Rock N’ Roll

5 Pages 1238 Words

I’m going to introduce to the reader a topic not touched on a lot because of its complexity and its avoidance by conservative adults. This topic is Rock n’ Roll Music. I compiled my information from the internet, books and magazines and my personal knowledge about the topic and from that information, I will try to lead you to a better understanding of Rock n’Roll. I chose this topic because Rock n’ Roll has been popular all my life and I relate certain life events by a song that was popular at that time.
Rock music is very complex; in fact "its stylistic scope is too broad to be encompassed by any single definition" ("Rock Music", Groliers, p.1). The nearest definition suggests a kind of music that represents and speaks for the teenage society and changes from generation to generation, from “I wanna hold your hand” to lyrics so sexually explicit, nothing is left to the imagination. In this essay, I’m going to divide Rock music into four sections: Rock of the 50´s, of the 60´s, of the 70´s and of the 80´s. Within these sections I will also discuss several sub-topics such as famous composers and groups, and characteristics of the music.
The first section of this essay is Rock n’ Roll of the 1950’s, when Rock n’ Roll was born. Fifties rock emerged from rhythm and blues, music similar to jazz played by black artists. Disc jockey Alan Freed was the one who first introduced this music and later gave it the name of Rock n’ Roll and it began to attract the teenage crowd. Bill Haley with his "Rock Around the Clock" was one of the first Rock n’ Roll icons. Also in this decade, Elvis Presley introduced music that was sexually suggestive and outraged dull adults. In time he changed the style of his music by adopting a country and western style and became a national hero. By the end of this decade and the start of the next, Rock n’ Roll started to decline because it was formula ridden and thought to be to...