History of Rock and Roll

1. Background

Reviewing American history in the first half of the 20th century, from the late 1920s to the mid-1930s, Europe and the United States suffered an economic crisis and the Great Depression; at the end of the 1930s, the Second World War broke out; the United States plunged into the war against fascism after the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the war didn't end until 1945. Looking beyond the 1950s, the 1950s were a period of relative stability and prosperity in the U.S., and are often viewed as a time of prosperity for Americans.The 1960s were one of the most turbulent years in American history. The nation was in a state of great social and political unrest as a result of popular opposition to sending troops into the Vietnam War.?

It so happened that in the 1950s, especially after Eisenhower's inauguration as president in 1952, the U.S. economy began to stabilize, and society as a whole was in a state of peace and prosperity. As a result, there was a gradual increase in the middle class, who were raising children, and there was a peak in childbearing. The number of teenagers grew like never before, and all of a sudden the world became a world of young people. At that time, children generally stayed with their families in their after-school lives. Television programs were also relatively healthy, and there wasn't much of a divide in musical interests. The music that young and old people enjoyed was basically the same: the music of the 1940s and 1950s \"big bands\" and the songs of the tinkling alleys that had been going on for decades, with lyrics that often expressed simple love, and music that was not aggressive, but tried to give people a sense of comfort and tranquillity.

By the mid-1950s, this group of teenagers, who lived in good conditions and had not experienced war and suffering like their parents, and who were also favored by their families, began to fail to understand their parents' way of thinking and living, and were reluctant to follow the path that their parents had laid out for them. They had their own pursuits and hobbies, and because they were so numerous and powerful, they no longer followed their parents in appreciating those sentimental pop songs. That's exactly when they found their voice in rock and roll. The simplicity, power and straightforwardness of rock music, especially its strong rhythm, matches with the energetic and active character of teenagers; the unrestrained performance situation of rock music is compatible with their rebellious mentality; and the subjects sung by rock music are closely related to the problems they are concerned about.

2. The emergence of rock 'n' roll

In the early 1950s, a three-pronged phenomenon emerged in the U.S. popular music market. The music appreciated by blacks was essentially rhythm and blues, whites above the middle class listened to jingle-alley songs, and what rural listeners in the Midwest enjoyed was country music related to rural life. However, by the mid-1950s (around 1954-1956), two distinct phenomena had emerged in the record market, namely, "market crossover" and the emergence of "cover versions". \Market crossover" means that a record originally released in one market also did well in another. For example, some songs topped the Rhythm and Blues sales charts and were also popular on the Pop (a continuation of the popular songs of the time, the Jingle Bell Alley songs) charts. Seeing this lucrative market crossover, some major record companies were quick to produce their own versions of popular rhythm and blues songs, resulting in a large number of \"cover versions\". At this point, the three markets that had separated them suddenly felt like the wall in the middle had come down, and out of the rubble a new genre, rock 'n' roll, was born.

Rock 'n' roll officially came into being in the mid-1950s, but the term had been around since the early '50s, when Cleveland radio disc jockey Alan Freed started with the rhythm-and-blues song "We\'re Gonna Rock, We\'re Gonna Roll" in 1951. Rock?, We\'re?Gonna?Roll), a rhythm and blues song, Alan Freed coined the term \"Rock?n\'?Roll. 1955 saw the release of the movie Blackboard? The release of the movie Blackboard? Jungle in 1955 had a huge impact on the creation of rock and roll. It tells the story of a group of students who rebel. A high school teacher sings a song in front of this group of students, which is the movie's interlude Rock Around the Clock (Rock?Around?The?Clock, Example 16). The song became a huge sensation among teenagers, and in July 1955, Rock Around the Clock went to number one on the Pop charts, signaling the dawn of the rock era. Its singer, Bill Haley, thus became the first rock and roll icon that teenagers worshipped. From then on, rock and roll took the country by storm.

