Just a small correction of something Karl said: Dolly Parton WROTE I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston just covered it. Granted hers is the more famous version.
I would have to mention Louis Armstrongs bands the Hot Five and the Hot seven from late twenties to early thirties. He basically invented jazz and his style and melodic phrasing goes right through rock and beyond. He also brought disparate genres together into a different new genre. Marching band and Jugband ragtime waltz Tin Pan Alley gospel blues etc. Louis Armstrong was I think the key innovator and visionary player that sets up the board for all that followed in popular music.
Louis Armstrong's contribution to not only jazz but 20th century popular music in general is incalculable and massive, of course, and he was certainly its first major breakout superstar. But it's inaccurate to say that he invented jazz, as it predated his emergence as an important musician by at least a decade, with noted artists such as King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Fletcher Henderson and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band coming on the scene well before Armstrong. He wasn't even the first jazz musician to incorporate what is perhaps jazz's most notable and famous element, syncopation. His most important contribution to jazz, beyond helping to make it the most popular music in the world from the mid-20's to mid-40's, was to invent swing, or the swing style of playing, which was a "hot" and danceable form of syncopated jazz that led directly to the big band and swing era of jazz, and to become its first and probably biggest major international star (with apologies to Josephine Baker, Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith), basically the Elvis of jazz. He was also an incredibly talented trumpet player and later singer, famous for his rapid fire improvisations and scat singing. To get a sense of how Armstrong transformed jazz into swing, listen to his seminal Potato Head Blues. For its first minute and fifty seconds it sounds much like standard fare 20's Dixieland jazz. And then he just breaks out in this amazing solo that changes everything, the way that Beethoven's 3rd Symphony changed classical music or the way that Rock Around the Clock basically transformed created rock music. It might sound fairly tame now but back in 1927 it was revolutionary. Just listen and hear.
@@kovie9162 great comments. I agree completely. To hear how Louis developed from the days with king Oliver to the Hot five is incredible. You right there was Jazz before Louis, but it wasn’t the same. The syncopation and ragtime was there too but Louis seemed to take in all of New Orleans and forge a new element. Swing and stride piano followed like Fats Waller. And over to Paris where Django picked it up and recorded what I would say were modern rock style guitar solos with a lot of flair and energy which you can hear a bit of in rock around the clock.
Karl, you asked for additions. So I just want to mention that after the war, a lot of American soldiers were stationed in England and Germany in particular. That's why America's influence was so huge there. This is important for what kind of music then developed in England on the basis of the American influence. Above all, Skiffle deserves a mention.
Dolly Parton WROTE “I will always love you.” Whitney covered it. Which brings up a major hole in Karl’s discussion of 50s Rock ‘n Roll… Country Music, then known as Hillbilly Music. Thus “Rockabilly.” I wish you, Karl, had pointed out “Rock Around the Clock” was not the first Rock ‘n Roll but half a decade later. It was just the first White version that got national attention of a genre that was about a decade old and had been called Rock ‘n Roll for half a decade starting with Alan Freed.
Good point about Rockabilly, it was there before the fifties and those old hillbilly records go all the way back. My view of the history of American music has changed a lot over the last several years because of all the old music on UA-cam. Western swing like Bob Wills was very close to rock and roll back in the thirties. I think rock and roll was popping out in different places under various genres for a long time before people like Little Richard just nailed it to the wall in a simpler more purified form. Very interesting.
I'm jumping ahead a couple of decades, and will probably bring this up again when we hit the 70's, but for those interested in the history of rock, I highly suggest watching the documentary "Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World". The contribution of our first nation brothers to rock has been greatly overlooked.
Yes, that documentary brought up interesting evidence that native American music was the basis for blues and hence later genres of American popular music. The " Rumble " in the title refers to the LInk Wray instrumental Rumble, and I believe he was native American as well. ( Just found Amy's channel recently, so my comment is seven months after this was broadcast. )
@@johnsilva9139 I think you'll enjoy this channel. Amy has a unique approach to her music analysis. She has certainly made me look at a lot of musical pieces with a new ear. If you are a Pink Floyd fan, you will enjoy her analysis of The Wall.
I think you left out two very crucial elements of the birth of R & R. One is Rhythm & Blues. While blues was a basic foundation for it, r&b went in a different direction. R&B had more jump and move that straight blues, or jazz. Songs from Wynona Harris, Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner, Little Richard and many others were more in the direction and influence of early r&r than the blues or jazz, especially when jazz headin in the Be Bop direction. A lot of the R&B musicians became the first r&r musicians. The other element was Rockabilly. The combination of country & western, bluegrass and r&b came in from the other side. It was more guitar based and usually a trio or a 4 piece band like Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, Elvis, Bill Haley and others. Chuck Berry is the best example of both those two elements coming together.
