a brief overview of rock n roll

1. ROCK ‘N’ ROLL
MUSIC
By Me
(Jared Grainger)

2. WHAT I AM COVERING
 The background (‘birth’) of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the Labels
 The years it dominated the world
 The Main characteristics of the music and where that comes from
 The Demography/Audience.
 Notable acts and the most famous songs
 Effects it has had on music nowadays
 Similarities and differences with other genres
 Different genres born from Rock ‘n’ Roll
In this presentation I will be looking at different aspects of Rock ‘n’ Roll

3. BACKGROUND
 Exact whereabouts of creation is disputed but is from Southern America.
 Emigration of ex slaves to places such as Memphis, Tennessee, Detroit etc.
meant that black people and white people lived close to each other.
 The biggest musical influence was so called ‘Race music’ and country
music.
 Without WWII Rock ‘n’ Roll wouldn’t have been as successful.
 Rock ‘n’ Roll was named by an American DJ named Alan Freed…

4.  Rock 'n' roll is really swing with a modern name. It began on the levees and
plantations, took in folk songs, and features blues and rhythm. It's the rhythm
that gets to the kids — they're starved of music they can dance to, after all
those years of crooners.
—NME - February 1956

5.  The first ‘Big’ Song of Rock ‘n’ Roll is ‘Rock Around The Clock’
by Bill Haley and His Comets (sorry about the quality)
YouTube. 2000. Bill Haley - Rock Around The Clock (1956). [online] Available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5fsqYctXgM [Accessed: 5 Jul 2013].

6.  Rock ‘n’ roll was the biggest genre of music going on around the
world from 1954 to 1963, the decline in its popularity came from the
death of Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in the plane crash in
February 1959, the arrest of chuck berry in December 1959, the
retirement of Little Richard and Elvis joining the army in March 1958.
Although it declined from 1958 it didn’t die out for another 5 years, it
was kept alive by early 1960’s bands such as The Beatles.

7. ROCK ‘N’ ROLL LABELS
 the biggest record labels involved in the movement of Rock ‘n’
Roll were:
 Sun records – Owned by Sam Phillips founded in 1952 in
Memphis, Tennessee known for signing such artists as Elvis
Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry lee Lewis and Johnny
Cash, their main engineer was Jack clement

8. The sun records logo
Designed by John
Gale Parker, Jr.
Sam Phillips founder of
Sun Records
Jack Clements
Sun Records
Engineer

9.  RCA Recordings (RCA Victor)
 Founded in 1901 in New York by Emile Berliner and Eldridge R.
Johnson
 Notable acts they signed during Rock ‘n’ Rolls Glory Days are
Elvis Presley (bought from Sun Records), Paul Anka, The Ames
Brothers and Buddy Guy Along with many others.

10. The RCA
Records logo Co-founder
Emile Berliner
Co-founder
Eldridge R. Johnson

11.  Other record labels include, Decca, Brunswick, Coral among
others.

12. CHARACTERISTICS
 Rock ‘n’ Roll took characteristics from both R‘n’B and country.
 Both R‘n’B and Rock ‘n’ Roll have a vocal line which has and answering
chorus. The melodies were very narrow ranged, and the majority of the singers in
both R’n’B and Rock ‘n’ Roll have hoarse/grainy voices.

13.  Rock ‘n’ Roll also took characteristics from Country Music.
 The most important characteristic that country gave Rock ‘n’ Roll was
its heavy reliance on chord progressions which only contained three or
four chords, not complex chord progressions. Elvis Presley is a prime
example of this. Also Rock ‘n’ Roll songs are some form of story which
comes from the country aspect of its origin.
Good examples of this are ‘Jailhouse Rock’, ‘A boy named sue’ and
‘Johnny B. Goode’.

14. AUDIENCE
 Rock ‘n’ Roll has been described by historians as ‘one of the first music genres to
define an age group’
 Rock ‘n’ Roll was the first music style to give teenagers a sense of
belonging as they could relate to the music.
 Rock ‘n’ Roll was credited to the emergence of the first teen culture and
the post war baby boom.
 Also Rock ‘n’ Roll was the first style of music to affect the style of
clothing, hair, cars, motorbike and linguistics.

15. EFFECTS OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL
ON PEOPLE NOWADAYS
 Rock ‘n’ Roll has had a huge effect on people nowadays, even
though it is about 60 years since its origin people still listen to it and
there are still band interested in making music in this style.
 People will always know one song which falls into Rock ‘n’ Roll
 Even though it isn’t as big as it used to be, rock ‘n’ Roll Will never
die out because there will always be a following for this music.

16. SIMIL ARITIE S AND DIFFE RE NCE S WITH
OTHE R GE NRE S OF TODAY
 Even though the kind of music is completely different the lyrical
content is similar to rock made by young bands as they are expressing
their inner angst and anguish.
 The chord progressions from rock ‘n’ roll have helped shape music
ever since its creation, although the chord progressions have become
more complex they still heavily rely on 12 bar blues even today

17. NOTABLE ACTS
 Elvis Presley
 Chuck Berry
 Buddy holly & the Crickets
 Bill Haley & The Comets
 Fats domino
 Little Richard
 Jerry Lee Lewis
 Richie Valens
ChuckNorris
These are 8 Rock ‘n’ Roll artist from the 1950’s sourced from:
http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_influential.html

18. OTHER NOTABLE ACTS
 The Beatles, Bo Diddley, The Drifters, The Temptations, Bob
Dylan, Roy Orbison, The Beach Boys, Ray Charles and Carl Perkins
Picture taken by Robert Whittaker
http://www.robertwhitakerphotography.com/prints-store/the-beatles-prints/beatles-4-faces/

19. NOTABLE SONGS
1. Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
2. Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley
3. Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley & His Comets
4. Tutti-Frutti - Little Richard
5. Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On - Jerry Lee Lewis
6. What'd I Say - Ray Charles
7. Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran
8. Hound Dog - Elvis Presley
9. Long Tall Sally - Little Richard
10. That'll Be The Day - Buddy Holly & the Crickets
Sourced from:
http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songs50s.html

20. OTHER GENRES BORN
FROM ROCK ‘N’ ROLL
 Psychedelic rock
 Heavy metal
 R’n’B
 Also Rock ‘n’ Roll inspired many different
genres such as Psychedelic Rock,
Glam Rock, Metal etc.
 Even the pop music of today... Eww

21. ANY QUESTIONS?

22. NO?

23. THANKS