The Age of Rock & Roll: Major MusicalContributions & What Impact it had on

America

PowerPoint by Cahliah Hammonds

With the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, and the age of space travel all going on at once, the Age of Rock & Roll Music sprung into action, making hit music off

these events and more, filling the ears of not just the Hippies, but in the regular societal

homes.

During the Age of Rock and Roll, the music played during the late 50’s and 60’s was viewed negatively, as it seemed to make the teenagers of that time period act delinquently.

Rock and Roll dates back all the way to the Blues, where it originated. It came from being the “devil’s music”, to getting signed on huge record labels, sent to the local radio stations, made onto the finest vinyl’s, and pumped through televisions.

Lets start with the Genius of RnR: Elvis Presley

• People say that he is the reason Rock and Roll stayed around

• Was seen EVERYWHERE• The neighborhood even gathered around the television to see him on shows like the Milton Burrow Show and the Ed Sullivan Show

• Top 40 Radio: Elvis had songs in the top 40, but many of them where in the top 10

• Has made 55 million dollars to date

Rock and Roll was not only reaching viewers from the radio and vinyl’s, but also the television. Ricky Nelson commonly played Rock and Roll on this parents TV show.

American Bandstand

• Hosted by Dick Clark• He really didn’t know much about rock and roll until he started doing more

shows and became to appreciate the music

• Premiered in 1957 on 67 television stations• 8 million viewers

• Everyone (host, audience, dancers) were clean-cut

• For the younger audience

• “In the absence of major rock stars and working on the new medium of television, the farsighted Clark had created a rock-and-roll that emphasized the audience as much as the music.” (Rockin’ in Time)

Girl Groups and Teenage Bands• Since the crowd of Rock and Roll was primarily teenaged, of course

Teenage Idols and Girl Groups appeared.• Teen Idols included:• Frankie Avalon• Bobby Rodell• Chubby Checker•Does cover of “The Twist”

• Girl Groups:• Popular in the Billboard pop chard in 1962 to 1965•Martha and the Vandellas• The Paris Sisters• The Sumpremes

The Beach Boys• Influenced America to the age of Surf Music

• Surf music originated in Hawaii

• Band members included:

• Brian Wilson

• Mike Love

• Al Jardine

• David Marks

• Bruce Johnston

• Officially became The Beach Boys after their record “Surfin’”

• Album “Surfin’ Safari” #14 on National Singles Chart

• Boys became the Kings of Surf

Bob Dylan

• Folk Protest Singer

• Defined as the “most influential musician” and the “spokesperson of his generation.”

• May 1963: “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” Album• “Blowin’ in the Wind” song off album

was the anthem for the civil rights movement

• Influenced Joan Baez, who is his female counterpart

• VERY political and had many public demonstrations to show so

Newport Folk Festival 1965 and Bob Dylan

• Bob Dylan was the main headline• 1st came out and played Rock and Roll, got booed off the stage• Johnny Cash convinced him to go back out and play

• Folk Rock was born

Phil Ochs

• Another Folk Protester singer

• Touches on a lot of issues dealing with the government and how they were running America

• Says that the USA has a bad case of the “pentagonorrhea”

• Sang the songs “I ain’t a Marchin’ anymore” and “Draft Dodger Rag” both songs which touch on the war and being against it

• His music was banned in America and many just wanted him to shut up

The Beatles

• Members included:• John Lennon

• Paul McCartney

• George Harrison

• Ringo Starr

• Had so many fans in Britain and the USA that they had the largest fan base• Fan Base was known as Beatle Mania

• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is known as the most important album because that’s when their style changed

• “Hey Jude” was the longest song on the radio (radio had a 3 minute restriction) and was 7 minutes long

Payola Scandal

•Payola aka “Play for pay”

• If you wanted your record played on the radio, you better had paid

•How it fit into daily life of America: Congressmen went after this scandal hoping to weed out all the Rock and Roll music that corrupted their teenagers

•By 1960, 207 disk jockey’s in 42 states had collected more than $263,000 in payola.

The Rolling Stones

• Band members include:• Mick Jagger

• Keith Richards

• Ian Stewart

• Charlie Watts

• Bill Wyman

• Did the opposite of what the Beatles where doing, showed the darker, more sexier side of Rock and Roll instead of the sunny side of it

• “World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band”

Motown Records• Berry Gordy Jr Founded Motown

in 1959

• Created new music techniques known as Assembly Line Tech• Standardized song writing

• Inhouse rhythm section

• Quality control

• Selective promotion

• Family atmosphere

• Smokey Robinson and the Miracles• 1st hit “Better Shop Around”

• Marvelettes• 1st hit “Mr. Postman”

• Temptations• Four tops• Marvin Gaye

Soul Music• Soul Train Television show

• Singer included:• James Brown “Soul brother #1”

• Ray Charles “Genius of Soul”

• Otis Redding

• Aretha Franklin “Lady Soul”

• Sam & Dave

Beats/Beatniks/Beat’s Revival• 50’s

• North Beach San Francisco, California• Into Zen Buddhism, poetry, cool jazz, and had

nontraditional values (which the hippies also followed)• Left the words crash, pad, cool, can you dig it, etc.

