| |
| Rock music itself contains a range of different
subgenres: Top 40, hard rock, golden oldies, protest rock, easy-listening,
classic rock, disco, folk rock, psychedelic rock, metal, etc. Much
of the origins of rock emanate from the blues traditions of the
1920s, as well as the spiritual genre that stretches back for centuries.
In 1954, Bill Haley and the Comets produced the first big rock hit,
“Rock Around the Clock,” a song featured with the popular
movie, Blackboard Jungle, which portrayed a teacher coping
with challenges of teaching in an urban school (Shuker, 1994). During
the late 1940s and 1950s, singers such as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry,
James Brown, and Little Richard popularized their own versions of
rock that built on earlier blues/spiritual genres. |
| The emerging popularity of rock in the 1950s can
be attributed to the rise of a new group of adolescents who, in
contrast to pre-World War II adolescents, now had considerable buying
power and a lot of leisure time on their hands. They began purchasing
45rpm records, creating high demand for new songs and fueled the
rise of the rock-radio station geared for adolescents. The further
popularity of the Beatles and Rolling Stones in the 1960s, coupled
with the link between rock and political expression in the late
1960s only furthered its popularity with adolescents. |
The popularity of rock for adolescents was also furthered by
the “moral crises” backlash against rock by conservative
groups who believed that rock would foster the moral breakdown of
youth. The very fact that adults objected to rock only added to
its popularity as something that adolescents could own as a tool
for resisting adult authority and norms. |
The historical development of rock is also related to issues
of representations of race. Many of the early performers and writers
of rock and blues songs were African American. These performers
and writers were drawing on a long history of uses of gospel, blues,
and jazz that served to express outrage against slavery and the
racist denigration of an entire race. Initially, the music industry
attempted to “cover” black music by having white artists
perform what were originally songs written and performed by blacks.
However, as Stanley Baran (2002) notes, white adolescents wanted
the original artists as a means of resisting the adult attempts
to silence and mask over black artists: |
The music was central to this antagonism, not only
because it was gritty and nasty, but because it exposed the hypocrisy
of adult culture. Nowhere was this more apparent than in [Alan]
Freed’s 1953 rock ‘n’roll concert at the Cleveland
Arena. Although Cleveland was a segregated city, Freed opened the
9,000 set venue to all the fans of his Moondog’s Rock and
Roll Party radio show. A racially mixed crowd of more than 18,000
teen showed up, forcing the cancellation of the concert. But the
kids parties. They sang. They cheered. Not a signle one asked for
a refund. They had come — Black kids and White kids —
to celebrate their music, their culture. |
The PBS show, Rock & Roll: The TV Series, organized
its episodes around the following era in rock history: |
Renegades introduces viewers to the pioneers
of rock. The series travels southern backroads to New Orleans, Memphis
and Nashville and then moves north to Chicago, interviewing Little
Richard, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, pioneer disk
jockey Hoss Allen and producers Dave Bartholomew, Sam Phillips,
and Phil and Marshall Chess along the way. These musical renegades
of the '50s reveal how they borrowed from rhythm and blues, country,
gospel, and jazz to create a whole new sound - Rock and Roll. |
In the Groove reports on the years between
Elvis and the Beatles, when the hit single became an intricately
crafted work of art and producers, songwriters and musicians created
studio magic. In interviews with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller,
Ben E. King, Brian Wilson, Carole King, Sonny Bono and "king of
the surf guitar" Dick Dale, among others, this hour recounts the
era of sweet soul and girl groups when a new rock genius reigned:
the producer. |
Shakespeares in the Alley looks at the
towering influences of Bob Dylan and the Beatles on rock and roll,
and at the brief but influential flowering of "folk rock" inspired
by the Dylan/Beatles axis in the mid-'60s. In this hour: footage
of Dylan and the Fab Four and interviews with Beatles producer George
Martin, key Dylan session musician Al Kooper, Peter Yarrow of Peter,
Paul, and Mary, Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of the Byrds and
poet Allen Ginsberg. |
Respect chronicles the transformation of
black gospel music into a defining sound for all Americans. Also,
soul music's role in the simultaneous quest for African American
equality in the '60s. On hand to tell the tale: Berry Gordy, Jr.,
Ray Charles, Martha Reeves, Mary Wilson, Booker T. and the MGs,
Wilson Pickett, Maxine Powell of the Motown "Charm School," Motown
choreographer Cholly Atkins, and many more. The hour journeys from
Detroit's Motown Records to the Stax Records in Memphis. Last stop:
the FAME Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where Aretha Franklin,
a Detroit preacher's daughter, made musical magic. |
Crossroads traces the blues - another African
American tradition that changed the sound of rock and roll - from
the Mississippi Delta to Chicago to the UK, where this earthy, rich
sound inspired a host of young British musicians bored with the
pop music of the day. Van Morrison, Eric Burdon of the Animals,
Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Keith Richards and Bill Wyman of the
Rolling Stones and Jeff Beck tell how their stateside hits introduced
American rock fans to their own indigenous blues masters, like Howlin'
Wolf and John Lee Hooker. Also in this hour: Led Zeppelin's Robert
Plant and Jimmy Page on Jimi Hendrix, the dawning of the guitar
hero and the birth of heavy metal. |
Blues in Technicolor takes viewers on a
trip into the psychedelic rock world of the late 60s and early '70s.
