Music

History of Rock n Roll

Introduction

I am sure that all of us in this class room today are familiar with the term “Rock n Roll”, and I am sure that all if not most of you believe that ‘rock n roll’ came in to being in the 50’s and the 60’s, but what if I told you, that this genre of music has been in existence for many years before the 50’s and the 60’s?

Yes, Rock n Roll has always been around, but many were not familiar with it until Alan Freed, the very famous American disc jockey coined the phrase in 1951. Before he introduced this genre of music to a large white audience it was a form African American slave music which was sung by spiritual black people in the late 20’s and 30’s.

When the African Americans began their great migration to larger cities in the early 1940’s their music too followed them. Their music was filled with raw emotions such as love and sexuality, which the white people were not very familiar with. But with the introduction and the coining of the phrase ‘Rock n Roll’ by Alan Freed, the public became ‘hooked’ on it.

Since that day in 1951 ‘rock n roll’ has come a long way. In a span of just 50 years the evolution of this genre of music simply can not be put in to words.

Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Buddy Holly were the pioneers who made rock and roll popular among the masses which included people from all corners of the world, in the 50’s/ With just an electric guitar for accompaniment they took the world by storm. A mixture of Blues, jazz, country and of course rock n roll was among the most sought after genres of this era.

With dawning of the 60’s it was the time for the British to take over, thus the ‘Beatles” were born. ‘Beatle mania’ as they say, was a whole new level of ‘crazy’. Being one of the most influential rock bands of all time, they took the music of the likes of Elvis and Little Richard and added a touch of their own, and a within seconds a whole new era of rock was born. Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who,...