...“otherworldly,” his electric guitar solos later influenced the transition from rock and roll to psychedelic rock. His solos became legendary and were groundbreaking during his time. In order to alter the pitch of his notes, he would maneuver the guitar’s tremolo arm to expertly create a trademark wavering sound (“Jimi”). Oftentimes, he implemented the effect of “fuzz boxes” or distortion, combined it with repetitive musical phrases reflective of blues, and drove the phrases with fast tempo power chords. His relationship with the electric guitar was intensely personal. On June 18, 1967, Hendrix performed at the Monterey International Pop Festival with his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience (“The Jimi Hendrix”). At the end of his performance, he set his electric guitar on fire while on stage (“The Jimi Hendrix”). His flamboyant performance style oftentimes involved him playing with his elbow or even his teeth. During certain songs, such as “Wild Thing,” he imitated the distorted sound of an engine revving and held the guitar as if it was a phallic object. The thin, sleek body of the electric guitar allowed for more expressive, energetic performances. Sometimes, he would even thrust towards or lay on his guitar while performing. This highly sexualized performance became his signature and influenced later psychedelic rockers. The practice of sexualizing the electric guitar contributed to the counterculture aspect of rock and encouraged further creativity of other artists. Although I never realized...
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...Legacy Of The Rolling Stones And The Beatles By: Greg Johnston The history of rock and roll music has had many influential and popular bands. Back in the early days when rock and roll music was searching for an identity, along came two unique bands that would change the face of rock and roll music. The Rolling Stones and The Beatles had a uniqueness that was not found in other bands at the time, by fusing blues and rock music into a new sound. With their contrasting style of music and each band having a huge following, they changed the landscape of the music industry forever. And that started the debate of which one was a better band, but this is not a debate on which band was better, but a discussion on their influence, similarities and their differences. The Rolling Stones when they first started, in an effort to set them apart they were marketed as a wilder and crazier band, with a raunchy and rebellious appearance. Compared to The Beatles and their boy next door image. The Rolling Stones influenced music by covering obscure blues songs and by acting as a bridge connecting the pop youth of the day with blues music developing a different style of rhythm and blues music. The Beatles had such an impact on popular music that they set a new standard, and gave a new popularity to rock and roll music while also giving a new sound to the music industry. Both of these iconic rock and roll bands originated in England in the 1960’s. First came The Beatles in 1960,” Early...
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...Professor James Smethurst AFROAM 151 December 5, 2012 The History Of Rock and Roll: Copyright Not Included The history of black America is one filled with exploitation and abuse. Time and time again we see the “cultural rape” of the black community. Whether it be style, lingo, or music white culture has been “borrowing” from black culture since the early history of the United States. It is so obvious it almost passes unnoticed. For example the handshake has largely been replaced in youth culture by a dap or a fist pound, both remnant of black culture in the 60’s. Even hello has been replaced with “yo” an interjection made popular in the black vernacular. One cultural phenomena that has been largely covered up as African-American in origin. The history of rock and roll is long and intricate drawing its roots from early American R&B, among other places. While most of the true innovators of rock music have been widely overlooked, white musicians have been profiting greatly off of the innovations made in music by black recording artists, specifically in the arena of rock and roll. It is widely accepted that rock music has its roots in the american blues. The history of the blues dates all the way back to slave plantations. This genre comes specifically from African-American folk music. Julio Finn the author of The Bluesman stated that: [White blues performers] can never be bluespeople...because the blues is not something they live but something they do- which makes all...
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...melody, or harmony.” Rock music has been an escape for many people through the fascinating history, concerts, and the many different genres of rock. Many people credit Alan Freed with coining the term Rock ‘n’ Roll. At radio station WJW in Cleveland, Ohio, dj Alan Freed started out in 1951 playing classical music such as Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart. Freed soon realized rock 'n' roll had took the hearts of young people throughout the U.S.. “I went to the station manager and talked him into permitting me to follow...
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...Music Notes: Midterm One Introduction Studying Rock: * Fan mentality: reject other forms of music * Gold Records: 500,000 copies * Platinum Records: 1 million copies Themes: * Social, political, and cultural issues * Issues of race, class, and gender * The development of the music business * The development of technology The Popularity Arc: * Mainstream popularity is the ‘peak’ * Genres tend to develop underground and aren’t written about historically during these years (subcultures) Musical Form: * The way different sections in a song are organized Rhythm: the way music sounds are organized in time; beat is the pulse Meter: organization of rhythm and beats into music * Simple; one & two & three (2 parts) * Compound; one & uh two & uh three (3 parts) * Duple (2 beats per measure) * Triple (3 beats per measure) * Quadruple (4 beats per measure) Timbre (colour): voice is: warm, smooth, rich * Chest voice, falsetto, crooner (male who sings with background jazz music) The 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s * Upheaval in politics, reflected in music * Baby boomers Chapter 1: Roots to 1955 Before Rock and Roll (Main stream music, rhythm and blues, country & western) Part 1: The World of Mainstream Pop Leading up to 1955 National vs. Regional Changes * Emergence of technology took music from a regional scope to a national level * Radio (1920’s) directed at white middle class ...
