Historical Perspective
According to Philip Ennis, in his 1991 publication "The Seventh Stream, The Emergence of Rocknroll in American Popular Music" (Wesleyan University Press), Rocknroll emerged in the 1950s and became the '7th stream' of American popular music by combining the other 6 streams (pop, black pop, country, jazz, folk and gospel). By 1949, 95% of American households had at least one radio, but RCA's new apparatus for playing music, a small, plastic, $12.95 record player, was probably the single most important piece of technology facilitating rocknroll's appearance (Ennis 133).
Again according to Ennis, disc jockey Alan Freed gave the new music its name in 1952 when he was in his studio with the lead singer of the Dominoes, Billy Ward. "Sixty Minute Man", the Dominos hit that was being played all over the nation, was being played on the radio while they discussed that this new music needed a name. When Ward sang, "I rock 'em roll 'em all night long, I'm a Sixty Minute Man!" Freed shouted, 'That's it! Rock and Roll! That's what it is!' Interestingly, that phrase was slang for sexual intercourse, which most people don't know now. I don't know whether or not that was widely known back then, but it only adds to the 'rebelliousness' of the genre. Other music genres have been pinpointed to certain areas of the globe. New Orleans with Jazz; the South is the heartland of country music; and New York and Hollywood generates the pop stream. Rocknroll could not be pinpointed to a geographical location - "rocknroll is located in the hearts, minds, and feet of young people all over the world; that its homeland is more a pilgrimage than a place, for instance in the memory of Woodstock" (Ennis 40). Also, what made rocknroll unique was that all the other streams did not have a definitive social, racial, religious, class, gender or age that could pinpoint the stream. Rocknroll could - it was the music of the youth (Ennis 97).
For many years it was taken as gospel (pun intended) that the very first rocknroll song was 'Rock Around the Clock' by Bill Haley and the Comets. That belief still exists today for most people, but some informed individuals now believe otherwise, citing the Ike Turner-produced 'Rocket 88' as the first; some would infer a racial element in this discussion - and I believe there is validity in the position, given the social structure in America during the early 1950s.
American society was changing - WWII and its aftermath, race and gender questions, the fear of communism, the civil rights and feminist movements. The youth was told to obey authority, do what they were told and "shut-up". Most obeyed, but many did not and music became a way to rebel against authority. "To listen to [Rocknroll], to dance to that music, and to make that music was a political act without being political" (Ennis 19-20).
Elvis Presley was rocknroll's first star. He was a solo folk performer with a guitar and when he first started recorded, the acceptance of the mixture of streams began (Ennis 123). In 1956, Elvis was introduced to the nation on the television show "Stage Show", Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey's show on CBS (Ennis 131).
Historians have noted that as rocknroll became more popular and mainstream, that it quickly lost its edge. Many youth became bored with this trend and looked to go in a new direction, finding it in the Beat Poets and folk music of the late 50s and early 60s. Enter one Robert Zimmerman a/k/a Bob Dylan. This group would eventually re-emerge as a force in the mid 60s as 'hippies'. But others feel that 50s/60s rocknroll was about other things. I received an email response from a friend of my Dad:
Rocknroll had settled into a stagnant period as 1963 neared its close. But two events took place that would change all that - and our nation and our music would never be the same. First, the assasination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 23rd would jolt a generally optimistic youth into skepticism and real rebellion against an increasingly ominous conflict in Vietnam (although it would take a few years to surface) and second, the introduction of the record album "Meet the Beatles" with its initial single "I Want To Hold Your Hand", which overwhelmed the USA music-listening youth. In no time, the Beatles completely dominated the record charts; every song that was released jumped immediately into the Top Ten. And by the time the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan in February 1964, the nation was frenzied over them. This gave rise to the "British Invasion" of the mid-60s, an invasion that, with rare exceptions like the Beach Boys and Bob Dylan, devastated the American music scene. The teen idols, doo-wop groups and Phil Spector's girl groups never knew what hit them. They were immediately and completely rendered insignificant. Some 'Invasion' groups were great, others stunk, but they were British and America couldn't get enough of them. The Beatles and Rolling Stones took R&B, blues and early rocknroll and transformed it into their own style. Other, less talented groups like the Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits and Gerry and the Pacemakers got famous with catchy, lightweight songs and cute looks. Then a second wave of harder, blues-based groups followed, such as the Who, the Kinks, the Animals and the Yardbirds, and made rocknroll fresh and nasty again. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website)
In the early 60s, there was a growing interest in folk music, because it was often used as the protest music of the civil rights movement and other issues of the human condition. Pete Seeger was in the forefront of this protest music and he had significant influence on a young Bob Dylan. And it was Dylan (along with sometime girlfriend, Joan Baez) who became the genre's darling, making it hip to like it. But Dylan expanded his style toward rocknroll and on July 25, 1965, in one of the most famous moments in rock history, went 'electric' (backed by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band) at the Newport Folk Festival and was booed unmercifully by the angry, "betrayed' audience. Dylan was now a rocker and his influence exists to this day.
