How Secular Music Derived from Southern Rhythm and Blues

How Secular Music Derived from Southern Rhythm and Blues is a blog post discussing the origins of popular music.

The Birth of Rock and Roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, from African American musical styles such as gospel, jump blues, jazz, and boogie woogie. While typical rock and roll instrumentation includes drums, bass, guitar, and vocals, its roots lie in the rhythm and blues of the 1940s and 1950s. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing this music style while popularizing the phrase “rock and roll”

The blues

The blues is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The style developed from and was influenced by African-American folk music, spirituals, and work songs. The term “blues” refers to both the musical form and the resulting genre. Characteristics of the blues include call-and-response patterns, blue notes, and use of functional harmony that evoke an Afro-American sense of community, religious values, and personal struggle.

Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues, commonly abbreviated as R&B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when “urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat” was becoming more popular. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands usually consisted of piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, one or more saxophones, and sometimes background vocalists. R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American experience of pain and triumph, as well as joy.

The origins of rhythm and blues date back to the early 1940s when record labels such as Decca Records and Savoy Records began releasing “race music” on 78 rpm records. These low-fidelity recordings were made by African-American musicians playing blues and boogie-woogie on inexpensive instruments such as harmonicas and string basses. The popularity of these recordings led to the formation of small “juke joints”—barrooms that featured jukeboxes loaded with rhythm and blues records—throughout black neighborhoods in cities such as Chicago, Detroit, and New Orleans.

As rhythm and blues became more popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s, it began to be influenced by other genres of music such as gospel, country & western (later known as country), and pop. This can be heard in the work of artists such as Fats Domino—a New Orleans-based pianist who blended rhythm & blues with elements of Cajun music—and Hank Williams—a country singer who incorporated R&B rhythms into his songs. By the mid-1950s, artists such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard had begun to fuse rhythm & blues with rock & roll to create a new genre of music that would come to be known as rock & roll.

Gospel

Gospel music is a genre of Christian music. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is composed and performed for many purposes, including aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, and as an entertainment product for the marketplace.

Gospel music usually has a dominant vocalist and includes a highly complex musical accompaniment. It is distinguished from other forms of religious music by its use of Christian lyrics, melodies, and harmonies. Gospel music has been a part of the African-American experience since the 18th century when it was first introduced by slaves who blended elements of West African musical traditions with the hymns of the Protestant church.

The earliest gospel songs were composed by individuals who adapted popular secular tunes to fit their own personal spiritual beliefs. As the popularity of gospel music grew, professional songwriters began to compose original material for this market. These early gospel songs were typically simple ballads or work songs with recognizable melodies and easily remembered lyrics.

Over time, as the genre developed and evolved, gospel music came to be characterized by a number of distinct elements, including call-and-response patterns, triumphant declarations, fervent testimony, energetic dance tunes, and social commentary. Today’s gospel music still retains many of these same elements while also incorporating contemporary sounds and styles that appeal to modern audiences.

The Spread of Rock and Roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that emerged in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It is a combination of genres including rhythm and blues, country, and gospel. The term “rock and roll” was originally used to describe the music of African American origin.

The south

The south is where rock and roll originated. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, African American musicians in the south were playing a style of music called rhythm and blues. This music combined elements of blues, jazz, and gospel, and was played on electric guitars, pianos, and horns. It was popular with African American audiences, but was not widely heard outside of the south.

In the mid-1950s, a new style of music began to emerge from rhythm and blues. This new style, which came to be known as rock and roll, was characterized by a heavy beat, simple melodies, and often sexually suggestive lyrics. It was played on electric guitars and drums, and sometimes included saxophones or other horns. Rock and roll was initially most popular with young white audiences in the south.

As rock and roll became more popular, it began to spread to other parts of the country. By the early 1960s, it had become a national phenomenon. Many of the most popular rock and roll musicians were from the south, including Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Otis Redding, and Aretha Franklin. These artists helped make rock and roll one of the most influential genres of music in history.

The north

In the early 1950s, a new kind of music was sweeping across America. It was called rock and roll, and it was a fusion of black rhythm and blues with white country music. The sound was electric, the words were suggestive, and the beat was irresistible. Young people everywhere were dancing to this new music, and it soon became a mass phenomenon.

