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Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Why 1955-1965? + Precursors

Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Why 1955-1965? + Precursors. Philip Tagg — Histoire de la musique populaire anglophone, Faculté de musique, Université de Montréal, octobre 2003. P Tagg (Oct 03) — Why Rock ’n’ Roll? (2) . 1. Greater proportion of people aged 15-25 • USA: 15% in 1958. 2.

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Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Why 1955-1965? + Precursors

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  1. Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Why 1955-1965? + Precursors Philip Tagg — Histoire de la musique populaire anglophone, Faculté de musique, Université de Montréal, octobre 2003

  2. P Tagg (Oct 03) — Why Rock ’n’ Roll? (2) 1 Greater proportion of people aged 15-25 • USA: 15% in 1958 2 Greater average disposable family income • Real terms in USA: $5367 p.a. in 1948  $7688 in 1960 Little or no basic expenses for 15-25 age group • Little or no money spent on necessities, e.g. housing, food; • What teenagers owned (male|female %, Newsweek 1966-03-21) — records: 75|90; transistor radio 75|72; turntable 50|72; car 18|8; guitar 27|0; perfume 0|96; hair dryer 0|65, etc. 3 4 More young people continue their education. • USA: 47% college-educated in 1948 75% in 1958. • US corporations needs specialised labour. • Totally new social group without work-defined identity.

  3. P Tagg (Oct 03) — Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Other demographic change in USA• Increased importance of South and West (result of expansion in oil and ‘defence’ industries. L.A., Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Seattle, San Francisco Bay area. • Segregated music markets (race records, hillbilly) temporarily integrated during war (AFN = American Forces Network) • 1954 - Supreme Court rules that segregation by colour in public schools is a violation of the Constitution (Little Rock, AK) 5 Changes in US music industry • ASCAP-BMI conflict (1940-44) • Federation of Musicians ban radio performance 1942-44 • Non-notated musics more widespread (e.g. WSN Nashville & Grand Ole Opry, KFFN Chicago & King Biscuit Hour) • 1946 - Record sales double in one year (Petrillo ban lifted) • 1948 - Columbia introduce 33.3 rpm LP microgroove • 1949 - RCA introduce 45 rpm vinyl records • 1954 - Transistor radios on open market 6

  4. P Tagg (Oct 03) — Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Changes in US media and advertising industry • Motivation research (Merton & Lazarsfeld): musical taste as reliable indicator of target group homogoneity • Proliferation of “format radio” • 1954: Edward Bernays (Freud’s nephew) orchestrates PR for US overthrow of elected government in Guatemala (100,000 die) — definitive establishment of consumerist propaganda 7 Changes is US listening patterns • see #5, above + ... • 1946-1952: jazz loses popular base, e.g. Charlie Parker’sOrnithology (1946), Dizzy Gillespie’s Cubana-Be/Bop (1947) • Swing bands, involved in WW2, difficult to re-form and too expensive to hire in small club venues (see “Precursors”) • Spread of TV: increased privatisation; small screen problem for lavish Broadway musicals and marketing of TPA hits • 1950 - “Hillbilly” accounts for 1/3 of US record sales 8

  5. P Tagg (Oct 03) — Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Precursors ofRock ’n’ Roll 1. Hillbilly & Country 2. Jump bands & boogie 3. Gospel & doo-wop 4. New Orleans R&B 5. Chicago R&B 6. Tin Pan Alley

  6. P Tagg (Oct 03) — Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Precursor 1: Hillbilly & Country • String bands, e.g. Uncle Dave Macon, Charlie Poole, Carter Family, + bluegrass artists like Bill Munroe. • N.B. Influence of more traditional country styles (e.g. artists like Flatt & Scruggs, Doc Watson, Woody Guthrie) is strong on the folk song movement (e.g. Kingston Trio, Peter Paul & Mary, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan) and later on US folk rock (e.g. The Byrds, The Band). • Honky-tonk country, e.g. Hank Williams via Jimmy Rodgers, Gene Autry (Country & Western), Western swing • Western swing, e.g. Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys Remember: Bill Haley’s band was called The Saddlemen before becoming The Comets.

  7. P Tagg (Oct 03) — Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Precursor 2: Jump bands • Rhythm combos with boogie and big-band swing influences, e.g. Roy Milton & his Solid Senders, Louis Jordan, Jimmy Liggins • Bass (acoustic), drums, el. Guitar, piano, 1 or 2 saxes • Up-tempo numbers, usually swung (12/8 feel) over 12-bar blues matrix • Very popular dance music (jive)

  8. P Tagg (Oct 03) — Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Precursor 3: Gospel & doo-wop • 2 basic types of traditional black gospel music • Fast 2/4; 8-bar periods; emphatic backbeat hand claps and/or tambourine; largely syllabic • Slow 12/8; 8-bar periods; lead vocal often melismatic Common stylistic traits • Religious music with rapid antiphonal exchange: lead singer answered by riff-like backing vocals • Melodic lines often major-pentatonic; chord shuttles IIV, Ivi common; V7 often replaced by V11 (the gospel chord) • Lead singer may interject with falsetto whoops and yells, etc. Doo-wop:secular songs, mainly by unaccompanied male-voice groups (e.g. Marcels, early Drifters) drawing on barbershop and black gospel traditions Earlysoul(e.g. James Brown 1956-1964, Ray Charles’ What’d I Say): secular music drawing mainly on black gospel tradition and on New Orleans R&B

  9. P Tagg (Oct 03) — Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Precursor 4: New Orleans R&B • 2 basic types of New Orleans rhythm and blues (both usually 8-bar matrix, e.g. I-I-IV-IV-I-V-I-I/V) • Fast 4/4; slight swing (more ¼ than iq ); sometimes emphatic 2 and 4 from drummer Earl Palmer • Slow 12/8 or swung 4/4; often constant iiq iiq, usually with ‘2nd line’ riff, e.g. q_¼ q ¼(q . e q e. x) Important New Orleans R&B personalities • Lloyd Price • Dave Bartholomew • Alain Toussaint • Antoine “Fats” Domino • Little Richard (Penniman) Important record labels: Imperial and Specialty

  10. P Tagg (Oct 03) — Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Precursor 4: Chicago R&B • El. guitar, male vocals, often harmonica, piano; from 1959 also el. bass • 12-bar blues matrix; ‘blue’ 3rds, 7ths; sometimes also b5 • Origins in country blues from Mississippi Delta region (Yazoo river area south of Memphis) • Almost always ‘swung’ (12/8 feel — ¼, not iq ) • Performed (1940s-60s) on Chicago’s South Side • Most influential record label: Chess • Important artists: Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, “Big” Bill Broonzy, Albert King, Chuck Berry; also Arthur Crudup, Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie Dixon, Luther Allison, etc.

  11. P Tagg (Oct 03) — Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Precursor 4: Tin Pan Alley (cont’d) • Carried on, trying to incorporate new styles into mainstream • Record industry tried (as today) to fit radical change into its old familiar patterns, e.g. by covers of “Race Records” • New songwriters emerge to provide the “milksop” which filled the gap when Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard temporarily leave the scene before the Beatles emerge.

  12. Why Rock ’n’ Roll? Why 1955-1965? + Precursors Philip Tagg — Histoire de la musique populaire anglophone, Faculté de musique, Université de Montréal, octobre 2003 END

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