Author：冰海蓝辰月梦 Reply Date：2005-5-17 14:42:00

1.? The Origin of Rock & Roll Music

Rhythm & Blues

The United States has always been very segregated, with whites and blacks separated in residential neighborhoods, schools, churches, and various social facilities. Under the policy of segregation, blacks retained their own religion, language, dress, dance and music. Rhythm and blues, like other black music, had its own community. It was called \"race recordings\" and was separate from the white music market.

Rhythm and blues was the result of the continued development of blues music after World War II. It combined swing and piano boogie-woogie with urban blues, and the sound became more powerful, emphasizing the constant, forward-moving rhythm. It also retained the tradition of improvisation in black music, and the ensemble still used a 12-bar blues pattern that could be repeated over and over again with a harmonic framework. Before the Second World War, blues records have been operated by small record companies, after the war, due to the change in the status of blacks in society, several large record companies interested in black music, at this time, the charts also began to use \"rhythm and blues\" instead of the original \"Race Records\". ". Representatives of this period include Louis Jordan (Louis?Jordan, 1908-1975), Joe Liggins and others. The characteristics of rhythm and blues are directly reflected in many rock and roll music, especially the early rock and roll music, many are rhythm and blues \"cover version\". 70's, rhythm and blues and gospel songs (Gospel) after the combination of the rhythm and blues, so that the pace of its development gradually accelerated. In the 70's, the rhythm and blues was combined with gospel, so that all the black music of the 70's had a strong rhythm and blues flavor, especially solo music (see the section on solo music), which was sometimes indistinguishable from rhythm and blues (e.g., Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5, etc.). 80's onwards, the rhythm and blues was fused with more pop music, which made it become more commercialized. For example, much of today's rhythm and blues has lost its original blues character, and emphasizes the rhythm of the backbeat as its main body, and sometimes you can still find a few occasional blues notes brought out by slides in the singing. In recent years, the so-called rhythm and blues singers Brandy and Monica (Brandy & Monica), Brian McKnight (Brian Mcknight) and other people's music, in fact, is no longer the real rhythm and blues, if you want to analyze from the theoretical, it can only be regarded as a kind of commercialized, by the pop music market bleached rhythm and blues. Rhythm and blues is not really rhythm and blues anymore. But not all rhythm and blues is like that. For example, the two Grammy-winning songs of 1997, Eric Clapton's Change the World and Tracy Chapman's Give Me One Reason (Example 17), are the most popular rhythm and blues songs in the world. Reason, Example 17) are modern rhythm and blues masterpieces that incorporate elements of pop music while maintaining blues characteristics. Rhythm and blues, as one of the most important sources of rock and roll, has become a witness to history, and after influencing rock and roll, its own continuous development has made it one of the most favored genres in today's pop music scene.

★I. Tin Pan Alley Songs (Tin?Pan?Alley)

In the early 1950s, most people in the country listened to pop music \"Pop\" (POP) is the continuation of the traditional style of Tin Pan Alley. It was influenced by Hollywood movie music, Broadway musicals and the swing music that was prevalent in the 1930s and 1940s. Tinkerbell Alley is the name of a place located on 28th Street (between Fifth Avenue and Broadway) in New York City. From the late 1800s, there was a concentration of music publishing companies there, each with song salesmen who played the piano all day to attract customers. Because the pianos were so overused that their tones collapsed, like hitting a tin plate, some people jokingly called the place \"Ting Bang Alley\" (or \\"Ting Pan Hutong\"). Ding Bang Alley was not only a center of popular music publishing, but also a symbol of an era and a style in the history of popular music. It lasted almost more than half a century, from the late 19th century until the late 1950s.

