History Of Rock N Roll 1

Front 1

Doo Wop

Back 1

Four Part Harmony, gospel influence, 3-6 singers; backup singers would usually since "nonsense" syllables, most prominent through mid-late 1950s

Front 2

Falsetto

Back 2

When a man sings higher than his normal range

Front 3

Elvis Presley

Back 3

Brought sex & defiance to Rock N Roll

Was popular because he was so talented AND good looking = Teen Icon

Most influential music artist ever - Michael Jackson is second

Front 4

Fats Domino

Back 4

The only R&B star to become a rock star

Front 5

Alan Freed (DJ)

Back 5

1) First D.J. to program R&B on a White radio station

2) Promoted integrated concerts

3) COINED THE TERM "Rock and Roll"

Front 6

Everly Brothers

Back 6

Country and Western stars turned to Rock

Front 7

Race Music

Back 7

By a black artist, for a black audience, played on a black station

Front 8

Crickets

Back 8

A group started by Buddy Holly; the first self-contained group

Front 9

Call & Response

Back 9

When a lead singer sings a line and the background singers echo him or her

Front 10

Cover Version

Back 10

A white artist cleaning up an R&B piece, and almost always making the song more popular

Front 11

Hank Williams

Back 11

County and Western Grandfather of Rock

Front 12

Neil Sedaka

Back 12

Pitter a counter melody w/ a melody

Front 13

Bill Haley

Back 13

Recorded the first rock song

Front 14

Buddy Holly

Back 14

Influential vocalist w/ a staccato/hiccup style

Front 15

Beach Boys

Back 15

Used falsetto; 3 topics in songs w/ elaborate harmony

1) Cars

2) Girls

3) Surfing

Front 16

Chuck Berry

Back 16

Rock's first serious/most influential guitar player

- "Maybelline" - obviously distortion on guitar sound, guitar is featured solo instrument, lyrics appeal to teen audience (car chase)

Front 17

Jerry Lee Lewis

Back 17

Played a style of piano called "boogie woogie" w/ his feet, elbows and fists

Front 18

Riff

Back 18

Repeated musical phrase

Ie. Jimi Hendrix "Red House", Chuck Berry "Johnny B. Goode" & Joe Cocker, "With a Little Help from my Friends" (Jimmy Page was lead guitar)

Front 19

Simple Verse Form

Back 19

Song consists of only verses - no contrasting material that suggests a chorus

Ie. The Supremes, "Baby Love"

Front 20

AABA Form

Back 20

Consists of verses (A) and a contrasting bridge (B) - can employ a full or partial reprise

ie. The Beatles "A Hard Day's Night"

Front 21

First radio stations

Back 21

Pittsburgh - KDKA

Detroit - wwj

Mexican "Super" or "X" radio stations

1928 - NBC and AT&T combine to create a cost-to-coast national broadcasting chain

Front 22

Television

Back 22

Radio is taken out of living rooms and placed in the garage/kids rooms/etc which played an important role in Teen Culture. Parents weren't regulating their choices anymore

Front 23

Billboard Charts

Back 23

Started in 1930s, emergent of Pop (popular) music.

Front 24

Pop Music

Back 24

- Crooners and swing bands

- Middle to upper class white demographic

- "Classical" music influences

- National distribution

- Tin Pan Alley (1940s) plays huge role

Front 25

Tin Pan Alley (1940's)

Back 25

- Lyrics were non-offensive, non-controversial (simple emotions)

- Songs had an uncomplicated rhythm that emphasized the downbeat

- Rhythm kept in the background of the musical texture

- Focus on singable melody

- Tempos were moderate to slow

- Written and recorded by professionals

Front 26

Nat King Cole, "Too Young" (1951)

Back 26

- One of the first songs with lyrics directed at the teenage demographic

- Strings & piano prominent in the orchestration (very "classical" style)

