Rock & Roll Music

Once upon a time in the 1950s & 1960s a new genre of music emerged and they called it Rock & Roll. This genre of music was a combination of country, folk, gospel, and blues primarily from the United States.

In the Mid to Late 50’s, particularly in the United States, Rhythm and blues popularity spread among the younger generation. This generation listened to this music on radio stations that usually broadcast it late at night.

In the later 1950s and early 1960s, Rock & Roll was born and became popular across the United States, Britain and in Europe.

Mid to Late 1950s:

Music by performers like Fats Domino with hit’s such as “Blueberry Hill”, “Ain’t that a shame”, “I’m Walkin’” and “Margie”, did well in promoting this new Genre of Music. Fats Domino appeared in the early Rock & Roll movie “Shake, Rattle and Roll”.

Also around the same time was Little Richard with hits such as “Tutti Frutti”, Long Tall Sally”, “Rip It Up”, “Good Golly Miss Molly” and “Keep A Knockin’”. Little Richard appeared in the 1973 Documentary Film “Let The Good Times Roll”.

Another prominent artist of that era was Jerry Lee Lewis with major hits “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”and “Great Balls of Fire”,

These singers recorded their records in on popular record labels in cities such as New Orleans, Louisiana and Memphis Tennessee.

Groups like The Platters also became very popular with songs such as “The Great Pretender” and “Twilight Time”. Rhythm and blues, gospel and pop music emerged by artists such as Ray Charles and Sam Cooke. In the late 50’s and early 60s artist’s like Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder were dominating the R&B charts.

“Elvis Presley” Dubbed “The King of Rock and Roll” 

Elvis Aaron Presley born January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi, then relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family at the young age of 13 years.

His music career began in around 1954 at a local Independent Record Label called Sun Records where record producer Sam Phillips produced records by local musicians. Phillips produced Elvis Presley’s first real record in July 1954, a song called “That’s All Right.” which became very popular.

In November 1955 Elvis signed contract with RCA Victor and by December, RCA Victor had begun to heavily promote its new singer. His first major recording release with RCA was the highly successful “Heartbreak Hotel”, released as a single on January 27.

After the release of “Heartbreak Hotel”, Elvis became the symbol of Rock Music and Teenage Rebellion across America and Europe.

Elvis’s manager introduced Elvis Presley to national television on January 28. Presley stayed in town to record at the RCA Victor New York studio. The sessions yielded his next major hit, “Blue Suede Shoes”.

Elvis went on to Star in a total of 33 Films; release 24 Studio Albums and 17 Soundtrack Albums, with an estimated total number of original recordings at over 600.

In 1953, Bill Haley and his Comets released “Crazy Man Crazy”, supposedly the first Rock & Roll record to enter the American charts.

This was followed by the release of “Rock Around the Clock”, which was used on the soundtrack of a movie about rebellious teenagers, called “The Blackboard Jungle” which sent the song to the number 1 on the American charts.

Bill Haley and his Comet also had success with hits such as “Shake Rattle And Roll”, “See You Later Alligator” and “Don’t Knock The Rock”

Many other emerging rock & roll singers of that time became popular in the 1950s. These artists have included: Buddy Holly, “That’ll Be The Day”, “Maybe Baby”, “Peggy Sue”, “Oh Boy” and Think It Over.

Bo Diddley, “I’m A Man”, “Mona”, “Who Do You Love”, “You Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover” and “Road Runner”

Chuck Berry’s music was a mixture of country and rhythm and blues. In 1955, his song “Maybellene” being one of the most popular songs in the country.

Other well known hits written by Chuck Berry include; “Roll Over Beethoven”, “Johnny B. Goode”, “Sweet Little Sixteen” and “Brown-Eyed Handsome Man”. Each performer had created his own kind of rock & roll, these and other artist’s founded the rock & roll American Classics.

The 1960s:

In the early 1960s an African American music and musicians became recognized as an important part of the music industry.  A Detroit record label then established called Motown Records, produced some of the most popular songs by African American artists in American at the time.

One of Motown’s most successful groups was Diana Ross and The Supremes, their first record to reach number 1 on the U.S. and U.K charts was “Baby Love”.

