Elvis & Rock and Roll

As with any sort of art, whether it is music, media, or even painting, artists find inspiration in the people who came before them. Rock and Roll is no exception. Throughout the 1950s, rock and roll evolved from a little known genre to one that was playing on the airwaves 24/7. While a large amount of the first rock and roll artists were African American, I do not believe that saying “rock and roll is black music” is justifiable; it is akin to calling reggae music strictly Carribean, or calling classical music strictly white. A genre of music cannot belong to one group. In rock and roll, newer artists were influenced by those that came before them, and while there were some exceptions, many artists of both black and white descent achieved commercial success – it can even be said that both races coming together helped further rock and roll as a genre.

Throughout time artists have taken bits and pieces of music that they enjoyed and incorporated it into their own work. In many cases it can even be viewed as a compliment, because one musician was inspired enough by another to use a similar style. This sharing of style still happens today, and can be seen in many popular songs we hear on the radio. For example, Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” resembles the style of Madonna’s 1989 hit “Express Yourself”, and Lady Gaga has openly said that she looks up to Madonna and her music. Madonna even ended up singing a mashup of the two songs in one of her recent tours, showing just how far the influence of an artist’s music can go. This is a textbook case of the influence of music and how songs in a previous time can influence a genre as we see it today.

There are, however, exceptions to this that were seen in the 1950s when rock and roll began its rise to popularity, and these are primarily the result of race issues in the United States at the time. African Americans were not seen as equal citizens, and were credited as such. As mentioned in Kolawole’s article, songs like...