The late 60s/early 70s found America in a war that split the country. College campuses became centers of rebellion against the 'establishment'. Children had pressure to conform and achieve. Road to success was laid out in schools and advertising - just follow directions (Ennis 36). Rebellious attitude increased in the 1960s. There were more dropouts and drug use (Ennis 37). The music reflected this, lots of deviation from normal styles, blending anything and everything.
The late 70s brought a reaction to the chaotic 60s with the coming of disco. Then punk and new wave came as a reaction to disco.
The 80s just seemed to be bad music and worse hair. And that's all I am going to say on the subject. It could have been the worst decade in rock history.
Which brings us to the nineties, when music began to get nasty again. It was about time! Punk, grunge and rap hit the mainstream youth of America.
I look to my brother, Jonathan, for a perspective on Punk:
The music of the 2000s hasn't seemed to be defined yet, but is mostly carrying on the styles from the 90s.
Again according to Ennis, disc jockey Alan Freed gave the new music its name in 1952 when he was in his studio with the lead singer of the Dominoes, Billy Ward. "Sixty Minute Man", the Dominos hit that was being played all over the nation, was being played on the radio while they discussed that this new music needed a name. When Ward sang, "I rock 'em roll 'em all night long, I'm a Sixty Minute Man!" Freed shouted, 'That's it! Rock and Roll! That's what it is!' Interestingly, that phrase was slang for sexual intercourse, which most people don't know now. I don't know whether or not that was widely known back then, but it only adds to the 'rebelliousness' of the genre. Other music genres have been pinpointed to certain areas of the globe. New Orleans with Jazz; the South is the heartland of country music; and New York and Hollywood generates the pop stream. Rocknroll could not be pinpointed to a geographical location - "rocknroll is located in the hearts, minds, and feet of young people all over the world; that its homeland is more a pilgrimage than a place, for instance in the memory of Woodstock" (Ennis 40). Also, what made rocknroll unique was that all the other streams did not have a definitive social, racial, religious, class, gender or age that could pinpoint the stream. Rocknroll could - it was the music of the youth (Ennis 97).
For many years it was taken as gospel (pun intended) that the very first rocknroll song was 'Rock Around the Clock' by Bill Haley and the Comets. That belief still exists today for most people, but some informed individuals now believe otherwise, citing the Ike Turner-produced 'Rocket 88' as the first; some would infer a racial element in this discussion - and I believe there is validity in the position, given the social structure in America during the early 1950s.