Using interviews with the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane
and Pink Floyd, this hour shows how a bohemian folk culture based
in San Francisco set off an international explosion of musical experimentation
and eclecticism - much of it drug-inspired. |
The Wild Side tours through the rock and
roll theatrics of the '70s, when bands like the Velvet Underground,
the Doors and David Bowie brought the decadent dramas of life in
the underground into the limelight. Take a walk down the darker
side of the street in Los Angeles, New York, Detroit and Berlin
with the Doors' Ray Manzarek and producer Paul Rothchild, Lou Reed,
Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, and Kiss' Gene Simmons and
Paul Stanley. |
In Make it Funky, soul music stretches
to create a rock and roll revolution in rhythm and attitude in the
'70s. Innovators James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, George Clinton
and famed bass players Larry Graham and Bootsy Collins take viewers
on a tour of funk as the music becomes bolder and more expressive
of the realities of black life. Filmed in New York, San Francisco
and Philadelphia, the program also examines how funky dance hits
blazed a musical trail to the disco craze of the late '70s. |
Punk explores two late '70s musical innovations
that shaped rock and roll through the next decade: punk and reggae.
In New York, members of Blondie, Talking Heads, Television, and
the Ramones tell how they inadvertently created the cynical, urban,
stripped-down sound that became punk rock. In London, punk takes
off with the Sex Pistols, and members of the Wailers and the Clash
recall how Jamaican reggae, another musical form of rebellion, crossed
international boundaries, deeply influencing punk and pop rock.
|
The Perfect Beat begins at a time when megastars like
Bruce Springsteen, U2, and Metallica filled arenas around the
world and moves on to chronicle the rise of a new musical form:
rap. From the Bronx to Detroit, from Chicago to Manchester, England;
from Grandmaster Flash to Run-DMC; from De La Soul to British
innovators New Order to the Beastie Boys, the program traces the
evolution of this new sound in the '80s and early '90s. The hour
shows how superstars like Madonna and Prince folded rap and its
funky electronic offshoots, techno and house, into their music,
and how MTV ultimately embraced it. And the beat goes on.
|
In his on-line book and excellent resource, Reason
to Rock: Rock Music as Art Form, Herb Bowie argues that
the following aspects of rock had a particularly strong influence
on making rock differ from other forms of music:
|
-
Poetry Plus — It is a truism that simply filming a great
play does not produce a great film, nor would a staged version
of a great film make a great play. And yet the two forms undeniably
share common elements: dialogue, acting, pacing, and overall dramatic
structure, to name but a few.
-
The Theme of Liberation — The overarching theme of much
great rock music is that of liberation: breaking free from all
sorts of restraints. This theme is expressed in the music as well
as the words, with guitars making sounds never heard before, and
with song structures that often go beyond the traditional verse-chorus-bridge
pop format.
-
Recordings as Input to the Creative Process — To an unprecedented
degree, rock musicians learned from, and were influenced by, music
that was recorded and mechanically reproduced, rather than performed
live in a local venue. One result was the British Invasion in
the early sixties, which saw a whole generation of British bands
assault the American airwaves, armed with American blues and rock'n
roll recordings from which they had learned their trade.
-
Recordings as Works of Art — Quite naturally, this generation
of musicians came to view the recording — and not the live
performance or the musical notation of a song — as their
primary artistic output. The sound of a particular track, as captured
and edited in a recording studio, became more important than any
characteristics that could be reproduced by the same band on stage,
or by other artists performing the same song.
