50s Pop and Folk Rock

1. 50s Pop and Folk Rock Folk Rock

2. Urban Folk Revival • As teens graduated from high school, their focus shifted away from cars and proms • In college, some young people turned their attention toward social issues, intellectualism and the arts • Rather than screaming at rock concerts, these fans preferred more intimate venues, such as coffee shops featuring cool jazz, poetry and acoustic American folk music

3. Urban Folk Revival • The urban folk revival is related to rock music mainly because it occurred at the same time as the rise of rock and roll • It is considered a revival because it brought national popularity to American folk songs when the only people listening to it previously were folk music enthusiasts

4. Woody Guthrie • Born in Oklahoma in 1912 • Songs dealt with social reform, particularly the plight of the Oklahoma victims of the Depression and the dust bowl of the 1930s

5. Woody Guthrie

6. Pete Seeger • Influenced by Guthrie’s music • Makes folk music fashionable among the middle class college crowd • “Goodnight Irene” was a number one hit for 13 weeks • This brought folk music into a phase of popularity, but the left-wing politics it promoted caused it to be forced underground by the communist paranoia of the day

7. Bob Dylan • Became a passionate devotee of folk music • In 1961 he moved from Indiana to Greenwich Village and tutored with Woody Guthrie • Known for his scratchy, mumbling voice • His protest songs were relevant to 1960s concerns such as civil rights

8. Bob Dylan

9. Bob Dylan • He eventually rebelled against his own stardom first by moving from sociopolitical topics to his own inner strife and then by moving to an electric sound • When he first made the change from acoustic to electric, many of his traditional-minded fans were caught by surprise and unhappy • This however led to other bands using this approach such as the Byrds

10. Bob Dylan