A History of Rock and Roll, Part I

This month we explore the roots and evolution of rock music, beginning with its inception in America. Rock music has a deep history, which is full of facts that you perhaps have never known before. We begin with the pre-history of rock and roll and how it came about.

Rock and roll was a musical evolution that began as early as the 1900’s. From the development of blues by African-American slaves, to later jazz, rock would embrace these forms in a more primal way. True rock and roll was derived from taking the “swing” feeling found in most blues and jazz, and straightening it out into even 8th notes. This sound was easily captured by many of the first rock and roll artists in the 50s, such as Little Richard and Buddy Holly:

While rock and roll’s true inception began with African-Americans, it was the borrowing of their style by artists such as Elvis Presley that skyrocketed rock and roll to the forefront of popular American music:

You can notice, especially between the Little Richard and Elvis tracks, the similar sounding bass line. Also noteworthy, the term “rock and roll” was coined by a radio DJ who simply thought the words sounded cool!

Rock and roll was also facilitated by the design of the electric guitar and the amplifier. With these two devices, music could be played louder than ever! This gave rock and roll an inherent “edge” in the music world. This edge, in both attitude and music, would later be pushed to what some might say was it’s pinnacle in the ‘60s, but arguably all the way up to now. Stay tuned for next week’s installation where we explore rock music of the ‘60s and ‘70s!