Music of the 50s

The music of the early fifties was influence by the post-war; its sounds were slow and mostly ballads. This sound came to be known as bubblegum music. It was only until mid-fifties when rock broke out and gave birth to rock and roll, which exploded and created a new outrageous generation. The music of the fifties greatly impacted the generation of the fifties to what would become of them all the way to today. The beats made them want to dance, the words made them want to love and sexuality became a big part of rock and roll. Also another interesting factor was that rock and roll helped the black musician get more recognition, even when the whites covered their songs. The black musician would finally get a break, when radio disc-jockey Alan Freed protested against playing white "covers" of songs by black artists. This opened doors to many African-American singers and entertainers, even if it was just a crack of an entrance. Music was not only the sound that came out of the jukeboxes; music was the center of life, especially for the youth. Music, even today, influences the way adolescences speak, dress, and act. So when the early fifties played what they called bubblegum music, teenagers acted sweet and innocent. For the older generations, the youth already started to dress a little inappropriate; at least the girls, with their above the ankle skirts and pony-tail hair. But now with Rock and Roll, there was this bigger pool of teenagers wanting to escape from their conservative American middle class mold. Rock n' Roll was more than music and more than a style. Along with film, television and magazines, it created a generation previously ignored on the social maps of past. Rock and Roll hit the radios and things started to change. Now the lyrics were juicer and the beat enticing; this was the start of a new generation. Alan Freed worked at WJW-AM a radio station in Cleveland in 1951. (He would come in at 11:15 P.M. through 2:30 A.M. on Saturdays.) He