jump/Chicago Blues

Swing

Folk

Needless to say, many genres that went into Rock and Roll were stemming from African American culture. So we can say, “Thank you,” to them for their many contributions to the musical industry.

How could your Bob Seger’s rock music be from classy blues music? Well to answer your question, they were virtually the same at the beginning of the 40’s. Blues music features saxophones and pianos, and they later got replaced with guitars and snare drums bringing more of a backbeat to the forefront.

Rock and Roll doesn’t feature your acoustic (country music) guitars… it features electric guitars. In a normal, typical band there is a lead guitar, rhythm guitar, string bass, and electric string guitar, and drum kit.

This type of music created a lot of buzz, especially with teens. With dance moves such as the jitterbug being done in sock hops, gymnasium dances, and basement parties, the wild and freeness were coming out! The music expanded language, fashion, behaviors, and attitudes. It did introduce the first public lyrics about explicit matters such as drugs and s*x.

                Like any musical genre there is a time where it becomes less popular and declines in ratings. Around the start of the 60’s it started. Elvis left for service in the war, the plane crash (death of sensations Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens), retirement of Little Richard, prosecutions of Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry, and the payola scandal occurred. This was enough to make Rock and Roll lovers distraught. Who would they listen to now? (417)