1. Rock and Roll

2. What is Rock and Roll?
● Like A Rolling Stone (1965)
○ “#1 Rock and Roll song of all time” (1976 by…?)
● On your own, write five single words that you
feel best represent Rock and Roll

4. Early Rock and Roll (Late 40s and 50s)
● Grew out of the years after WWII
○ Influence of teenagers in the marketplace
■ R&B, Country = adults; Rock and Roll = teens
○ Rhythm and Blues, Swing, Chicago Blues, Jazz,
Boogie-Woogie
● Almost always duple meter
○ Rock “backbeat”
● “Moondog” Alan Freed: disc jockey, played Rhythm and
Blues to predominantly white teenagers; coined the
term “Rock and Roll” (borrowed the term; meaning?)

5. Name Change
Rhythm and Blues → Rock and Roll
Why the change?

6. Early Rock and Roll Artists
● Chuck Berry
○ Maybellene
○ Roll Over Beethoven
● Jerry Lee Lewis
○ Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On
○ Great Balls of Fire
● Little Richard
○ Tutti Frutti
○ Lucille
● Billy Haley & His Comets
○ Rock Around The Clock

7. Racial Division
Ain’t That A Shame
Shake Rattle and Roll
Tutti Frutti
Ain’t That A Shame
Shake Rattle and Roll
Tutti Frutti

8. Billboard Charts
● Classified music by genre, best selling, and
most played, among other things.
○ Pop(ular) Chart = “white music”
○ Rhythm and Blues (R&B) Chart = “black music”
● Prior to mid 1950s, it was unheard of for a
song/record/artist to “crossover” from one
chart to another

9. Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977)
● Game Changer
○ Not the first to have hits on multiple charts, but did
so many time and with much success
■ Heartbreak Hotel: Topped both Popular and
Country-Western charts, also made it to No. 5 on
the Rhythm and Blues Charts
■ Blue Suede Shoes
■ Jailhouse Rock
● Barriers are breaking down, but not gone

10. “If I could find a white man who
had the Negro sound and the
Negro feel, I could make a
billion dollars.”
-- Sam Phillips, Sun Records
Responsible for popularizing
many artists including Howlin’
Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny
Cash, and Elvis Presley

11. 1960s
● Civil Rights
● Vietnam War
● Counterculture / Hippies
● Second Wave Feminism
● Space Race

12. Music Mirroring Society
● Young white listeners embracing black
artists and white artists who mimic the
“black” sound
● Brown vs. Board of Education (1954)
○ Spurred period of conflict, Southern opposition,
violence, defiance of court orders
○ Sit-Ins, freedom Marches
○ Martin Luther King, Jr.
● Civil Rights Act (1964); Voting Rights Act
(1965)

13. 1960s
● “Ask not what your country
can do for you; ask what you
can do for your country.” --
JFK, 1961
○ Who is “your”?
● Collective American identity?
What is/n’t American?
● Political rights of minorities

14. Teenagers Growing Up
● College aged activists; music with a mission
● Once listening to Rock/R&B of the 50s, now
identifying with folk music
○ Rejecting mass culture, commercial success
○ Mastering the “traditional” sound/style -- huh?
● Saving society from the oppression of
government

15. The Folk Revival
● Early 1960s: Old and new musical ideas to comment on
current issues; restrictive in the general idea of “folk
sound”
● Revived from the political songs (sung in the folk style)
of the 1930s -- especially those of Woody Guthrie
○ This Land Is Your Land
○ Massacre of 1913
○ All You Fascists Bound To Lose

16. Popular Folk Artists of the 60s
● Pete Seeger
● The Weavers
● The Kingston Trio
● Peter, Paul, and Mary
● Joan Baez
● Judy Collins
● Bob Dylan

17. Bob Dylan as Folk Singer
● Fan of Woody Guthrie; pilgrimage to
NYC, 1960
● Inspired by his political
writings/songs
○ 1963, “The Times They Are a-
Changing”
● Uncomfortable being pinned down as
“folk” -- or any genre, really

18. Woody Guthrie, idolized by Bob Dylan

19. Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival
Bob Dylan (and friends) 1963
Bob Dylan 1964
Bob Dylan 1965 (clips)

20. Bob Dylan “Gone Electric”
● Selling out?
Becoming a part of
the “establishment”?
● Folk-Rock
○ Subterranean
Homesick Blues
● Ever changing
sound

21. Rock in the 1960s
● Flavors
○ Folk Rock
○ Surf Rock
○ Pop Rock
○ Psychedelic Rock
○ Blues Rock
○ Progressive Rock
○ Art Rock
■ Baroque Rock?
● Very difficult to
categorize Rock
● Many directions
at once
● Originality

22. The British Invasion
● Rock/blues becomes popular with UK teens
○ Late 1950s
○ Rebellious music/image
● US teens losing interested in US rock and
roll, “one hit wonders;” looking for something
new and different
○ The Mod style
● Beatlemania

23. The Mod Style
Twiggy

24. The Strypes

25. The Beatles
● 1964, CBS Evening News: “The British
Invasion this time goes by the code name
Beatlemania.”
● Appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, 1964
○ A family show?
○ According to the Nielsen Ratings, 45% of Americans
viewed this show
● Documentary: The British Invasion

26. Baroque Rock
● AKA: Baroque Pop, Chamber Rock/Pop
○ A Whiter Shade of Pale
■ Inspired by Bach
○ In My Life
○ Eleanor Rigby
○ Albatross
● Current(ish) Baroque Rock
○ Regina Spektor
○ Belle and Sebastian
○ Jem
■ Bach Prelude in F Minor (WTC Book II)

27. Surf Rock
● AKA: Surf Pop, Beach Rock, Hot Rod Rock
○ Southern California: early 1960s
● Dick Dale and the Del-Tones
○ “King of Surf Guitar”
○ Misirlou (1963)
■ Black Eyed Peas: Pump It
● The Belairs
○ Mr. Moto

28. Beach Boys
● Brian Wilson
○ Musical mastermind
○ Harmonies
● Good Vibrations (studio footage)
● Surfin Safari
● Sufin’ USA
● Barbara Ann
● Wouldn’t It Be Nice

29. Psychedelic Rock
● Influenced by hallucinogenic drugs
○ Goal is to replicate and enhance the drug trips
■ LSD / Acid
○ Beatles
○ Yardbirds
○ Grateful Dead
○ The Doors
○ Jimi Hendrix
○ Pink Floyd
○ Jefferson Airplane