How did rock n roll start?

Answer 1

Rock and Roll was a blend of doo wop, soul and R&B, however, the actual term 'rock and roll' has been linked to Allan Freed - a prominent DJ in the 1950's who played a significant role in promoting acceptance of R&B in a predominately racial society. Freed was the first to actually use the term on the radio in 1951.

Answer 2

Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll or rock 'n' roll) is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of the blue and Country Music and Gospel Music. Though elements of rock and roll can be heard in country records of the 1930s, and in blues records from the 1920s, rock and roll did not acquire its name until the 1950s.

Answer 3

Rock and Roll originates in the 1940's and has been going strong since. The social and economic changes in America after the Second World War helped to contribute to the birth of this type of music.

Answer 4

A look at life in mainstream USA during the early 1950's:

To understand the roots of Rock & Roll and ascertain who its founder was, we must turn the clock back to the early 50's in mainstream USA and review the culture that existed at that time. Even then, we may have to travel further back in time to establish how the Rock & Roll of the 50's was truly born.

During the early 1950's in the United States, manufacturing and home construction was on the rise as the American economy was on the upswing. The Korean War and the beginning of the Cold War created a politically conservative climate. The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States played out through the entire decade. Fear of Communism caused public Congressional hearings by both houses in Congress and Anti-Communism was the prevailing sentiment in the United States throughout the decade. Conformity and conservatism characterized the social mores of the time. The 1950's in the developed western world are generally considered both socially conservative and highly materialistic in nature. The beginning of decolonization in Africa and Asia occurred in this decade and accelerated in the following decade of the 1960's. The Library of Congress had dubbed the 1950's as the decade with the least musical innovation.

It is this author's opinion that the Library of Congress' statement couldn't have been further from the truth. Let's look at what the Library of Congress really is.

The Library's primary mission is researching inquiries made by members of Congress through the Congressional Research Service. Although it is open to the public, only legislators, Supreme Court justices and other high-ranking government officials may check out its books. Through the United States Copyright Office, the Library of Congress also receives copies of every book, pamphlet, map, print, and piece of music registered in the United States.

Pretty impressive if you're a politician. But were bureaucrats of a Government Library truly bona fide authorities on music and in particular, Rock & Roll? I would wager a guess that the Library's bureaucrats were like so many of their mainstream middle-aged contemporaries during the 50's that believed that Rock & Roll was the cause of the nation's social ills. Let's prove that the Library of Congress should remain librarians and should not have made any statements about something that they know very little about and/or were biased towards. Let us now take a look at the popular musical culture of the 1950's up until about 1956.

Popular music in the early 1950s featured vocalists like Frank Sinatra, Frankie Laine, Patti Page, Hank Williams, Johnnie Ray, Kay Starr, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Georgia Gibbs, Eddie Fisher, Teresa Brewer, Dinah Shore, Guy Mitchell, Nat King Cole, and vocal groups like the Four Lads, the Four Aces, the Platters, the Chordettes and the Ames Brothers. While these artists were great in their own right, they basically sang the same crooning or traditional country style of music as did their mainstream contemporaries of decades past. But remember; so far we're just looking at mainstream America. If you were a teenager during that period and enjoyed mainstream music; then life, from a music perspective, was great. However, if you were a mainstream white teenager that was looking for music with a beat, something that you could really dance to with your soul, you would have to wait a bit longer unless, of course, you had tapped into the underground music scene. But tapping into the underground music scene was not that easy given that mainstream radio and television of the early 50's were only airing bland mainstream music.

To have tapped into the underground music scene, you would had to have lived, or have visited, certain specific regions of America or have had a means of tapping into underground AM radio broadcasts. I will bring you on a journey that will describe that Rock & Roll had already been born and was alive & kicking long before it became mainstream music later on during the latter part of the 50's.

The Rock & Roll Journey:

1. Southern USA:

This is where Rock & Roll of the later 1950's (1955 to 1959) would first gain its roots.

The immediate origins of Rock & Roll lie in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when various popular musical genres of the time, including blues, country music, rhythm and blues and gospel music, combined to give rise to a new style of music.

Traces of Rock & Roll could be heard in many "hillbilly" and "race music" records and local AM radio broadcasts of the 1920's and 1930's. This music was often relegated to "race music" outlets (as rhythm and blues radio stations were referred to at the time) and was rarely heard by mainstream white audiences. This statement in no way suggests that black people were not a part of mainstream USA; it simply means that most black Americans were already aware of the new style of music being recorded and played in certain local night clubs as well as being aired on certain local radio stations.

