The History of Rock&Roll

 For this blog, we had the chance to choose a certain type of music and do our own research on the history of it. After seeing that the one I had originally wanted to choose was taken, I decided to choose something else I was interested in learning about, which was Rock&Roll. In the past, I have not personally listened to Rock&Roll a lot so I do not know much about the origins of it. When I did listen to it, it was in a movie that I was watching and I never really thought twice about it. So within this blog, I am going to research and explain some of the history behind Rock&Roll and how it came to be.

When thinking about Rock&Roll, what is the first thing you think of? What singer or artist? One of the many artists that may have popped into your head was Elvis Presley, or one of the many artists closer to today. What if I told you that it all started way before then? According to the article "The true origins of rock'n'roll", this genre of music was created entirely based off of other Black genres of music like R&B, Jazz, and bluegrass. There are even many artists like the Beatles and Elvis Presley that covered and re-recorded songs that were originally created by black artists like the Marvelettes and Big Mama Thornton (who we talked about and listened to in class when discussing the blues). Around this time, segregation was a major issue. White people began to steal profits from Black artists after they began taking a liking to the music they were creating. At this time, Black artists were not given the proper profits that they should have been making off of their music, but when white people decided to re-record and take inspiration from their music, they took all of the profit. It was so frustrating that many artists left the industry and I do not blame them.

Below is a video of Big Mama Thornton singing Hound Dog, and then one of Elvis Presley singing the same song. Sadly, I feel as if more people know the song because of Elvis, rather than the original mastermind behind the song. 

The next website that I looked into explained the evolution of Rock&Roll through the years. Even though there are many arguments and discussion on when it was actually created, many have deduced that it was around the 1950's (History and evolution). Within the 50's, this genre was created by the combination of blues and electrical music, though was evolved with the combination of other types of music as time went on. One example of this is when Rock&Roll was combined with country, becoming one of the other genres up for grabs for this blog called Rockabilly. Rock&Roll also became bigger during the 50's because of the introduction of new technology that allowed people to play music. One of these examples includes the transistor radio. Below is a picture of a transistor radio that I found on Google, and a video showing music within the genre of Rockabilly.

When the 60's rolled around, people believed that Rock&Roll was going to become dated and unpopular (History and evolution). These people were extremely wrong, as the genre of music continued to boom. Even women's groups were in demand, ones like The Crystals. Around this time, even more technology was being created. One of which includes something we could not imagine living without today, the television. In 1963, President JFK was killed, and Texas was involved in a war with Vietnam. During this time, Rock&Roll finally began to fade as Folk music became popular. Below is a video showing the woman's group the Crystals.

By the 70's, Rock&Roll music became a thing of the past, as Rock music began to take its place (History and evolution). Within this time frame, many unfortunate things occurred and many famous artists passed away (Many of which who were a part of the 27 Club). During the early 70's, the war had finally started coming to an end, so many people turned their back on the up beat music of Rock&Roll. They not only began enjoying Rock, but they also started enjoying Disco music as well. One of the many famous bands known for Disco is called "Abba". Below is a video of Abba, who after listening, I finally realized who it was.

In the article “Roots of Rock”, Robert Johnson is mentioned as one of the many legends that influenced Rock&Roll. This is due to this genre of music being influenced by the blues. Johnson had left his home to travel and perform the blues, but he was not seen as a legend at this point. He became a legend after he “met with Satan at the crossroads one night”. There, a deal was made. The deal was that if Johnson gave the devil his soul, then he would become a master of an instrument of his choice. Of course there is no true way to know that this happened, all we know is after this so-called deal was made, Johnson began playing incredibly. This is how he became a legend, and sadly it did not last long. Johnson became one of the many artists a part of the 27 Club, where they passed away at age 27. Below is a video of the legendary Robert Johnson, and another clip from the well known show "Supernatural", where the story of Robert Johnson is tied in to their supernatural universe because of his "visit with the devil".

Another well known catalyst for Rock&Roll was someone who I have already mentioned, the one and only Elvis Presley. Elvis became well known around 1954, right around when this genre was taking off. According to the article “Rock and Roll”, Elvis’s music “oozed sexuality”, which was popular for the young teens of that time. Though by the end of the 50’s the music industry wanted to take this music and make it more sophisticated. This last video is of another song by Elvis Presley.

References:

Abba - Dancing Queen (Official Music Video ... - youtube.com. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFrGuyw1V8s&.

Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock (music video) - youtube. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj0Rz-uP4Mk.

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Rock and Roll. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/art/rock-and-roll-early-style-of-rock-music.

Google. (n.d.). Google. Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.google.co.id/.

History and evolution. Evolution of Rock Music. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2021, from http://evolutionofrockmusic.weebly.com/history-and-evolution.html.

Posey, S. (2021, October 21). The true origins of rock 'n' roll. The Crimson White. Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://cw.ua.edu/83340/culture/the-true-origins-of-rock-n-roll/.