-
New Forms of Collaboration — Beginning with The Beatles,
rock saw a new kind of artistic partnership. Groups of three,
four or five individuals learned to work together as an artistic
unit, writing, singing, performing and producing their own material,
with most band members playing multiple, and often shifting, roles
in this process. Even when a single singer/songwriter emerged,
great rock was dependent on the kind of collaboration found in
film, in which a number of individuals playing different roles
all contributed to the artistic success of the finished work.
-
Electronic Amplification — The technical ability to amplify
the sound of an instrument — particularly a guitar —
was a key enabler for several other elements mentioned here. Thanks
to this new-found power, a group of musicians previously limited
to volumes appropriate for chamber music could now perform to
a large hall or even stadium full of listeners. Electronic amplification
also introduced the ability to distort and shape the sounds of
the instruments, though techniques such as feedback, fuzz-tone,
wah-wah pedals and countless other techniques. This electronic
influence over the sounds of the notes provided something worth
capturing on a recording, something that could not be adequately
described through musical notation.
-
The Big Beat — Rock is known for its distinctive 4/4 rhythm
with a backbeat. This simple foundation allowed singers and instrumentalists
to lay all sorts of rhythmic variations on top. Rock is also known
for the strength of its beat, providing much of the propulsive
power of the music. Together, these rhythmic elements are used
to convey the sense of liberation characteristic of the music,
and so often expressed in the lyrics as well.
|
Analysis of rock music |
Students could also analyze specific characteristics of rock
music in terms of the use of lyrics, harmony, rhythm, and performance. |
|
In his “web-book,” Reason to Rock: Rock Music
as Art Form, Herb Bowie describes some of the aesthetic aspects
of rock that could be used to judge the quality of the rock experience.
For example, he examines the uses of language in lyrics associated
with a compression of meaning into a few worlds or the uses of
rhythm to engage the listener. Students could examine how song
writers use language to convey their intended meanings.
|
Song lyric databases:
|
lyrics.com
songlyrics.co.nz
thesonglyrics.com
http://stations.mp3s.com/stations/238/
Scrolling Lyrics Archives |
They could also examine how writers such a Bob Dylan,
Marvin Gaye, Bruce Springsteen, or The Beatles used used lyrics
to express certain political messages or positions:
Protest
songs of the 1960s |
Webquest: how
rock music was used as social commentary |
Lesson: studying
literary aspects of lyrics
Webquest: Billy
Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire”
|
Students could also contrast different interpretations
they derive for the same lyrics, particularly related to adults’
objections to what may be perceived as highly suggestive or
offensive lyrics. For example, in a study of the following lyrics
(Leming, 1987), cited in Christenson and Roberts (1998, p. 162),
the researcher asked a panel of teachers to interpret the lyrics
and then a group of adolescents: |
“Physical,” Olivia Newton
John, 1981
I took you to an intimate restaurant
Then to a suggestive movie
There’s nothing left to talk about
‘Less it’s horizontally
Let’s get physical, physical, I wanna get physical.
|
The teachers interpreted these lyrics as focusing
on the need for sex without a concern for commitment or marriage.
In the adolescent group, 36% perceived the song as advocating
sex; 36%, as promoting physical exercise; and 28%, unsure of
the intended meaning (Leming, 1987, pp. 376-377). |
“Material Girl,” Madonna,
1984
They can beg and they can plead,
But they can’t see the light,
That’s right.
‘Cause the boy with the cold hard cash
Is always Mr. Right.
‘Cause we’re living in a material world
And I am a material girl.
|
The teachers interpreted these lyrics as implying
that only well-off suitors deserve women’s attention.
In the adolescent group, 67% noted that it promoted materialism
as central to relationships; 9%, as rejecting materialism, and
24% as unsure. |
“I Want a New Drug,”
Huey Lewis and the News, 1983
I want a new drug
One that won’t hurt my head
One that won’t make my mouth too dry
Or make my eyes too red.