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...Rock and Roll Vs. Hip-Hop Influence Everyone knows that rock and roll and hip-hop are two completely different sounding genres, but why is that? Well, rock and roll uses heavy lead guitar to lead the band with while hip-hop uses vocals as their main point of interest. They sound drastically different, but they share many of the same roots. They share jazz, rhythm and blues, folk/gospel, and plain old blues. Where the music is different is when rock uses a little more blues influence while hip-hop uses soul influence. This leaves the question, “which is more influential?’’ and to get to that point, this paper will explain how both genres are influential in their own ways, and then he or she can compare the two so one can decide for his or herself. First, one should learn what rock and roll is, where it started, who influenced it, the controversies of it, and then all of that again but for hip-hop. So what exactly is “rock and roll”? Rock and roll (also known just as...
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...Taylor Rice History of Rock and Roll Mixtape Project February 25, 2016 Cross Road Blues by Robert Johnson Hound Dog by Elvis Presley This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie Good Golly Miss Molly by Little Richard Unforgettable by Nat King Cole Miserlou by Dick Dale & the Del Tones Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley & the Comets Surfin’ USA by Beach Boys Maybellene by Chuck Berry The Times They Are A-Changin by Bob Dylan Robert Johnson’s “Cross Road Blues” (Crossroads) released in 1937. Robert Johnson is a legend, known as a figure in defining the foundation of the birth of Blues. His blues style was also very influential in the shaping of Rock and Roll. Before his young death at the young age of 27, he only ever recorded 29 of his compositions, which is very little material in comparison to other legends. His songs were seen as remarkable and inspiring since his music had a shockingly raw feel for the era. “Cross Road Blues” is in the blues genre, more specifically the Delta blues style. The song gives life to the legend of Robert Johnson who supposedly met the Devil at a crossroads outside of town and sold his sole in return for the Devil to tune his guitar and give him the talent to become a great musician. The song represents the blues genre of the era from the spiritual and religious roots, however, rather than using the usual saxophone as the lead instrument in a jazz song, he played the acoustic guitar. Woody Guthrie’s “This Land...
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...many people and will be for years to come. During the 1920’s thru the 1940’s, Jazz, and the Blues were a big part of the American culture. The 1950’s changed all of that (Vaillancourt 6). Nineteen Fifties music has been affected by the problems of Segregation, Civil Rights, and The Cold War during the decade. The Cold War, the baby boom and the struggle for equality were all a major parts of the 1950’s. During that time the country's economy was limited. When the Cold War hit the American economy grew and consumers were spending great amounts of money. Soldiers returning from...
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...Teenagers influenced the market industry by buying fashionable clothes, food, car etc. Through watching many movies produced from America, many teenagers were copying the looks of their favourite celebrities ranging from Marlon Brando portrayed as a motorbike punk in “The Wild One” dressed up in blue jeans and a leather jacket to Marilyn Monroe and Grace kelly wearing tiny waistlines and full skirts and busts. Many of the teenagers copying Marlon Brando and James Dean (Rebel without a cause, he was also wearing similar clothes to Marlon Brando) were influenced to wear jeans, leather boots and a white t - shirt and these were a symbol of teenage rebellion for young men everywhere. Throughout the 1950’s young women were also influenced by rock n roll. Full skirts in bright colours became popular for...
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...Shosanna Spill Tricia Swoope ENG 112 03 July 2010 Rock Music Rock is a popular form of music that has evolved over the past couple of decades starting in the 1950s until present day. Rock music has been known to be used as a form of expression over the years. Despite its sometimes negative and defiant lyrics, rock is a form of art that allows one to release his/her feelings through singing in an expressive tone. Later styles of heavy rock music in the 1990s, such as grunge, the typical example being Seattle's Nirvana, show influences of heavy metal but are typically not labelled sub-genres of heavy metal, as opposed to thrash metal and glam metal. The general absence of virtuosic guitar solos is perhaps one reason grunge bands haven't been considered heavy metal bands. Another key artist during this time was Megadeth, which combined the relentless, speedy thrash metal riffs with the fancy guitar soloing of speed metal like Judas Priest. Rock-n-Roll has never just been music. Heavy metal, Rhythm & Blues, Art Rock, New Wave, and the rest may be primary styles or genres but as sub-categories of rock, or rockin’ roll they do not cumulatively add up to the whole. Rock n’ Roll is a movement, a lifestyle, in many ways a belief system and all that Rock n Roll is today it owes to history: two years, no more than three when the fabric of American popular culture was torn apart and rewoven, and a new era explosively began. Rock n Roll started with slavery. To understand we must understand...
