History of Rock

History of Rock
Rock and roll music is a living, breathing phenomenon that cannot properly be defined and deconstructed using data alone. Just like one cannot define a human being as only a sequence of cells and completely disregard the mindful awareness and feelings that give us our humanity, one cannot contain rock and roll to a sequence of events without ignoring the cultural wave that caused it to spread like wildfire across the United States.
It’s Alive!
After carefully reading each of the three ‘Birth of Rock ‘N Roll’ essays presented, I selected the second essay, ‘Born in the South’, as containing information that had the least impact on rock and roll of the three essays. That’s not to say the essay didn’t contain pertinent information – I just thought of it as the least of the three histories. The crucial element the second essay left out of its analysis is the deep connection and sense of ownership rock and roll music gave an identity-hungry generation of young people born in a population boom after the end of World War II. “’Hey! That’s our music; that was written for us!’ shouted fourteen-year-old Bob Dylan… Like Dylan, millions of young people felt that rock belonged to them and that it expressed their search for identity and independence” (Kamien, 2011). This large generation of youths was also the first to have money to spend on music. In 1958, singer Jo Stafford said, “Today’s nine-fourteen year old group is the first generation with enough money given to them by their parents to buy records in sufficient quantities to influence the market” (The Teenagers, n.d.). Without this vehicle to fame, I wonder what would have happened to rock and roll as we know it now.
It’s All Rock and Roll To Me
Rock and roll’s roots are varied and deep. Rock and Roll evolved from the rhythm and blues and gospel genres of the 1940s, and borrowed heavily the standard twelve bar blues used by “boogie woogie” musicians in the 1950s. The stereotypical rock and roll song... [continues]

Read full essay