One that won’t make me nervous
Wondering what to do,
One that make me feel like I feel
When I’m with you.
|
Some of the teachers interpreted these lyrics
literally as having to do with the search for a drug with no
side effects; other teachers perceived the drug as a metaphor
for love. Twenty-six% of the adolescents perceived it as promoting
drug use; 45% perceived it as a love song; and 29% were unsure. |
Christenson and Roberts (1998) note that these
findings suggest that not only do adults and adolescent derive
different meanings, but that all lyrics invite alternative,
competing meanings given the different purposes, agendas, attitudes,
knowledge, and assumptions audiences bring to these lyrics.
This challenges the “moral crises” critiques of
song lyrics as having negative social effects on adolescents,
a critique that presupposes certain definitive meanings for
those lyrics. |
Students could also study the ways in which
lyrics address particular social issues, studying how they issues
are framed through the lyrics. In her readingonline.org
article, "Song Lyrics as Texts to Develop Critical Literacy,"
Carol Lloyd identifies various topic addresses by certain songs:
|
The Environment
Tracy Chapman, “The Rape of the World”
Marvin Gaye, “Mercy, Mercy Me”
|
U.S. History
Bob Marley, “Buffalo Soldier”
Woody Guthrie, “I Ain’t Got No Home,” “Ludlow
Massacre”
|
Economics
Tracy Chapman, “Subcity”
Phil Collins, “Another Day in Paradise”
John Mellencamp “Rain on the Scarecrow”
Nanci Griffith, “Trouble in the Fields”
Woody Guthrie, “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)”
Rage Against the Machine, “Without a Face”
|
U.S. Government Policies and
Practices
Country Joe and the Fish, “Fixin’ to Die Rag”
Marvin Gaye, “What’s Going On?
|
Racism and Racial Issues
They Might Be Giants, “Your Racist Friend”
Bruce Hornsby, “The Way It Is”
Tracy Chapman, “Nothin’ Yet”
Public Enemy, “Fight the Power”
Buffy Sainte-Marie, “My Country ’Tis of Thy People
You’re Dying”
Robbie Robertson, “Ghost Dance”
|
International Events and Conditions
Bob Marley, “Get Up, Stand Up”
U2, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
Little Village, “Do You Want My Job?”
|
|
Another important element of popular music is
harmony. A primary appeal of the early doo-wop groups was the
harmony of group’s singing romantic ballads. Listen to
some of these doo-wop songs on
The Doo-Wop JukeBox. |
Read the following description of how harmony
is achieved through combination of sounds. and then reflect
on the harmonies of the doo-wop songs:
|
In musical terms, harmony
has several meanings. In a broad sense, harmony can mean a combination
of musical tones considered to be pleasing.
|
In their lesson on harmony, the
Wilson sisters are singing in two-part harmony. Nancy
is singing the melody (the main tune of the song) while Ann
is singing harmony. In this case, harmony means a different
tune that goes well with the melody. When the Wilsons sing the
song in harmony, the sound is richer than if they were singing
the melody in unison. You’ll notice that although Nancy
is singing lower and Ann is singing higher, the tunes they are
singing have the same shape and rhythm. This is called parallel
motion.
|
The distance between two different
musical tones is called an interval. Intervals are
numbered according to how many note names they span from one
end of the interval to the other. For example, the interval
from A to B is called a second because it encompasses
two note names, while the interval from A to C is called a third.
In two-part harmony, vocalists often sing a third or a sixth
apart, as this is a rich and pleasing sound. In “Even
It Up,” the Wilson sisters are singing a third apart from
each other.
|
There are different types of seconds,
thirds, fourths, and so on. These intervals are named according
to the exact distance between the two pitches, which determines
the quality of the sound. Although it is somewhat subjective,
most people steeped in Western music (the music that originated
in Europe) would agree that some intervals have a rather “empty”
or “pure” sound, while others have a fuller, richer
sound. On the other hand, other intervals sound clashing, or
dissonant. The interplay between these different types
of sounds is what helps to make a piece of music interesting.
