The History of Rock - The 50's

The date most commonly accepted as the creation of rock and roll is the release of the song ("We're Gonna") Rock Around The Clock "by Bill Haley and The Comets, on April 12th 1954, although dozens of previous recordings already presented one or another characteristic of what would come to be known as rock and roll.

Bill Halley - "We're gonna rock around the clock"🎵

Bill Haley

The dream of finding a white capable of singing like a black had been made by record producer Sam Phillips, from a small record company called Sun Records.

At the beginning of his career with the single "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky", then followed by "Good Rockin 'Tonight" and "I Do not Care If The Sun Don't Shine", few could believe that the Elvis Presley who was listening on the radio was a young white man. Obviously it seemed healthier to conservative and racist society accept that kind of music from a young handsome man.

Elvis Presley

Although it was created a year before, rock and roll would only come to explode definitively in 1955, largely influenced by the inclusion of "Rock Around The Clock" as opening music for the movie "Blackboard Jungle" (Seeds of Violence) about tumultuous relationships between students and teachers (an analogy to something much broader, the relationship between the establishment and the desire for change).

                                                      

Obviously the new type of music quickly became associated with the degeneration of youth, which made their fascination even greater, in an irresistible vicious cycle. And when everyone thought that nothing worse could influence American youth on such a large scale, there appears a black man, Chuck Berry, who climbs the charts with a version for the country hit "Ida Red".

Chuck Berry

Although he never got the title that could have recognized him as king of rock (usurped by white Elvis) his importance was never discussed.

Then a second black singer, Little Richard, would appear in the lists, although he was a little effeminate, with an exotic hairstyle and would sing what would become forever the best known song of rock and roll "Tutti Frutti".

Little Richard

In 1956, Elvis Presley consolidated his success with new songs such as "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Blue Suede Shoes". As a pianist, the singer who would try to match the success of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, would appear in a short time.

Jerry Lee Lewis

With a slightly different sound, more marked by the black music of origin, mainly gospel, began to appear the talent of James Brown with the almost soul "Please Please Please".

James Brown

In the meantime, the entrepreneur Tom Parker took advantage of Elvis' talent also in the cinema in the movie "The Reno Brothers", later renamed "Love Me Tender" by virtue of the great success of the song. Meanwhile, in England and with some delay, the film Blackboard Jungle took rock and roll to the United Kingdom.

With the mandatory enlistment of Elvis Presley in the armed forces in 1957, the end of rock and roll was announced for the first time. After all, what would be in this rhythm that could make it more durable than so many others like the cha-cha-cha, the rumba or the mambo?

With the entry of Elvis into the armed forces, Jerry Lee Lewis was the natural candidate for his position, rebellious, charismatic and white. "Great Balls Of Fire" quickly became the success of the year 1958.

In the case of Chuck Berry, he released two of the greatest rock classics of all time, "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Johnny B.Goode". The cute and romantic rock in turn reacts with "All I Have To Do" by the Everly Brothers and James Brown launches his first big hit, "Try Me".

The Everly Brothers

* Also you might be interested: The History of Rock - The Beginnings 

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The History of Rock - The Beginnings

The Beginnings of Rock

The war economy and the development of industry had brought more people from the countryside to the city, forcing the relationship between whites and blacks and social and racial tension, but also favoring the mutual influence between black music (blues) and white music (mainly country and jazz).

Rhythm and blues emerged from the fusion of the original blues with the more danceable rhythms of whites, which brought black music to the knowledge of the consumer population.

In the early 1950s, with the end of World War II and the Korean War, the United States emerged as a great world power. More than at any other time in history, the enjoyment of life was encouraged, a way that society had to overcome the years of suffering of war. The population in general and even minorities for the first time had money to spend on superfluous items such as music.

With the announcement of the explosion of atomic bombs by the Soviet Union and a possible "end of the world" at any moment, the general order was to take advantage of each moment as if it were the last.

In full capitalist economic growth consumption was considered a prime factor for the generation of jobs and foreign exchange, as well as the best antidote against communism, and the search for new consumer markets was incessant.

Obviously the youngest part of the population quickly became more easily influential and for the first time the adolescent public was given the right to have products destined for their exclusive consumption, also as a power of choice. Strangely, the white youths largely refused to consume the music normally consumed by the white majority and began to look for something different in the music of the ghettos.

With the large record industry not ready to supply the consuming public with this type of music, small labels of black music have gained importance. The acceptance of this type of music by the public of greater purchasing power led the incipient record industry of the time to invest in the evolution of style and the search and hiring of new talents, mainly in the search for a young white man who could tame that style allying to him an image that could be sold more easily.

Re-releases of songs by blacks re-recorded by white artists became common, which ended up taking the true creators of the style from the top of the charts.

Another great revolution of manners was in progress. Sex was no longer taboo and was considered fun (both for men and women). The songs of love by pressure of the buying public happened to give rise to more vulgar letters, although many times it was necessary to create attenuated versions of more direct verses. The explosive mix of thrilling black music with teenage white consumerism had been created ... the explosion was a matter of time.

But who would have been the man who deserved to be crowned as responsible for the "creation" of rock and roll? Obviously such a complex musical style could not have its invention indisputably attributed to a single individual or group of individuals. But if someone deserved to have his name associated with the "creation" of rock as we know it, this would not be Elvis or Bill Haley or Chuck Berry or any other leading singer or band. The "inventor" of the term rock and roll and responsible for the dissemination of the style was the disk jokey Alan Freed, promoter of rhythm and blues programs in Cleveland, Ohio, who first captured and invested in the lack of the young consumer for a new type of music more energetic and first perceived the commercial potential of black music.

The term rock and roll was a slang for black Americans, referring to the sexual act, present even in many blues lyrics. Allan Freed was responsible for using the sound name to name the new musical style in which he was investing.

While young people adopt the new rhythm as their trademark, adults mainly from the most conservative sectors of society, blamed it as a cause of all juvenile delinquency... despite the exaggeration of the protests, they were not so wrong, the taste for rock was really part of the youth gang style.

Alan Freed on Spotify