You guys Amaze me! When I saw you were going to try and explain rock I thought Oh boy, I have to watch this disaster! I must say, I am Very pleasantly surprised! It is such a Very difficult thing to explain but when ya'll went back in time, I thought, wow, this might end up being very good, and, so far, it has been Amazing! I am about to be 68, music is like a family member to me. Your approach to this as well as the content is spot on. I look forward to all that is to come
❤❤I love how many artist would blend their roots into genres from the '40's, '50s, '60s, '70s, and beyond. Marvin Gaye is in my top 10. I hear rainbows when mixes the decades together.
Great presentation. To hear Little Richard tell the tale, he single handedly created what we know as rock. He's not totally wrong. Chuck Berry's learning to play the piano parts on his guitar was another big stepping stone. But for me, the most important part of the 50's era rock was the beginning of the transition from vocal oriented songs to a more guitar centered sound, leading into to 60's. 🤘🧙♂️🤘 Rich the Ancient Metal Beast
It was good. I wonder how Be-Bop fit into it. The crazy fast rhythms and abrupt turns must have been an influence but I haven’t read anyone mention it specifically.
@@Hartlor_Tayley Not sure on bebop, although it undoubtedly had an influence for the reasons you mentioned. On the Doo-Wop side, one interesting influence that was mentioned by someone on the Chords video was the impact it had on the Beach Boys. But your mentioning bebop brings up an interesting question. Should Amy's third UA-cam channel be Virgin Bebop (Virgin Blues must come first), or should that just be a part of Virgin Jazz? When I found out Amy hadn't seen Star Wars yet, I also recommended she create a Virgin Movie Scores channel. Now that I learned you never saw it either, you will need to subscribe so you can hear John Williams score. Of course Amy has an excuse, not having grown up at that time Star Wars came out. You on the other hand? 😉
@@LeeKennison I saw Rocky Horror does that count ? I saw movies at the drive in ;). Movie theater was a bit of a hassle so I barely went. I think all those suggestions are great. Many amazing soundtracks. And the Jazz/ pre rock stuff is pure gold but I’m wondering if Amy and Vlad are going to have the time and energy to keep this channel going.
@@Hartlor_Tayley Rocky Horror probably doesn't count since it was required at the time. But then again, I thought Star Wars was also required. I'm surprised you weren't kicked out of the cool kids club. I still remember piling all my friends into my '69 Chevelle Super Sport in 1977 to go see Star Wars. We were blown away since there wasn't anything else like it at the time. Yeah, I think it was rather selfish of Amy and Vlad to decide to have a baby. They never really considered the impact it would have on the rest of us (just kidding)
@@LeeKennison a baby how could they do this to us. Lol. But I loved those old Chevelles, I had a 67. Man I was never a cool kid, a misfit even amongst the freaks. Hey I just found this cool video about a be bop drummer and thought of you. How the Girl from Ipanema been treating you? ua-cam.com/video/ZnHi0GR0REs/v-deo.html
Excellent discussion for the generalised history of the music and development of teenage culture in North America in the 1950s. Spot on with the discussion of doo wop. I would add more info on (and songs by) Little Richard and Chuck Berry, as well as Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, and of course, Elvis Presley (who presented R&B without cleaning it up enough for some 'white' audiences). While jazz, especially the big bands, had been hugely popular in the 1940s, in part because of radio broadcasts, and also because of being able to dance to it live in huge ballrooms, that changed in the 1950s. With the advent of bebop jazz, more complex rhythmic and melodic structures, and then "cool" jazz, this was music for more careful sitting and listening. The music of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Bud Powell, etc, was not generally dance music. (And I still love many of those 1950s jazz recordings, later leading to developments during the 1960s and 1970s in free jazz and jazz-rock fusion!) So things changed, with the desire for simpler dance music being satisfied by this hybrid of swing, R&B, gospel, blues, etc, then synthesised into what developed into rock music. And all of those elements, including music from African American musicians and Caucasian American musicians, was heard without differentiation by some young and developing British musicians. The results of that exposure blew back to North America in the 1960s with the "British Invasion" of popular music created by those young people. Thanks again, and looking forward to more history.
Karl is such a great presenter. I was expecting some schmo making base analyses of rock standards and what I got was an engaging history lesson that contextualized the music thoroughly.
