Usually known for its loud guitars and colorful behavior, rock music starts to have its own identity by the early 1950’s. When it first appeared, it was originally named Rock n Roll. The phrase rock and roll used to have two meanings: it appeared to mean dancing, but it also had a sexual meaning. Rock music comes from a mixture of old R&B, country, western, African American blues and jazz (rock N roll).There is a general conclusion that rock n roll arose in the southern United States. The migration of African Americans to the Northern states resulted in a clash of different fashions, sounds, and movements (rock and roll wiki).
Pink Floyd were influenced by a number of artists throughout their career, helping them towards the sound they achieved on Dark Side of the Moon. Miles Davis, one of the most important musicians of the second half of the twentieth century, helped create modern jazz as we know it. It is reported that Richard Wright would often lose himself in jazz records, particularly the work of Miles Davis, through his hard bop style in the 1950’s, experimental ambient sound in the 1960’s, and his rock and funk records in the 1970’s. Wright has said himself that one of his favourite pieces ever was Miles Davis’ take on Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess from the 1959 Kind of Blue album, which was a key influence to the composition of the chord sequence which forms the song Us and Them from Dark Side of the Moon. The Beatles were a band that influenced Pink Floyd greatly in the lead up to the release of Dark Side of the Moon; most bands were influenced by the Beatles at this time.
Music was changing in the sixties decade, in the fifties it was all about rock’n’roll, this changed when pop music and acid rock became popular. The music of the this decade promoted dropping out of society, doing drugs, and helped popularize the word “hip” (Miller 222). The Beatles were one of the most influential bands of their time and changed the way people listened to music forever (Miller 222). During the sixties teens were swept up by the Beatlemania. Another thing teens were crazy about were music festivals.
“We were just the spokesmen for a generation”, answered Paul McCartney when asked about his thoughts on the roles of rock music in the 1960’s (Szatmary 97), “I try to use my music to move these people to act”, said legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix when asked about the motives of his music (Jimi). Both these men were very aware of the influence they held as Rock musicians, and acted upon that knowledge as is evident in their lyrics. There were many other musicians at the time that found themselves in the same position. The position where their music had more value to it than just entertainment, where it could actually bring about change. Rock music brought about the cultural revolutions of the sixties and seventies.
About sixty years ago, the guitar underwent a modification that would forever change the rest of the musical world- it was electrified. The electric guitar adds a whole new dimension to many genres of music. However, the acoustic guitar is still often used in today’s popular tunes. The acoustic and electric guitar differ enough when it comes to mechanics, sound, and purpose to stand side-by-side in the music industry. The mechanics of both the acoustic guitar and the electric guitar involve the materials used to create each instrument and the process of manufacturing each instrument.
Susie Pummill Mr. Michael Mitchell 6123-82553-HIST 1302 8 Aug 2012 Rock and Roll: Musical Genre and American Lifestyle Rock and Roll isn’t just about a musical genre; it’s about a lifestyle. Rock Music shapes what is the American popular society’s viewpoint and belief system, not only in its inception beginning in the 1950s, but also now in the 21st century. Its musical message highlights different eras’, political times, and challenges of the moment. Cultural attitudes and opinions on every aspect of life including, racism, war, politics, and economy, are the focus of this sound. With every decade evolving this musical art with new unique styles, and many subcategories of the genre, Rock is the most popular kind of music, and
The music of the swing era was popular from the 1930’s to around the beginning of World War two when most of the Jazz musicians went off to fight in the war. Before the 1930s, however, small groups, usually consisting of a trumpet, trombone, clarinet, tuba or bass, banjo or piano, and drums, performed jazz. Each instrument had a specific role in the ensemble, aside from the melody. This sectionalized approach carried over into the big bands of swing music, which instead featured a section of three to four trumpet players; four trombone performers and five to six saxophonists. The number of Clarinet players were doubled and instead of a bassist they had a tuba player.
In the early twentieth century, it is commonly believed jazz evolved into a popular music style in New Orleans. Small bands would play gigs and perform ragtime music with a blues twist, relying heavily on improvisation. Jazz during this time began combining marching band instruments added with the ragtime blues mix, and eventually became what we see jazz as today. In 1917, The Original Dixieland Jass Band made the first jazz recording with Lively Stable Blues. In that same year, jazz recordings became a lot more popular, and in the following year, jazz was taken to Europe by James Reese Europe and his “Hellfighters” band.
Elvis eventually migrated north and would go on to produce songs such as “That’s All Right, Mama,” which set up his influx into rock and roll history (Egendorf 38). Other important figures and bands such as the Beach boys, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, and Jerry Lee Lewis all contributed to the rock and
After the trial, the anti-payola statute was passed under which payola became a misdemeanor, penalty by up to $10,000 in fines and one year in prison. Getting radio play would allow the songs to reach its expected audience and help launch the artist’s career. This practice also helped small and independent labels break the stronghold of the music industry by major labels. To better understand what was behind the Payola scandal in the 1950’s, let me discuss a little history about the radio industry. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) thrived on the sales of sheet music and recordings of Tin Pan Alley songs, the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the U.S. at the time, but the creation of radio in the 1940’s was geared toward recorded music and things started to change in the industry.