Rock And Roll Music In The 1950's

Music has been an affective diversion for many years, an escape away from one’s everyday life. In the 1950’s, teenagers’ everyday lives were filled with an allowance of ‘fun’, given to them by their parents, who had grown up in a time of war, and wished to give their children the freedom that they didn’t receive. Rock and Roll music in this era represented a common ground for teenagers of all races, a sense of freedom, and an act of rebellion. This act of rebellion against the conventional lives their parents hoped for them to have created a feeling of indignation for the parents against their scapegoat for these actions: none other than rock and roll music.

Since rock and roll was a blend of music from both blacks and whites (rhythm from whites and blues from blacks), it created a form of unity through musical culture in a time where segregation reigned. Different races were intermingling in concert venues, in record stores, and in movie theaters. Music was the driving force behind this fusion, and a common culture between the opposite races was derived.

Though rock and roll was in fact uniting people, it was also a dividing force. This music pitted parents against teenagers by making the parents feel as if their children were rebelling against everything they had

Rock and roll was a freedom, a way to exert energy and obtain a sense of belonging. It became a lifestyle, influencing the way these teenagers dressed, spoke, spent their time, and lived. Parents once again encompassed this change in their children in the general term of “juvenile delinquency.” Parents feared that their babies would participate in the crimes that the musicians they followed committed. Yet especially because of this oppression, and because this music was everything suburban life was not, rock and roll continued to flourish. To the horror of the parent’s generation, the rock and roll ‘craze’ never did die