To hear the basic types of intervals used in traditional Western
music, click the links to the right. Although the examples given
here are intervals within one octave (an octave being the interval
between the first and eighth note names — for example,
from C to C), intervals can be larger than an octave.
|
When three or more musical tones
sound simultaneously, this is called a chord. In “Even
It Up,” Nancy is playing chords on the guitar. Chords,
like intervals, can either sound consonant (not clashing)
or dissonant. Again, these classifications are somewhat
subjective and relative.
|
Other factors that can contribute
to feelings of consonance or dissonance include instrumentation,
volume, and special effects. In a song or other piece of music,
dissonant sounds create points of tension, and consonant sounds
create resolution (relative calm). Too much consonance can make
a piece a bit boring, while too much dissonance may make it
less accessible for those listeners who prefer a more relaxed
sound. As with other forms of art, musical taste is very personal.
|
In a rock song, the accompaniment
to the melody can come from the vocals, the instruments, or
both, as you heard in "Even It Up." As you
hear the song again, listen for the parallel motion in the vocals,
and the general contrasts of consonance and dissonance that
keep the music interesting.
|
|
Another important element of rock is the use
of rhythm accentuated by the uses of the bass guitar and the
drums. Rhythm was a key element in the uses of rock music for
different types of dances: bop, twist, and stroll, as well the
disco of the 1970s, dances popularized on American Bandstand
(now the subject of the NBC show, American
Dreams.) |
A central element of rhythm is the addition
of various instruments over the underlying, driving beat of
the drums/percussions/bass guitar. To experiment with this process,
go to the following sites to for adding certain instrument sounds
to the basic rhythm:
looplabs.com
|
The rise of the electric guitar was a major
component in the development of rock music. Students could trace
changes in the evolution of the electric guitar from the 1940s
to the 1970s, noting how those changes influenced changes in
the music of the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, or Eric Clapton.
120
years of electronic music
Click here for a site at the
National Museum of American History
|
An engaging site at the Seattle
Music Museum (EMI) provides you with a time line with the
development of the electric guitar from the 1940s to the 1960s.
You can click on the guitar to hear the sound of that guitar
as well as albums with songs using this guitar. |
|
A final element is the aspect of performance—the
different ways in which rock bands defined their own unique
style and sound through how they performed for live audiences.
The early 1950s rock stars, Elvis Presley, James Brown, Jerry
Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and others, when contrasted to the
elaborate road-show/arena stage backdrops of the 1980 bands,
employed very simple stage setting, but performed themselves
in highly dramatic ways, emphasizing their own physical appearance,
sexuality, and dance steps. The performances of the 1960s bands—the
Beatles, Rolling Stones, and The Who, as well as Jimi Hendrix,
Bob Dylan, and Janis Joplin, continued some of this focus on
physical presentation, particularly with Mick Jaggar and Janis
Joplin, but added the element of more focus on musical experimentation,
sound quality, stage shows, and large audiences.
Course
at Indiana University on the Beatles |
The performances of the 1970s bands —
Cream, Doobie Brothers, Eagles, The Band, Grateful Dead, Moody
Blues, as well as the pop bands the Beach Boys and the Bee Gees
— focused more on a wider range of different types of
songs, particularly ballads, as well as audience participation.
With the rise of metal/punk bands in the 1980s and 1990s, performance
shifted towards elaborate road show sets/costumes and outrageous
acts that appealed to a largely adolescent audience. |
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [teacher resources] |
| Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame [50 lesson plans] |
Rock
‘n’ Roll Vault |
History
of Rock: 1954-1963 |
Rock
and the Protest World of the 1960s
Drug,
Sex, and Rock ‘n’ Roll |
Oldies
Music of the 50s to 70s |
History
of Rock |
Top
100 moments in the history of rock |
Rock
‘n’Roll Hall of Fame inductees, 1982 - 2001
|
Guitar/Bass
Timeline [hear the sounds of different types of guitars]
|
Significant
events in the history of rock |
Indiana
University: 1960s |
Indiana
University: 1970s and 1980s |
| African-American
Music |
Webquest:
the history of rock |
Webquests: studying a particular rock band and forces influencing
that band
Finding
Out About RockNRoll Music
Finding
Out About RockNRoll Music: Lesson 2
|
Webquest:
studying the history of a specific genre |
Course:
Survey of World Pop Music |
Other resources |
RockNEWS.com
|
RollingStone
|
MuchMusic
Rock
Around the World
For further reading: |
Altschuter, G. (2003). All shook up: How
rock’n’roll changed America. New York: Oxford
University Press
Bogdanov, V., Woodstra, C., & Erlewine,
S. (2002). All music guide to rock: The definitive guide
to rock, pop, and soul (3rd Edition). New York: Backbeat.
|
Crazy Horse, K. (Ed.) (2003). Rip it up
: The black experience in rock 'n roll. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
|
|
Williams. P. (2003). Back to the miracle factory: Rock etc. 1990's.
New York: Cambridge University Press. | | |
|
