Rock Music
Rock MusicRock Music
Rock is a topic not often touched because of its complexity and its avoidance by conservative adults. Often viewed by them as �a bunch of noise�, Rock music is actually very complex. In fact, "It's stylistic scope is to broad to be encompassed by any single definition" ("Rock Music", Groliers, p.1). This music is characterized by using a heavy beat, with amplified guitars and drums. The nearest definition suggests that, in every era, rock speaks for the teenage society. We will focus on the evolution of rock over the 50�s through 80�s and the changes it made.
The first section of this essay is Rock n' Roll of the 1950's, when Rock n' Roll was born. It emerged from rhythm and blues, music similar to jazz played by blacks. This kind of music started to attract white teenagers. Disc jockey Alan Freed was the one who introduced this music and later gave it the name of Rock n' Roll. Record companies distributed records played by whites but composed by blacks. Whites were frustrated because there weren't any white artists, and they didn't want the blacks to be the stars until Bill Haley appeared with his "Rock Around the Clock". In this decade, Elvis Presley introduced a music that was sexual-suggestive, and outraged many adults of that time. In time, he changed the style of the music by adopting a country and western style and became a national hero. By the end of this decade and the start of the next, Rock n' Roll started to decline because it was formula-ridden and it was too sentimental. Teenage audiences transferred their allegiance to Folk
music.
In 1963, the renewal of Rock n' Roll came when The Beatles started to play. The Beatles, for some the best rock group ever, were from Liverpool, England. Through the 60's, The Beatles dominated the record industries and with their dominant instrumentation, which included: electric leads, rhythm, bass guitar, drums, and sometimes an electric organ; they changed the name of Rock n' Roll to just Rock. During the 1960's many other styles of music arose from Rock, like, Motown, Soul music, Jazz-rock, Folk-rock and others.
Folk-Rock, the most appreciated of this derivation, was first suggested by Bob Dylan. This kind of music brought to folk music a hard beat and amplification; and to Rock, a new poetic style. California was one of the major centers of rock activity and experimentation during the decade. First it was characterized by its surfing music, a very joyful music that reflected the fun people had while surfing. The Beach Boys were the ones who introduced this kind of music.
At the end of the century, this happy kind of music changed to a more rebellious style that was designated the name of "hippie music". Groups that played this music were �Country Joe and The Fish� and �The Mamas and The Papas�. Along with this hippie idea the popularity of hallucinogenic drugs produced a psychedelic style...
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