1960's Intended Audience

The 1950s is considered to be the model decade of America. Families were close, children respected their elders, workers worked hard to provide for their families who grew up in nice neighborhoods, and the economy was booming. The forced conformity, neglect of the poor, and segregation are often overlooked when talking about the decade as they were during the time period. The 1950s were a prodigious time period for family life but not for the individual or societal ethics.

“The rise of rock ‘n’ roll and the reception of it, in fact, can tell us a lot about the culture and values of the United States in the 1950s. According to historians James Gilbert, there was a struggle throughout the decade ‘over the uses of popular culture to determine who would speak to what audience, and for what purpose”. At the center of that struggle, rock ‘n’ roll unsettled a nation had been “living in an ‘age of anxiety’” since 1945” (p.15). Altschuler talks about how music and race interlock with one another. Rock had become a “highly visible and contested arena for struggles over racial identity and cultural and economic empowerment in the United States” (p.35). Other chapters within the book state the battles involving sexuality, generational conflicts, as well as other social issues. The author states ideas that are somewhat problematic. For example, he states that there is a myth that rock ‘n’ roll went into a “lull” following the payola hearings (the practice of record promoters paying DJs or radio programmers to play their labels ' songs) of 1959 and did not come about again until the arrival of the Beatles in 1964.

It was no coincidence that rock ‘n’ roll and the civil rights movement started at the same time. The genre originated from African American music and was greatly discriminated against. Traditional white Americans would target anything bad about it. But as the teenager demographic of the 1950s started increasing the sales of the music, the genre started gaining more popularity. It was the style of Elvis Presley and his new voice that made girls weak in the knees and boys want to be him. Artists such as Presley had enough influence to change the view of their devoted fans on civil rights issues. Soon as protest songs and rock ‘n’ roll became more popular and influential, it began a gap between the young adult generation and their parents

In 1951, Alan Freed, a European American disc jockey for a Cleveland radio station, first coined the term rock’n roll. Fifty years later, if you were to poll the general public on which race would dominate that genre of music, the response would be overwhelmingly whites. But rock’n roll is not a white mans music. African American’s were and still are an essential cornerstone of the genre known as rock’n roll. But rock’n roll simply would not exist if it weren't for African Americans. Their presence is felt in almost every genre of music known to the United States. Early twentieth century black musicians helped shape, influence and create my favorite genre of music today.

Black and white teenagers listen alike to rock music on the radio and attended clubs to hear it, together. Rock ‘n’ Roll’s roots helped accustom white teens to black music through the lenses of white, male vocalists—a normalcy to ground these drastic changes in race relations. The stars, like Elvis Presley—know for his sexual and riveting performances—began to blur the line between different forms of music and more importantly, black and white music.3 Rock ‘n’ Roll music was a blend of these two different cultures, demonstrating the enormous consumer power of this emerging youth culture and giving it the power to unite an entire

influential in the North as well. Blacks moved from the South to the North and

The social and political context of the 1950’s is crucial to any understanding of the birth of rock n roll.

The emergence of Rock and Roll was one of the most pivotal moments of our nation’s history. The impact that this genre of music made is still evident in our culture. However, before this genre was able to gain momentum, it faced many cultural conflicts. The book, All Shook Up: How Rock ‘N’ Roll Changed America by Glenn C. Altschuler analyzes the impact that rock and roll music has made on American culture. It explores how the Rock and Roll culture was able to roughly integrate and later conflict with preceding cultural values. This is especially apparent in chapters regarding race and sexuality. Overall, Rock and Roll was extremely controversial amongst parents and educators. This new music genre was condemned by the previous generation as

The broadcasting and recording industries did not solely represent the conquering racial assumptions of the 1950's, they internalized them and helped to continue them. Racial conventions permeated the organization and structure of the music industry at every level. The very existence

The 1960’s was a very influential time in the United States of America. The United States began to explore a new culture of people known as hippies. The USA endured a great scare of nuclear war from the Cuban Missile Crisis. This country lost two famous leaders from that era; John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., who were assassinated. The United States also began the move towards equality by passing the Civil Rights Act. The final major accomplishment from 1960’s was when Neil Armstrong was the first astronaut to land on the moon.

This judgment began unexpectedly to spread as African American music, especially the blues and jazz, became a worldwide sensation. Black music provided the pulse of the Harlem Renaissance and of the Jazz Age more generally. The rise of the “race records” industry, beginning with OKeh’s recording of Mamie Smith’s

African American influence in music has been an ever present and controversial subject in American history. Stemming from many different cultures, religions and backgrounds, large portions of American music was introduced by, and credited to African Americans. Although in many cases, this music was used for entertainment by the masses or majority, contrary to popular belief, black music served a greater purpose than just recreation. Dating all the way back to the beginning of slavery in the U.S. during the 17th century, music has been used to make a statement and send a message. As African American music progressed over the years, there were common themes expressed as the genres evolved. It has been an open letter to the world, documenting and protesting the ongoing oppression faced by blacks in the United States, as well as an outlet for frustration. For many African Americans, the music gave them the only voice that couldn’t be silenced by their oppressors.

The rise of Soul music was a product of the particular environment of that time in which the musicians who created it lived, a period much paralleled with the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) and Black Power Movement (BPM) (Maultsby, 1983, 54). The objective of this research was to examine any existence of political and social messages delivered in Soul music around the civil rights movement era in America, which would lead to a better understanding of the role of Soul music having served in the process of political and social changes in the country.

The decade of the 1960s can be said to be a subversion of the United States. From the civil rights movements, anti-Vietnam war demonstration, Kennedy’s presidency, to the assassination of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, the impact of the surging social movements and political turmoils to the American society is extremely far-reaching. There has been a lot of researches on the various social movements in this period. However, people 's attention seems to be limited to another important cultural phenomenon of this period, that is the prosperity of rock & roll. This paper is intended to analyze the

Many artists created a new form of music through the influence of the black artists. The first signs of this influence appeared in the music of Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. It carried on to artists like Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and various other musicians.4 A new form of music emerged, rock and roll. This new style of music was fueled by emotion. One of the first stages in the development of rock and roll was sacrificing musical complexity for the sake of capturing an audience. The jazz and blues songs that were popular before rock and roll emerged, consisted of several chords and elaborate rhythms, while rock and roll songs are comprised of only three or four chords and very simple rhythms.5 More direct expressions of emotions were used, and lyrics of personal and political significance were brought into the mix. The relationship between artists and their audiences changed. Fans related to the musicians’ opinions rather than simply the style of the music. As a result of the bold lyrics, a general respect for musicians