Rock and Rocl ('50-'70)

Question 1

Social Changes after WW2; Suburbia

Answer 1

Baby boom teens (growing up; spends money on music; rebel against conformity)

Question 2

Social Changes after WW2; Top 40 Radio

Answer 2

Portable, led to Top 40 (Billboard)

Question 3

Social Changes after WW2; 45 rpm Single

Answer 3

Vinyl (light, tougher, cheaper to move)

Question 4

R&B Radio; DJs and Alan Freed

Answer 4

White and black dj’s gain prominence; Alan Freed made show “Rock and Roll Party”; claimed he coined term “Rock and Roll”, he didn’t

Question 5

Independent Record Companies; Chess and Chuck Berry

Answer 5

Leonard Chess headed Chess Records (Chicago); mostly blues until Chuck Berry blended gospel, country, etc. into rock and roll; wrote about teen values (cars, girls, school) and was 1st “guitar hero” (distinct sound)

Question 6

Independent Record Companies; Sun and Elvis Presley

Answer 6

Sam Phillips headed Sun Records; blues and rockabilly; wanted a white black-sounding man, and got him (Elvis; recorded some songs for his mom, got called back, rest is history); sold his contract to RCA in ‘55 for $35,000

Question 7

Col. Tom Parker

Answer 7

Elvis’s manager; molded his image

Question 8

Industry Backlash

Answer 8

Tin Pan Alley declines (their music corrupting youth)
ASCAP tried to ban rock and roll
Payola (record companies paid djs and record stores to give their songs precedence)
White, sanitized covers (took out sexually suggestive lyrics)

Question 9

White Covers of Black Artists; Little Richard and Pat Boone

Answer 9

Little Richard records Tutti Frutti, talks about drinkin wine and what girls “do” to him
Pat Boone records it, talks about drinkin Coca-Cola and pretty little Susie is the girl for me

Question 10

US society in 60s

Answer 10

Vietnam, civil rights, counterculture

Question 11

British Invasion

Answer 11

Rolling Stones, Animals, Searchers (idolized black artists, huge influence to them)

Question 12

The Beatles; A Hard Day’s Night, Sgt. Peppers’ Lonely Hearts Club Band

Answer 12

You know them (but….)
George Martin (producer, classically trained)
Brian Epstein (manager, molded image)
A Hard Day’s Night (A day in the life of the Beatles)
Sgt. Pepper (a concept album; revolutionized rock; playing tapes backward, indain instruments, etc., most famous covevr art in history)

Question 13

SF scene

Answer 13

psychedelic Rock and blues (Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Santana)
Janis Joplin, TX blues singer, maybe greatest

Question 14

Jimi Hendrix

Answer 14

Greatest rock guitarist ever
Defied racial stereotypes (claimed Cherokee ancestry)
Found success in UK (Jimi Hendrix Experience)
Guitar hero (virtuoso blues player)

Question 15

Rock Festivals; Monterey, Woodstock

Answer 15

Monterey was first performances by Jimi Hendrix experience, Otis Redding, etc.; launched several careers; embodied counterculture
You know Woodstock; was bigger