Tinker's Alley songs were generally written by white professional composers. The style varied from period to period and from author to author, but there were **** the same points. From the content to love-oriented, full of romantic mood, or slightly nostalgic, sad, or more cheerful, funny, no matter what happens at home and abroad, are rarely reflected in the Ding Bang Lane songs. It mainly expresses the sunny side of life, as if Americans are enjoying life without any worries; from the point of view of the performance form, the singing melody, uncomplicated rhythm, the harmony of the natural sound system (sometimes there are also changes in the chords and the transposition between phrases), most of them adopt the \"section song - superimposed song \" (Verse - Chorus, i.e., the main song plus the chorus). Chorus, i.e., a main song with a chorus (Example 18). Tinker's Alley songs are usually sung by professional singers to a score that emphasizes vocal technique, accompanied by an orchestra or a small chorus, and often employing a string group as the background timbre of the accompaniment. Famous pop singers of the time, such as Bing Crosby (1904-1977) and Frank Sinatra (1915-1997), mainly sang Ding Bang Alley songs. Tinkerbell Alley songs circulated mainly among inner-city whites and rarely extended to blacks or the lower classes.The emergence of rock and roll in the 1950s challenged the place of traditional Tinkerbell Alley songs in popular music as a whole. Notable jingle-alley composers include Irving?Berlin (1888-1992), represented by White?Christmas; Cole?Porter? (Cole?Porter, 1891 to 1964), represented by Night?and?Day; Jerome?Kern (1885 to 1945), represented by the musical Old Man?River; Richard? Rogers (1902-1979), represented by the musicals The?sound?of?music and Blue?Moon; George?Gershwin (1898-1937), represented by Summer?Time, Rhapsody in Blue (Rhapsody in Blue) and Rhapsody in Blue (Rhapsody in Blue); and George Gershwin (1898-1937), represented by the musicals The?sound?of?music and Rhapsody in Blue (Rhapsody in Blue). Rhapsody?in?Blue.

Author：冰海蓝辰月梦 回复日期：2005-5-17 14:43:00

★二、早期摇滚乐

50年代中到60年代初期，摇滚乐从一个刚学走路的幼儿迅速的成长起来，在这期间，摇滚乐舞台显现了一片繁荣盛景。 First, two pioneers defined the concept of rock 'n' roll more fully, and then three different stylistic tendencies emerged, championed by rock stars.

1. Bill Haley (Bill Haley?, 1925?~1981)

Bill Haley, the first rock 'n' roll icon worshipped by teenagers, is often referred to as the "father of rock 'n' roll". His musical style, which encompassed country, rhythm and blues, and pop, illustrates the three origins of rock 'n' roll in the mid-1950s.

Bill Haley was born in Michigan in 1925 to a textile worker who played banjo and a piano teacher. Bill Haley grew up learning guitar and singing country songs, and also enjoyed and became familiar with rhythm and blues, forming the Saddlemen in 1950. While singing country songs, Bill Haley occasionally realized that rhythm and blues songs sung in a country style could be accepted by white audiences, and in 1953 he renamed the band the Comets, consciously combining country music with the powerful rhythms of rhythm and blues. In 1954, Bill Haley recorded "Rock Around the Clock," which had only mediocre results at first, but when it was combined with the 1955 movie "Blackboard Jungle," it made a huge splash.

Bill Haley suffered from rhapsody in the 1970s and, coupled with a heavy drinking habit, died of a heart attack in 1981. As one of the pioneers of rock and roll, Bill Haley played an indelible role in its creation.

2. Elvis Presley (Elvis?Presley, 1935-1977)?

The most influential singer of the 1950s was Elvis Presley, known as the "King of Rock 'n' Roll", who made great contributions to the promotion and popularization of rock 'n' roll.

Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1935. From a young age, his family was poor and his father, a truck driver, lived at the bottom of white society, and his social status was equal to that of blacks because of his intermingling with them. Presley was exposed to both white and black cultures from an early age and grew up with church gospel songs. he began learning the guitar at age 11, and as a result, he absorbed both white and black music. in 1948 Presley's family relocated to Memphis, where he often went to the black section of town to listen to the likes of B. B. King.

Presley graduated from high school in 1953 and got a job as a truck driver. That summer, he went to the studio at Sun Records to record two songs as a birthday present for his mother. It was then that record company owner Sam Phillips recognized Presley's potential as a white man with a black voice and sensibility and signed him to a contract. It was an unexpected local success. In the fall of 1955, he signed with RCA Victory Records, and in 1956, with the release of Heartbreak?Hotel (Example 19), he became a big hit. 1958 marked the beginning of his career, but he left the scene, gave up singing, and enlisted in the U.S. Army. and enlisted in the army, where he remained until demobilized in 1960. From 1962 to 1968, Presley had little contact with his audience except for making movies and living in seclusion in his Memphis hometown.In 1967, Presley married Priscilla?Beaulieu. The marriage resulted in a daughter, but after six years they divorced due to the breakdown of their marriage and the daughter was awarded to the woman, leaving him mentally stimulated and demoralized. He weighed over 200 pounds, which was detrimental to his stage image. As a result, he went on a diet, took weight-loss pills and, with the addition of drugs, his health suffered. he died at home of a heart attack on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42 years.