Robert johnson- crossroad - youtube. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd60nI4sa9A.

 Roots of rock. Roots of Rock | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.rockhall.com/roots-of-rock.

Supernatural -- Robert Johnson sells his soul ... - youtube. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RULsdMaOoo.

The crystals - then he kissed me (with lyrics) - youtube. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQtZUTRCLcY.

1950s rockabilly #9 - YouTube. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZywEOUJi00.

Music in the Eyes of my Mom

Me: Okay, so what type of music did you listen to growing up

Sandi(Mom): As a young child I enjoyed listening to pop music, though once I reached high school, I began listening to rock music. That became my favorite type of music.

Me: Why do you think this sort of music genre became your favorite, or what about it did you like?

Mom: When I was younger in high school and college, I did not do everything that other kids did. I never partied, or did drugs, or drink. So, I think rock music was kind of my own way of rebelling, as it was the type of music that most parent did not really approve of.

Me: What were your favorite artists? It can be a band, singer, or anything music related.

Mom: My favorite artists were and still are definitely The Eagles, Duran Duran, and Def Leopard.

Me: So, you still enjoy the same type of music?

Mom: Yes, I listen to it everyday

Me: As you were growing as a person, did you ever learn to love a different type of music that you did not think you would ever like. For example, once you became a mother, did you ever start liking other music because I listened to it.

Mom: Of course, I really learned to enjoy the pop rap you used to listen to in middle school. It was always so fun. Like that one song called Thrift shop by Macklemore.

Me: What kind of music do you not like, or did you learn to not like after time.

Mom: I don’t like classical music, other than one song by Beethoven. I don’t know why I don’t like it, I just honestly never got into it or enjoyed it. Another type of music I do not like is today’s rap. It is a lot different than the pop rap I was talking about. The music is so vulgar and aggressive, talking about things that are awful.

Me: Makes sense. Have you been to any concerts? If so, which ones?

Mom: Yes of course I went to quite a few. Some of them including Jimmy Buffett, Metallica, Def Leopard, New kids on the Block, and James Taylor. Of course, I also went to A One Direction concert with you when you were 13.

 

Overall, I enjoyed interviewing my mom even though I already knew most of her answers. Her music definitely influenced the type of music I listen to today, as I listen to most of the songs she enjoys. I have not attended as many concerts as she has, but that is definitely a goal of mine to go to more.

 Below is an example of the music she loved growing up

Here is the song she mentioned within the interview called Thrift shopping

Here is the video of the interview, though there is only sound as my mom preferred not to be shown

 When looking for music to study within Sub-Saharan Africa, I stumbled upon a website that mentioned the Aka Pygmy people that take place in many places throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, including the Republic of Congo. With more research I found an interesting video called the Polyphonic Singing of the Aka Pygmies of Central Africa. Within this video, I learned that these nomadic people tend to use mainly their voices and other small hand-made instruments that they can easily carry. Some of these include drums, shakers, and harps. These instruments are used on certain occasions. The most impressive thing they do in my opinion is polyphonic singing. Where they are allowed and even encouraged to improvise while singing, meaning they can change his or her voice while singing. When dancing, their traditions are similar to the Indigenous Americans that we previously studied, as they mostly dance separately by gender. Though, there are dances that include couples or even singles.

The video below shows different parts of the Pygmy culture. I do want to warn ahead that there is slight nudity.

While looking through information on the Pygmies, I stumbled across an important type of music called water drumming, or Liquindi drumming, and the instrument is in fact water. I learned that this type of music is a very important aspect of the Baka forest people, and that it is reserved for the women hunters. They do this on the morning of a hunt in hopes to bless their hunt and bring forth the animals within the forest. Drawing them out makes it easier for them to hunt and prevents them from having to go really far into the woods. The women must be in a good mood and have to finish before sunrise, so that they do not disturb the gods and the spirits. Another time in which they perform and dance is when there is war. In order to get different sounds, the women cup their hands differently when hitting the water. 

When looking into the Mbira, I found a website on Hugh Tracey, who founded the International Library of African Music (ILAM). In order to fund this, he also created the AMI, also known as the African Musical instruments. With this, he made and sold African instruments with the hopes to spread insight on the African culture. While doing this, he created a new version of a Kalimba, called a Hugh Tracey Kalimba, which is another name for the instrument that we discussed for class called the Mbira. The original Kalimba has been around for ages, at it has been played for almost 3000 years. Tracey was inspired by the Likembe, which had an alternating note layout. Tracey continued to experiment with different techniques while making them to incorporate some none traditional aspects to the instrument. He finished making the Treble Kalimbas in 1954, then created both the Alto and Celeste Trebles in later years. 

Below is a cool video of someone playing a popular song we know on the Hugh Tracey Kalimba