• In between the time the beatniks died out and the beats revival began, J Edgar Hoover “cleansed” the country of all nontraditional valued people

• 65• Beats Revival• Greenwich, NYC, New York• Poetry writings became bands like Phil oaks, the Fugs,

and the Velvet Underground

1965 Hippies of Rock and Roll

•San Fransico, California•Ken Kesey “orginial hippie”•Gatherings “Happenings”

• Free food• Electric Koolaid

•Dr. Timothy Leary coined the term “Turn on, Tune in, Drop out”

Acid Rock/Psychedelic Music

• Grateful Dead• Jerry Garcia• Pig Pen

• Jefferson Airplane• Gracie Slick

• Big Brother & Holding Co

• Doors• Jim Morrison

• Strawberry Alarm Clock

• These were longer songs with longer solo’s

• Songs used Distortion of the Guitar

• They had Light Shows

Led Zeppelin• Band Members:

• Jimmy Page

• John Paul Jones

• John Bonham

• Robert Plant

• Created Heavy Metal

• Made the Top Ten in Britain and the United States with debut album

• Used high volume Blues elements along with acoustic numbers in their songs

• Favored amplifiers when performing, stacking one on top of another

Wall of Sound• Created by Phil Speckor

• Also known as the SpectorSound

• Created at Gold Star Studios in the 60’s to create an aesthetic sound that came across clearly on the AM Radio and jukeboxes

• “Spector typified his sound by having a number of electric and acoustic instrumentalists perform the same parts in unison, adding musical arrangements for large groups of musicians up to the size of orchestras, then recording the sound using an echo chamber”

• Examples of songs with the Wall of Sound:

• Modern Folk Quartet - "This Could Be the Night“

• The Beach Boys - "Wouldn't It Be Nice“

• My Bloody Valentine - "Soon"

Rock festivals

• 1967 – Monterey:• Janis Joplin• Canned Heat• Jimi Hendrix• Jefferson Airplane

• 1969 - Atlanta Pop Festival• Led Zepplin• Chicago• Delaney & Bonnie

• 1968 - Miami Pop Festival• Chuck Berry• The Grateful Dead• The McCoy’s• The Box Tops

• 1969 – Woodstock• Johnny Winter• Nash & Young• Joan Baez

End of Rock and Roll Era

The Age of the Rock and Roll slowly started to decline in the 70’s, when music started to repeat itself. Bob Dylan still carried it along throughout the 70’s along

with Elton John and KISS, created funk and punk rock. It still influenced America in many ways such as holding events like BandAid to help the hunger

situation in Africa, but the rock and roll was never the same.

How did Rock and Roll fit into the daily life of America?• Rock and Roll music heavily influenced many young people, from

protest songs that went against the war and racism to just fun dancing songs that promoted partying and enjoying life

• It was everywhere, one couldn’t escape it. It was on the television, radio, store, school, events, etc.

• Even the government got involved in the Rock and Roll life trying to make sure it didn’t corrupt anyone into going against the government.

What was it about Rock and Roll that was unique to America and to our study of American History?

• As stated before, Rock and Roll heavily influenced people into doing the right thing (most of the time).

• It shaped the way people thought and acted in America, which makes history

How would you have felt about Rock and Roll if you’d been living during that time period?• I would have loved every single second of it. I believe I was born in

the wrong generation, though I probably would have been heavily oppressed due to my nationality. I love music and especially the Rock and Roll era, to go to Woodstock and Monterey would have been insane (in a good way).

How has Rock and Roll changed over the years and what is its role in society today?• Rock and Roll has always been evolving, as stated before it started out

just has Blues music. It was an Era that eventually ended, so sadly today, there is not much Rock and Roll music left. It’s been transformed into Pop music and Hip hop, which are still two similar genres to Rock and Roll since it was born out of it.

What new information about Rock and Roll did you learn?• All this information was very new to me when I first started learning

about it this semester, which made me love it, but the thing that surprised me the most was how much music was released during this Era that ranged from one end of the Rock and Roll scale to the other. I always thought Rock and Roll was one genre, when really it is many.

In Conclusion…

• The Age of Rock and Roll was probably one of the best. It was an era were the young could feel alive and feel like they had a voice, and no other musical generation has done that before. The music simply came from everyday events and trying to have fun, and it definitely made an impact by doing so.

Sources

• YouTube

• Rocking in Time eighth edition David P szatmary

• Survey of Rock Music class, St louis community College at Meramec

• It might get loud documentary

• http://www.history-of-rock.com/indx.html