Most of the music we listen to and enjoy today has been influenced by rock music. But while rock music, or Rock’n’roll, may be seem familiar, or even old fashion (hence the word “classic” often applied to older types of rock music), in the 1950s this music was highly innovative, edgy, and controversial.
But where did this new style of music come from? Since I’m teaching a course on latter American history at the local community college, and prepping this week for our unit on the 20th century, I decided to explore this question.
First some background to the question itself, and why I’ve often been wondered where rock music came from. On the surface, it’s hard to see a direct link between the popular styles of the 1940s (covering the Big Band sound like this, to wildly popular crooners like Frank Sentara with songs like this, to popular country music like this, to jazz music spanning everything from this to this), to the early rock songs of the 1950s. Here are some examples of earlier rock hits, which seem to have no pedigree in the aforementioned the styles of the 1940s.
Bill Haley & His Comets performing the 1954 hit, “Rock Around the Clock”:
Little Richard, “Tutti Frutti” (1956):
Bill Holly and the Crickets performing “That’ll Be The Day” in 1957:
Elvis Presley, “Jailhouse Rock,” from the 1957 movie:
Bobby Darin, “Splish Splash,” 1958 hit:
But rock music did not arise in a vacuum. It was influenced by jazz, Big Band, blues (especially rhythm and blues), country music, and many other styles. If you listen to a selection of the songs often considered the first rock hits, you’ll hear echoes of these earlier styles, but you’ll also discern sounds that what would later develop into the type of rock ‘n roll represented in the above selections. Listen to some of the following hits that bridge the earlier styles with what would later flower into what we associate with rock music.
- Sister Rosetta Tharpe – Strange Things Happening Every Day (1944)
- “That’s All Right” by Arthur Crudup (1946)
- Rocket 88″ by Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats (1951)
- “The House of Blue Lights” by Ella Mae Morse and Freddie Slack (1946)
- Wynonie Harris “Good Rocking Tonight” (1948)
- Goree Carter’s “Rock Awhile” (1949)
- Jimmy Preston’s “Rock the Joint” (1949)
- Early Rock ‘n’ Roll / Rhythm & Blues songs
As we move from the 50s into the 60s, rock music would develop still further as musicians from Britain got involved. I’ll leave you with a selection of some popular 60s hits (from both sides of the Atlantic) so you can hear how musical styles continued to evolve in exciting ways, continuing to incorporate older styles (for example, folk music).