The nation was shaken by the departure of the King of Song. By the time of his death, at least 500 million records had been sold. Indeed, Presley's success was no accident; some say he was rock 'n' roll personified. He had a likable look with an offbeat rebelliousness; he was religious, filial, patriotic (e.g., he volunteered for the military), and never evaded taxes. Most importantly, he brought two cultures (black and white) together better than any other singer. Moreover, Presley sang more styles of music based on both cultures. His singing was both shouty and gentle, covering different aspects of patriotic, religious, escapist, social commentary, vernacular, and romantic, and in so doing, he catered to different segments of the population. He became a favorite figure among different music lovers. After Presley's death, the music industry was eager to find another singer as versatile as he was, but never succeeded. ?3. Three Stylistic Tendencies

★Mainstream Rock (Main?Stream?Rock)

Among the three sources of rock and roll, we have already mentioned that rhythm and blues is the most important source of rock and roll. The characteristics of rhythm and blues were also preserved and developed in rock and roll, thus forming the dominant style in rock and roll in the 1950s. The role of rhythm is evident in all rock and roll, but is more emphasized in mainstream rock. While rock music is generally four-beat, with beats two and four being the weak beats in a traditional four-beat, many mainstream rock emphasizes the strength of beats two and four, and some mainstream rock puts equal emphasis on the four beats of each bar. Mainstream rock is a bit faster than rhythm and blues in terms of tempo changes, and the backbeats are thicker and feel more intense. Drummers are just as important as any other musicians in the band, not just simply pounding out the beat, but the piano and guitar are often involved in the rhythmic composition as well. And they also form a distinct bass line with the bass. Whereas country and bop usually have a bass on every beat or every other beat, mainstream rock, like rhythm and blues, has absorbed elements of boogie-woogie to provide not just a simple chordal bass, but a short melodic pattern that provides three or four tones of the chord, and in some cases adds one or two extra chordal tones (Example 20).

Mainstream rock inherited the powerful singing style of rhythm and blues. For white people, there used to be few such genres, but they have been developed for decades in rhythm and blues. Mainstream rock also often adopts the 12-bar blues song structure, or variations on it. Examples include Hound?dog and Jailhouse?Rock, sung by Presley, and Lucille (Example 21), sung by Little?Richard.The singer who best characterized this type of shout-rock in the 1950s was Little Richard.

Little Richard, born in 1932 in Macon, Georgia, was the third of 12 children in his family. He grew up in poverty and was a devout believer in God under his family's influence, attending a local church choir.

Little Richard sang with fervor, shouting and dancing, always sweating profusely, and in 1957, he went on a religious retreat, cutting off all performances; in 1962, he was inspired by the Beatles while on tour in England and determined to return to rock 'n' roll. By the end of the 1960s, his style seemed a bit dated, but his influence could still be seen in other rockers. in the 1970s, he attempted to regroup, but his involvement with drugs, alcohol and homosexuality prevented him from doing so, and in the early 1980s, he once again abandoned his wild lifestyle for religion.

Mild Rock (Soft?Rock)?

Mainstream rock has very little pop influence, but other rock combines elements of pop to create a milder style of rock. Some people scoff at this kind of rock, calling it \"cheap rock\", but it has its own market. Things are often relative. With a stronger mainstream rock style, there is bound to be its opposite - mild rock. Presley set the template for the development of mild rock with songs such as I?want?you, I?need?you, I?love?you, Don't, and Love?me?tender (Example 22) in the 50's. In the 60's, he had more work in the direction of mild rock, some of which is virtually indistinguishable from pop.