Rhythm and blues

The sound of the band starting, the scream of the vocals and the cheers of the audience all around. Heavy metal is a mainstay in the music industry since its start in the 60's and 70's, with bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath leading the way. Since the beginning of heavy metal many critics have disapproved and wrote it off as a musical genre. Against the odds of surviving as a genre the heavy metal scene won and is still a popular genre with many from teens to to adults all over the world…

black community. During this time period, black people expressed themselves in new ways, through art, music and writing. Bessie Smith was one of the highest paid black performers during this time and sang many popular hits, like “Backwater Blues” and “Downhearted Blues”. She was born in Tennessee in April, 1894 and had six siblings however, their parents died while Bessie was still a child. Bessie began singing in the streets with her brother and after performing a few places was discovered…

As music became more popular in the United States, musicians began to fuse different styles of music to compose something unique. During the late 1800’s, musicians began to combine several styles together, this included Gospel music, March music, and African American dance styles like the Cakewalk and the two-step along with syncopation. This style was given a new genre called Ragtime. Ragtime music became widely popular in the United States around 1890’s through the 1900’s and was a precursor…

Numerous changes have happened in the American society over the last 100 years, creating extensive transformations in the cultural outlook. One of the most significant changes has been the demographic diversification in this country’s population. One of the most recent censuses shows that the current use of the word minority will soon be outdated. While these alterations have had great results for a decent amount of ethnic and racial groups in the United States, it is Black culture…

today. Yet another type of music derived from folk music is blues. Blues music is defined as a type of folk music devised by African Americans at the beginning of the 20th century. Blues music originated on Southern Plantations and began to evolve once the music moved from the Southern states as early as 1930. Predominately blues music emphasized overcoming hard luck, personal adversity, and riding oneself of frustration. Blues music is also known for freely expressing…

sets them apart from everyone else. Their impact, whether it’s negative or positive, will have a huge impact and change the course of their art form. For the Latin community, this impact sometimes came with a invigorating piano introduction, a drum rhythm that hit you and hooked you from the start and kept you through out the song. This was the genius of “mambo king”, Tito Puente. Tito Puente, who’s referred to as the mambo king in Latin music, was a fusion of many styles…

September 23, 1930 and he died on June 10, 2004. His music was a huge hit during the 1950’s. He was a great jazz composer to many because he was blind. He was able to play the piano extremely well for being blind. He loved composing making soul, blues, and jazz music and the people loved listening to it. Some people even called him “The High Priest of Soul". In 2004, the Rolling Stones named their top 100 favorite music artists. They ranked Charles at #1 on their list. Many consider Ray…

Viewed as the king of Ragtime, as it was the main genre this african american pianist was known for. Scott Joplin was one of the most famous composers of the early twentieth century. Most known for his pieces such as “The Maple Leaf Rag”,“The Entertainer”, and “Solace” he immersed himself in music at a very young age, learning to play the piano as a child and becoming a travelling musician as a teenager. Scott Joplin truly is an important individual to not only the african american history but…

The King of Rock n’ Roll Elvis Presley is the most noteworthy figure in rock n’ roll history. Presley was not only a talented musician, he also culturally impacted the world with his music and the way he performed, which changed the course of performers that were soon after him; he shaped the way music is today. Presley revolutionized music by integrating all types of genres and his influenced changed the entertainment industry forever. Presley’s music ruined the racial barriers that occurred in…

Hello and welcome to Behind the News. Today we take a step into the past to sway, bob and jive through popular music of the 50s, 60s and 70s. These decades were periods of drastic social change, triggered by the rebellious teen demographic and expressed through popular music. Music shaped popular culture in these changing decades, in turn shaping Australian identity. In fact, popular culture is integral in allowing Australians to challenge and rewrite societal ideologies. Stay tuned, as we…