Other major hits included “Come See About Me”, “Stop! In The Name Of Love”, “You Can’t Hurry Love”, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” and “The Happening”.

Another popular kind of American rock & roll music at the time was surf music, originating in Southern California. Five young men from Los Angeles formed a group called the Beach Boys.

The Beach Boys’ songs created using a combination of complex music however using simple lyrics. The lyrics were about the local teenage culture and the songs at the time were about fast cars, girls and surfing.

Their first hits were “Surfin’ Safari” and the more popular “Surfin’ USA,”.

Other major hits at that time by The Beach Boys include; “Fun Fun Fun”, “Little Honda”, “I Get Around”, “Help Me Rhonda” and “California Girls”.

Also in the 1960s, rock and roll music began to change, with the lyrics becoming as important as the music. 

An artist by the name of Bob Dylan became popular by writing and releasing folk rock songs that many people considered to be a type on poetry with music.

Bob Dylan’s early songs were about social issues such as the ongoing Vietnam War and racial injustice. Some of his songs were used as protest songs for the anti-war and civil rights movements in America.

With the release of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” album came success with songs such as “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and “Blowin’ In The Wind”.

Other Bob Dylan Hits of that time include; “The Time They Are A Changin’”, “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Like A Rolling Stone”.

AnotherAmerican folk group formed during this folk music revival phenomenon was the trio Peter, Paul and Mary . The group’s repertoire included the Trio’s original songs, early songs by Bob Dylan, and covers of other folk musicians.

 They were enormously successful in the early- and mid-1960s, with their debut album topping the charts for many weeks. 

Woodstock Music and Art Fair.

Woodstock Music Festival, held over 3 Days in August from the 15^th to the 18^th in 1969, was on Max Yasgurs dairy farm in Bethel, New York. It attracted an audience of more than 400,000 people with approximately thirty two acts performing on outdoor erected stages.

The event was captured in a 1970’s 3 Hour documentary film and accompanying soundtrack 3 album set.

The song “Woodstock” written by Joni Mitchell became a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Some of the artist’s performing included such names as Richie Havens, Ravi Shankar, Melanie, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Country Joe McDonald, Santana, John Sebastian, Canned Heat, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, Ten Years After, The Band, Blood Sweat & Tears, Sly And The Family Stone, Jimmy Hendrix and many more.

The British Invasion

The so called British Invasion emerged as a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music artists other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States.

Some of the major English Pop and Rock acts that led this Invasion were;

Pop Groups

The Zombies with “She’s Not There” and “Time Of The Season”, The Kinks with “You Really Got Me”, Small Faces with “Itchycoo Park”, The Dave Clark Five with  “Bits and Pieces” and “Catch Us If You Can”,  Herman’s Hermits with “There’s A Kind Of Hush”, The Hollies with “Here I Go Again” and  “Bus Stop”, Eric Burden and The Animals with “San Franciscan Nights”, Gerry and the Pacemakers with “How Do You Do It?”, “I Like It” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, The Searchers with  “Sweets for My Sweet”; “Sugar and Spice”  , The Yardbirds with “For Your Love, The Who with  “My Generation” and “Substitute” and Them with “Gloria” and   “Baby, Please Don’t Go”.

Solo Artists

Dusty Springfield with “I Only Want to Be with You” and  “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me”, Cilla Black with  “Anyone Who Had a Heart” and “You’re My World”,  Petula Clark with “Downtown” and “I Know a Place, Lulu with “To Sir with Love”  Tom Jones with “It’s Not Unusual” and “What’s New Pussycat?” and Donovan with “Catch the Wind” and “Universal Soldier”.

Another very popular English Rock band of the time was The Rolling Stones, they were a major focus of the so-called British Invasion and lead the way with a slightly heavier sound.

The Rolling Stones and their success came when they started to release their own material with many hits such as “Satisfaction”, “Get Off of My Cloud” “Paint It Black”, “Ruby Tuesday”, “Let’s Spend the Night Together”, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Honky Tonk Women” .

Beatlemania

Beatlemania described the hysteria and primarily female-led fan culture surrounding The Beatles between 1963 and 1966. The term first circulated throughout British media in late 1963 in order to capture the teenage excitement that followed the Liverpool band as they toured the UK.

