Back to category: Music

Limited version - please login or register to view the entire paper.

blues in chicago

As be-bop had been a reaction to swing, the development of rock ''n'' roll from African-American blues and southern hillbilly traditions was a reaction against the ballads, dance numbers, and novelty tunes of the early 1950s. With the coining of the term by Cleveland radio announcer Alan Freed in 1954, rock ''n'' roll was young people''s music, a rebellion against the standards of parents, schools, and authority in general. Ballads and speeded-up versions of the twelve-bar blues often contained vague sexual references, and performers like Elvis Presley became immensely popular as much for their audience appeal as the quality of their music. Throughout its history, rock has been attacked for its presumed contributions to juvenile delinquency, protest, and drug use, but it has remained an enduring and constantly developing aspect of American and international musical culture.
By the mid-1960s, rock music, along with ballads and talkin'' blues pieces from America''s folk traditions, had...

Posted by: Novelett Roberts

Limited version - please login or register to view the entire paper.