I have displayed my contempt for both USA and religion often , but to give its due without that evil empire we would not have modern rock music. Slavery brought the blues to USA and colonisation brought religion aka the gospel and out of that Rock n Roll was born and from that Rock music.
While rock and roll had been linked together by Trixie Smith as early as 1922 in her song "My Man Rocks Me (with One Steady Roll)".
In 1940s and early 1950s 4 big record company's controlled music ; RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Capital Records , Decca Records that contributed to its blandness and people thirsted for different music. Part of the story of rock is the new independent record labels, like Atlantic Records , King Records, Chess Records , Sun Records.
Blues song by black people gave us jazz and rhythm and Blues (RnB)
Beginning in 1942 Billboard published a chart of bestselling African-American music, first as the Harlem Hit Parade, then as Race Records. Then in 1949, Billboard began publishing a Rhythm and Blues chart, which entered "R&B" into mainstream lexicon.
The immediate roots of rock and roll lay in the RnB, then called "race music", in combination with either boogie-woogie and shouting gospel or with country music of the 1940s and 1950s, along with some jazz . With likes of Muddy Waters in the 1940s, beginning with Aristocrat Records 1947 (later Chess records in 1950) and Big Joe Turner who signed with National Records in 1945 moving to Atlantic Records in 1951. Ray Charles first recording 1949 but signing with Atlantic records 1952 and first hit "I Got a woman" 1954. John Lee Hooker with Boogie Chillen" in 1949 (Modern Records). Fats Dominos New Orleans RnB style.(signed with Imperial Records 1949).
Alan Freed a disc jockey in Cleveland noticed white teenagers buying RnB albums and introduced 'Moondog's Rock'n'Roll Party' in June 1951 . He had re-christened rhythm and blues to avoid the racial stigma he thought inherent in the classification, and the new phrase 'rock'n'roll', long-used as a sexual metaphor, now described the music he played.
Ike Turners and Kings of Rhythm song with Rocket 88.(sung by Jackie Brenston -Chess records Mar1951 ) is often credited as first rock n roll Little Richard signed with RC Victors first single Oct 1951. Slightly later was Chuck Berry with Maybellene (Chess Records 1955). Bo diddley with Bo Diddley 1955 who was originally a session musician with Sun Records.
But while blacks were singing in early styles of rock n roll first, racism and black codes creating segregation in white USA lead by Victoria era christian conservatives called it the devils music and kept it separate from white audiences. It took whites like Bill Haley and the Comets (singing rock a billy) , Pat Boone and much more famously Elvis Presley (Sun Records) copying their songs and style to reach the bigger white audiences.
Both first recording singles in 1953 but Elvis not releasing a single publicly until 1954.with a copy of Arthur Crudups That s alright Mama . Bill Haley's and the Comets initially formed as Bill Haley and the Saddlemen sung country and western untill copying and performing Rocket 88 , Crazy Man Crazy , Shake Rattle and Roll in rockabilly with his big break was Rock around the Clock (Decca Records 1954) not a hit until 1955 when the movie Blackboard Jungle " was shown . Pat Boone in 1955 with "Two Hearts Two Kisses" getting known with recording copys of “Tutti Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally” (
Until Bill Haley and Elvis , white singers were wholesome, stoic and boring on stage not moving. Elvis became bigger and was more important than the others which s ironic as he could not read and write music and never wrote any of his own songs. Yet those black pioneers like Fats Domino, Little Richard or Arthur Crudup never received any royalties.
Sun Records also famous for recording BB king (1950) , Howling Wolf (1951), Carl Perkins (1954) and Johnny Cash (1955), Jerry Lee Lewis (1956) . Roy Orbison (1956)
Followed by others including Buddy Holly with his first single in 1956. Buddy Holly while from Texas ended up opening for them often in Nashville. Eddie Cochran whose first single was 1956 was friends of Buddy Holly thou operating from LA toured in Britain in 1960 until his death.
Elvis's 2 years in army in Germany from 1958 is accredited to their conservative hate of his gyrations on stage
Not only did the new music begin the end of segregation but although Jerry Lee Lewis copied early black piano styles with his first single in 1956 the new rock n roll had became guitar driven . It also began the era of teens wanting different music than their parents to differentiate themselves .
Compared to authoritarian systems of government which restrict access to the means of communication, the airwaves of the USA are relatively free from direct government censorship. As a result of this difference, the term pirate radio has a different interpretation than in countries where access to communication is limited.
In the United States, pirate radio is frequently, but not always, associated with anarchism, which considers governmental spectrum regulatory schemes as favoring the interests of large corporations, due to reasons such as high licensing costs. Therefore, some anarchists consider pirate radio transmissions to be a challenge to that authority.
The music and musicians were part of the leading culture rebelling against society in the flower power era at the time against Vietnam War, racism, dress and conservative parents especially in USA. Musicians also made the news with drugs .While parents in Britain were more accepting seeing their kids as going through a phase USA was different being more christian conservative deeming this as an assault on this notion of what the nation of what american means. To which Conservatives as their nature to fight everything that progresses society fought this . With President Nixons answer was to began the America's Long War on Drugs, on 17 June 1971, when President Richard Nixon declared to the Washington press corps that America had a new enemy—narcotics. Undoubtedly in part to stifle the hippy cultural revolution. This soon mutated around the world as a war on the people through drugs.
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