History of Rock and Roll Test #1

Bluegrass

(GENRE OF MUSIC) A form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It was inspired by the music of Appalachia.

Classic Blues

(GENRE OF MUSIC) A form of music that originated with the mixing of commercial compositions with authentic folk material and nascent jazz in the acts of southern stage performers and Black vaudeville artists, primarily women, who toured widely.

C & W

(GENRE OF MUSIC) A simple style of folk music heard mostly in the southern United States; usually played on stringed instruments.

Western Swing

(GENRE OF MUSIC) A subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which attracted huge crowds to dance halls and clubs in Texas, Oklahoma and California during the 1930s and 40s until a federal war-time nightclub tax in 1944 led to its decline.

Boogie-Woogie

(GENRE OF MUSIC) An African American style of piano-based blues that became popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s, but originated much earlier, and was extended from piano, to three pianos at once, guitar, big band, and country and western music, and even gospel. While the blues traditionally depicts a variety of emotions, this genre is mainly associated with dancing.

Jump Blues

(GENRE OF MUSIC) An up-tempo genre usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll.

Urban Blues

(GENRE OF MUSIC) As African Americans migrated to cities, this genre's musicians moved into city bars and clubs , often forming combos using electric guitars, bass, piano, drums, and harmonica. This arrangement forced them to stick more closely to a prearranged structure.

Country

(GENRE OF MUSIC) Can be traced to the folk traditions of the region, largely derived from the folk music of the British Isles. In the late 1940s, Nashville, Tennessee became a hub for this type of music. This genre of music developed heavily as a result of World War II. Military personnel hailing from all regions of the country lived together overseas during the war, and as people got to know one another they naturally shared their favorite music.

Rhythm and Blues

(GENRE OF MUSIC) Popular music between 1945 and 1955 intended specifically for black urban listeners. White teenagers began to tune in, setting the stage for rock and roll to emerge.

Doo-Wop

(GENRE OF MUSIC) Very much like the 12-bar blues, this progression can form the underlying structure for many of the forms used today.

Hokum

(GENRE OF MUSIC) Within black culture at mid-century, there was a well-established musical tradition of songs that poked fun at various aspects of adult relationships, mostly centered on sexual relations and the many situations that can arise in this context. It stemmed from the minstrelsy tradition, which centered on stereotypes of African Americans using song, dance, and comedic dialogue.

Gospel

A music genre in which the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of this music varies according to culture and social context. This music is composed and performed for many purposes, including aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, and as an entertainment product for the marketplace.

Wall of Sound

A music production technique for pop and rock music recordings developed by record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, during the early 1960s. This was built by packing many instruments into a small room and recording them as they all played together.

Cover

A new performance or recording of a previously recorded, commercially released song, usually by someone other than the original artist.

Disc Jockey

A person who mixes recorded music for an audience.

Rock Instrumentation

A piece of music that has no vocals but just a recording of all of the instruments.

Louis Jordan

A pioneering American musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", he was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the later years of the swing era. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him no. 59 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. He adopted the fast tempos of swing dance music but pared down the instrumentation to only a rhythm section and saxophone, a move that worked both musically and financially, considering the expenses of traveling with a larger band.

Stagger Lee

A popular American folk song about the murder of Billy Lyons by a man in St. Louis, Missouri at Christmas, 1895. The song was first published in 1911, and was first recorded in 1923 by Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians. A version by Lloyd Price reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959. This song added to racial stereotypes concerning music at this point in time. It created the (name of the song) myth: the idea that some black men are especially defiant, and often driven sexually.

Girl Groups

A popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonize together.

Soul

A popular music genre that originated in the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s. It combined elements of African American gospel music, rhythm and blues, and often jazz. This music became popular for dancing and listening in the United States - where music such as that of the Motown, Atlantic and Stax labels was influential during the period of the civil rights movement - and across the world, directly influencing rock music and the music of Africa.

Independent Labels

A record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels.

The Crickets

A rock and roll band from Lubbock, Texas, formed by singer/songwriter Buddy Holly in the 1950s. Their first hit record was "That'll Be the Day", released in 1957. They helped set the template for subsequent rock bands such as the Beatles, with their guitar-bass-drums arrangements and tendency to write their own material.

Call and Response

A succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary to the first.

Backbeat

A syncopated accentuation on the "off" beat.

Grand Ole Opry

A weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee that has presented the biggest stars of that genre. Constructing homespun images would become the specialty of the country barn-dance radio shows (this was the most successful one).

