Why Rock

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Why Rock n Roll? Why 1955-1965? Precursors
Philip Tagg Histoire de la musique populaire
anglophone, Faculté de musique, Université de
Montréal, octobre 2003
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P Tagg (Oct 03) Why Rock n Roll? (2)
1
Greater proportion of people aged 15-25 USA
15 in 1958
2
Greater average disposable family income
Real terms in USA 5367 p.a. in 1948 ? 7688 in
1960
Little or no basic expenses for 15-25 age group
Little or no money spent on necessities, e.g.
housing, food What teenagers owned
(malefemale , Newsweek 1966-03-21)
records 7590 transistor radio 7572 turntable
5072 car 188 guitar 270 perfume 096
hair dryer 065, etc.
3
4
More young people continue their education.
USA 47 college-educated in 1948 75 in 1958.
US corporations needs specialised labour.
Totally new social group without work-defined
identity.
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P Tagg (Oct 03) Why Rock n Roll?
Other demographic change in USA Increased
importance of South and West (result of expansion
in oil and defence industries. L.A.,
Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Seattle, San
Francisco Bay area. Segregated music markets
(race records, hillbilly) temporarily
integrated during war (AFN American Forces
Network) 1954 - Supreme Court rules that
segregation by colour in public schools is a
violation of the Constitution (Little Rock, AK)
5
Changes in US music industry ASCAP-BMI
conflict (1940-44) Federation of Musicians ban
radio performance 1942-44 Non-notated musics
more widespread (e.g. WSN Nashville Grand
Ole Opry, KFFN Chicago King Biscuit Hour)
1946 - Record sales double in one year (Petrillo
ban lifted) 1948 - Columbia introduce 33.3 rpm
LP microgroove 1949 - RCA introduce 45 rpm
vinyl records 1954 - Transistor radios on open
market
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4
P Tagg (Oct 03) Why Rock n Roll?
Changes in US media and advertising industry
Motivation research (Merton Lazarsfeld)
musical taste as reliable indicator of target
group homogoneity Proliferation of format
radio 1954 Edward Bernays (Freuds nephew)
orchestrates PR for US overthrow of elected
government in Guatemala (100,000 die)
definitive establishment of consumerist propaganda
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Changes is US listening patterns see 5, above
... 1946-1952 jazz loses popular base, e.g.
Charlie Parkers Ornithology (1946), Dizzy
Gillespies Cubana-Be/Bop (1947) Swing bands,
involved in WW2, difficult to re-form and too
expensive to hire in small club venues (see
Precursors) Spread of TV increased
privatisation small screen problem for
lavish Broadway musicals and marketing of TPA
hits 1950 - Hillbilly accounts for 1/3 of
US record sales
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5
P Tagg (Oct 03) Why Rock n Roll?
Precursors ofRock n Roll
1. Hillbilly Country
2. Jump bands boogie
3. Gospel doo-wop
4. New Orleans RB
5. Chicago RB
6. Tin Pan Alley
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P Tagg (Oct 03) Why Rock n Roll?
Precursor 1 Hillbilly Country

• String bands, e.g. Uncle Dave Macon, Charlie
  Poole, Carter Family, bluegrass artists
  like Bill Munroe.
• N.B. Influence of more traditional country styles
  (e.g. artists like Flatt Scruggs, Doc Watson,
  Woody Guthrie) is strong on the folk song
  movement (e.g. Kingston Trio, Peter Paul Mary,
  Joan Baez, Bob Dylan) and later on US folk rock
  (e.g. The Byrds, The Band).

• Honky-tonk country, e.g. Hank Williams via Jimmy
  Rodgers, Gene Autry (Country Western),
  Western swing

• Western swing, e.g. Bob Wills his Texas
  Playboys

Remember Bill Haleys band was called The
Saddlemen before becoming The Comets.
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P Tagg (Oct 03) Why Rock n Roll?
Precursor 2 Jump bands

• Rhythm combos with boogie and big-band swing
  influences, e.g. Roy Milton his Solid
  Senders, Louis Jordan, Jimmy Liggins

• Bass (acoustic), drums, el. Guitar, piano, 1
  or 2 saxes

• Up-tempo numbers, usually swung (12/8 feel)
  over 12-bar blues matrix

• Very popular dance music (jive)

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P Tagg (Oct 03) Why Rock n Roll?
Precursor 3 Gospel doo-wop

• 2 basic types of traditional black gospel music
• Fast 2/4 8-bar periods emphatic backbeat
  hand claps and/or tambourine largely syllabic
• Slow 12/8 8-bar periods lead vocal often
  melismatic

Common stylistic traits

• Religious music with rapid antiphonal exchange
  lead singer answered by riff-like backing
  vocals
• Melodic lines often major-pentatonic chord
  shuttles I?IV, I?vi common V7 often replaced
  by V11 (the gospel chord)
• Lead singer may interject with falsetto whoops
  and yells, etc.

Doo-wop secular songs, mainly by unaccompanied
male-voice groups (e.g. Marcels, early Drifters)
drawing on barbershop and black gospel traditions
Early soul (e.g. James Brown 1956-1964, Ray
Charles Whatd I Say) secular music drawing
mainly on black gospel tradition and on New
Orleans RB
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P Tagg (Oct 03) Why Rock n Roll?
Precursor 4 New Orleans RB

• 2 basic types of New Orleans rhythm and blues
  (both usually 8-bar matrix, e.g.
  I-I-IV-IV-I-V-I-I/V)
• Fast 4/4 slight swing (more ¼ than iq )
  sometimes emphatic 2 and 4 from drummer Earl
  Palmer
• Slow 12/8 or swung 4/4 often constant iiq iiq,
  usually with 2nd line riff, e.g. q_ ¼ q
  ¼ (q . e q e. x)

Important New Orleans RB personalities

• Lloyd Price
• Dave Bartholomew
• Alain Toussaint

• Antoine Fats Domino
• Little Richard (Penniman)

Important record labels Imperial and Specialty
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P Tagg (Oct 03) Why Rock n Roll?
Precursor 4 Chicago RB

• El. guitar, male vocals, often harmonica, piano
  from 1959 also el. bass

• 12-bar blues matrix blue 3rds, 7ths
  sometimes also b5

• Origins in country blues from Mississippi Delta
  region (Yazoo river area south of Memphis)

• Almost always swung (12/8 feel ¼, not iq )

• Performed (1940s-60s) on Chicagos South Side

• Most influential record label Chess

• Important artists Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf,
  Big Bill Broonzy, Albert King, Chuck Berry
  also Arthur Crudup, Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie
  Dixon, Luther Allison, etc.

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P Tagg (Oct 03) Why Rock n Roll?
Precursor 4 Tin Pan Alley (contd)

• Carried on, trying to incorporate new styles
  into mainstream

• Record industry tried (as today) to fit radical
  change into its old familiar patterns, e.g. by
  covers of Race Records

• New songwriters emerge to provide the milksop
  which filled the gap when Elvis, Chuck Berry,
  Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard temporarily
  leave the scene before the Beatles emerge.

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Why Rock n Roll? Why 1955-1965? Precursors
Philip Tagg Histoire de la musique populaire
anglophone, Faculté de musique, Université de
Montréal, octobre 2003
END