This Hysteria spread to the United States in February 1964 when the Beatles performed on a televised edition of The Ed Sullivan Show which was viewed by approximately 73 million people. The band’s instant popularity established their international stature, and their unprecedented domination of the national record sales charts.

Their August 1965 concert at New York’s Shea Stadium marked the first time that a large outdoor stadium was used for such a purpose, with an audience of 55,000.

In Australia for thirteen days in 1964, Beatlemania captivated the nation and was more intense than anywhere else in the world. In Adelaide, more than 300,000 people turned out to welcome the Fab Four, lining the route between Adelaide Airport then gathering in the city centre with the hope of seeing The Beatles’. They were met by the city’s mayor, along with council members and their families.

In Summary, The Beatles were in no doubt the most popular and influential Rock/Pop Band of all time.

Whilst together, The Beatles released 12 studio albums numerous compilation albums plus EPs and Singles. There were also collector’s box sets, CD Collectors Sets, Re-mix releases, Anniversary releases and numerous music videos.

The Beatle also starred in Two Feature films during the Beatlemania period, “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help”.

They also made and released their own film “Magical Mystery Tour” and the animated “Yellow Submarine” Their Final appearance being in the Documentary Film “Let It Be”    

1960’s Australian Music

Johnny O’Keefe became one of the first Australian rock and roll singers whose career began in the 1950s. Often referred to by his initials “J.O.K.” or by his nickname “The Wild One”, and was the first Australian rock n’ roll performer to tour the United States.

 Some of His hits included “Wild One”, “Shout!” and “She’s My Baby”.

In his twenty-year career, Johnny O’Keefe released over fifty singles, approximately 50 EPs and 100 albums. He also had a career as a well known and popular radio and television entertainer and presenter with Television shows such as Six O’clock Rock and The Johnny O’Keefe Show

Other very popular Television programmes of that time were The Hoadleys Battle of the Sounds and “Bandstand” these shows gave many upcoming new artists very much needed exposure.

The Hoadley’s Battle of the Sounds, a national rock and /pop band competition held in Australia from 1966 to 1972. This show gave artists the opportunity to travel to London and play gigs there. Some of the Winners of the Hoadleys Battle of the Sounds award were The Twilights (1966); The Groop (1967); The Groove (1968); The Flying Circus (1970); Fraternity (1971) and Sherbet (1972)

Bandstand was also an Australian live pop music and variety television program which screened from November 1958 to June 1972 and was produced in-house at the studios of the Nine Television Network.

Some of the Regular performers on Bandstand included Col Joye, Little Pattie, Lucky Starr, Sandy Scott, Bryan Davies, Laurel Lea, Judy Stone, The Bee Gees, The Delltones, and Olivia Newton-John.

Australian equivalent of the so called British beat, were band’s like Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs with “Poison Ivy’, The Easybeats with  “Friday on My Mind”, Ray Brown and the Whispers with “Pride” and “Fool, Fool, Fool”, The Twilights with  “Needle In A Haystack”, The Loved Ones with  “The Loved One”, The Masters Apprentices with , “Undecided” and  “Living in a Child’s Dream”, Doug Parkinson wit  “Dear Prudence”, Russell Morris with  “The Real Thing”,  Ronnie Burns with  “Smiley” ,  Normie Rowe with “Que Sera Sera”, and Max Merritt and the Meteors with “Slippin’ Away”. John Farnham had the biggest selling record of the decade with ‘Sadie The Cleaning Lady’ in 1967.

Around the same time a Melbourne based folk/pop band called The Seekers, featuring Judith Durham, were the first Australian group to achieve international success in the United Kingdom and United States.

They were very successful with hits such as “I’ll Never Find Another You”, “A World of Our Own”, “Morningtown Ride”, “Someday, One Day”, “Georgy Girl” and “The Carnival Is Over”

1970s & Beyond

Soft Rock 

Soft rock originated in the late early 1970s primarily in the U.S. and United Kingdom. The genre relying on simple, melodic songs.

