The History of Rock and Roll

Rock and roll has developed a long way throughout the years from a dance craze in the 1950's to a political and cultural landscape that is recognized worldwide. Rock and roll has come to define the roots of teenage rebellion, people who don't follow the norms, and have disrespect for authority. The style of rock and roll itself is a melting pot of music, a combination of sounds that include jazz, country, blues, ragtime, gospel, swing, classical, and ethnic music. It can be a simple variation of three chords to a complex chromatic scale combination. It can convey emotions such as love, hate, fear, lust, sadness, joy, disillusion, or a strong sense of reality. Many things can be said about rock but the fact is that it is the most widely diverse of all music genres. The earliest roots of rock and roll can be seen in jazz and blues music. Jazz was most often played with big bands but smaller combinations of bands started to evolve late in the music era that included guitar, stand-up bass, piano, drums, and a horn section. These bands soon created a jazz and blues hybrid sound. One of the first musicians to combine jazz and blues was Louis Jordan who originated the "jump blues", an up-tempo, hard driving, blues-based dance music (Kallen 14). Jordan's jump blues inspired many musicians including Wynonie Harris, an R&B singer that is credited with pioneering rock in roll in 1947. Shortly after jump blues bands started playing their music it evolved into something closer to rock. Bill Haley officially made the new genre "rock" music when his song "(Were Gonna) Rock Around the Clock" appeared in the movie Blackboard Jungle in 1955, breaking rock into the mainstream (Kallen 14). Although Haley is credited for bringing rock to mainstream, other black artists such as B.B. King, Little Milton, Howling Wolf, and Ike Turner were the true pioneers of the rock music style but were not as popular because of their race. After the success of Haley, a Memphis studio owner, Sam

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