The Voyager spacecraft had 2 songs on the gold disc that were significant to the genre. One by Louis Armstrong and one by Chuck Berry. They were alongside Bach Beethoven Mozart and Stravinsky. 👍
15:31 - one place I've heard Goodnight Sweetheart is at the "Harmony Sweepstakes" finals... Harmony Sweepstakes is an A Capella competition that spans the United States, with several regional finals, and then the regional winners come together for the overall finals. Because of the nature of all this, a fairly large percentage of the audience are trained or at least well practiced singers. And at the end of the night, *all* the finalists come together on stage (maybe 50-60 people, depending), and lead the auditorium (a 2000-seat house, that's usually quite full) in singing the song, after an exciting night of singing. It's a truly awesome (in the literal sense of the word) experience to be in that room. Would recommend!
To me rock is about a number of popular music forms of the late 40's and early 50's being synthesized into a new way of playing and singing music that came to be called rock. Namely, rhythm and blues, an electrified and more intense form of blues originally associated with Chicago, perhaps most famously exemplified by Muddy Waters, jump blues, a stripped-down version of big band jazz that was played to a blues progression and whose most famous practitioners were Louis Jordan and Louis Prima, and country, a southern and rural form of music made popular by musicians like Gene Autry and Hank Williams. You can probably also throw in some jazz, in the jazz-blues-country guitar style played by the likes of Charlie Christian and Les Paul, as well as popular jazz standards as sung by the likes of Nat King Cole and the Ink Spots. Other popular music genres came to influence rock later on, like gospel and folk, but I think that there were the key ones that came together to become rock. In a way rock was really rhythm and blues and jump blues for white audiences, but I think that that's an oversimplification that fails to take into account the importance of country music in early rock music and certain musical elements unique to rock music, like its tempo and rhythms and overtly sexualized and suggestive lyrics, playing and performing styles.
One way to define 50s Rock ‘n Roll is white hillbilly country music performers doing black race R&B music with a mainstream pop vocal chorus backing them up and a sax soloing like BeBop or a guitar trying to replace that sax.
Let’s throw in Bob wills and the Texas Playboys and Django Reinhardt too. Most of those Chicago blues artists came from Mississippi ( Muddy, Wolf and BB etc )
Amy, You are a producer. For sure. A la George Martin of Beatles fame. I love your facial expressions during the listen. And your analysis is honest and innocent and a gold mine of musical knowledge.
One thing I'd like to point out is the stop and start nature of early rock-n-roll songs. Muddy Water's who everyone "stole" it from. Elvis with "Heartbreak Hotel", Chuck Berry with "Johnny Be Good" and even Bill Haley uses this effect to a lessor extent in 'Rock around the Clock". Again....it's Muddy Waters! He's the man. With out Muddy there is no "ROCK-N-ROLL"
Most blues artists “stole” from other blues artists. I can think of two songs off the top of my head that were recorded by Big Bill Broonzy before Muddy Waters was recording them. He was at least twenty years older than muddy and died just as muddy started to make a name for himself. That being said, BBB probably “stole” those songs from someone else.
If you want to know what gospel music did for rock and roll? You only have to look at 2 artist. Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin. Have you heard either of them, Amy?
Link Wray really ought to have an 'atta boy' mention at least. Rebel Rouser was hugely influential in the development of rock, not only is it an instrumental which was quite odd for the time, but the song is dripping with attitude and reflected the rebellious nature of teens at the time. Plus it's one of the early songs that features a heavily distorted guitar which would really help set the electric guitar as the dominant instrument later on.
Good discussion. What's funny is, after searching, I found the 45s that my parents made on UA-cam. Cuca Records was in central Wisconsin, and recorded a lot of the bands from Green Bay/Appleton/Oshkosh/Madison/Milwaukee. They actually made some coin putting out the original version of the Fenderman's "Mule Skinner Blues". My dad's 45 that he played rhythm guitar on was Bob Mattice and the Phaetons "What's All This/Kawliga" Cuca Records 1960. "What's All This" is an answer to "Mule Skinner Blues", and "Kawliga" is a rockabilly version of the great Hank Williams song. My mom's 45 is Karen Wells "Never Gonna Let You Go" Cuca Records 1961. Very up tempo for the time. I have quite a bit of vinyl of her, including her demos in Nashville. She did sing at the Ryman auditorium once while down there doing the demo. I think the story was it was between her and Dottie West, and they went with Dottie. Thankfully, we have CDs and better things now, so if you make music or write it, these are cool things for your kids to have to remember you by, if you have the time to record something for them.