While temporarily changing the topic for a moment, it is a well known fact that at night, AM radio station waves can travel significantly further than they do during the day time. AM radio waves, are generally transmitted omni-directionally which includes being transmitted towards outer space. However, the earth's ionosphere causes certain waves, such as short waves, to be bounced back towards the earth. Short wave radios relied on bounced signals to tune in signals from virtually any country in the world. Relatively speaking, AM radio waves are significantly shorter than FM radio or television waves and as such, can be bounced back towards the earth reaching locations that are hundreds and even thousands of miles from where they were actually transmitted.

During the day time, the sun interferes with this "bouncing" effect while at night, AM radio waves do bounce back towards the earth. What is my point? My point is that underground AM radio signals could be heard across America, which is contrary to the opinion that rhythm and blues radio stations were rarely heard by mainstream white audiences. This is not to say that mainstream white audiences, as a whole, actually tuned in; but for those who did, they were glad that they did so.

In any event, this new style of music was indeed heard by both black and white America and would soon have a profound effect on several musicians; of which, I only have only enough space in this article to name but a few.

2. Issaquena County, Mississippi:

McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters, was an Afro-American blues musician and is generally considered "the Father of Chicago blues". He is also the actual father of blues musicians Big Bill Morganfield and Larry "Mud Morganfield" Williams. Although Waters was a "blues" musician, his pulsating style of blues was more upbeat than that of his blues contemporaries at the time. As early as 1948, Waters composed and played songs such as "I Can't Be Satisfied" and "I Feel Like Going Home" which paved the way for his popularity in local clubs. Remember; this was 1948. Waters was a major inspiration for the British beat explosion in the 1960s, and also inspired our next player from Cleveland, Ohio. As a side note, many fans of the "Rolling Stones" believe that their smash 60's hit entitled "I can't get no satisfaction" was inspired by Water's composition of "I Can't Be Satisfied".

3. Cleveland, Ohio:

In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey, Alan Freed, began playing rhythm and blues and country music for a multi-racial audience. Freed is credited with first using the phrase "Rock & Roll" to describe the music he played; however, the term had already been introduced in the lyrics of many rhythm and blues records. The important point is that vestiges of an emerging new music were starting to grow, at least on a local basis.

There is much debate as to what song was considered the first Rock & Roll record. One leading contender is "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (which was, in fact, Ike Turner and his band, the Kings of Rhythm, recording under a different name), that was recorded by Sam Phillips for Sun Records in 1951. Four years later, Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" became the first authentic Rock & Roll song to top Billboard magazine's main sales and airplay charts, opening the door for this new style of popular music culture.

In all fairness to Bill Haley, he did actually record the first Rock & Roll song; however, "Rock Around the Clock" did not garner much attention in the US when it was first released and would only become a 'Rock' classic after other Rock & Roll artists had emerged. Ironically, Haley and his song were embraced by the British and although Haley had recorded the first 50's Rock & Roll song, Rock & Roll was still not a household word in the US.

Our next two players are both credited with having commercialized 50's Rock & Roll, and there is no clear-cut winner except in the eyes of their respective fans which is an abbreviation of "fanatics".

4. St. Louis, Missouri:

Chuck Berry was one of the pioneers of Rock & Roll music. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's website, "While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together. Cub Koda wrote, "Of all the early breakthrough rock & roll artists, none is more important to the development of the music than Chuck Berry. He is its greatest songwriter, the main shaper of its instrumental voice, one of its greatest guitarists, and one of its greatest performers. John Lennon was more succinct: "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'.

By early 1953, Berry was performing with the Johnnie Johnson Trio, a band that played at a popular club called the Cosmopolitan, in East St. Louis, Illinois and whose namesake would become Berry's long-time collaborator. Although the band played mostly blues and ballads, the most popular music among whites in the area was country (typically referred to as 'hillbilly' at the time). Berry wrote, "Curiosity provoked me to lay a lot of our country stuff on our predominantly black audiences and some of our black audiences began whispering 'who is that black hillbilly at the Cosmo?' After they laughed at me a few times, they began requesting the hillbilly stuff and enjoyed dancing to it. Berry's calculated showmanship and slick guitar playing & lyrics with a unique beat, began luring larger white audiences to the club. Although there was no specific tag attached to Berry's music, it was the beginning of Rock & Roll. But mainstream America would still have to wait a few more years before they could listen and dance to the beat of Chuck Berry's Rock & Roll.

5. Tupelo, Mississippi:

In 1954, Elvis Presley, began his career as one of the first performers of rockabilly, an up-tempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong back beat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing "black" and "white" sounds, made him both popular and controversial.

