A Brief History of Rock n’ Roll Rock music may very well be the definitive art form of the last seventy years. Ever since it evolved from electric blues and other American folk music in the mid-twentieth century to take the teenagers of Eisenhower’s America by storm, rock n’ roll has helped shape Western culture and politics like almost no other art form. The music has inspired people, the musicians have been held up as gods and authority figures given more respect than actual world leaders, and every time it looks like it’s going to fade away it evolves again and keeps on thriving. So now, let’s take a brief look at the history of rock n’ roll. 1950s – The Early Years In the notoriously uptight and whitewashed America of the 50s, it’s no wonder that what came to be called “rock n’ roll” got the parents-of-the-world’s undies in a bunch. Rather than listening to the big bands and Rat Packers that they preferred, American teenagers were instead flocking to what was at first called “Rhythm and Blues,” a high energy version of traditional black blues and gospel that African American artists fleeing the South brought with them across the Mason Dixon line. Though black artists struggled to get airplay nationwide, some radio DJs like Cleveland’s Alan Freed (who is often credited with creating the phrase “rock n’ roll”) gave it airplay on their shows. For the first few years of the 1950s, “the devil’s music” was set to explode into the mainstream. And then, record producer Sam Phillips discovered an attractive, charismatic southern guitar player named Elvis Presley. The rest, as they say, was history. 1960s - The British Invasion, Motown, and Flower Power In what would become the first of rock n’ roll’s periodic rebirths, the 60s gave the genre an injection of new energy and danger that kept it from growing stale. In Detroit, Motown’s Berry Gordy built a music empire of black musicians, including Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, and other similar acts. Around the same time, a crop of British youths who had fallen in love with American rock and blues were becoming the next big thing. Dubbed “The British Invasion,” this wave of British acts included two of the most influential and successful rock acts of all time, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, who along with groundbreaking American acts like Bob Dylan and The Velvet Underground’s Lou Reed, would innovate with new sounds and styles throughout the rest of the decade and beyond. By the time the late 60s came around, rock n’ roll was changing again. Influenced by the radical social movements of the time, rock was becoming more experimental and psychedelic. While the idealism of the time would eventually fade, that musical adventurousness would carry over into the next decade. 1970s – Glam, Arena Rock, and Punk
While rock n’ roll was always a big umbrella that contained many diverse acts, the full range of what could be called rock music became clear in the 70s. Musical acts as different as the low-key singer-songwriter works of James Taylor, the many theatrical and cosmopolitan personas of David Bowie, and the southern-fried blues rock of the Allman Brothers and other similar acts all sprouted from the same 50s and 60s influences. And just when it seemed like rock had become too slick and radio friendly in the latter half of the decade, the sneering, back-to-basics punk movement of The Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Ramones made it its mission, as loudly as possible, to once again make rock the music that parents across the world were frightened of. 1980s – Hair Metal vs. College Rock Rock in the 80s is the story of two divergent but simultaneous trends. On mainstream radio, the biggest acts were synth-heavy New Wave acts, followed by glam-inspired heavy metal acts that became pejoratively known as “hair metal.” And, in basements and bars across the country, “college rock” bands like the then-unknown R.E.M. and Sonic Youth were inspiring weirdos and social rejects across the country to pick up guitars and found garage bands of their own. While this indie scene would start peeking its head into the mainstream by the end of the decade, it wouldn’t fully crest until 1992, when a Seattle garage band called Nirvana suddenly became the idols of teenagers everywhere, and what was the “indie” scene was called up to replace the old mainstream seemingly overnight. 1990s and Beyond The sudden ascendance of “grunge” in the early nineties, and the co-option of what was once the sound of independent music into the sound of the mainstream that followed, is yet another example of the way rock has continued to renew itself. In the decades that followed, acts like Radiohead, Wilco, and other innovators suddenly appeared on the scene, unseating the current trends with something challenging and new. For a genre of music that’s been creating scandal since the time it was born, that’s the only way it should be. Summary Rock n’ roll was born out of the combination of American folk music genres such as blues, gospel, and country, and since then has continuously reinvented itself, adding new and diverse elements before cycling back to the basics. Company Bio William Henry is the creator of innovative men’s jewelry that captures the daring, scandalous spirit of rock n’ roll. For more information, visit www.williamhenry.com.