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Rock and roll artists and the civil rights movement
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The diverse age of Rock and Roll existed concurrently with the movement to grant civil rights to African Americans in the establishment of a new genre of music. When it first became known, with its wild sound and influence over a younger audience that involved sex, drugs, and a social change from past norms, white, religious, middle class and elderly groups interpreted it as a risqué and obscene music genre. Adults mainly disapproved of Rock and Roll’s sexual lyrics and its performers with the rebellious attitudes it created, and that it originated from African American culture. In most cases, parents disliked white youth listening to “black sounding” music and attending concerts where half the audience and artists were black. Changing racial attitudes and the popularity of Rock and Roll music encouraged American white racial barriers to be threatened by white and black teenagers. It further spread by the appeal of Rock and Roll songs to younger audiences, gaining ever-escalating popularity. As Glenn Altschuler, an acclaimed author and professor at Cornell University, quotes, “rock ‘n’ roll nonetheless provided a fresh perspective, celebrating leisure, romance, and sex, deriding deferred gratification… and delighting in the separate world of the teenager” . The rapid success of Rock and Roll spread from teenagers promoting up and coming artists, whether they were black or white, causing segregation to slowly dissipate and integration to come into play. This switch from previous lifestyles and behaviors of the 1950s to different and more relaxed attitudes about lifestyles and behaviors came in great part from the huge contrast in styles of music, both vocal and instrumental. Rock and Roll was ultimately controversial due to black a...
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...nfluence and sexiness compared to other musicians of his day and age.
The distinguished artists of the Rock and Roll generation brought forth innovative music, style, and influences, in turn constructing a new genre of acclaimed sound. Rock and Roll was conjointly the birth of mixing black and white sound and the availability of the radio in cars and in homes allowed it to do so. Additionally, teenagers across the nation prompted Rock and Roll’s popularity and pushed it to become one of the most beloved and controversial music sounds, with adult audiences argumentative towards the message it perceived. Chiefly, Rock and Roll was a sound that brought together youth and different races, even with the disagreement of white elderly groups, remaining through its importance and emphasis of new music, in return becoming one of the most famous genres in music history.
Rock n’ roll gave people the voice they did not have in the early years. As the genre of music became more wide spread, people actually began to speak out. Altschuler touches on the exploration of how the rock n' roll culture roughly integrated with replaced and conflicted with preceding cultural values. Many of these values were very touch topics. Besides black civil rights, sexuality were one of the most sensitive t...
The development of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the late 1940s and early 1950s by young African Americans coincided with a sensitive time in America. Civil rights movements were under way around the country as African Americans struggles to gain equal treatment and the same access to resources as their white neighbors. As courts began to vote in favor of integration, tensions between whites and blacks escalated. As the catchy rhythm of Rock ‘n’ Roll began to cross racial boundaries many whites began to feel threatened by the music, claiming its role in promoting integration. This became especially problematic as their youth became especially drawn to ...
This book provides a very detailed outline on how and where rock and roll originated. It places much emphasis on the transition from Black to White rock artists and how society reacted to this change. Szatmary also presents sufficient information on the many aspects of rock and roll, ranging from what the lyrics are about, to the beginnings of rock and roll and new age rock.
America was still changing rapidly as African Americans were allowed more and more rights and social justices. During this time in America’s history, racism was still largely found across the nation. It was almost customary for average white people to hold their black counterparts and lower regards. It was very rare for people of mixed races partaking in activities together, let alone creating music. Swing resolved some of these issues, and connected the races. The audience of Swing was also different in the sense that “college-age and high-school-age youth” built up a large majority of the common listeners (Edsford 1). The inclusion of younger aged consumers of Swing music is monumentally important contrasted with swing’s predecessors, where people of this age had no outlet of listening to music of any kind. The later part of the Swing revolution occurred during the first consumer era of America, allowing people of all ages to spend more time doing things they enjoyed, compared to just trying to survive. This brought a new flair to the world and transformed the bleak and monotone life of working all day into a luxuriant
Rock ‘n’ roll and 20th Century Culture According to Philip Ennis, rock ‘n’ roll emerged from the convergence of social transformations which resulted from World War II (Ryan 927). Despite its pop culture origins, rock music is arguably one of the strongest cultural factors to develop in this century. Artists such as Lennon, McCartney and Dylan defined the emotions of a generation and, in the last decade, it as even been acknowledged by members of the establishment which it hoped to change as a major influence in the country. In order to understand how rock went from a sign of rebellion to a cultural icon, it is necessary to understand where it came from.