Shuffle Rhythm

Accented triplets.

Race Music

After World War I, this popular music was played by black musicians and was intended for black audiences only.

The Ronettes

An American 1960s girl group from New York City. One of the most popular groups from that period, they placed more than eight songs on the Billboard Hot 100, five of which became top forty hits. One of their biggest hits goes by the name of "Be My Baby" (all of their songs were produced by Phil Spector).

Bo Diddley

An American R&B vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. He was also known as "The Originator" because of his key role in the transition from the blues to rock, influencing a host of acts, including: Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Velvet Underground, The Who, The Yardbirds, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Eric Clapton, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles, among others. Signed under an independent record company called Chess (founded in 1947 by two white fans of black music, Phil and Leonard Chess).

Judy Garland

An American actress, singer and vaudevillian. Described by Fred Astaire as "the greatest entertainer who ever lived" and renowned for her unique voice, she attained international stardom throughout a career which spanned more than 40 years, as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage. Plays the role of Dorothy Gale in "The Wizard of Oz" and sings "Over the Rainbow" (written by E.Y. Harbaugh and Harold Arlen-represents Tin Pan Alley songwriting and AABA form).

Muddy Waters

An American blues musician. He is considered the "father of modern Chicago blues" and was a major inspiration for the British blues explosion of the 1960s. He notably introduced Chuck Berry to Leonard Chess of Chess Records.

Robert Johnson

An American blues singer and musician. His landmark recordings from 1936 to 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generations of musicians. Legend has it that he made a deal with the devil to acquire his forceful skill as a blues guitarist. In his hit "Cross Roads Blues" (1936), he alters the regular blues structural patterns to suit his sense of musical expression.

Sam Phillips

An American businessman, record executive, record producer, and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s. He most notably founded Sun Studios and Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1955, he sold Elvis Presley's contract for $35,000. Produced the song "Blue Suede Shoes" by Carl Perkins (was the first million-selling single for Sun after selling Presley's contract).

The Andrews Sisters

An American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. This group made extensive use of dense vocal harmony, relating closely to big band horn arrangements. They enjoyed their greatest commercial success with "Bei Mir bist du Schoen" (1938), "Shoo-Shoo Baby" (1943), and "Rum and Coca Cola" (1945).

Roy Acuff

An American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the "King of Country Music," he is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful. During World War II, he was voted best singer by the troops in Munich over Frank Sinatra; and hoping to insult American soldiers, Japanese attackers on Okinawa raised the battle cry, "To hell with Roosevelt! To hell with Babe Ruth! To hell with (this country music singer)."

Jimmie Rodgers

An American country singer in the early 20th century, known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling. Among the first country music superstars and pioneers, he was also known as "The Singing Brakeman", "The Blue Yodeler", and "The Father of Country Music." Often referred to as the most important figure in the early history of country music. He was primarily a solo performer, who sang and played the acoustic guitar. His singing style was much imitated by later country and western singers, including Gene Autry, Ernest Tubb, and Eddy Arnold. Despite his success, he ofter dressed like a homeless person to maintain a rugged image.

The Everly Brothers

An American country-influenced rock and roll singers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing. They were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

Allan Freed

An American disc jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country, and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of "Rock and Roll." On July 11, 1951, hosted "The Moondog Show," a clear-channel station that had then let white teens enjoy what mainly blacks had dominated. Among the first of a new wave of disc jockeys to develop rhythm and blues programming, and he is often cited as the most influential DJ in rock and roll's breakthrough to the popular music mainstream. He was also one of the two highest profile subjects in the payola investigations (although he resisted the idea that there was anything wrong in his activities).

Chuck Berry

An American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. He was introduced to Leonard Chess of Chess Records by blues great Muddy Waters. His vocal delivery in many of his early rock hits was heavily influenced by his love of country music. He also helped establish rock and roll as a distinct style.

The Mills Brothers

An American jazz and pop vocal quartet of the 20th century who made more than 2,000 recordings that combined sold more than 50 million copies, and garnered at least three dozen gold records. They were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998. This group made extensive use of dense vocal harmony, relating closely to big band horn arrangements. They enjoyed their greatest commercial success with "Tiger Rag" (1931), "Paper Doll" (1943), and "You Always Hurt the One You Love" (1944).

Les Paul

An American jazz, country and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He worked closely with his wife Mary Ford, becoming one of the most popular acts during the first half of the 1950s.

Bill Monroe

An American mandolinist who helped create the style of music known as bluegrass. The genre takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys", named for his home state of Kentucky. His performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader. He is often referred to as "The Father of Bluegrass."