Thespreadofrockandrollwasspectacular.On March 21, 1952, a song called “Rocket 88” by Ike Turner and His Kings of Rhythm became the first rock and roll record to reach the top of the Billboard chart. In the months that followed, more and more rock and roll records began appearing on the charts. By 1955, they were dominating the Top 40.

TheSpreadofrockandrollwass propelled by a number of factors. One was the increasing popularity of radio and television in the 1950s. This allowed people to hear this new music in their homes and see it performed on programs like American Bandstand. Another factor was the rise of independent record labels such as Sun Records, which helped to promote and distribute this new music to a wider audience. Finally, there was simply the appeal of the music itself. Rock and roll was young, wild, and exciting, and it spoke to the hopes and dreams of a generation of teenagers who were coming of age in a rapidly changing world.

The northwasn’t immune to rock’s charms either with cities like Clevelandand Detroitbecoming important nodes in rock’s journey from southern obscurity to national prominence

The west

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, rock and roll music began to spread from its roots in the United States to other countries around the world. One of the first countries to embrace rock and roll was the United Kingdom. In the 1950s, British musicians such as Bill Haley and His Comets, Cliff Richard, and Elvis Presley became popular with young people in the UK.

The popularity of rock and roll in the UK led to a British Invasion of the United States in the 1960s, when British bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Who became popular in America. The influence of rock and roll also spread to other parts of Europe, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe. In the 1970s and 1980s, rock music became popular in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and other countries.

The Evolution of Rock and Roll

It is widely believed that rock and roll was born from a combination of rhythm and blues and country music. While this is partially true, the origins of rock and roll are actually much more complicated. In reality, rock and roll is a product of the evolution of many different genres of music. In this article, we’ll trace the origins of rock and roll from its roots in southern rhythm and blues up to the present day.

The British Invasion

The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Kinks were part of a British Invasion of American popular music in the early 1960s. This was a period when many American bands were influenced by British bands. American rock and roll had been developing since the late 1940s, but it now took on new forms. For example, The Beatles combined elements of pop, blues, and country music to create their own style of rock and roll. As a result, the sound of rock and roll changed dramatically in the 1960s.

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. With members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they became widely regarded as the foremost and most influential music band of all time. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock and roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways that led to unprecedented popularity. They often incorporated classical elements, tradition pop influences, pioneering recording techniques, and unconventional instrumentation in innovative ways that influenced subsequent rock music.

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band that formed in London, England, in 1962. The first stable lineup consisted of Brian Jones (lead guitar, harmonica), Mick Jagger (lead vocals, harmonica), Keith Richards (rhythm guitar, vocals), Bill Wyman (bass guitar), Charlie Watts (drums), and Ian Stewart (piano). Stewart was removed from the official lineup in 1963 but continued to work with the band as a contracted musician until his death in 1985. The band’s primary songwriters, Jagger and Richards, assumed leadership after Andrew Loog Oldham became the group’s manager. Jones left the band less than a month before his death in 1969, having already been replaced by Mick Taylor. After Taylor left the band in 1974, Ronnie Wood took his place in 1975 and continues on guitar in tandem with Richards. Since Wyman’s departure in 1993, Darryl Jones has served as the Rolling Stones’ bassist.

The Rolling Stones were at the forefront of the British Invasion of bands that became popular in the United States in 1964 and featured on numerous periodicals such as Time and Newsweek. Legislators concerned with juvenile delinquency criticized their music while others lauded it for reflecting social unrest of youth during America’s long economic decline following World War II that continued through much of the 1960s. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. They have released 25 studio albums through 2017. Their estimated record sales are 250 million units worldwide.[8][9][10] Hot Rocks 1964–1971 (1971) became one of only two albums to be certified 12× platinum by Recording Industry Association of America.[11] Sticky Fingers (1971) was ranked number 16 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.

In 1989 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,[3] having been ranked number 4 among 100 greatest artists by Rolling Stone magazine two years earlier.[12] In 2004 they were ranked number 22 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.[13] In 2008 they performed at Barack Obama’s first inauguration.[14][15] The Stones have not toured since 2007 due to Richards’ then-unspecified health issues;[16][17][18] he officially retired from touring soon afterwards.[19][20]The Stones have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide,[10][21] making them one of history’s most commercially successful bands ever![22][23]