| "Ike had met Riley King a couple of times before he ran into him at the Harlem Club in Chambers, Mississippi and managed to finagle a guest spot. King was impressed and promised to help. Ike duly received a phone-call from Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service. His plans were jolted by the departure of johnny O'Neal, a temporary blip overcome by the recruitment in 1950 of Jackie Brenston, another native of Clarksdale. Ike, Jackie, guitarist Willie Kizart, sax player Raymond Hill and drummer Willie Sims headed for Memphis in March 1951. On the way somebody suggested that maybe they should have something original to offer at the session. Brenston came up with the idea, Ike wrote the first verse and the rest of the band chipped in. Jimmy Liggins had had a big hit with "Cadillac Boogie" in 1947, and it was the concept and tune of this song that (Jackie) Brenston appropriated, dispensing with the Cadillac in preference for the new Oldsmobile Rocket Hydra-Matic 88, resulting in the song "Rocket 88". The Kings of Rhythm recorded a five-song session on March 5, which included "Rocket 88" and "Independent Woman". Jackie sang on a couple and so did Ike. The masters were sent to Leonard Chess in Chicago who credited "Rocket 88" to "Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats" and not to "Ike Turner & the Kings of Rhythm featuring Jackie Brenston" as was Ike's intention, although the two vocal sides by Ike were indeed credited to Ike Turner & the Kings of Rhythm. It was the Brenston record that entered the charts on the 12th May at #4 and became a smash hit, giving Chess their first #1 R&B hit. It is one of the several records that, with some justification, have been touted as the "First Rock 'n Roll Hit'. Kizart's electric guitar work and Ike's rippling triplets being years ahead of their time. It inspired a cover version from Bill Haley, who changed direction from country music to rock 'n roll as his Saddlemen turned into the Comets. The Ike Turner single sank without trace." (Robbie Lamesan Salins, December 2003, liner notes to "Ike Turner/Jackie Brenston Rocket 88" by Proper Records Ltd, Kent, England.) |
American society was changing - WWII and its aftermath, race and gender questions, the fear of communism, the civil rights and feminist movements. The youth was told to obey authority, do what they were told and "shut-up". Most obeyed, but many did not and music became a way to rebel against authority. "To listen to [Rocknroll], to dance to that music, and to make that music was a political act without being political" (Ennis 19-20).
Elvis Presley was rocknroll's first star. He was a solo folk performer with a guitar and when he first started recorded, the acceptance of the mixture of streams began (Ennis 123). In 1956, Elvis was introduced to the nation on the television show "Stage Show", Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey's show on CBS (Ennis 131).
The Stroll on American Bandstand | But my Mom, hardly a rebel, loved her Rocknroll through American Bandstand, a daily live television teenage dance program based in Philadelphia that was broadcast nationally beginning in 1956. With Dick Clark as host, the show became an obsession with high school kids across the country. The 'regulars' became celebrities; everyone knew their names and which ones were dating. American Bandstand is the setting for the NBC show 'American Dreams.' This was hardly 'rebel' stuff, the music guests never really sang their songs, but rather lip-synched as their records played. I guess Ashley Simpson should have been born earlier! |
Historians have noted that as rocknroll became more popular and mainstream, that it quickly lost its edge. Many youth became bored with this trend and looked to go in a new direction, finding it in the Beat Poets and folk music of the late 50s and early 60s. Enter one Robert Zimmerman a/k/a Bob Dylan. This group would eventually re-emerge as a force in the mid 60s as 'hippies'. But others feel that 50s/60s rocknroll was about other things. I received an email response from a friend of my Dad:
| "It was New Years Eve - 1969. The number 1 song on the charts was "Someday we'll be Together" by the Supremes. Melodies, melodies and more melodies! Melody was the heart and soul of Rock N Roll. Could you sing the lyrics and did it have a good beat? Positive answers to both questions and you had a hit! The guitar playing of the 70s changed all that - faster and louder was better - then the shocking lyrics of the 80s & 90s took away my interest. Your dad and I grew up in an era of Love Songs. Yes we had our weird songs also, but mostly the songs were about love and having fun. To tell the truth, all the different eras of Rock N Roll should have been able to stand on their own. Each era should have been left in the dust to erode away, while the next newest music should have been able to take over and carry the audience along with the music. Your dad and I, along with the baby boom generation created rock n roll. We started it, and are proud to lay claim to this fact. The strange thing is that the music from the 50s & 60s still endures today. You can hardly see a movie or watch a tv ad without hearing a song or melody from the 50s and 60s. Many of our peers moved on and changed with the music. For me 1969 with the zenith. I do like some songs and some artists from the 70s - 90s, but a small amount compared to the golden age of rock." "..... I count many of the legends of Rock N Roll as my friends. I just came from Joey Dee's house in Clearwater, Florida, where we spent an enjoyable weekend. Last Friday I was with Carl Gardner (original lead singer of the Coasters), at his house; I will see Ben E King next week. I have a band in Florida and we play nothing but the old songs. We have played all over Florida. Say hi to your dad, and if you need more info - let me know." Jim Kane |
