...African American Impact on Rock'n'Roll Music has always been evolving with new ideas and techniques from the beginning of time, going from the earliest string instruments to all electronic disc jockeys that are very popular across the world today. Inside all of this, however, is the way this music has been passed between artists and through time. Clearly not all music was discovered in the same place it is popular today, although much of their roots are still visible in these places. People pass information between each other and are always looking and listening for the next big thing, and with the great rock ‘n’roll boom during the mid-20th century, the idea didn’t come to artists like Elvis out of nowhere. The musical origins of the genre started from other popular music at the time, and for rock’n’roll, much of this came from Southern African American musicians. Much credit is given to artists like Elvis for his outstanding musical talent, but it would be naïve to think that only white artists were popular for their music at the time. Despite his image as one of the best musical talents, Elvis was not the only great rocker of his time. Throughout the 1950’s, many different artists contributed to the top songs of the decade, many of which happened to be African American. Artists such as Ray Charles, Fats Domino and Nat King Cole played significant roles in bringing black musicians to the mainstream. Their contributions have stood the...
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...The Course of Rock’N’Roll Elvis Presley paved the way for many rock n roll artists nowadays. His daring collision of country and Rhythm n Blues is now a precedent to all rock artists here now. He was a big part of getting more black singers out there with everyone else. Those who didn’t love elvis, thought of him as despicable for associating with african american artists. His dance moves were considered raunchy and risque as he was named “Elvis the Pelvis”. Elvis was powerful enough through his singing and dancing to break through those prudish 50’s and 60’s barriers. He forever changed the way of rock n roll and had the biggest effect on how it looks today. Elvis is probably one of the better people that this could have happened for. “Elvis Aaron Presley came from a small humble family who took the Christian messages of all kind being created equal” (Article 3). It’s that fact that makes it sure that he was the best person to give music a make over. He was sympathetic to african...
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...The rise and emergence of rock ‘n’ roll in American society in the 1950s and 1960s partially broke down the color barrier, allowing people to begin looking past the issues of racial inferiority and superiority. This breaking down of the color barrier and easing of racial tension was not complete, however, leading to a heightened need for civil rights and equality. This new music form allowed blacks and whites to work together in a professional setting and intermingle like they never had before, increasing white appreciation and acceptance for blacks. Without rock ‘n’ roll and the social benefits included, the civil rights movement may never have been as powerful as it was. The origins of rock ‘n’ roll had its very roots in the African-American culture. Rhythm and blues, jazz, and gospel music, once confined solely to black culture, now found their way into white society, as “race records” became popular, not just in the black community, but in the white community as well. These “race records” were, at first, aimed only at the African-American audience, and were distributed by door-to-door salesmen and newsboys for “lovers of music everywhere and those who desire to help in the advance of the Race.” Bessie Smith, a black singer in the 1920s, became so popular within the black community, that she was cast in an early sound film—one of the first to include black performers. Eventually, “race records” expanded to include comedy routines, recorded sermons, and spirituals. In the 1940s...
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...Such as musicians, actors/actresses, even artists. A name that is familiar to every person in the 1950s was the legendary rock artist, Elvis Presley. Elvis had a way of capturing the audience’s attention and holding it. The “teenage enjoyment of rock ‘n’ roll” (Welch 5) was the biggest constituent of this revolution. The music let them be and express themselves in a way they could not do before. Although the younger community enjoyed the mixture of music, the adults did not. The adults saw Elvis as a sexual figure because of the way he danced and wanted nothing to do him or his music. This ended up sparking controversy between the public and Presley’s producers. Another beneficial figure during this time was Doctor Martin Luther King Junior. Martin Luther King was a demonstrative leader within the black community. One thing that made him very different from all the other leaders was that he believed in non-violent protest. Through...
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...How Rock n’ Roll Changed America Music has been an influence on all people for years now. The music of rock n roll in the 1950s impacted all music genres then and today. Glenn C. Altschuler’s book, All Shook Up: How Rock n’ Roll Changed America, elaborated on how this era changed the view on music through race and sexuality. There were many problems that were caused between the two generations during the 1950s era because of the music influences of rock n’ roll. Whites were refraining their children from listening to such music that the teenagers enjoyed, for they did not want them to listen to black artists or bring out any sexuality they might have. Race and sexuality have been touchy subjects that make so many people uncomfortable and skeptical on accepting it just as is. Music and musicians during the times of the rock n roll ages of the 1950’s brought these delicate subjects out. Rock n’ roll was seen as a way of symbolizing black empowerment to the whites. Altschuler talks about how it was a moment where Black people were beginning to identify and assert themselves racially (35-37). During this time white older folks were very familiarized to separating blacks and whites. Doing such other made the folks upset and uncomfortable. They felt rock n’ roll was mixing and bringing the races together. There was a saying that was called “jungle music”, that meant the rock n roll music performed by the black race was causing young white teens to become disobedient and lose their...
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...“Keep running, you're almost there!” These words reverberated in my mind when I did my first half marathon and the image of Dory singing “just keep swimming”. It was a long arduous journey, but in the end I am so humbled to have run this race for the families in Africa who don’t have clean water. From the countless nights of writing emails to potential donors and the several cramps from months of preparation, the Rock n’ Roll run in Seattle was an awarding experience. The mission was not easy, but empowering individuals out of poverty by planting the seeds of change was worth all the energy. Giving hope to kids in Africa by showing them unconditional love changed my life. I have realized that people together can pull the roots of poverty to make a positive shift. I ran this race with World Vision, a global non-profit organization, whose mission is to give clean water to families in Africa. I took part in this event mainly because I learned how many people in the world don’t have access to this simple necessity and wanted to make a change. I was exposed to this wonderful organization through my church who blesses many people in third world countries. From a very young age, I always had a passion for helping people in need. In middle school I raised...