Presley's initial influences originated from his family's attendance at the church of the Assembly of God. Presley himself stated: "Since I was two years old, all I knew was gospel music. That music became such a part of my life, that it was as natural as dancing. A way to escape from the problems. And my way of release". Throughout his life, whether in a recording studio; in private, or after concerts, Presley joined with others who were singing and playing gospel music at informal sessions. The legendary Southern Gospel singer Jake Hess, was Presley's favorite singer and was the greatest influence on his singing style.

"That's All Right" was aired on July 8, 1954, by disc jockey Dewey Phillips on WHBQ-AM in Memphis. Listeners to the show began phoning in, eager to find out who the singer was. (Phillips had mispronounced Presley's apparently unusual name as "Elton Preston"). The interest was such that Phillips played the demo fourteen times. During an interview on the show, Phillips asked Presley what high school he attended so as to clarify Presley's color for listeners who assumed that he must have been black. While this assumption had a racial overtone, it also demonstrated that white southerners liked Presley's music; albeit, they thought that he was black. The first release of Presley's music featured "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky". With Presley's version of Bill Monroe's song consistently being rated higher, both sides of Presley's "45" vinyl record began to chart across the South. But by 1954, Rock & Roll had still not yet become mainstream music.

Is this the way my article ends?

Heavens no! I will do my best to list the musical achievements of both Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley side by side, which perhaps, may shed some light to break the tie between both Rock & Roll icons.

1. Date that both artists became known by local audiences.

Chuck Berry (1953) and Elvis Presley (1954).

2. Date that both artists released a nation-wide 50's Rock & Roll song.

Chuck Berry released "Maybellene" in 1955 and Elvis Presley released "Heartbreak Hotel" in January of 1956.

3. Date that both artists appeared on national television.

While Elvis Presley appeared on the Dorsey Brothers Stage show on January 26th, 1956, his big break came when he appeared on the Ed Sullivan show on September, 9th, 1956.

While I could not find any reference as to when Chuck Berry first appeared on national television, his first release "Maybellene", hit number 5 on Billboard's Rock & Roll singles chart in September of 1955, a good five months before Elvis Presley appeared on the Ed Sullivan show.

As you can see, it's really too close to call. While Elvis became an overnight sensation by having appeared on the Ed Sullivan show in September 1956, Chuck Berry already had a "million seller" hit on his hands before Elvis had appeared on the Ed Sullivan show.

There is, however, one other measure of gauging both artists' legacies.

According to several "Rock" musicians, there have been more "Rock" artists and bands that have been influenced by Berry's style of Rock & Roll music that that of Elvis', and in addition, have pegged Chuck Berry as a musician's musician. On the other hand, Elvis was more versatile in so much as he furthered his career by starring in dozens of movies and in addition, Elvis has been pegged by women as a woman's man.

Epilogue:

In the end, it doesn't really matter which of the two icons was the official father of 50's Rock & Roll. Both men made their respective marks that will live on forever in the hearts of enthusiasts. I think that it's fair to say that the 50's style of Rock & Roll became mainstream, sometime between September of 1955 and September of 1956.

In addition, and contrary to what the Library of Congress had stated about a lack of musical innovation in the 50's, it was the 1950's that gave birth to Rock & Roll. Whether one likes Rock & Roll or not, one cannot deny that it was a dramatic departure from the crooning style of music from decades past. And the beauty and uniqueness of Rock & Roll lies in its main roots which oddly enough, was a "bringing together" of several genres of music; most notably, Gospel and Country.

Furthermore; Rock & Roll was not just a passing fancy, but continued to evolve into several different subgenres such as Folk rock and Jazz-rock fusion. In the 1960's, how can we forget the "British invasion" whose artists, and most notably, the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, emulated the music of Afro-American artists such as Berry and Waters. In the 1970s, Rock & Roll incorporated influences from Soul, Funk, and Latino music. Also in the 1970s, rock had developed a number of new subgenres, such as Soft rock, Glam rock, Heavy metal, Hard rock, Progressive rock, and Punk rock. Rock subgenres that emerged in the 1980s included New Wave, Hardcore punk and Alternative rock. In the 1990s, rock subgenres included Grunge, Britpop, Indie rock, Nu metal and even Christian rock. But in my heart, I will always have a tender spot for the Rock & roll of the 50's; for that was the period that I grew up in, and one does not tend to forget the pleasant aspects of one's youth. I also enjoy other styles of music as well; however, this article is about Rock & Roll.

