Rock History and Culture
Chapter Two Questions
8/23/2013
Rock History and Culture End Questions At the end of chapter two, a chapter in which the genre of blues evolved into the sub genres of urban blues and rhythm and blues, we are asked compare the two songs in terms of lyrics tempo and feel. BB King’s “Three O’clock Blues” sounds much more like blues than Bo Diddley’s “Bo Diddley” which could be described more as rhythm and blues because it utilizes more than one singer and a fuller, more consistent sound with guitars functioning as a rhythm instrument. Bo Diddley also uses backing vocals to create a more dynamic sound. In Three O’clock Blues, the guitar plays single notes one after another versus strumming multiple notes at once in the form of chords. In Three O’clock Blues, BB King trades roles with the guitar in a way. He sings lyrics, much more depressing and dark than Bo Diddley, but then lets his guitar as if he is responding to the vocals that were previously sung. Its also slower in tempo than Bo Diddley, and lacks any obvious form of rhythm. Bo Diddley is a musical piece that one could clap his or her hands to because it has a definitive beat to it, hence the term rhythm and blues. The migration of African Americans to the urban industrial centers of Chicago, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the 1920s and 1930s created a new market for jazz, blues, and related genres of music, often performed by full-time musicians, either working alone or in small groups. The precursors of rhythm and blues came from jazz and blues, which overlapped in the Late-1920s,1930s through the work of musicians such as The Harlem Hamfats, with their 1936 hit "Oh Red", as well as Lonnie Johnson, Leroy Carr, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, and T-Bone Walker. There was also increasing emphasis on the electric guitar as a lead instrument, as well as the piano and saxophone.[14]
Late