American Bandstand

An American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952-1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer.

Gene Vincent

An American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly. He is a member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He also appeared in the 1956 film "The Girl Can't Help It."

Eddie Cochran

An American musician. His rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He experimented with multitrack recording and overdubbing even on his earliest singles, and was also able to play piano, bass and drums. His image as a sharply dressed and good-looking young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the 50s rocker, and in death he achieved an iconic status. He also appeared in the 1956 film "The Girl Can't Help It," and his performance of "Twenty Flight Rock" in that movie made an impression on the teenage Paul McCartney.

Dick Clark

An American radio and television personality, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting American Bandstand from 1957 to 1987. Because he was one of the two highest profile subjects in the payola investigations, he was forced to divest himself of a number of financial holdings that might have created a conflict of interest with his broadcast activities.

Phil Chess

An American record producer and company executive, the co-founder of Chess Records (in 1947 with two white fans of black music and brother Leonard).

Phil Spector

An American record producer, songwriter, and the originator of the "Wall of Sound" production method. In later years, he gained infamy as the subject of a murder conviction. He is among the most successful producers to work in "mono." He defined the role of the dominant producer by ferociously controlling his music--both the songwriting and production. He is also know for producing majorly successful girl groups "The Crystals" and "The Ronettes."

Little Richard

An American recording artist, songwriter, and musician. He has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for over six decades. His most celebrated work dates from the mid 1950s where his dynamic music and charismatic showmanship laid the foundation for rock and roll. He was the most flamboyant performer in the early years of rock and roll. With his sometimes-maniacal singing and screaming, aggressive piano pounding (he frequently played with one leg propped up over the piano), and strong driving beat in the rhythm section, he provided a remarkable contrast to the gentler "Fats" Domino. He also helped establish rock and roll as a distinct style.

Fats Domino

An American rhythm and blues and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He released five gold (million-copy-selling) records before 1955. He also had 35 Top 40 American hits and has a music style based on traditional rhythm and blues ensembles of bass, piano, electric guitar, drums, and saxophone.

The Coasters

An American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group that had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with "Searchin'" and "Young Blood," their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller. Although they originated outside of mainstream doo wop, their records were so frequently imitated that they became an important part of the doo wop legacy through the 1960s.

Jerry Lee Lewis

An American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. He is known by the nickname "The Killer" and is often viewed as "rock & roll's first great wild man." [1] An early pioneer of rock and roll music, in 1956 he made his first recordings at Sun Records. "Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the South, but it was his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" that shot Lewis to fame worldwide. He is also infamously known for marrying his 13 year old cousin when he was 32 years of age. He also helped establish rock and roll as distinct style.

The Comets

An American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until their founder's death in 1981. The band was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of white America and the rest of the world. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group placed nine singles in the Top 20, one of those a number one and three more in the Top Ten.

Bill Haley

An American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group "(Musician's name" & His Comets and million selling hits such as "Rock Around the Clock", "See You Later, Alligator", "Shake, Rattle and Roll", "Skinny Minnie", and "Razzle Dazzle". He has sold over 25 million records worldwide. He also helped establish rock and roll as a distinct style.

The Beach Boys

An American rock band, formed in Hawthorne, California in 1961. They first enjoyed success in late 1961 with a regional hit single. Ironically, Chuck Berry later sued the rock band for stealing the tune of their tune from one of his previously produced songs.

Bing Crosby

An American singer and actor. His trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation. A multimedia star, from 1934 to 1954 he was a leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses. His early career coincided with technical recording innovations; this allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style that influenced many of the popular male singers who followed him, including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin.

Frank Sinatra

An American singer and film actor. Beginning his musical career in the swing era as a boy singer with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, he found success as a solo artist from the early to mid-1940s after being signed by Columbia Records in 1943. He was very popular with young women, who often swooned when the slim, handsome singer crooned. He established a new model for the pop-music singer by making the singer the star of the show, paving the way for later rock and roll singers like Elvis Presley and Pat Boone.

Nat King Cole

An American singer and musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. He was widely noted for his soft, baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres. He was one of the first African Americans to host a television variety show and has maintained worldwide popularity since his death from lung cancer in February 1965. He was among the first African-American artists to enjoy mainstream success in the record industry.

Tony Bennett

An American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz. The singer scored hit records like "Rags to Riches" (1953) in the new, youth-oriented mold cast by Frank Sinatra.

Elvis Presley

An American singer, musician, and actor. One of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as "the King of Rock and Roll", or simply, "the King".

Buddy Holly

An American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. He is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll." He was the man who formed the band "The Crickets." He also helped establish rock and roll as a distinct style.

Hank Williams

An American singer-songwriter and musician from rural Alabama. Regarded as one of the most significant country music artists, Williams recorded 35 singles (five released after his death) that would place in the Top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 11 that ranked number one. His first important hit was not one of his own songs, but a Tin Pan Alley number entitled "Lovesick Blues" (1949). He was known as a regular on the radio shows "Louisiana Hayride" and "Grand Ole Opry."

Jonny Cash

An American singer-songwriter, actor, and author who was considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Although he is primarily remembered as a country icon, his songs and sound spanned other genres including rock and roll and rockabilly—especially early in his career—and blues, folk, and gospel.

Ray Charles

An American singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records. He also helped racially integrate country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, most notably with his Modern Sounds albums. He often used tunes to religious gospel songs to create pop songs by changing the lyrics alone.

The Crystals

An American vocal group based in New York, considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era of the first half of the 1960s. Their 1961-1964 chart hits, including "There's No Other (Like My Baby)", "Uptown", "He's Sure the Boy I Love", "He's a Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)" and "Then He Kissed Me", featured three successive female lead singers, and were all produced by Phil Spector.

Producer

An individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music. He has many roles that may include, but are not limited to, gathering ideas for the project, selecting songs and/or musicians, coaching the artist and musicians in the studio, controlling the recording sessions, and supervising the entire process through mixing and mastering. They also often take on a wider entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, and negotiations.

Brill Building

An office located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood.

Jerry Wexler

Coined the term "Rhythm and Blues."

1950s Pop Culture

Crooners such as Eddie Fisher, Perry Como, and Patti Page, who had dominated the first half of the decade, found their access to the music charts significantly curtailed by the decade's end. Doo Wop entered the music charts in this era. Its popularity soon spawns the parody "Who Put the Bomp."

Syncopation

Involves a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected which make part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat.

A Cappella

Music is specifically group, or solo, singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed this way.

Bessie Smith

Nicknamed The Empress of the Blues, she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on other jazz vocalists.

Rockabilly

One of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of American folk and Western musical styles, such as country and bluegrass, with that of rhythm and blues, leading to what is considered "classic" rock and roll.

12-Bar Blues Form

One of the most popular chord progressions in popular music. This progression has a distinctive form in lyrics and phrase and chord structure and duration.

Col. Tom Parker

Started his career by managing Hank Snow (one of the most popular country singers of the early 1950s). He began working with Elvis as a promoter and later became his personal manager. He is known as one of the "sketchiest" managers of such a success (Elvis Presley) in the history of rock and roll.

Crossover

Term applied to musical works or performers appearing on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical tastes or genres.

Meter

Term that music has inherited from the rhythmic element of poetry where it means the number of lines in a verse, the number of syllables in each line and the arrangement of those syllables as long or short, accented or unaccented.

Phrase

The first four measures of a twelve-measure pattern.

Payola

The illegal practice of payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio in which the sons is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast.

Tin Pan Alley

The name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

AABA Form

The thirty-two-bar form is common in Tin Pan Alley songs and later popular music including rock, pop, and jazz.

The Golden Age of Rock and Roll

The years 1955-1960 that were crucial in establishing rock as a musical style and a central element of youth culture.

Lieber and Stoller

Their most famous songs include "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Don't", "Kansas City", "Stand By Me" (with Ben E. King), and "On Broadway" (with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil). Later in the 1950s, they became very successful by producing "The Coasters." They created a string of ground-breaking hits that are some of the most entertaining in rock and roll, by using the humorous vernacular of the teenagers sung in a style that was openly theatrical.

National Barndance

This show was produced similarly with the popular country-oriented program "Grand Ole Opry" but was broadcasted in the Midwest.

Sectional Verse-Chorus

Tin Pan Alley songs follow a standard, though very flexible, formal pattern. Many of theses songs make use of this format, in which the chorus is the part of the song listeners are likely to recognize, while the verse is an introduction that sets the scene for the song.

Monophonic Sound - "Mono"

Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker (it was assumed to be only one speaker for playback and no possibility of stereo imaging), or (in the case of headphones and multiple loudspeakers) channels are fed from a common signal path.

Race Records

Were 78 rpm phonograph records marketed to African Americans during the early 20th century, particularly during the 1920s and 1930s.