The Rise of Rock 'n Roll
1953-1964
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In 1950, over 93% of American households owned at least one radio and this medium served as the major form of entertainment. Radio programs included comedy and mystery shows along popular music. The music included the "big band" sound, a carryover from the 1940s with Guy Lombardo and Lawrence Welk among the most prominent. And there were "pop singers," both male --- Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como --- and female --- Patti Page, Doris Day.
A sampling of the top 40 from the early 1950s includes:
Dean Martin, That's
Amore (1953)
Patti Page, The
Doggie in the Window (1953)
1954:
Rock and Roll Hits the Charts
In 1954, the normally sedate popular music charts included the first, universally recognized rock 'n roll song. The song was recorded by Bill Haley and the Comets and, fittingly, was entitled Shake, Rattle, and Roll."
This "new form" of music was born of several traditions: indigenous American jazz, rhythm and blues, swing, and the charismatic gospel style. Clearly, rock and roll had its major roots in the black culture of the time. As Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin note in America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s, "[p]opular music -- especially rock and roll and the rhythm and blues from which it sprang -- became a major arena of generational strife. The young people who listened to, danced to, and played rock and R and B were implicitly rejecting the notion that creativity obeyed a color line" (p. 19).
Included among the pioneers and now legends of rock and roll are:
Chuck Berry, Johnny
B. Goode
Little Richard, Good
Golly Miss Molly
Eddie Cochran, Summertime
Blues
Carl Perkins, Blue
Suede Shoes
The Practice of Covering
"Covering" a recording has two meanings. The first occurs when a group records a song that was previously released by another group --- typically with a time lapse of several years between releases. In the early 1960s, for example, the albums released by the Beatles included "Johnny B. Goode" and "Kansas City." The second was a practice adopted by major record labels in the early 1950s and was directed against the "independents." The major companies would choose a suitable song such as "Ain't That a Shame" or "Sh'Boom." Given that these songs were initially recorded by black artists, the companies would hire a white group to record a cover. With their greater resources they could easily outsell the original version. In most cases the sound quality of the "cover" was better which gave them another advantage in the market place.
[Read more about "Covering" Here]
Below are two examples of covering:
Fats Domino, Ain't That a Shame
Pat Boone, Ain't
That a Shame
The Chords, Sh-Boom
The Crew Cuts, Sh-Boom
The Phenomenon of Elvis Presley
The rise of Elvis Presley is well-documented in David Halberstam's The Fifties. Essentially, Presley grew up poor and was steeped in the gospel music of his native Mississippi. In addition, the dominant musical influences of his time and place were "country" (with major recording studios in Memphis) and "rhythm and blues" (played locally by black artists). The results of Presley's emergence were two-fold. He is credited with "crossing over" and making rock and roll acceptable to white audiences and with the being the first example of a national rock and roll "superstar." As an example of the influences on Presley's music, consider the following:
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, "That's All Right
Elvis Presley, "That's All Right"
Presley achieved fame not only for his music but for his flamboyant (and sexual) style of performing on stage. So much so that Ed Sullivan, host of a highly rated CBS variety show and an arbiter of which performers reached the mainstream television audience, only permitted Presley to be shown from the waist up during his television appearance. Presley's Top 40 hits of the 1950s include:
Don't
Be Cruel & Jailhouse
Rock
Types or Genres of Rock and Roll in the 1950s
Given its roots in a diverse American musical tradition, rock and roll cannot be described as a single style. Rather, the rock and roll of the 1950s had numerous sounds. Among the prominent strains are Rock-a-Billy, Doo Wop, and the "West Coast" sound.
The Rockabilly Sound
The style of Elvis Presley was dubbed "rockabilly" because it represented a merger of blues and country. A number of artists were recorded by new independent record companies (e.g., Sun Records) located in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee. Listen first to a forerunner of the "rockabilly" sound:
Hank Williams, Sr., Hey,
Good Looking
Each of the following provides an example of "rockabilly." Note that Rickey Nelson was also a member of one of television's most prominent "families" and was seen weekly on the Ozzie and Harriet show.
Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Peggy Sue
and Rave
On
Every Brothers, Bye Bye Love
Roy Orbison, "Dream
Baby" Ricky Nelson, Hello
Mary Lou
The Doo Wop Sound
Doo Wop was a sound that originated in the urban North and has often been described as the "street corner" music of the 1950s. Its characteristics include an emphasis on harmony, a range of different voices or parts, and "nonsense syllables" used for the rhythmic background (like "do wop" or "sha na na na")
Doo Wop: "Boy Groups"
The Marcels,
The Diamonds Frankie Lymon
& the Teenagers
Blue Moon
Little Darling Why Do Fools Fall in Love?
Dion & The Belmonts,
Gene Chandler,
Runaround
Sue
Duke of
Earl
Doo Wop: "Girl Groups"
(or soloists backed by studio singers)
Little Eva, Locomotion
Betty Everett, Its
in His Kiss
(Shoop Shoop Song)
The Crystals, Da Do Ron
Ron
The Ronettes, Be My Baby
The Chiffons, One Fine Day and Then He Kissed Me
The Shirelles, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
The California Sound of the Early 1960s
In the early 1960s, a new strain of rock and roll began to receive air play. Its source was California and, in addition to love, sounded the themes of "fast cars" and "surfing." This began a "surfer craze" that lasted through much of the early 1960s. The leading voice of this new sound was a group called the Beach Boys.
There is one irony associated with the rise of the Beach Boys. Although one of the most successful bands in the history of popular music, the Beach Boys were sued by Chuck Berry. Berry alleged that the song, Surfin' USA, was a direct rip off of the melody his Sweet Little Sixteen. Compare for yourself:
The Song that Inspired 1000s of "Garage Bands"
This song, cut in 1963, by a group known as the Kingsmen became legendary. Because the lead singer wore braces and had to strain to reach the microphone, the lyrics were unclear, subject to interpretation --- most typically a "sexual" interpretation. In fact, the FBI used the latest audio technology at the time to conduct an "investigation" of the lyrics. There were declared "unintelligible at any speed." (see Isserman and Kazin, America Divided, p. 163). The lyrics actually represent the story of a Jamaican sailor talking to a bartender named Louie.
Actual Lyrics
Three nights and days we sailed the sea.
Me think of girl constantly.
On the ship, I dream she there.
I smell the rose in her hair.
Louie, Louie, me gotta go.
*Note: Special thanks to Kevin Kobylka for pointing out the initial omission of this song from the list.
The Decline of Rock and Roll in the Late 1950s
In the late 1950s, the black influence on rock and roll began to wane as record companies increasingly signed and promoted "teen idols," known for their inoffensive style and clean looks. The music lost some of its "raw" quality and by far, the dominant theme of most songs was about boy friends, girl friends, and love lost.
[Read more about the "death" of Rock and Roll in the late 1950s]
In fact, Neil Sedaka topped many charts with his famous song about "breaking up" (you can hear the doo wop influence in a more "mainstream" style).
Neil Sedaka, Breaking
Up is Hard to Do
Fabian, Turn Me Loose
Paul Anka, Diana
Rock and roll also suffered a blow to its credibility with the "payola scandal" where record companies and promoters paid "disc jockeys" to play their songs. The first court case involving this scandal went to trial in 1960.
[Read more about the "payola scandal" here]
The Day the Music Died
The originally "raw" and "spontaneous" first wave of rock and roll in the US had largely passed from the scene. Perhaps the most depressing day in the brief history of rock and roll was February 3rd, 1959. A chartered airplane crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa and took the lives of Buddy Holly, J.P. "The Big Booper" Robinson, and Richie Valens. The three were on a concert tour of the upper midwest.
J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, Chantilly
Lace
Buddy Holly, Everyday
Richie Valens, La Bamba
These deaths, especially of Buddy Holly, were memorialized in a 1972 song by Don McLean:
American
Pie
(original 8 minute version)