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...Classifications of Rock and Roll Music It is said that music makes the world go round. That is a very true fact. If there was no music the world would be a much lonelier, quieter and boring place to live. Music fills our lives with happiness and sadness. Sometimes it makes us mad. Sometimes it makes us want to dance. It has been around since the invention of man. The love of music starts at a very young age and continues into adulthood and old age. Whatever type of music you listen to is your choice. There are many types of music to choose from. There is Country & Western, Rhythm & Blues, Rap and Hip Hop. There is Jazz and Big Band style music. And lastly but by far not the least is Rock & Roll. Everywhere you go you can hear these types of music. You can hear it in the local shopping malls as background music, and in the churches being sung by the choir or the congregation. You can hear it on your radio at your home or in your car. You can even hear it at your favorite night club being played on a juke box or by a live band. The style of music I listen to is Rock & Roll; therefore, it is what I will be talking about in this essay. Rock & Roll got its start in the 1950’s. It is comprised of Country & Western, and Rhythm & Blues, but played at a much faster upbeat tempo. It was made popular by people like Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley, who is considered to be the King of Rock & Roll. Rock & Roll music became popular...
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...History of Rock and Roll Who invented rock and roll? Well, the answer is nobody. Rock music is the innovation and evolution of many different types of music from a wide variety of groups of people. No one planned rock and roll, and it took over a great deal of American culture and revolutionized popular music. Rock and roll was influenced by African American music as well as white American styles. Since the introduction of minstrel shows in America in 1840, people have created and developed many other kinds of music. Mostly originated from African Americans, swing, blues, and jazz music was an early beginning to rock music. Many musical qualities were brought with African slaves into America. Some of the qualities include improvisation, “call and response” singing, and a dynamic rhythm. They created spiritual music and blues, which later evolved into what we know today as gospel music and “rhythm and blues.” White American music is based on of folk-style songs, mostly ballads in small bands of musical instruments. At the start of the 20th century, these folk style songs became referred to as hillbilly music. The transition to country-western music began with singers like Jimmie Rodgers and Gene Autry. After World War II, soldiers returning home wanted to feel at home again. This started the era of playing music on the radio, with programs such as Grand Ole Opry, which still runs today. This genre of music used guitars, Hawaiian guitar and drums on occasion to create a new...
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...The “Rolling Stones”, the “Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band in the World”, or the “Stones” are all names of which the influential bad boys of Rock ‘n’ Roll go by. The well deserved and hardly argued title of the “Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band in the World” was first bestowed upon them in the 1960s. Although there were other Rock ‘n’ Roll bands rising to fame at this time, almost simultaneously, the Rolling Stones graciously accepted the title and carried it to the top along with them, taking no breaks from the spotlight. The Rolling Stones left a lasting impression on the music industry as well as on most, if not all, of the people that have had the pleasure of enjoying their music, including myself. I was first captivated by the Stones as a kid...
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...Contents The Blues – Traditions and Inspirations Origin 2 Musical Format Development Classification Influence References Origin Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States around the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll is characterized by specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues chord progression is the most common. The blue notes that, for expressive purposes are sung or played flattened or gradually bent (minor 3rd to major 3rd) in relation to the pitch of the major scale, are also an important part of the sound. The origin of the term of was most likely derived from mysticism involving blue indigo, which was used by many West African cultures in death and mourning ceremonies where all the mourner's garments would have been dyed blue to indicate suffering. Blues has evolved from the unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves imported from West Africa and rural blacks into a wide variety of styles and subgenres, with regional variations across the United States. The musical forms and styles that are now considered the "blues" as well as modern "country music" arose in the same regions during the 19th century in the southern United States. Recorded...
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...Forms of Swing In many scenes outside the United States, the term "swing dancing" is used to refer to one, or all, of the following swing era dances: Lindy Hop, Charleston, Shag, and Balboa. This group is often extended to include West Coast Swing, East Coast Swing, Hand Dancing, Jive, Rock and Roll, elden Jive, and other dances developed in the 1940s and later. A strong tradition of social and competitive boogie woogie and Rock 'n' Roll in Europe add these dances to their local swing dance cultures Early forms from the 1930s and 1940s * Lindy Hop evolved in the late 1920s and early 1930s out of the Partnered Charleston. It is characterized by an 8-count circular basic or "swing out" and has an emphasis on improvisation and the ability to easily adapt to include other steps in 8-count and 6-count rhythms. It has been danced to many different styles of music with blues or jazz rhythm (with the exception of jazz waltzes), as well as non-traditional styles of music such as hip hop. Lindy-Hop is characterized by tricks and high-flying arieal movements.] Lindy Hop got its name in 1927 when a reporter visiting New York's Savoy Ballroom asked a swing dancer what kind of dance they were doing. Because Charles Lindbergh had just made his news-making solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, the dancer replied, "the Lindy-Hop." The name stuck. * Balboa is an 8-count dance that emphasizes a strong partner connection and quick footwork. A product of Southern California's crowded ballrooms...
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