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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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...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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...The review written by Richard Aquila brings to light notable criticisms of Glen C. Altschuler’s book called All Shook Up. The comments undermine his argument and take away from emphasizing the cultural influences of Rock ‘n’ Roll. However, better fact checking and a familiar look at Motown would make him a more credible author. Aquila points out there are many errors in the facts stated throughout the book. Simple mistakes are made that could have been easily avoided with thorough fact checking. For example, Altschuler lists the wrong title of a famous Rock ‘n’ Roll song by Danny and the Juniors’ (Aquila 1). While the content of the book is still engaging, the inaccuracy of the details is distracting and gives less weight to the facts used...
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...Elvis Presley is the true king of Rock-N-Roll . Even now people of the younger generation who aren’t familiar with him or who he is, know of his unchallenged royalty. One reason he is so big is his life story which is going from rags to riches. Elvis is also one of the youngest stars of his generation to start recording and progress so quickly to number one spots. Elvis stood out more from the rest by being a white artist that made music in black a black dominated genre. His stage presence, overall look and the controversy that followed him helped make him the biggest sensation of the Rock-N-Roll era. Elvis Presley started out at a young age coming from a poor lifestyle, background which was very appealing to a lot of the young audience. His...
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...When Rock arrived on the music charts in the 1950's, a merging of African-American and White music, it made a huge impact on society. As a general rule I am not heavily into music, but I was drawn to Rock for some inexplicable reason. It is just the music I like. This genre will be difficult to write about because the origin of Rock is unclear; there are traces of Rock's style back into the 19th Century. It is also a very broad subject and I will have to compress a lot of information into as few pages as possible. Be that as it may, Rock is, in my opinion the best music genre on the charts. There is so much information on Rock that I will have to have questions I want to find the answers to about the music. My first question will be, "What instruments are commonly used in a rock band?" This will not be hard to answer as it is a very easy question that has a definite answer. The next question will be, "Who were the first artists to produce Rock music?" This is also an easy question were I will discuss the first Rockers. Continuing on, my next question will ask, "How was the term Rock and Roll' created, and by who?" This may turn out to be a hard question to answer because I am sure there a multiple answers. "Has Rock become more or less popular since its inception?" will be my next question. For this question I will have to look for a survey or poll of some type and present its data. My final question will be, "How has the Music been changed over the years and who changed...
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...people looked at “Rock ‘n’ Roll”, in a good, and bad way.Elvis was incredibly important for the popularization of “Rock ‘n’ Roll” . From Elvis’ early life, to his rise to fame, and his legacy. It all started when Elvis was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, January 8, 1935. When he was very young, he had a stillborn brother, Jesse Garon Presley. Throughout his whole music career he would talk about his brother. When he was in high school, he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and when he was there he enrolled in Humes High School. He signed up for music class, and halfway through the year his grades started slipping, and by the time it was the end of the year he failed music class. He failed because he was playing a different kind of music then everyone else, a mixture of gospel music, and country. Elvis was born in Mississippi a rockstar Following this, he eventually graduated high school in Memphis, and two years later he went to local Sun Studios to record his first single in 1954. After that his whole career rocketed. He recorded his first No.1 single “Heartbreak Hotel”. With his unusual dance moves he became very popular in America. He...
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...Americanisation to Australia. American films were released in Australia, and they became more popular than Australian films. American movies and films such as “I love Lucy”, have been blasted onto many Australian TV screens. Films were a great influence to teenagers, films such as ‘The wild one’ and ‘rebel without a cause’ this therefore showed a new type of teenager. One of the most significant changes to have occurred in the Australian popular culture was the change in music. American music would not have been possible without the radio. Bodgies and widgies were influenced by the culture of rock n roll music. Music such as Rock n roll became popular and had control over American lifestyle. Radios were playing music by Elvis Presley and Col Joye which influenced Australia’s society to where we are today. Australian’s fell under the influence of American rock n roll music. Rock n roll stars such Elvis Presley became very successful because teenagers adored him, his hairstyle, fashion and his moves which drove teenagers wild and he was an idol for the teenager’s generation. Australian fashion has also changed as a result of Americanisation. New fashion and clothing worn by American movie stars were referred as fashionable and influenced many teenagers and even older people to follow American way of life. Many Fashion clothing was brought about in films, where movie actors such as James dean showing how he portrayed his fashion icon wearing a leather jacket and tight jeans....
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...These racial issues introduced a new music genre called Rock ‘n’ Roll. A lot of this music was written by African-Americans. Many Caucasian adults did not agree with Rock ‘n’ Roll because of the lesson it was teaching, the music was the largest sold music genre of the decade. Caucasian adults believed the lyrics were sexual and rebellious. As an effect of these lyrics, many Caucasian teenagers started rebelling against their parents. African Americans wrote the songs the Caucasian’s singers performed them (Vaillancourt 5). Even politicians disagreed with the Rock ‘n’ Roll statement (Alvarez 10). Before Rock ‘n’ Roll, Jazz, and Blues were the main music genres. Even though Jazz and Blues still existed, Rock ‘n’ Roll was in the hearts of teenagers during the fifties (Alvarez...
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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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