Rock ‘n Roll in the 1900s

by Tanya Mahesh

Rock music is one of the world’s most dominant forms of music. Chuck Berry founded it in the 1950s and it spread to English speaking countries & Europe in the ‘60s. By the ‘90s, it had become global. The definition of Rock is very difficult to be explicit but Rock “is a form of music with a strong beat.” 

Rock ‘n Roll’s Story 

Rock is usually described as a mix of Country Music and Rhythm And Blues, but of course, it isn’t that simple. The seeds of Rock had already been planted much before it was founded, but that specific type of music only seemed to flower in the 1950s when Black musicians brought it into the daily lives of White Americans. Black vocal groups like the Dominoes and the Spaniels began singing with more aggressive rhythm-and-blues. Many White musicians began creating music similar to them, such as Alan Freed, and Dewey Phillips. This introduced this type of music to White neighborhoods, which spread Rock even more. In 1954 that sound coalesced around an image: a handsome, white artist — Elvis Presley. For the longest time, African Americans used Rock ‘n Roll as a euphemism for sex, and Presley’s music gushed sexuality. This is what made Presley the merger between the Black and White audiences of this type of music. 

By the end of the 1950s, Presley had been inducted into the army. Buddy Holly, another famous Rock ‘n Roll musician died in a plane crash, and Little Richard had converted to Gospel. While Rock ‘n Roll’s golden era had ended, many new artists began creating music similar to Rock ‘n Roll, which fragmented into numerous styles of music, simply known as Rock. 

Crucial Rock Artists

Elvis Presley was the “King of Rock ‘n Roll” and The Beetles were one of the most influential Rock bands of all time. Bob Dylan helped bring together the “amplified beat of Rock ‘n Roll”. Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley personified the emergence of rock as a specific musical genre in the late 1960s. Madonna represented a new sort of global teen idol in the 1980s, and Public Enemy stood for a new sort of African American music in the late 1980s.

Kot, G. (2019, April 04). Rock and roll. Retrieved August 14, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/art/rock-and-roll-early-style-of-rock-music

Frith, S. (2019, October 24). Rock. Retrieved August 14, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/art/rock-music