Rock & Roll

Rock & roll is a style of music developed in the US and popularized in the 1950s by artists such as Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bill Haley and His Comets, and Elvis Presley. When television rose in popularity in the 1940s and 1950s, regional radio stations began broadcasting music directed at more niche audiences, including Rhythm & Blues records (the most influential of which was Alan Freed's broadcasts for WJW Cleveland). As this style was becoming more accessible, the invention of the transistor made radios portable, allowing people to tune in anywhere from their car to the privacy of their bedroom. These factors allowed the developing post-WWII youth culture to listen to and identify with the music of artists such as B.B. King and Ruth Brown. These youths would provide the mass market and a number of key musicians for rock & roll. Featuring prominent use of 12-bar blues and simple phrase structures, rock & roll incorporates elements of Traditional Pop, Traditional Country, Gospel, and rhythm & blues. The music has a strong sense of rhythm with heavy accented offbeats (as popularized by Earl Palmer on "The Fat Man") and relies on electrically amplified instrumentation. When all these elements are combined, the energetic performances of rhythm & blues meet the Pop sensibility of Doo-Wop and Tin Pan Alley songwriting to produce catchy, danceable tunes. An important stylistic distinction worth making is that of Rockabilly in the development of rock & roll. Rockabilly tends to feature more acoustic instrumentation and lighter drum sections, occasionally removing drums completely. Vocals are also influenced more by the Country Yodeling of Jimmie Rodgers. This contrasts with the New Orleans R&B heavy music of artists such as Lloyd Price and Fats Domino, whose respective hits "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" and "Ain't That a Shame" instead follow the Jump Blues of Louis Jordan and Piano Blues of Bessie Smith to create piano driven rock & roll that relies heavily on drums and soloing.