Rocknroll had settled into a stagnant period as 1963 neared its close. But two events took place that would change all that - and our nation and our music would never be the same. First, the assasination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 23rd would jolt a generally optimistic youth into skepticism and real rebellion against an increasingly ominous conflict in Vietnam (although it would take a few years to surface) and second, the introduction of the record album "Meet the Beatles" with its initial single "I Want To Hold Your Hand", which overwhelmed the USA music-listening youth. In no time, the Beatles completely dominated the record charts; every song that was released jumped immediately into the Top Ten. And by the time the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan in February 1964, the nation was frenzied over them. This gave rise to the "British Invasion" of the mid-60s, an invasion that, with rare exceptions like the Beach Boys and Bob Dylan, devastated the American music scene. The teen idols, doo-wop groups and Phil Spector's girl groups never knew what hit them. They were immediately and completely rendered insignificant. Some 'Invasion' groups were great, others stunk, but they were British and America couldn't get enough of them. The Beatles and Rolling Stones took R&B, blues and early rocknroll and transformed it into their own style. Other, less talented groups like the Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits and Gerry and the Pacemakers got famous with catchy, lightweight songs and cute looks. Then a second wave of harder, blues-based groups followed, such as the Who, the Kinks, the Animals and the Yardbirds, and made rocknroll fresh and nasty again. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website)
The website of the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame has a very good timeline that parallels music and events of the time - Timeline |
In the early 60s, there was a growing interest in folk music, because it was often used as the protest music of the civil rights movement and other issues of the human condition. Pete Seeger was in the forefront of this protest music and he had significant influence on a young Bob Dylan. And it was Dylan (along with sometime girlfriend, Joan Baez) who became the genre's darling, making it hip to like it. But Dylan expanded his style toward rocknroll and on July 25, 1965, in one of the most famous moments in rock history, went 'electric' (backed by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band) at the Newport Folk Festival and was booed unmercifully by the angry, "betrayed' audience. Dylan was now a rocker and his influence exists to this day.
The late 60s/early 70s found America in a war that split the country. College campuses became centers of rebellion against the 'establishment'. Children had pressure to conform and achieve. Road to success was laid out in schools and advertising - just follow directions (Ennis 36). Rebellious attitude increased in the 1960s. There were more dropouts and drug use (Ennis 37). The music reflected this, lots of deviation from normal styles, blending anything and everything.
The late 70s brought a reaction to the chaotic 60s with the coming of disco. Then punk and new wave came as a reaction to disco.
The 80s just seemed to be bad music and worse hair. And that's all I am going to say on the subject. It could have been the worst decade in rock history.
Which brings us to the nineties, when music began to get nasty again. It was about time! Punk, grunge and rap hit the mainstream youth of America.
I look to my brother, Jonathan, for a perspective on Punk:
| Punk rock, at least the way I see it, is more than just the sound or the look, it's the attitude, attitude about everything, your worldview. It's the DIY (do it yourself) philosophy that started punk rock, the rebellion against over-produced corporate rock. Music in general had lost its soul, and for rock, it surely had lost its roll. This all started in the early 70's when bands stopped writing protest songs and started playing watered-down meaningless shit. And I'd argue that it wasn't 1977, but 1991 that back the basic music finally reached the mainstream with "Smells Like Teen Spirit", by Nirvana. I mention 1977 because this is the summer of punk; bands like the Ramones, Sex Pistols, and The Clash started blowing up in London. Punk rock was a phenomenon in the UK, significantly greater influence over the culture and youth than in the US. Though most fans of punk rock give the Ramones the title of "first punk band", punk music had been around in various forms for years, it just wasn't called punk. Bands like The Who were punks in the mid-60s. Punk rock in the 90's was called grunge- long hair, flannel shirt, and from Seattle's underground came the new "it" bands; Sound Garden, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana. The Seattle scene was lead by Curt Cobain of Nirvana, and for about 3 or 4 years in the early 90's mainstream music didn't suck. But as always, good things have to come to an end. April 1994, the day this generation's music died with the sound of a shotgun to the head, the head of rock's biggest figure, Curt Cobain. It is said that he killed himself; others say that it was his girlfriend rocker Courtney Love of the band Hole that made it look like a suicide. |
The music of the 2000s hasn't seemed to be defined yet, but is mostly carrying on the styles from the 90s.
posted by Garrett Kennedy at 2:08 AM
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