I used to be heavily into the formative bands in rock music. Bill Haley, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, etc. (Not to mention the Rhythm and Blues music that started the the whole thing rocking and rolling in the first place.) I want to make this diary to chronicle the important musical acts that were active from 1950 to 1965, which is what I consider to be the first era of Rock music. Instead of reviewing entire albums, I will mostly be looking at individual songs and artists that are essential to the creation of the dominant 20th century genre. It won't all be "rock" gospel and blues and other roots genres will be talked about as well. Some of this will be old hat, but I am going to try and find some stuff that's not talked about quite as much. I will be going by year and collecting the pieces of music that I think are worth listening to. While this is mostly a journal for me, and this is a good place to put down my thoughts, feel free to give me some tips if you think I have missed something important.
I'm actually going to start in the 40s to try and find some even earlier stuff first. (Big Mama Thornton, Louis Jordan, etc.)
Last edited by Tha1ChiefRocka on 12/24/2018 01:49; edited 1 time in total
First order of business is to lay the groundwork and music theory for what is considered to be rock music, which evolved from the twelve bar blues form.
Here is an easy to understand lesson from PBS about the 12 bar blues form.
This would inform the verse chorus verse structure and 4/4 unsyncopated rhythm of rock music.
Less influential than the blues chord progression was the Doo Wop chord progression, sometimes referred to as the 50s chord progression, which, instead of being based on the I, IV, V chords, goes I - vi - IV - V.
Examples of these will be put into the next two posts.
Partly based on my own bias, and legitimate musical scholarship, I have to put in a Kansas City musician first. Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson, both from KCMO, came out with this Boogie Woogie song that introduced shouted vocals, up tempo rhythm, and a backbeat to a wider audience.
Although it took almost over a decade, I think this is the next clear musical progression for Roll em' Pete. Faster, louder, and with new instruments added to the mix, Little Richard cemented the style in the American canon of music.
So, although I tried to seem intelligent, by introducing music theory, I have to admit that I'm not sure if this Doo-Wop song follows that chord progression I just introduced. Anyways, this is another song that some consider to be a precursor and one of the first "rock" recordings. This is definitely more on the softer side.
OK, so I know this one is a great example of the Doo-Wop chord progression with a little help of my friend Wiki Pedia. The rock elements are now present, and the structure has been refined further.
Now that I've got the structures out of the way, and what led to rock music, I'm ready to dive in and start rating tracks. Everything I have mentioned so far would be considered essential listening and are important to the fabric of American Rock music.
Sounds a little similar to my man Charles Berry. Put this feather into your cap if you ever get into a discussion about the origins of rock music, because here it is.
Well, here is the playlist for roots music. I even added in a couple of "Country & Western" songs for some added flavor. Usually I'd love to talk about the delta blues and its influence on Rock music, but I think I've done enough of that. I need to talk about some other songs.
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