Just before I end this article, I would like to mention that it's not entirely accurate to simply assume that all 50's Rock & Roll music was exactly the same. Even in the short span between 1955 and 1959, 50's Rock & Roll music had already developed distinctive subgenres. It couldn't be any other way, given that 50's Rock & Roll had two very different parents namely, Gospel and Country (more specifically 'hillbilly'). I will list the four main subgenres as well as an artist & corresponding song from each subgenre.

Pure Rock & Roll: Chuck Berry - 1956 (Roll Over Beethoven).

Rockabilly: Elvis Presley - 1957 (I'm all shook up).

Doo Wop Rock: The Monotones - 1958 (Who wrote the Book of Love).

Teen Rock: Ricky Nelson - 1958 (Poor Little Fool).

Mzery of Mzery Loves Company the anti all girl band says This is great information I learned a lot from this info thanks a bunch also when researching a little further I stumbled across "The Incompleat History of Rock n Roll Episode One" on Youtube and was pleased to see that even before Chuck Berry there was The Fat Man Domino accredited with the first Rock n Roll song entitled "The Fat Man" in 1949, as you can see Chuck Berry didnt come out with his song until 1955 so I think with that being said you gotta give it to Fats Domino from New Orleans and guess what he is still alive, look him up people he's pretty dope!

Answer 5

Rock and roll began and the late 1940s and early 1950s as a combination of various African-American genres of music with Country and Western music. Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets is considered the first rock and roll song.

Answer 6

People don't know exactly when rock and roll (also called rock 'n' roll) started. Some people argue that it started in the the 1910s when the term "rock and roll" was first used.

But some people say it started in the USA 1950's, with musicians like The first wave of rock & rollers -- Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Bo Diddley, Bill Haley, Gene Vincent, the Everly Brothers, and Carl Perkins.

Another answer:Rock & Roll started in the United States in the mid-1950s as a spinoff of R&B (rhythm and blues). R&B was a popular style within the black community, but soon started gaining crossover sales among white young people. The country was still strongly segregated, however, so some enterprising music producers started making "covers" of R&B songs using white artists (Jerry Lee Lewis and Bill Haley, for example). In particular, they removed some of the more risque lyrics to make the songs more acceptable to white audiences.

Rock & Roll in the 1950s is noted for the 4/4 time signature, a strong backbeat and a swing eighth-note rhythm between beats--all taken directly from R&B. The bouncy rhythmic effect helped establish the term "rock and roll", although "rocking and rolling" had been a frequent double-entendre in blues lyrics for decades.

Rock & Roll, like R&B, used formulaic song structures; usually alternating verse and chorus, with an instrumental solo between the second and third verses. Most songs featured a single lead vocalist. Instrumental breaks often featured improvised solos, a technique borrowed from jazz. Chord progressions and melodies were generally based on established blues patterns.

In the 1960s, Rock & Roll evolved away from its R&B roots due, in part, to the influence of British bands, including the Beatles, and other artists who were experimenting with the potential of amplified instruments and studio technology. The label "Rock & Roll" was shortened to "Rock" as bands developed rhythms and tempos very different from the simple dance beat. Meanwhile, R&B evolved into "Soul", so the musical styles, which were identical in the early '50s, had diverged completely by the end of the '60s.

I'd just like to add that the general opinion is that Rock and Roll started in the 1950's, "Rock around the Clock" being the first song Rock and Roll song. That

style was basically 12 bar Blues played with a Jive/Swing rythym and "Get up and dance" type lyrics. In my opinion (mine) I believe that the first real Rock and Roll track was Glen Miller's "In the Mood". Okay, instumental, but has all the qualities and framework to be a true 50's Rock and Roll track. Just chuck some "Get up and dance" lyrics to it and well...I believe it was written about

'37/'38.

FIRST USE OF THE WORDS "ROCK AND ROLL" In 1934, THE BOSWELL SISTERS had a pop hit with "Rock and Roll" from the film Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round, where the term was used to describe the motion of a ship at sea

____

Rock & Roll became popular in the 1950s but has audible antecedents in some of the US jazz and boogie-woogie of the 1930s, if not before. Its roots are largely southern, but its beginnings are dispersed partly owing to the large black northward and cityward migration of 1915-30 which brought many pioneers and early listeners to Chicago, New York and other metropolitan areas.

Answer 7

Actually, it is difficult to answer this question because throughout recorded history, people have always seemed to dance to whatever the popular music of that time may have been. Thus, dancing to Rock Music would not have been unusual, and would have probably begun in the late 1940s/early 1950s among young people who preferred this music to the big band music their parents liked.

Answer 8

the person that started it was black people in1950