Australian Rock N Roll

The immense recognition of rock and roll affected an exceptional level of social, political and cultural impact on Australian life in the post war period. Not just a musical style, rock and roll influenced lifestyles, fashion trends, dance moves, attitudes, haircuts, forms of language and political views. The influence of rock n roll, in the post war period of the 50s and 60s was indeed one of great significance to Americanised culture. Australia was also influenced by this seeing as Australia had grown to be close allies with America and it had inhabited American culture into aspects of its own. The origins of Rock N Roll are linked to the mixture of African American musical forms, such as blues, jazz and gospel, with traditional rural white musical forms, such as country music and western swing. In Australia the social impact that Rock n Roll had, was an obvious change in fashion and hair styles. The tough, leather ensemble image of early rockers such as the Rolling Stones influenced a generation of young people. Mini skirts, loud printed fabrics, bell bottoms, and long teased hair, started a fashion trend that would last two decades. Rock musicians were early adopters of hippie fashion and introduced such styles as the Nehru jacket and the skin tight blue jeans with a nice pair of converse shoes; bands such as the Beatles had custom-made clothing that influenced much of '60s style, this style was called "Mod".

It was not only clothes that change, but also the way people danced at parties or discos, new moves had to be invited in order to go with the beat of this new "Rock n Roll" music scene.(list of dances) these dance moves were showed off to when the Disc Jockey (as we like to call it today DJ) played such classics as "Wild One" by Australia's first rock n roll star Johnny O'Keefe and of course unforgettable rock n roll bands like the Beatles, the Who, the Monkees, the Rolling Stones, which were bands from the British invasion. American artists such as