The rise of rock and roll into the limelight is to a large extent attributed to the teenagers of the 1950’s. Early rock music listened to by teenagers during the 1950’s was formed by blending together Rhythm and blues with country music. This kind of ...
It was no coincidence that rock ‘n’ roll and the civil rights movement started at the same time. The genre originated from African American music and was greatly discriminated against. Traditional white Americans would target anything bad about it. But as the teenager demographic of the 1950s started increasing the sales of the music, the genre started gaining more popularity. It was the style of Elvis Presley and his new voice that made girls weak in the knees and boys want to be him. Artists such as Presley had enough influence to change the view of their devoted fans on civil rights issues. Soon as protest songs and rock ‘n’ roll became more popular and influential, it began a gap between the young adult generation and their parents which led to the rebellion of the civil rights movement. Through these factors rock ‘n’ roll influenced a great deal over the civil rights movement.
Throughout history, music have defined or depicted the culture and social events in America. Music has constantly played an important role in constituting American culture, where people have expressed themselves through music during flourishing and turbulent times. In the 1930’s, Swing music created a platform for audiences to vent their emotions in the midst of Great Depression and political unrest. Such strong relationship between music and culture can be seen throughout history, especially in the sixties.
For example, in Norfolk, Virginia, singer Larry Williams, who had recorded “Bony Maroney” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” was arrested after he jumped off stage and across the “color line” to dance with white fans. Maybe in some ways it did influence teenagers to rebel against their parents, but was more provoked by their surrounding peers rather than anything else. Adults would blame the music for their children's behavior instead of blaming themselves or the kids. Rock ‘n’ roll was blamed for all the problems and juvenile delinquency when the reason was not music.
In conclusion this report has helped us understand the significance of Music in America. Also, the impact it has on music we listen too. Music is very much like a big chain reaction. Rock ‘N’ Roll, much like music today, stood out and was in a way rebellious. Parents now hate Rap and we love it. People in the 70’s loved Rock ‘N’ Roll and parents hated it. This shows that maybe no matter how much older people deny it, the time gap and generation gap is not too far apart. Without Rock ‘N’ Roll the World would without a doubt be changed. Any guess to that of which way would be a good one.
Rock and Roll was the start of a new revolution in America. It introduced the world to many of the famous artists that continue to be a part of our lives today. "Artists who became popular in the 1950s such as Elvis, began to pave the way for others such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly" (The History of Rock 'n' Roll until 1960). With the introduction of rock 'n' roll, there came many new changes to the lives of many Americans. Rock and Roll was a major contributor for the change in teens' behavior in the 1950s because it encouraged new freedoms for teenagers, encouraged new fads among teenagers, and caused a generation gap.
Rock and roll was very popular among a wide range of cultures it was heard around the world. The rhythm that it had was very
After many of World War II’s harmful effects, the 1950s served as a period of time of musical change that reflected the dynamic of society as well as the traditional norms and values. Many factors contributed to this transformation. For example, the civil rights movement heightened many racial tensions, and the music produced consequently manifested this tension in itself. Rock-n-roll and R&B music universalized music typically associated with African-Americans, and many African-American musicians gained fame; however, as with any relatively-widespread success, there were many musicians as well who missed their opportunities due to the same racial segregation. While “radical” genres such as R&B and rock-n-roll laid the foundation for music future forms of music, the standard pop, jazz, and country music adhered to traditional values, and thus continued to maintain popularity amidst phenomena such as the Elvis craze.
While going through our history of rock and roll course, one thing has become apparent, and that is that music brings people together. Sometimes it takes music to get a point across, and our world has endured a lot of social and a cultural change, which is how we music today. Just like our world is evolving, music is the same way. When a baby is born until the day it dies, it has evolved internally and externally and that is the same way I view the history of rock “n” roll. For instance, the great wars and the civil rights movement help influence to history of rock and roll. It gave people a purpose to listen to music and let artist express themselves through their songs. I’m not saying by any means that all the struggles we as a nation have
The textbook describes progressive rock as a form of rock music that has a complex and educated sound. Progressive rock gets its name because it is a progression of classic rock. In other words, technology, cultures, etc. progress with time and music is no different it progresses over time. The textbook describes this progression as being more complex than classic rock by having more technical skill going into the music, as well as the lyrics being more fantasy-based. In other words, progressive rock goes beyond the regular twelve-bar structure of classic rock and its lyrics are more about telling a story. The textbook refers to progressive rock as having a smarter sound than classic rock. To describe this point the textbook uses