The Birth Of Rock â n Roll

By Jim Nettleton

It was the early 1950s. American music hadnâ t changed significantly in lousy with years. The big band period had away the means of the dinosaur and the euphonious vacuum was expanding everyday. There were no artists for young dudes to identify with - no distinctive sound they could claim as their own. The time was ripe for something spectacular to happen - and in those early 1950s, it did.

The heavenly body of rock â n roll burst on the scene with incomparable flamboyance. The birth of any bull historical trend is difficult to pin down, and rock â n roll is no exception. The early years are as full of claims and counter-claims and as brimming with controversy as the jazz itself has been over the years.

Valuation Haley had said that he and his category were the originators of rock 'n roll. Little Richard made a consubstantial claim. Bo Diddley had said that he was at the beginning, and everything grew up on all sides of him. And, of course, there's Fats Domino, who was playing rock 'n roll as far back as the 1940s, although it wasn't called that then.

The generation that grew up in the mid fifties gives credit to Elvis - and subsequent generations think the style began with four childish men from Liverpool.

Each of these artists and many enhanced were exceeding contributors in the genesis of rock. And Elvis in particular was the symbol all over which it false its greatest rally. But it was Bill Haley who brought rock from its rhythm and blues origins into the highlight in 1954 with the smash hit from the movie Blackboard Jungle, Rock Environing the Clock.

Rock â n roll - even the name itself has created more than its share of controversy. Itâ s been said to hog come from cd jockeys, dances, old blues songs and a dozen other sources. In an interview I had with him many years ago, Bill Haley situate in his claim.

â I wrote a song for the Esquire Boys and it was recorded by them - this was before we hit - and besides by the Treniers, and later recorded it myself, Rock a Beatinâ Boogie. The word rock had been used many, multifarious times in countless songs. So I just sat down one midnight and wrote a tune that went, 'Rock, rock, rock everybody...' and I couldn't envisage of another word, so I just wrote, 'Roll, roll, roll everybody...' and that is where the nickname came from."

Early rock â n roll was a marriage of several musical elements. The two most prominent of these were society and rhythm and blues. Expenditure Haley brought these building blocks stable and struck outside in virgin directions. He had been doing country since he was 7 years old, but always loved rhythm and blues music. He spent some time traveling with a medicine grandstand play that passed Advanced Orleans. It was there that he learned some of the early rhythm and blues songs. Bill Haley honestly pointed absent that he didn't invent the music, the music had been played for innumerable years, in the form of boogie-woogie and what was called competition rhythm in the pre rock â n roll days.

Haley also pointed out that rock 'n roll is a combination of sovereign state and rhythm and blues music. He went on to remark that he was the first state singer to dare, shall we say, to sing rhythm and blues songs, it just wasn't accepted at the time. He took a country band, added a saxophone and sang songs enjoy We're Gonna Rock This Seam Tonight, and everybody said, hey, what is it? They wouldn't play it on the radio yet, on the contrary the kids loved it, the juke boxes loved it, and from that came rock 'n roll music.

Copyright 2008 Jim Nettleton

About the Author
Jim Nettleton is a radio and television professional whose occupation has spanned most of the rock era. He recommends MP3 Rocket as the boon source of music on the snare - http://tinyurl.com/6qmz2x. Impress the complete story of rock at his blog at http://buyoldies.blogspot.com/ This article may be freely reprinted and republished as high as it is not changed in any way. This resource box must also be included in its entirety.

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