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~PORTFOLIO~ this sample is a paper I wrote for music 43: the history of rock 'n' roll
To understand rock ‘n’ roll it is also important to understand what was not rock ‘n’ roll and how these other music styles were able to complement each other and evolve into this entirely new genre of music. It is also important to recognize why and how this new style of music could become so popular. In 1955, when rock ‘n’ roll began running in full stride, it was defined by its hybrid style of mixed cultures and sounds. For the first time, however, there was also a very definite shift of audience that enabled it to become so popular. This idea of mass culture facilitated rock ‘n’ roll’s ability to become and remain mainstream. The massive youth market of “baby boomers,” in the fifties, opened up a new commercial opportunity. Adults were no longer the target audience for popular music. Both a mixing of music styles as well as this new target audience created and defined rock ‘n’ roll up until 1959. Unfortunately, by the death of Buddy Holly in February 1959, rock ‘n’ roll had suffered an exhausting lapse of one tragedy after another, and this era of music would see its demise. If there is a starting point to outlining the history of rock ‘n’ roll, it is Tin Pan Alley. Tin Pan Alley characterizes popular culture in the twentieth century, before rock ‘n’ roll took to the mainstream. As African American styles began to saturate much of Tin Pan Alley’s white middle-class music, it was clear that a theme of mixed cultures and non-convention would leave its mark on the twentieth century. The other marginal marketing categories at this time, race music (which would be changed more acceptably to rhythm and blues) and hillbilly, white working-class music (which would be later changed to country and western), would begin to play a larger role. As new technology gave way to records, radio, and even film, these new markets began to clash with that of Tin Pan Alley. While publishing houses were the root of Tin Pan Alley’s success, record companies would pave the way for the rise of rock ‘n’ roll. Although Tin Pan Alley received the most publicized attention through the early 1900’s, there were still two equally significant music genre’s gaining speed--country and western and rhythm and blues. The time period immediately before rock ‘n’ roll’s major coming out in the latter half of the 1950’s is most effectively defined by the term “crossover.” Popular culture was slowly becoming more than just Tin Pan Alley. While the Grand Ole Opry and the intriguing “singing cowboy image” enabled c&w to shine in the public’s eye, the postwar northern migration allowed for a more facilitating urban environment for r&b to gain mainstream recognition. As the record industry, radio and film, not to mention the aid of the juke box during the great depression, continued to offer this music to the public, the appeal and appreciation for c&w and r&b continued to grow. Though
country and western and rhythm
and blues presumably resided at opposite ends of the spectrum, they
would soon prove to overlap as much as they were previously separate. No longer was it merely poor, rural whites who appreciated c&w
or southern African Americans who appreciated r&b.
Particularly important, concerning the way that
c&w and r&b contributed
to the rise of rock ‘n’ roll, is how these two music genres began to
mix. When major record
companies initially neglected c&w
and r&b, independent
record labels were able to experiment with the new public interest in
this music. They had black
artists singing c&w, and
white artists singing r&b. To listeners the distinction between the two was often
ambiguous. As a growing
audience of rebellious, middle class, white, youth was able to access
these new songs on independently deejayed radio stations, the birth of
rock ‘n’ roll grew ever nearer.
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EARLY ROCK ‘N’ ROLL AND THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED 