Rock And Roll In The 1950's

Rock ‘n’ Roll is a very well liked type of music that gained a lot of attention during the 1950s. It was popularized after World War II and continued to grow from there. As rock ‘n’ roll became more popular, it slowly began to change America; such as its society, culture and politics. It became an outlet to express feelings and problems that were plaguing the US at the time. Along with that came many disapproving voices, ranging from parents to elders to even pastors. However, no matter how much some people despised it, rock ‘n’ roll was not going away, it was here to stay.

It’s difficult to exactly pinpoint when rock music first began, because the seeds of rock have been in place for decades, so much of it is incorporated with a bunch of

Rock music is integrated with many African American styles of music, as this is where it took root. The was mainly due to the fact that many African-Americans were migrating from the south to the north during the 1940s and they were bringing their culture and music with them. It truly began to flourish in the mid 1950s, with an explosive combination of black culture and spending power by whites. It was originally intended for music to be played by African American artists for an African American audience. However, it was soon re-purposed by mostly white artists to create a more “white” sound (The New Yorker) . The beginning of rock ‘n’ roll was very segregated, the music in the charting system was predicted and played on a segregated market. Because there was still very much segregation and plenty of racist attitudes during the 1950s, a large amount of African- American artists and black musicians could not get much or any airtime on the radio . The door of acceptance of rock ‘n’ roll was busted wide opened by someone everyone is familiar with, Elvis Presley. Since many white artists tried to cover R&B songs, it resulted in a watered down version

For example, when Pete Seeger wrote the song “My Dirty Stream”, it was a cry out to the Hudson river that was being destroyed by the industrial pollution. Another example, is during the civil rights movement that started in the 1960s, Aretha Franklin‘s most notable song “Respect” was shouted out in the streets by protesters and used as an anthem as many black americans demanded to be respected by society. Rock ‘n’ roll helps to unify people in a way. because when a song has a particular message people will take that message in that particular song and associate it with something that is happening currently in the world or in the