the history of rock ‘n’ roll the sound of america
TRANSCRIPT
The History of Rock ‘n’
RollThe Sound of America
How would you
describe Rock ‘n’
Roll?
Where did Rock ‘n’ Roll originate?
???????
Where did Rock ‘n’ Roll originate?
Where did Rock ‘n’ Roll originate?
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Motown, USA
Why is Detroit called Motown?
Motown is also known as Motor City.
Detroit is referred to as Motor City because it has been the center of America’s motor vehicle production since Ford opened the Ford Motor Company in 1903.
Detroit, before R ‘n’ R
In the 1950s, people from the south were moving to Detroit in hopes of landing a job in the automobile industry.
Many people congregated to the East Side of Detroit, which ended up creating a “rough and tumble” neighborhood.
In this neighborhood, the beat of the blues could be heard in the streets.
Artists like John Lee Hooker were popular.
“The Sound of Young America”
Motown’s motto: “The Sound of Young America.”
Motown’s blend of gritty urban blues mixed with pop and soul music made the sound appeal to both black and white young adults listeners.
Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy was the founder of “Motown Records”
Gordy almost single handedly helped create and promote the “Motown Sound.”
The “Motown Sound” involved the upbeat catchiness of pop music, the soulfulness of rhythm and blues, and the intensity of gospel music.
Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson founded The Miracles, a singing group, while still in high school.
Smokey Robinson and The Miracles were the first singing group that Berry Gordy signed.
Robinson encouraged Berry Gordy to start the Motown Record company
Smokey Robinson
Smokey eventually became the Vice President of Motown Records.
Smokey wrote songs for The Miracles, but also for The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and others.
Smokey eventually went solo and was very successful.
The Temptations
The Supremes
The Four Tops
Martha and the Vandellas
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Stevie Wonder (and Grover)
Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Jackson 5
Jackson 5
Why Motown was so successful?
Berry Gordy was a master at finding talented performers, composers, arrangers, and producers.
Motown has the best of everything (stylistically).
It’s stars promoted an image of upright, clean, and wholesome fun.
Find out more about MotownYour assignment is to use your laptops and the web to find 10 informative facts about any Motown artist. It should be new information and interesting. NO WIKIPEDIA ALLOWED!! Send it to me over first class when you are done
Motown Artists
The Four Tops
Marvin Gaye
Berry Gordy
Jackson 5
Martha and the Vandellas
Smokey Robinson
The Supremes
The Temptations
Stevie Wonder
Where did Rock ‘n’ Roll originate?
Los Angeles, California
Los AngelesCalifornia
Los Angeles before RnR
In the 1950s LA was competing with Detroit for the highest number of automobile manufacturers.
Factories were popping up everywhere. People were traveling to LA for jobs in sewing factories, furniture factories, in radio broadcasting stations, and in motion pictures.
Rail car systems were being shut down and replaced with bus systems, which contributed to the massive amount of pollution that LA is famous for having.
Southern California
had developed a “surf sound.”
What do you think the “surf sound” sounded like?In music, how might composers and artists convey this
“surf sound?”
What group of people do you think this sound appealed to most?
White American Teens
The Beach Boys
Overdubbing
Layering the tracks during the recording process.
Record one track, then play it back and add another track on top of it, etc.
This was a very common way for recording for the Beach Boys and other bands.
The Beach Boys
How did this differ from the sound of Motown?
Motown:
LA Sound:
Why do you think this sound didn’t appeal to older
generations, or to black teens as well?
California’s folk music sceneIn the 1960s, LA had a growing interest in folk music. People would gather at coffee shops and hootenannies to listen and play folk music.
What in the world is a hootenanny?
A hootenanny is similar to what we might call an “open mic night” in which anyone could come and perform for 5-10 minutes a piece.
Hootenannies were very popular in the 60s, especially among college students.
Folk Music
Folk music has been heard for many years in the US and in other countries.
In folk music, the most important part of the music is the story the music tells.
During the 1960s, people wrote folk music about the Vietnam War, the opposition to the government and the Civil Rights Movement.
If you wrote a folk song today, what might you write about?
Folk Music
Folk music is most often passed down by rote.
Passing things on by rote means that people learn the music by listening to it, not by reading music. “Learn by hearing.”
What songs might you have learned by rote?
Joni Mitchell
The Byrds
The Byrds were greatly influenced by many different artists.
They brought many different styles together to create a new “electric folk-rock” sound.
They were influenced equally by Bob Dylan and by the Beatles.
Roger McGuinnDavid CrosbyGene Clark
Chris HillmanMichael Clark
The Byrds
The Troubado
urThe center of LA’s
hit music scene
The Troubadour
The Troubadour opened as a jazz club in the 1950s.
It was THE hotspot for music in LA.
During the 1960s they featured artist like Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.
Many artists that played there ended up gaining great commercial success.
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
During the 1960s…
LA seemed to be swarmed with singer/songwriters, but in reality it featured a very diverse musical culture….
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Randy Newman
Randy Newman
The Eagles
By 1976, LA was the
center of the music industry
The Eagle’s “Hotel California” was a major
climax in the LA music scene
Hotel California
Around 1980 LA’s music industry declined
and the focus was turned back to New York where punk, New Wave, and rap were
gaining popularity.
Study Time!There will be a quiz
next class over Motown and LA. All questions in
your follow along worksheets may or may
not be on the quiz!
Movies
Stevie Wonder and John Legend
Stevie Wonder and Jeff Beck
Bonnie Raitt
The Supremes
Where did Rock ‘n’ Roll originate?
San Francisco, California
San Francisco
California
San Francisco before RnR
San Francisco attracted many artists, musicians, and social rebels during the late 1960s.
Long before this time, SF had become a “literary bohemia” which attracted many non-conformists.
Bohemia: “a district inhabited by persons, typically artists, writers, and intellectuals, whose way of life, dress, etc., are generally unconventional or avant-garde.”
Non-conformist
Someone who doesn’t want to adhere to the rules or laws applied to them.
Someone who goes “against the flow.”
In LA, many non-conformists were into what genre of music?
Folk
San Francisco, CA
"There was a community in need of music, and music in need of a community," explained Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart.
San Francisco people were very free thinking, and it made sense that these kind of people could have created a whole new style of music.
SF’s contribution to music
Songs were no longer confined to two or three minutes in length. Some songs were 20 minutes long!
SF artists changed the way music was performed and experienced.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
psychedelic“of or noting a mental state characterized by a profound sense of intensified sensory
perception, sometimes accompanied by severe
perceptual distortion and hallucinations and by
extreme feelings of either euphoria or despair.”
Visual
The Grateful Dead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReEIOJBYOeA
Fueling the Movement
Sweeping changes in concert promotion and FM radio fueled the movement.
Underground radio was born here, as local stations KSAN and KMPX embraced the daring new music.
Rock journalism found a literate voice in such San Francisco-based publications as Rolling Stone.
Other psychedelic elements
Not only did musicians use a “psychedelic sound” but they also appealed to listeners visually.
Old ballrooms and halls were converted into spaces that were for live music performances.
Light shows developed, and soon the audience was experiences a whole multimedia performance.
Experiencing Music
What does it mean to experience music?
While watching this next video, come up with some ways that you think the artists changed the way music was performed or experiences.
Jefferson Airplane
Haight-Ashbury
A neighborhood around Golden Gate Park which had many
Victorian houses which could be rented for a
small amount.
This was the center of San Francisco’s music
movement in the 1960s.
Country Joe and the Fish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dATyZBEeDJ4