Lecture 7: Early Rock’n’Roll; Motown; The British Invasion

Question 1

Was not:
One style of music
The first popular music aimed at young people
The first popular music to mix black and white musical styles

Answer 1

Early Rock and Roll

Question 2

Was:
A marketing term used to identify a new target audience
The first popular music directed exclusively at teenagers
The first popular music where race, religion and class was less important than age

Answer 2

Early Rock and Roll

Question 3

Does not exist because:
It is not one style of music
The term rock n roll first appears in a 1916 recording
Stylistic traits found earlier in many genres
(Jazz, race records, hillbilly, swing, western swing, boogie woogie, honky tonk, jump blues, etc)

Answer 3

The First Rock n Roll Record

Question 4

First to use the term rock n roll in this new context

Answer 4

Alan Freed (1922-1965)

Question 5

Played R&B records on his early 1950s radio show in Cleveland

Answer 5

Alan Freed (1922-1965)

Question 6

Promoted tours with R&B artists playing to young, racially mixed crowds

Answer 6

Alan Freed (1922-1965)

Question 7

1957 show cancelled over racial concerns

Prosecuted in the “playola” scandals of the early 60s

Answer 7

Alan Freed (1922-1965)

Question 8

An umbrella term that covered music that would have been called R&B (Chuck Berry), country (Elvis Presley), or even Tin Pan ALley (Pat Boone) previously

Answer 8

Rock n Roll Musical Style

Question 9

Heartbreak Hotel 1956 hit number one on pop, country and R&B charts at the same time

Answer 9

Rock n Roll Musical Style

Question 10

A relatively safe and affordable way for kids to assert their generational identity through rebellion against previous adult standards and restrictions of musical style and taste

Answer 10

Rock n Roll Musical Style

Question 11

Songs covered topics like school (“Summertime Blues”), fashions (“Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle boots”), social dancing (“At the Hop”), and courtship (“Puppy Love”)

Answer 11

Rock n Roll Content

Question 12

The teenager as a commercial and cultural entity was invented in the 50s, and rock n roll, tv and movies to a lesser degree, are responsible

Answer 12

Rock n Roll and the teenager

Question 13

Race, region, and class are less important than generation; the same songs could be heard at a dance in a “primarily black, inner-city school”, “exclusive white suburban private school”, and a “rural social”

Answer 13

Rock n Roll and the teenager

Question 14

Record sales boom in the 50s
1951 (pre R&B): $191 million
1959: $514 million

Answer 14

The Rock n Roll Business

Question 15

Indie labels proliferate, mostly R&B C&W

Big labels are slow to change, stick with TPA crooners

Answer 15

The Rock n Roll Business

Question 16

1955: July: Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” is #1 for 8 weeks

Answer 16

The Rock n Roll Business

Question 17

Major labels look for others- RCA Victor signs Elvis Presley in 1956

Answer 17

The Rock n Roll Business

Question 18

Not necessarily rock n roll, but obvious influence for Elvis and other Rock n roll stars

Answer 18

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the R&B Side:

Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915-1973)

Question 19

Gospel singer and guitarist

Answer 19

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the R&B Side:

Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915-1973)

Question 20

Played in nightclubs (eg Cotton Clubs) for secular audiences, then shunned by gospel crowds

Answer 20

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the R&B Side:

Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915-1973)

Question 21

1940s: played mostly gospel music, but sound is a big influence on early rock n roll (Elvis, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, little Richard)

Answer 21

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the R&B Side:

Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915-1973)

Question 22

Born into a middle class, African American family in St Louis, Missouri

Answer 22

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the R&B Side:
Chuck Berry (1926-2017)

Question 23

Multi-talented: lyricist and songwriter, electric guitar pioneer, performer

Answer 23

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the R&B Side:
Chuck Berry (1926-2017)

Question 24

Influential on future rock performers (Beatles)

1959: racially motivated arrest leads to prison sentence, ending pop career

Answer 24

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the R&B Side:
Chuck Berry (1926-2017)

Question 25

First public performance is with Sister Rosetta Tharpe, at 15

Answer 25

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the R&B Side:
Little Richard (1932)

Question 26

1956: Tutti Frutti becomes a hit

Effeminate stage persona plays with gender

Answer 26

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the R&B Side:
Little Richard (1932)

Question 27

1959 went back to the church

Answer 27

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the R&B Side:
Little Richard (1932)

Question 28

Embodied the new spirit of rock n roll music in the most extroverted, outrageous, and original way

Answer 28

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the R&B Side:
Little Richard (1932)

Question 29

First recorded R&B artists: Howlin Wolf, BB King, Junior Parker
Later rockabilly artists: Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison
Too small to promote Elvis, sold his contract to expand the record company

Answer 29

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the Country Side:

Sun Records

Question 30

first record at Sun Records
1955 RCA buys Elvis’ contract for $35,000
Chet Atkins brought into RCA to make sure recordings are “pop friendly” and clean

Answer 30

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the Country Side:

Elvis Presley

Question 31

His hip shaking on TV was scandalous, filmed from the waist up after first appearance
Went on to be the biggest selling solo artist ever

Answer 31

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the Country Side:

Elvis Presley

Question 32

1958-1960 Elvis in the army
1960s made increasingly cheap but successful movies
1970s Las Vegas, touring
1977 died at home, Graceland, a museum today

Answer 32

Early Rock n Roll Stars on the Country Side:

Elvis Presley

Question 33

“The essential conservatism of the 1950s, politically and culturally, made it a particularly inauspicious time to be seen as a rebellious and empowered young woman”
Compare with:
Connie Francis (b 1938) late 190s hits like “Who’s Sorry Now” and “Lipstick on Your Collar”: unthreatening image of femininity

Answer 33

Women in rock n roll: Wanda Jackson

Question 34

Blues and country performers often wrote their own songs

Answer 34

Songwriters of Rock n Roll

Question 35

The influence of these genres on rock n roll meant that more performers were writing

Answer 35

Songwriters of Rock n Roll

Question 36

Songwriters were needed less- of the performers discussed here only ELvis did not regularly write his own material

Answer 36

Songwriters of Rock n Roll

Question 37

Leiber and Stoller wrote for Elvis, the Coasters, and the Drifters

Answer 37

Songwriters of Rock n Roll

Question 38

Otis Blackwell wrote many of Elvis’ hits

Answer 38

Songwriters of Rock n Roll

Question 39

TPA continues to flourish- it is what teenagers are rebelling against

Answer 39

Other Currents:

The Standard and Folk Music in the Rock n Roll Era

Question 40

Sinatra relaunches his career with adult-oriented albums like Songs for Swingin’ Lovers (teenagers mostly bought singles)

Answer 40

Other Currents:

The Standard and Folk Music in the Rock n Roll Era

Question 41

Modern jazz, classical were other genres for older people

Answer 41

Other Currents:

The Standard and Folk Music in the Rock n Roll Era

Question 42

Folk music continues to grow- Kingston Trio’s “Tom Dooley” presages the 1960s folk boom

Answer 42

Other Currents:

The Standard and Folk Music in the Rock n Roll Era