Essay/Term paper: Rock and roll

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Culture

In this essay, I"m going to introduce to the reader a



topic not touched a lot because of its complexity and its avoidance by



conservative adults. This topic is, of course, Rock Music. During one



week, I looked for information in the library and at my house, and from



the information I gathered and my one knowledge about the topic, I"m



going to lead the reader to a better understanding of Rock n" Roll. I



chose to do Rock music because I can identify myself with it. Rock music



is very complex. In fact "It"s stylistic scope is to broad to be



encompassed by any single definition" ("Rock Music", Groliers, p.1). The



nearest definition suggests a kind of music that represents and speaks



for the teenage society. This music is characterized by using a heavy



beat. In this essay, I"m going to divide Rock music into four sections:



Rock of the 50´s, of the 60´s, of the 70´s and of the 80´s. Within these



sections I"m also going to discuss several sub-topics such as famous



composers and groups, and characteristics of the music.



The first section of this essay is Rock n" Roll of the



1950"s, when Rock n" Roll was born. It emerged from rhythm and blues, a



music similar to jazz played by blacks. This kind of music started to



attract white teenagers. Disc jockey Alan Freed was the one who



introduced this music and later gave it the name of Rock n" Roll. Record



companies distributed records played by whites but composed by blacks.



Whites were frustrated because there weren"t any white artists and they



didn"t want the blacks to be the stars until Bill Haley appeared with his



"Rock Around the Clock". In this decade, Elvis Presley introduced a music



that was sexual suggestive and outraged dull adults. In time he changed



the style of the music by adopting a country and western style and became



a national hero. By the end of this decade and the start of the next,



Rock n" Roll started to decline because it was formula ridden and it was



too sentimental. Teenage audiences transferred their allegiance to Folk



music.



In 1963 the renewal of Rock n" Roll came when The Beatles



started to play. The Beatles, for some the best rock group ever, were



from Liverpool, England. Through the 60"s, The Beatles dominated the



record industries and with their dominant instrumentation, which



included: electric leads, rhythm, and bass guitar, drums and sometimes an



electric organ, changed the name of Rock n" Roll to just Rock. During the



1960"s many other styles of music arose from Rock like, Motown, Soul



music, Jazz-rock , Folk-rock and others.



Folk-Rock the most appreciated of this derivations and was



first suggested by Bob Dylan. This kind of music brought to folk music a



hard beat and amplification; and to Rock, a new poetic style. California



was one of the major centers of rock activity and experimentation during



the decade. First it was characterize for its surfing music, a very



joyful music that reflected the fun people had while surfing. The Beach



Boys were the ones who introduced this kind of music.



At the end of the century this happy kind of music changed



to a more rebellious style that was designated the name of "hippie



music". Groups that played this music were Country Joe and The Mamas and



The Papas. Along with this hippie ideas popularity of hallucinogenic



drugs produced a psychedelic style of music called Acid Rock. By the end



of the 60´s the distinctions between Rock n´ Roll and Rock were evident.



The early instruments- saxophone, piano, amplified guitar, and drums- had



been changed to electric guitar and bass, amplified drums and other



electronic devices. Not only did the instruments change but so did the



ideas behind the music. For example, "to the lyrics of teenage love and



adolescent concerns were added social commentary, glorification of drugs



and free-association poetry"("Rock Music", Groliers, p.1). Groups like



The Beach Boys, Crew Cuts and The Everly Brothers were replaced by more



imaginative, non-descriptive names groups like The Who, Jefferson



Airplane, Big Brother and Holding Company. The Who, the most famous of



these groups, were originally from England and were reknowned because of



their bizarre stage performances, they would destroy their instruments



after their performance finished. The Who was one of the first rock



groups.



In the 70´s, the common barriers of rock broke



into more divisions, like hard rock and mellow rock. Hard Rock was



extremely loud and electronically amplified and Mellow Rock was softer



and with acoustic instruments. In 1972, in Jamaica, a new style of music



was created called Reggae. Reggae is a mixture of rock, soul, calypso and



Latin music. The king of Reggae was Bob Marley. Other styles more in



rocks borders, since Reggae was more latin than rock, were created in the



middle of this century, like: bubble gum rock, a funny playful music



directed to the youngest fans, Punk Rock, "a loud, hard rock style



derived from acid rock and marked by its extremes of costume and staging"



("Rock Music", Encarta, p.1), and Heavy Metal, which continued the



approach to Acid Rock but with a simpler musical dimension but relying



upon the power of repetitiveness, loud volume, and electronic distortion.



One famous group of Heavy Metal was Led Zeppelin, a



British group that was formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page (lead guitar), Robert



Plant (lead singer), John Paul Jones (pianist and bassist) and John



Bonham (drummer). Most music of this decade was intended to be listened



to, but not to be danced. But this intention wasn"t kept by Disco music



that arose in 1977 and was especially for dancing. One great group of



Disco music were the Bee Gees. Disco music was described by rock fans as



mechanical, commercial and unlyrical (which is true). At the end of this



decade, rock, again became a dominant cultural force.



The last but not least section of this essay is rock of



the 80"s. At the start of this last decade, rock groups became more



production oriented, mainly because of the sudden explosion of videos.



This new sensation was a good way to sell music to the people. Heavy



metal bands were greatly pushed by videos, but most helped were the



popular performers like Michael Jackson, Prince and Boy George. The



influence of British bands of punk, disco, reggae and pop-rock was still



big in the U.S. Rock scene. At the same time, there of nostalgia to



return to the older pre rock music, like rhythm and blues, which was



suggested by played by Elvis Costello. By the middle of the 80"s, almost



every country had begun to support indigenous music, and at the end of



this "a vigorous talk-song style called rap became extremely popular



among urban black teenagers" ("Rock Music", Encarta, p.1.).



Rock music taught me to appreciate things in a different



way. I"ve learned this since rock is not an exact science, it can change.



In fact Rock music helps me relax ( I would have been able to finish



writing this essay with rock music). After writing this essay I have



learned the origins of rock and the branches of it, but that wasn"t my



intention. I wrote this essay to express myself with it because I feel I



can show myself with rock music. I think rock has become social



phenomenal.