### Rock and Roll: Origins
* No 1 origin (many elements)
* After WWII US = economic & political leader
* Poverty & **Jim Crow** laws caused migration to north
* Post-war "**Baby boom**" + good economy = teens w/time + money for music, records, & concerts
* **Barriers** btwn Black & White culture eroding
* 1954 = **Brown vs. Board of Education** of Topeka = ban segregation in public schools
* Beginings of **"suburbia"** 1950s prefab communities [Little boxes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_2lGkEU4Xs)
### Rock and Roll: A changing music
* 78 rpm gave way to "**single**" 45 rpm in 1950s
* 1960s, 33 1/3 rpm album became popular
* **Fender Guitars** developed solid-body electric guitar known as **Fender Esquire**
### Rock and Roll: The First Records on the R&B Charts
* **Roy Brown** -- 1947 recorded "Good Rockin' Tonight" -- later played by Wynoni Harris
* **Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm** -- recorded "Rocket '88" (1951) type of music played at car shows -- (contender for first R&R song)
* Used guitar distortion = big element of R&R
* **Ray Charles** (1955) "I Got a Woman" Gospel meets R&B
* Elvis graduated in '53 & launched R&R
### Rock and Roll: The First Singers
* **Little Richard** -- challenged boundary btwn sex & music
* provoke, shock, & awe
* Wore make-up, explicit lyrics that had to be sensored (changed)
* "Tutti Frutti" -- an example of sexually explicit R&R hits
* **Chuck Berry** -- with "Maybelline" -- first Black musician to break into the White pop music
* Integrated country music into R&B
* "Johnny B. Goode" is self-portrait
* Sometimes played with out of tune guitar
* **Fats Domino** (1928-2017)
* Actively recording 1949, 37 top 40 singles
* **French Creole**, lived in **New Orleans** entire life, survived Katrina & Ninth Ward
* **Rollign piano** sound (triplets)
* Producer and co-writer **Dave Bartholomew, Cosimo Matassa** owner of **J&M Studio** New Orleans
* "Ain't that a shame" #1 on R&B, #10 on poop charts, #23 in UK
* **Pat Boone** took it to #1, beginning of "cover" phenomenon, "Blueberry Hill", "I'm Walkin"
* **Elvis Presley** -- the boy from **Tupelo, MS** becomes the **King of Rock and Roll.**
* **Most significant cultural icon of 20th century America (best selling solo artist of all time)**
* Went to Sam Philips' Sun Studio to record a birthday present for his mom (he was invited back)
* First hit: "That's All Right, Mama" **Arthur Crudup** tune on July 4, 1954; recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis, TN
* Recorded on a whim after trying a few country ballads, $4
* Live performances set standard for R&R
* **Style & stage antics** became an integral part of music and popularity, Milton Berle Show performance
* After serving in Army in late 1950s, focused on **Acting career**
* Christmas show in 1968 marked his "comeback"
* Died at 42 in Memphis
* **Hound Dog, Leiber and Stoller** tune for Big Mama Thornton
* Elvis loosely covered
* Original Sun Studios 4tet or "Million Dollar Quarted" = Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis just started jammin randomly (Dec. 4, 1956)
* **Johnny Cash** - name was originally just J. R.
* **Jerry Lee Lewis** - intense, piano style integrated percussive backbeat, punctuated by rolls, into R&B style
* Climbed on top of piano and kept playing lol
* Became famous after featured on **_The Steve Allen Show_** in 1957
* "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" and "Great Balls of Fire" rocketed him to stardom
* Married 14 yr old = controversy = career died
* **Carl Perkins** - wrote "Blue Suede Shoes," #1 on all charts (covered by Elvis)
* Fast rising career, injured in car crash
* Just when Sun Records decided he was next Elvis
### The Marketing of R&R
* **Promoters** = responsible for putting everything together. Made R&R a popular product
* **Alan Freed** helped turn R&R into a commodity
* **"Colonel" Tom Parker** marketed Elvis
* Transister radios became popular
* DJs responsible for finding local talent & popularizing them
* **Dewey Phillips** - radio celeb in Memphis TN
* Gave Elvis lots of air-time
### Establishment Strikes Back (1954-1960)
* R&R deemed an illness disturbing the youth
* Psychologists of day wrote that R&R resembled the **German St. Vitus Dance** & **Italian Tarantism** during Middle Ages.
* "If we cannot stem the tide with its waves of rhythmic narcosis and of future waves of vicarious craze, we are preparing our own downfall in the midst of pandemic funeral dances." (Milton Bracker, _New York Times_, Feb. 23, 1957)
### R&R Divided the Generations
* began as underground movement identified with African American community
* audience known for rowdiness
* press and older generation associated it with juvenile delinquency
* **Blackboard Jungle** (1955) = movie by Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, nominated for 4 oscars
* Portrays teens making their own rules and causing chaos in school system
* _**Rock around the Clock**_ played during opening credits = instant hit
* Controversial film dubbed "anti-public schools" and had to add a disclaier
* Rock around the clock by Bill Haley and His Comets became the teenage national anthem
### R&R Scandals
* ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) challenged by new liscensing company, BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.)
* ASCAP only licensed established performers (usually white)
* Basically everyone else licensed by BMI (controlled 80% of what is played on radio at time)
* Congress passed bill to prevent BMI from owning stock in radio stations (free up airwaves for wider variety of music)
* **Payola** -- pay disc jockeys to play certain records
* Paid in cash or in rights to records or in vacations
* Congress announced intention to investigate
* Witnesses claimed payola is only reason R&R is popular
* **Alan Freed** = "bad boy" of rock, instigator of teen rebellion, ruined career, died of alcoholism
* **Dick Clark** = ABC employee who got rid of much financial stake in record companies
* Testified that he featured on his show music that was popular
* ABC saved Dick Clark from payola scandal
### Other Attacks on R&R in 50s
* After payola, many disc jockeys fired
* Rock music banned from some stations
* **Mitch Miller** = director for **Columbia Records** = predicted demise of R&R
* Advocated that music executives ignore rock and purchasing power of teens
* Wanted rock to die and be replaced by **"middle of the road" (mor) music**.
* Rise & promotion of Novelty songs and Novelty Records: Ross Bagdassarian (creator of Alvin and the Chipmunks)
* Record sales sill soared in 1950s.
### R&R and thr Red Scare
* R&R opposed and became associated with hated political force -- communism
* Senator **Joseph McCarthy** held hearings forcing people to testify against neighbors
* People lived in fear of being accused (think Salem witch trials)
* Entertainers accused and added to "red channels documents or blacklists" = couldn't get work
* Hollywood Ten refused to testify
* Orson Welles, Peet Seeger. Leonard Bernstein, Lena Horne, Aaron Copland, Judy Holliday, etc.
### Factors almost killing R&R
* Television sanitized R&R that was more acceptable
* Elvis gave highly sexualized performance on Milton Berle Show shocking many viewers
* Steve Allen Show, Ed Sullivan Show later on = more controlled
* Films depicting "clean teenage music" promoted
* _April Love_ and _Tammy and the Bachelor_
* (Pat Boone & Debbie Reynolds)
* Jerry Lee Lewis' career = downturn when married 13/14 yr old cousin (Myra Gale)
* Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and Big Bopper died in plane crash in 1959
* Called "the day the music died" in famous song by Don McLean known as "American Pie"
* Other performers took breaks from live performances -- Chuck Berry (jail) & Elvis Presley (army)
* Rock slipped from popularity -- only played in homes by die-hard fans