4 - Early Rock and Roll Flashcards
Why guitar become so big?
portability! and much easier to express oneself and get the fuck into it!
with electricity too you can plug it in and crank it = eergy and POWER
= dominate the stage, get the BANG
Who started rock and roll, where did it come from? Who listened/marekted to?
came from rhythm and blues!
people: Chuck berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, BO Diddley
young people and youth markets
What set Chuck Berry apart?
guitar rather than piano, and he was better at creating whole stories that covered common experiences – narratives for the audeince
used stories from country and blues and amplified them with huitar and his performance that borught audience INTO the story
impressive lyricist and created lyrics for teens about high school, dances, consumer culture – new things that hadnt been said before to a new market
What influenced Chuck Berry’s music?
lotsa genres, but especially carribean music!
From whom did Chcuk Berry get much of his inspiration? How did he manage to appeal to so many groups?
Nat “King” Cole – got him to sing sentimental songs but change the diction
chagned the entire way he sang and the style depending on the genre and group he sang to ex: sang hillbilly “harder and whiter” and blues deeper and “negro dialect”
he also sang country for black audiences and did so in a way that they really enjoyed it – really brought in all genres
How is Chuck Berry similar to Ray Charles
he innovated! sang the things he wanted to and crossed things over, tried different stuff if it might be cool
less stress on being perfect performer and more on being authentic and having the energy and creativity – this is seen in his solos
What are some populat chuck berry songs?
roll over beethoven
school day
rock and roll music
sweet little sixteen
johnny b goode
reelin and rockin
Who was Little Richard? (background, musical skilsl)
- from rural humble bckgd
— pentecostal church (litugical like Ray CHarles) - extroverted energetic singing, piano, songwriting
What is Littel Richard’s performance style/aesthetc?
- top og his range, searing timbre, falsetto sometimes, whoops
- fast rhythm = get people up!
- glissandi, other cool things that pulled the audience in
aesthetic
- outrageous! ostentacious!
- makeup, gaudy clothing, cross-dresssing
- ambiguous sexuality that was def taboo
BUT mass accepted because his crazy performance style covered up any threat to hetero norms
What impact did Little Richard have on performance?
gave future artists ability to make a SPECTACLE
idea of expressing oneself not just through music but through the entire presentation, dress, mannerisms, etc.
show audience IDENTITY
What was Little Richard’s breakthrough? Why kept success?
“Tutti Frutti” because had rhythm and blues band and nonsensical lyrics in the chorus = excited youth because showed excitement and feel of the music rather than chuck berry’s emphasis on lyrics
Kept success because phenomenal voice with wails croons screams (like RC) and used those as well as fun lyrics and weirdness to get youth into it
Why did they choose to image Little Richard this way?
crazy and weird so adults thought he was harmless – market well to kids and parents werent concerned
What did LR think Rock and Roll did?
brought the races together!
white kids had his records, so did black ones if they could.
audence didnt care that LR was black, just showed love
What are some popular little richard songs?
tutti frutti
rip it up
long tall sally (the spirit!, foot on piano, sac=x player playnig and dancing on top of it, audience is youthful and so is band)
ready teddy
gosh gollly miss molly (exciting, energy, yelling into mic lol)
send me some lovin
Who is Elvis Presley? (where from, music start, skills)
Deep south, pentecostal services of First Assembly of God Church (similar vibes of ray charles and little richard – liturgical impact on music)
came to attention of Sam Phillips owner of Sun Records in Memphis at age 19. Sam added him with a guitar player and bass player
skill: huge vocal power and ability to swoop almost 2 entire octaves, changing timbre from croon to growl
