Rock Music Essay, Research Paper

In this essay, I?m going to introduce to the reader a topic not

touched a lot because of its complexity and its avoidance by

conservative adults. This topic is, of course, Rock Music.

During one week, I looked for information in the library and

at my house, and from the information I gathered and my

one knowledge about the topic, I?m going to lead the reader

to a better understanding of Rock n? Roll. I chose to do

Rock music because I can identify myself with it. Rock

music is very complex. In fact "It?s stylistic scope is to broad

to be encompassed by any single definition" ("Rock Music",

Groliers, p.1). The nearest definition suggests a kind of

music that represents and speaks for the teenage society.

This music is characterized by using a heavy beat. In this

essay, I?m going to divide Rock music into four sections:

Rock of the 50´s, of the 60´s, of the 70´s and of the 80´s.

Within these sections I?m also going to discuss several

sub-topics such as famous composers and groups, and

characteristics of the music. The first section of this essay is

Rock n? Roll of the 1950?s, when Rock n? Roll was born. It

emerged from rhythm and blues, a music similar to jazz

played by blacks. This kind of music started to attract white

teenagers. Disc jockey Alan Freed was the one who

introduced this music and later gave it the name of Rock n?

Roll. Record companies distributed records played by

whites but composed by blacks. Whites were frustrated

because there weren?t any white artists and they didn?t want

the blacks to be the stars until Bill Haley appeared with his

"Rock Around the Clock". In this decade, Elvis Presley

introduced a music that was sexual suggestive and outraged

dull adults. In time he changed the style of the music by

adopting a country and western style and became a national

hero. By the end of this decade and the start of the next,

Rock n? Roll started to decline because it was formula

ridden and it was too sentimental. Teenage audiences

transferred their allegiance to Folk music. In 1963 the

renewal of Rock n? Roll came when The Beatles started to

play. The Beatles, for some the best rock group ever, were

from Liverpool, England. Through the 60?s, The Beatles

dominated the record industries and with their dominant

instrumentation, which included: electric leads, rhythm, and

bass guitar, drums and sometimes an electric organ, changed

the name of Rock n? Roll to just Rock. During the 1960?s

many other styles of music arose from Rock like, Motown,

Soul music, Jazz-rock , Folk-rock and others. Folk-Rock

the most appreciated of this derivations and was first

suggested by Bob Dylan. This kind of music brought to folk

music a hard beat and amplification; and to Rock, a new

poetic style. California was one of the major centers of rock

activity and experimentation during the decade. First it was

characterize for its surfing music, a very joyful music that

reflected the fun people had while surfing. The Beach Boys

were the ones who introduced this kind of music. At the end

of the century this happy kind of music changed to a more

rebellious style that was designated the name of "hippie

music". Groups that played this music were Country Joe and

The Mamas and The Papas. Along with this hippie ideas

popularity of hallucinogenic drugs produced a psychedelic

style of music called Acid Rock. By the end of the 60´s the

distinctions between Rock n´ Roll and Rock were evident.

The early instruments- saxophone, piano, amplified guitar,

and drums- had been changed to electric guitar and bass,

amplified drums and other electronic devices. Not only did

the instruments change but so did the ideas behind the music.

For example, "to the lyrics of teenage love and adolescent

concerns were added social commentary, glorification of

drugs and free-association poetry"("Rock Music", Groliers,

p.1). Groups like The Beach Boys, Crew Cuts and The

Everly Brothers were replaced by more imaginative,

non-descriptive names groups like The Who, Jefferson

Airplane, Big Brother and Holding Company. The Who, the

most famous of these groups, were originally from England

and were reknowned because of their bizarre stage

performances, they would destroy their instruments after

their performance finished. The Who was one of the first

rock groups. In the 70´s, the common barriers of rock

broke into more divisions, like hard rock and mellow rock.

Hard Rock was extremely loud and electronically amplified

and Mellow Rock was softer and with acoustic instruments.

In 1972, in Jamaica, a new style of music was created called

Reggae. Reggae is a mixture of rock, soul, calypso and Latin

music. The king of Reggae was Bob Marley. Other styles

more in rocks borders, since Reggae was more latin than

rock, were created in the middle of this century, like: bubble

gum rock, a funny playful music directed to the youngest

fans, Punk Rock, "a loud, hard rock style derived from acid

rock and marked by its extremes of costume and staging"

("Rock Music", Encarta, p.1), and Heavy Metal, which

continued the approach to Acid Rock but with a simpler

musical dimension but relying upon the power of

repetitiveness, loud volume, and electronic distortion. One

famous group of Heavy Metal was Led Zeppelin, a British

group that was formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page (lead guitar),

Robert Plant (lead singer), John Paul Jones (pianist and

bassist) and John Bonham (drummer). Most music of this

decade was intended to be listened to, but not to be danced.

But this intention wasn?t kept by Disco music that arose in

1977 and was especially for dancing. One great group of

Disco music were the Bee Gees. Disco music was described

by rock fans as mechanical, commercial and unlyrical (which

is true). At the end of this decade, rock, again became a

dominant cultural force. The last but not least section of this

essay is rock of the 80?s. At the start of this last decade,

rock groups became more production oriented, mainly

because of the sudden explosion of videos. This new

sensation was a good way to sell music to the people. Heavy

metal bands were greatly pushed by videos, but most helped

were the popular performers like Michael Jackson, Prince

and Boy George. The influence of British bands of punk,

disco, reggae and pop-rock was still big in the U.S. Rock

scene. At the same time, there of nostalgia to return to the

older pre rock music, like rhythm and blues, which was

suggested by played by Elvis Costello. By the middle of the

80?s, almost every country had begun to support indigenous

music, and at the end of this "a vigorous talk-song style

called rap became extremely popular among urban black

teenagers" ("Rock Music", Encarta, p.1.). Rock music taught

me to appreciate things in a different way. I?ve learned this

since rock is not an exact science, it can change. In fact

Rock music helps me relax ( I would have been able to finish

writing this essay with rock music). After writing this essay I

have learned the origins of rock and the branches of it, but

that wasn?t my intention. I wrote this essay to express myself

with it because I feel I can show myself with rock music. I

think rock has become social phenomenal.