Some of the major Soft Rock artists of that time include;  America with “A Horse with No Name”, Bread with  “The Guitar Man”,  Carly Simon with “You’re So Vain, , Carole King with “So Far Away”, Cat Stevens with “Peace Train”,  James Taylor with “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You), Neil Diamond with “Sweet Caroline”, Gilbert O’Sullivan with “Alone Again, Naturally, Chicago with, “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is, Eagles with “Hotel California”, Elton John with “Rocket Man”, Rod Stewart with “Tonight’s the Night”, The Carpenters with “Close to You” and Barry Manilow with “Can’t Smile Without You”.

.In the mid to late 70’s Soft rock artists such as Toto with, “Africa”, Air Supply with “All Out of Love”, Seals and Crofts with “Summer Breeze”, Boz Scaggs with “Lido Shuffle”, The Doobie Brothers with “What a Fool Believes”, The Alan Parsons Project with “Eye in the Sky”, Dr Hook with “Sharing the Night Together and Fleetwood Mac with “Rhiannon”.

Hard Rock

Hard rock is a bridge between blues-rock and heavy metal.

Some of the best known bands and  pioneers of  hard rock include Black Sabbath with”(Paranoid” “War Pigs “and “Changes”, Led Zeppelin, with “Whole Lotta Love”, “Stairway to Heaven”, “Black Dog” and  “Immigrant Song”, Deep Purple with “Black Night”, “Smoke on the Water”, “Highway Star” and “ Strange Kind of Woman”. 

Well known American hard rock bands at the time included Aerosmith with “Sweet Emotion”,  “Dream On” and “Walk This Way” and  ZZ Top with “La Grange” and “Tush” .

Australian Band AC/DC is an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Malcolm and Angus Young. 

Their music is primarily hard / blues rock, with a touch of heavy metal, but the band members label it simply as “rock and roll”

AC/DC have over the years sold approximately more than 200 million records.

The comeback Album, after the death of Bon Scott, “Back in Black” was a huge success with sales in excess of 50 million. , It was, at the time, the second-highest-selling album by any band.

AC/DC were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 10 March 2003.

Glam Rock

Glam rock found its roots England in the 1970s, performed by musicians who would dress up in extreme costumes, heavy makeup, platform shoes and glitter. 

The UK charts were full of Glam rock acts at that time with artists such as Marc Bolan and T. Rex with songs such as, “Hot Love”, “Get It On”, “Telegram Sam” and “Metal Guru”. 

David Bowie with “Space Oddity”,  “Starman, and “Heroes” , Mott the Hoople with “All the Young Dudes”  , Sweet with “The Ballroom Blitz”, “Fox on the Run” and  “Love is Like Oxygen”, Slade with as “Cum On Feel the Noize” and “Mama Weer All Crazee Now”,  “Get Down and Get With It” , and Gary Glitter with  “Do You Wanna Touch Me”, “I Love You Love Me Love”, “I’m the Leader of the Gang (I Am)”, and “Hello, Hello, I’m Back Again” .

Progressive rock

Progressive rock had its birth in the 1970s.

Some of the Bands that produced this type of music were Pink Floyd, Yes, The Moody Blues and Emerson, Lake & Palmer , Electric Light Orchestra, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Genesis and Barclay James Harvest.

Disco

In the 1970s, disco music was primarily by artists from the United States. The best known and recognized as a creator of Disco Music was the Bee Gees, other popular disco artist’s were Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, Boney M., Earth Wind & Fire, Chaka Khan, Chic, KC and the Sunshine Band, Thelma Houston, Sister Sledge, Sylvester, The Trammps and the Village People.

By the late 1970s, most major U.S. cities had thriving disco club scenes, and DJs would mix dance records at night clubs. Nightclub-goers would often wear expensive, extravagant, and sexy fashions to improve the experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights. Films such as Saturday Night Fever contributed to disco’s popularity. Disco declined as a major trend in popular music in the United States during the early 1980s;

Punk rock

Punk Rock” was created in the later 1970’s with artists and bands such, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Television, Patti Smith, the Ramones, the Clash, and the Damned. 

Probably the most well known band of the punk rock scene was the Sex Pistols, with vocalist Johnny Rotten, guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook, and bassist Glen Matlock, Matlock was replaced by Sid Vicious in early 1977.

Punk rock was crude, loud, simple music.  Punk band members dressed in ripped or torn clothing, studded, leather jackets, and black leather boots. They also had piercings such as safety pins etc.

To Be Continued!