- Crooning vocal style

Front 27

Les Paul and Mary Ford "I'm Sitting On Top of the World" (1952)

Back 27

- Multiple vocal and guitar tracks performed by both musicians

- Used new styles of recording and altering tracks that had not been seen before (speed alteration to create different pitches, overdubbing, etc)

- Focus remains on the vocals, but more emphasis is placed on the instrumentation: extended guitar solos show off the new solid body electric guitar

Front 28

Hillbilly (Country & Western)

Back 28

Minority Music

- Based primarily on folk and country music form the Appalachian mountains

- Strong Blues influences

- Local distribution (minus range of X-Radio stations)

- Poorer white demographic

Front 29

Race Music (R&B)

Back 29

Minority Music

-African musical influences (from slave/plantation musics)

- Tin Pan Alley influences

- Local distribution

- Poorer black demographic

- Called race music until the end of the 40s.

- The market was served almost exclusively by Indies

Front 30

Country & Western Song

Back 30

- Beat is steady

- Four beat pattern (boom chick)

- Songs generally not written down = passed down orally & often improvised

- Vocals often have a nasal quality

Front 31

Jimmie Rodgers, the "Singing Brakeman"

Back 31

- First country singing star

- Most important were his 13 "Blue Yodels"

Front 32

Country & Western

Back 32

In the 40's, Nashville becomes the centre for country & western business enterprises. Largely due to the impact of the Grand Ole Opry show. Ie. Hank Williams "Hey Good Lookin" - nasal quality, aimed at a teenage audience.

Front 33

The Country Blues

Back 33

- Field Hollers, call & response, other elements of African music

- Muddy Waters, Charlie Patton

- 12 Bar Blues (simple structure that defined most country blues songs)

- Slide (Characteristic guitar technique of Delta blues performers. Would often use broken bottle or knife)

Front 34

Robert Johnson

Back 34

Embodied the "lifestyle" of the typical blues man. Lyrical themes: sexuality, travelling lifestyle, general hardship. Biggest hit "Terraplane Blues"

Front 35

Electric Blues

Back 35

- Derived from Mississippi Delta Blues tradition

- Singer & guitar (usually includes other musicians - harmonica, drums, full band, etc)

- Draws on bottleneck/slide tradition as well

- Most important location: Chicago

Front 36

Muddy Waters "Hoochie Coochie Man" (1954)

Back 36

Rhythm and Blues Grandfather of Rock

- Sexual innuendo in lyrics

- Call-and-Response

Front 37

Characteristics of Typical R&B Songs (late 40s-mid 50s)

Back 37

- Very rhythmic, often employing a back beat

- 12 bar blues form

- Energetic stage show - vocals sometimes shouted, forming the basis for the vocal style used later in much of fifties mainstream rock

- Sexual innuendo in lyrics was common (dating back to early country blues)

- Songs often improvised

Front 38

Chess Records: Chicago Blues

Back 38

- Founded 1950 by Phil & Leonard Chess

- Specialized in solo singers backed by small electric bands

- Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Etta James

Front 39

Atlantic Records - "Black Pop"

Back 39

Founded in 1947

- Started as Jazz and Blues label

- Singers were polished, arrangements were more structured.

- Includes Ray Charles, Joe Turner, Ruth Brown

Front 40

Ray Charles, "I Got a Woman" (1954)

Back 40

- Based on Gospel tune "I've Got a Savior"

- Strong backbeat

- Horn fills/jazz influence

- Gospel-style piano playing

- Vocal improvisation

Front 41

Ruth Brown "Mama (He Treats Your Daughter Mean)" - 1953

Back 41

- More professional presentation than electric blues (swing-band setting)

- Vocal style is still R&B (semi-shouting, voice allowed to crack_

- Lyrics deal with a woman who is fed up with the actions of her man

Front 42

Delta Blues/Country Blues/Folk Blues

Back 42

First recorded in the late 1920s.

