How was Rock and roll music in the 50s?

Answer 1

Rock n Roll in the 1950s is hard to categorise - it ranges from stuff sounding more like the (earlier) Rhythm and Blues through Country Music with added rockin' pep, and on to the less meaty 'pop' styles. If you mean the stuff like say Elvis' Hound Dog, or Jerry Lee Lewis 'Great Balls of Fire' you will find that contemporary 'Rock' has a much more prevalent drum amongst other things. The Rock n Roll records of the 1950s featured drumming which did not cover the music as much as contemporary Rock does. Also the vocals are often much more 'forward' - more distinct than in contemporary Rock. Other things were different - such as the idea of soloistic passages (sax or piano or guitar) that most 1950s Rock n Roll records have. This is more akin to jazz - where everyone takes a solo. Also, the subject matter is usually confined to 'getting a girl' or cars, or having a good time, rather than some of the more cerebral stuff found in modern Rock. It is important to look at who plays this music....in the 50s it was often played by guys who were very used to performing music, and also crossover jazz players featured strongly. Modern Rock is much more likely to be played guys who have come from a completely different source. A lot of today's music is studio conceived. This was unheard of in the 50s. Also, most 50s Rock 'n' Roll records are pretty much 'live'...what you here is how the music was played in the studio (sometimes with overdubs after the session). Music is just not recorded like that anymore. In addition, today's Rock music is able to be played/promoted etc with very little resources. In the 50s that would have been virtually impossible - therefore the roost back then tended to be ruled by the big wigs and older generation of the music industry. There was no young vibrant outlet. Even if there was, it would have been stamped upon or exploited. But perhaps the most important difference (to a fan...) is the 'feel' of the recordings. It seems that it it is impossible to recapture that. I have never heard anything post 1958-odd that matches that. Not even when recorded on apparently authentic recording equipment.

Answer 2

Short Answer The main difference between 50's rock 'n' roll and todays Rock 'n' roll (commonly shortened to 'Rock') is the impact of technology, particularly the use of overdriven guitars (aka distorted guitars) through more advanced amplification. During the 50's, guitar amplifiers were designed specifically to prevent the sound of the guitar from being overdriven. The 'overdriven' sound of the guitar was embraced and became popular during the 60's after artists such as Cream, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. This sound remains to be a staple of modern Rock, as heard by the likes of Velvet Revolver, Kings of Leon, ACDC. Extended Anwser Rock 'n' Roll from the 50's was heavily saturated by blues and jazz from the decades that preceded it. The vast majority of these records feature the same song structure, the 12 bar blues. This 12 bar blues structure is instantly recogniseable, listen to virtually any Little Richard track and you'll know what I mean. Elvis Presley followed this blue print during the 50's. During the 'British Invasion' of the 60's, bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Cream etc started experimenting with this 12 bar blues sound and developed their own structures. The bands of the 60's British invasion in a sense, reinvented rock 'n' Roll by experimenting with different song structures and the use of new technology, whilst retaining the rebellious aspect of the music that was inherent during the 50's.

Answer 3

Rock & Roll started as a spinoff of R&B (rhythm and blues). R&B originated as 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 many years.

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.

Rock & Roll in the 1950s differed from later Rock Music in several respects:

• Drums were not used as aggressively in the '50s. Drum kits tended to be small and not very powerful.
• Acoustic instruments, particularly piano and saxophone were prominently featured.
• Heavily amplified and distorted guitars were not used until the mid-1960s; the guitar sound in the '50s was much "cleaner".
• Effects were generally limited to reverb and echo, although those were sometimes applied heavily. Wah-wah pedals, phasers, flangers and fuzz boxes had not been invented.
• Some songs were arranged for multiple vocalists in close harmony--a holdover from the Big Band era. That style gradually disappeared in the '60s.
• Lyrics tended to stay close to a few common themes, which have always been successful in popular songs: love, dancing, heartbreak and loss. It was not until the 1960s, partly in response to the Vietnam War, that rock music incorporated protest songs. (Protest songs existed in the 1950s, but were mainly confined to Folk Music). Some Rock & Roll songs in the '50s were perceived at the time as incorporating themes of rebellion, non-conformity, or social alienation, but they were very tame compared to lyrics in later periods. Social norms in the 1950s were very conservative and Rock & Roll could not push the boundaries too hard and remain commercially viable. There was a lot of voluntary censorship by record producers.

Answer 4

Doo Wop is part of rock and roll, like surfer music or 'da do Ron Ron'. Rock and roll had a lot of variety.