The History of Songs in Rock and Roll

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At the start of this class, I did not think that I would learn as much as I did. Just last night my wife and I were watching “The Voice” and someone was singing “I’ll Be There.” I told her that was a song by The Jackson 5. She disagreed with me and told me that Mariah Carey had sung that song. I looked it up and we were both right. I went onto tell her that I was more right because The Jackson 5 sang it first. It got me thinking about this class and how I catch myself thinking about the history of songs whenever I hear them on the radio or in a movie.

When I first started reading, the chapters in the textbook I was confused about how and why certain song are considered rock and roll. It is easy for me to understand why Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” is classified as rock and roll. The 2-bar blues derived riff from the guitar in the beginning draws you into the song. Then they hit you with the drums and vocals and your hooked. The thing that I could not understand was why groups like the Culture Club and their song “Karma Chameleon” would be studied in a class about roc...

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