- Typically performed by solo singers (men) accompanying themselves with a guitar

- First introduction of 12 bar blues

Front 43

"The Blues" in Jazz practice

Back 43

Late 1910s first records

- Mostly instrumental, with a few vocals

- Early jazz compositions were called "blues" due to the 12 bar blues and instrumentalists imitating a blues style of singing with their horns

Front 44

City Blues/Vaudeville Blues/Class Blues/Urban Blues

Back 44

1920s

- Typically female singers accompanied by small jazz ensemble, or at least piano.

- Similar to Delta Blues lyrical style but in a woman's perspective and more "entertaining" themes

- Commercial music, circulating through publication, recordings and highly organized travelling variety shows

Front 45

Mammie Smith, "Crazy Blues"

Back 45

The first race record

Front 46

Electric Blues

Back 46

Mid-Late 1940s

- Centered in Chicago, but circulated by labels like Chess

- Many of the electric blues musicians were originally from the Delta region

- Typically solo singers (men) accompanying themselves on electric guitar backed by a rhythm section

- Had a huge impact on the emergence of early rock n roll in the mid 1950s, and on many blues-oriented artists of the British Invasion in the early 1960s.

Front 47

Youth Culture ("The Teenager")

Back 47

- The increase in independence let to the increase of economic means and an increase to technologies of pop culture (radio, tv, film)

- Rebellion

Front 48

Major Labels

Back 48

- Mercury, Decca, MGM, Capitol, Columbia, etc

Front 49

The Indies

Back 49

Chess, BMI, Atlantic, Sun

- Created because of the outrage of ASCAP and major labels = boycott

- BMI aggressively signed "minority" bands

- By early 50s R&B and C&W is getting more play

- CLEAVELAND DJ ALAN FREED - Introducing to white people

Front 50

Crossovers & covers

Back 50

Incredibly common in the 1950s, often crossing racial or stylistic lines.

Front 51

Sh-Boom: The Chords/The Crew Cuts

Back 51

The Chords: #5 on pop, begins with a cappella harmonized vocals, strong emphasis on backbeat, clear lead singer

The Crew Cuts: #1 on pop, solo vocals to start, clear lead singer - drums hardly noticeable

Front 52

Elvis Presley

Back 52

Sam Phillips was looking with the right person to introduce a blend of R&B with country *he was trying to sell R&B to a white audience.

- Used Slap-Back echo (Blue Moon & Blue Moon of Kentucky)

- Was in hundred of movies

Front 53

Sam Phillips

Back 53

From Sun Records, also recorded Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash - and later, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbinson

Front 54

Little Richard

Back 54

- Piano based Rock n Roller

- influential for both musical style and stage presentation (stage makeup, earrings, wild and raucous stage show)

- Introduced standard rock rhythm *Tutti Frutti

- Most influential vocalist of the early rock era

- Retired to be a pastor, later returned.

Front 55

Rockabilly

Back 55

- Pioneered by Bill Haley & Elvis Presley

- Mixture of C&W and R&B

- Music generally not notated, improvisation

- Primarily a white style of music

- Backup singers and harmonized vocals

Front 56

Carl Perkins

Back 56

- "Blue Suede Shoes" first record to top all three charts at the same time (Pop, Country, R&B)

- Vocal style was semi-shouting but melodic

- Guitar solo is the epitome of the rockabilly style

Front 57

1955

Back 57

- R&B was being called rock n roll

- Crossover hits were becoming commonplace

Front 58

Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock"

Back 58

First Rock n Roll tune to be used on a Hollywood Track (Blackboard Jungle)

Front 59

Colonel Tom Parker

Back 59

Takes control of Elvis' career and launches him to super-stardom

Front 60

Payola Scandal

Back 60

DJ's were getting paid to play certain songs

- Alan Freed, supported BMI and Minority bands, was fined and blacklisted

- Dick Clark, supported ASCAP and Pop bands, hardly affected