Early Rock and Roll

Rock and Roll combined elements of Rhythm and Blues, and Country

á          Post-World War II preference was for vocal, not instrumental dance music.  Young whites attracted to black gospel music and rhythm and blues

á          Gospel combined religious expression with secular techniques: steady beat, rhythmic complexity, call and response, melodic improvisation etc.

á          Rhythm and Blues (R&B) used gospel sound plus blues harmonic pattern; also blue notes, and extreme vocal ranges including falsetto. Term came to mean all popular music intended primarily for black audiences.

á          Usually had electric guitar, sometimes other electric instruments

á          Lyrics frankly sexual

á          Vocals were often shouted or screamed

á          R&B rarely heard on ÒmainstreamÓ (white) radio, but Alan Freed experimented in Cleveland playing R&B

á          Bill Haley and His Comets: white singer with black vocal delivery style; started as Western band but added R&B elements

á          Elvis Aron Presley also started as country/gospel singer originally more popular with blacks than whites; but in mid-50Õs appealed to both black and white audiences. ElvisÕ delivery also important: crooning vocal style with vibrato, very beautiful, pure voice; black vocal techniques like slides; and physical movements (Ògyrating pelvisÓ) attracted young audiences

á          Chuck Berry very successful singer and composer; combined more country elements with R&B, esp. vocal style.

á          Problems in early Rock & Roll: death of Buddy Holly, draft of Elvis, scandals (Payola, where disc jockeys accepted bribes for playing records; also sexual scandals with Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis).  Made room for new developments in the 60Õs

á          60Õs Rock and Roll: book mentions several types; we will just talk about Motown, the Beatles

á          Motown record company established in Detroit; purpose was to market rock and roll by black musicians.  Criticized for not being Òblack-enough;Ó too conformist.  Music tended to be more popular with white listeners than black

á          The Beatles: early songs were light-hearted; later became more idealistic or expressive of drug culture

á          Late 60Õs and into 70Õs Rock and roll gave way to Rock, with many sub-types

á          Psychedelic  Blues, so named because it (along with acid rock) attempted to create sensations of being on an acid trip.  Psych Blues was a little more country oriented in vocal style.  Big artists: Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix