MUS354 Chapter 3: Rock and Roll

Carl Perkins

"To begin with ... rockabilly music, or rock and roll ... was a country man's song with a black man's rhythm. I just put a little speed into some of the slow blues licks." -king of Rockabilly -career ruined by car accident 1956

Crew Cuts' cover of "Sh-Boom" 1954

- best known example; rock and roll took its first steps toward an identity distinct from rhythm and blues, with white takes on rhythm and blues

Maybellene - Chuck Berry

-1955; Form is 12 Bar Blues with Verse/Chorus; Style is fast-paced with backbeat, R&B slide guitar and country twang; Themes of cars and sexual allusion -Berry's first hit -aggressive guitar sound, full rhythm section, souped-up honky tonk beat, verse/chorus blues form, teen-themed lyrics -2 beat rhythm except guitar solo then 4 beat swing

Alan Freed

-A disc jockey who began playing a unique style of music at the time called "rhythm-and-blues" on a Cleveland radio show, gained a wide following from black &white teenagers due to his on-air attitude and style, gaining a wide following for this new genre that evolved into rock-and-roll. -rock&roll term in 1951

eight-beat rhythm

-A rhythm that divides each beat of a four-beat measure into two equal parts; characteristic rhythmic foundation of rock, also called eight-to-the-bar. -Johnny B. Goode

Inflection

Moment-to-moment changes in dynamic level. Aretha Franklin sings in a highly inflected style

Little Richard

-African American rock-n-roll singer and recorded hit songs in the 50's including Tutti Fruiti -first and the loudest of the early rock and rollers -rhythm was his greatest contribution; he brought the new rock beat that Chuck Berry would consolidate

Chuck Berry

-African-American rock 'n' roll musician and composer, who influenced many musicians of the 50s &60s -Beatles, Beach Boys, Rolling Stones, and Dave Clark Five covered far more Berry songs than any other rock&roll artist -architecture of Rock &Roll

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

-Cleveland, Ohio -1986 admitted first class of inductees: Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Same Cooke, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the Everly Brothers - performers became eligible 25 years after first record release -Selection criteria include "the influence and significance of the artist's contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll."

Buddy Holly

-Rock pioneer whose 7 Top 40 hits included "Peggy Sue" and "That'll Be The Day". -he died at 22 in a plane crash just as his fame was beginning.

Elvis Presley

-a symbol of the rock-and-roll movement of the 50s when teens began to form their own subculture -created a youth culture that ridiculed phony and pretentious middle-class Americans, celebrated uninhibited sexuality and spontaneity; foreshadowed the coming counterculture of the 1960s -recorded his first local hit for Phillips's Sun Records in 1954, a cover of That's All Right by Arthur Crudup -Within a year he had reached No. 1 nationally on the country-and-western charts with "Mystery Train" -Heartbreak Hotel, his first #1 hit in March 56, done with RCA

Jerry Lee Lewis

-began recording late 56 w/ country song Crazy Arms -no one else inducted into Rock&Roll had a shorter career, fewer hits, or less influence Great Balls of Fire

Timbre

-distinctive tone quality of a voice or an instrument

two-beat

-division of the measure into two primary beats or accents; the rhythmic basis of the fox trot and other early syncopated instrumental styles.

The Everly Brothers

-first hits were teen-themed country songs that crossed over to the pop charts. "Bye, Bye, Love" and "Wake Up, Little Susie" were among the biggest hits of 1957 then they turned more toward rock&roll - 1958 hit "All I Have to Do Is Dream," is pre-rock pop

Rockabilly

-mixes bluegrass and country influences with those of black folk music and early amplified blues -a type of popular music, Memphis 50s, rock and roll and country mix -first big rockabilly hit was by Bill Haley

Mystery Train

-original was boogie-based rhythm&blues, chugs at a slow pace under Parker's bluesy voice & occasional sax whistle -Elvis's version brighter/upbeat, country-style beat, honky-tonk 2 beat bass alternating w/heavy backbeat on electric guita; backbeat was modified w/quick rebound that begins on, then off the beat

Sam Phillips and Sun Records

-sold Elvis's record to RCA in a financial bind -Buddy Holly -Carl Perkins -Johnny Cash -Jerry Lee Lewis -Ike Turner -Jackie Brenston -B. B. King -Roy Orbison -Howlin' Wolf -along with Alan Freed, first nonperformer inducted into Rock&Roll Hall of Fame

Rock Around the Clock

-takes its form&harmony from rhythm&blues -12 bar blues -#1 Rock and Roll/Rockabilly recording featured in the movie, Blackboard Jungle. -first #1 hit that wasn't pop or a white cover of a rhythm and blues song

Bluegrass

-updated version of country's old-time string band music. -late 1940s under the guidance of mandolinist Bill Monroe -Harbor Lights & Blue Moon

Jailhouse Rock (1957)

-verse/chorus blues form in which the first phrase is doubled in length. -chorus part of the form, when the rhythm instruments play continuously, the guitar pumps out the boogie-based pattern that is almost identical in pitch to that used in "Rocket 88." -most rocklike feature is the guitar pattern, which divides the beat into two equal parts -rhythmic feel somewhere between a standard rock rhythm and a shuffle rhythm. -rock and roll commercially but not quite rock and roll rhythmically

Western Swing

A swing style of country music which emerged in the Southwest in the 1930s.

Rock&Roll's Hall of Fame Acts

Elvis Presley personified rock and roll: he gave the music its most memorable voice, its most indelible image, and its strongest commercial presence. Little Richard brought in the beat and performed with an outrageousness that inspired generations of rockers. Chuck Berry put together its key musical elements: the beat and the sound and style of lead and rhythm guitar. He contributed more than anyone else to the distinct musical identity of rock and roll. Jerry Lee Lewis reinforced the beat and brought unrestrained abandon into rock and roll. The Everly Brothers introduced the melodious rock song. Buddy Holly was the most important bridge between rock and roll and rock: he gave rock its basic instrumentation, new forms and harmonies, and its primary way of creating the future out of the past. He also led the way in showing that rock and roll could be more than teen dance music.

Overview

Pre-1951 Rock and roll are black euphemisms for sex. 1951-1954 Rock and roll is Alan Freed's code phrase for rhythm and blues. The term does not represent a new kind of music. 1954-1956 Rock and roll begins to develop an identity: an image, in the appearance and movements of Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and others; a sound, beginning with rockabillies like Bill Haley, Carl Perkins, and Elvis; white cover acts like the Crew Cuts and (yes) Pat Boone; black crossover acts like the many doo-wop groups and Fats Domino; and in the initial rock-defining songs of Little Richard and Chuck Berry; a fresh, impudent attitude expressed in image, lyrics, and sound that teens find appealing; and a commercial presence, most prominent in the overwhelming success of Elvis Presley. 1957-1959 Rock and roll solidifies its distinct musical identity, most significantly in the music of Chuck Berry, and begins to grow beyond teen dance music, most notably in the music of Buddy Holly.

Overdubbing

The process of recording an additional part onto an existing recording.

British Invasion

influx of British bands in the early 60s whose styles borrowed from American pop, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and early blues and who, in turn, were to have a profound influence in the emergence of rock.

accents

musical event that stands out from its neighbors because of a change in one or more musical elements. The most common sources of accent are intensity (the event is louder), duration (longer), density (the event contains more parts), or pitch (higher or lower).

Payola

practice of record companies' bribing disk jockeys to secure airplay for their records.

call and response

rapid exchange, usually of riffs, between two different timbres: solo voice and guitar; solo voice and choir; or saxophones and trumpets

most apparent distinction between rock&roll and rhythm&blues

rhythm and blues is black music; rock and roll is, for the most part, white music

Frank Sinatra

spoke for the pop music establishment when he derided rock and roll as "the most brutal, ugly, desperate, vicious form of expression it has been my misfortune to hear."