the history of rock ‘n’ roll the sound of america

The History of Rock ‘n’

RollThe Sound of America

How would you

describe Rock ‘n’

Roll?

Where did Rock ‘n’ Roll originate?

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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