popular music revolution
Music has undergone many changes throughout and history and prehistory. These changes were always somehow connected to sociological movements at the time. Rock music evolved mostly out of a need by young people of the fifties to break away from so-cietal norms. America had just come out of the Korean War, and men looked to settle down into a peaceful life. Also just prior this time period, Senator Joseph McCarthy ac-tively encouraged citizens to conform with his infamously false accusations of Commu-nism. "McCarthy spectacularly charged that there were scores of known Communists in the Department of State" (Bailey 887). This made people fearful that they would be tried as Communists and led most to conform to a common societal standard. When the nation emerged from this era, teenagers sought to rebel against their parental authorities. They created everything from new styles of clothing to new styles of music to promote their newfound individuality. The new style of music evolving at the time was called Rock and Roll. "Rock has been influenced by country music, by the blues, by classical music, by calypso, by traditional folk styles, and by a variety of other music conventions" (Belz vii). This variety reflects the var
Smaller revolutions have occurred. The genre underwent a major transformation on "the day the music died." Don McLean's "American Pie" outlines what happened after the historic deaths of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash on February 3, 1959. "The entire song is a tribute to Buddy Holly and a commentary on how rock and roll changed in the years since his death. McLean seems to be lamenting the death of 'danceable' music in rock and roll and (in part) attributing that lack to the ab-sence of Buddy Holly et. al" (Kulawiec 1995). Rock music did continue to evolve after that point, and the song "American Pie" itself gives evidence of this. "American Pie" em-phasizes the lyrics as the most important part of the song rather than the beat. Although it is possible to dance to this song, the original intent was probably more like folk music (an integral part of rock today) than a dance tune. Another revolution occurred with the ad-vent of disco, which brought dance music back to the spotlight. Rap and Hip-hop are not really related to rock and roll as closely as other offshoots, but they are obviously influ-enced somewhat by the vitality that a rock or folk lyric exudes. To get enough protest from teens to start a music revolution, another major war must be fought. Conscription must be reinstituted in the United States. Deaths of friends and family is usually enough to anger the population. Another factor that must be present is an overwhelming feeling of conformity. The early '50s were a time when teens and adults all dressed in the same way, acted in the same way, and listened to the same music. These conditions must be present for another musical revolution to occur. A major difference in rock music to the prior music of the time was the instru-mentation. Rock and roll placed a heavy emphasis on the guitar as musical expression. Jazz musicians used the electric guitar frequently, but it became very widespread with rock music. The formula for a rock band became an guitar, an electric bass guitar, and a drum set. The common instrumentation led to a common sound between different bands. While most rock songs sounded different from each other, the instrumentation led to a familiar feeling in the genre. In the '70s, artists manipulated their sound more frequently in the recording studio to crea
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Approximate Word count = 1586
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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