It's good that you mention the teenagers who became a "consumer force" during the 50s, but you still don't really seem to appreciate the role of rather "primitive" country and Chicago blues in the development of rock'n'roll. Many early rock songs are written in the 12 bar blues format that dominates these genres. Chuck Berry's (someone you neglect to mention for some reason) entire catalogue consists songs in the 12 bar blues vein. Elvis Presley, rock's first real "super star" had his first hit with a cover of "That's Alright, Mama", by blues singer Arthur Crudup. Arthur Crudup's entire repertoire basically consisted of two songs: a fast 12-bar blues and a slow 12-bar blues, to which he made up different lyrics. An important element in this was that it was a musical format that was fairly easy for kids to learn on their own, just by listening to the radio or the records, without any real musical education, in contrast to the sophisticated chord progressions and arrangements that you had in the "swing" era that came before it. There is a famous story about John Lennon and Paul McCartney who, when they had just started playing guitar, took a bus all the way to the other side of Liverpool to this guy who they had heard of, who knew the chord B7. They already knew E and A and the B7 chord was sort of the missing part of the puzzle. That is really how most rock musicians started out in the 50s and 60s. They were not sophisticated musicians with grand ambitions, they were kids, having fun.
@@helenespaulding7562 Well, I don't think he mentioned Chuck Berry, or Carl Perkins, or Eddie Cochran, who are very much the inventors of the rock'n'roll genre as we know it. He goes on about "doo-wop", and although that was kind of big in the 50s, it was much less of an influence on the rock music that came after than what we now know as "rockabilly".
@@MartijnHover I tend to agree. But he did mention Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Fats Domino, towards the beginning, when they said that the first 10 episodes are a quick survey through the decades and that once they’ve done that, they will circle back and go into more depth about each one. I don’t know why they’ve set it up that way, but there you go. I’m sure those great influencers will be discussed when they circle back. I know that Robert Plant always mentions Cochran, Little Richard, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and several others, as great influences on him.
Karl should at least have mentioned that the rise of the guitar as the main instrument in Rock (next to the drums), came from the rural Blues men, who accompanied themselves on a guitar. In the classic Blues orchestras in the city, with their female singers, like Bessie Smith, the guitar played only a minor role. It was really the rural Blues (think Mississippi for a good example), that pushed the guitar to the fore. He should have also mentioned the big influence of the first great electric guitar players, Jazzman Charlie Christian and Bluesman T-Bone Walker. Then he should have mentioned how Muddy Waters came from Mississippi to Chicago and started playing his rural Blues on an electric guitar. Then he should have introduced Chuck Berry to Amy. And only t h e n the white bands, like Bill Haley & The Comets and the Rolling Stones (and the Beatles, and the Kinks). But our self-proclaimed Rock history teacher jumps right in the fifties cross-over Rock ‘n’ Roll and eighties electric Blues Rock. Karl hasn’t done justice to the roots of Rock ‘n’ Roll so far. For him, Blues seems to equal Stevie Ray Vaughan. So far, he’s terribly disappointed me, and I wish Amy had a more faithful introduction to the history of Rock (as well as to the drums). Before they started this series, Karl said we had to be patient and not immediately criticise him, because he might come up with the music we were missing, at some other point. But I do criticise him, for not giving Amy a c h r o l o g i c a l introduction of the music. One last note. It makes no sense to drop names like Little Richard and talk about genres like Hip-Hop, if one hasn't introduced Amy to this music yet. Our Rush fan goes off into long monologues, and Amy is just sitting there smiling and nodding politely. I can't stand watching it, and I consider not watching the rest of this series.
I was thinking the whole time "gospel influence" and I'm glad it was brought up. I have to make a big correction. Whitney Houston didn't write "I Will Always Love You." That was written and recorded by Dolly Parton.
I'd say that Doo-wop had more to do with African-American gospel and pop music than Chicago-type blues scene (musically, not socially). The Ink Spots and Mills Brothers would've been the forerunners, as well as barbershop and gospel quartet styles. I can't think of any blues song that has a 4-part harmony style to it. Also, the blues form - AAB /12-bar / I-IV-V chord progression - was different than most doo-wop. Doo-wop used mostly I-vi-IV-V.and an 8 or 16 bar pattern. It might be instructive to say something about Elvis's first recordings at Sun (where Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Ike Turner, et al also recorded), as these were really breaking ground in the South, fusing country, pop, and R&B into a new cultural phenomenon. By the time Blackboard Jungle came out in 1955, Elvis had 3 or 4 regional hit records on his hands, and was causing quite a commotion in live appearances. Elvis and Bill Haley were on the same bill in Cleveland in the fall of 1955, too!
Agree doo-wop is not blues. If it was, what would be so special and distinctive about Lou Reed and the Velvets? They'd just be another white blues rock band. But they weren't.
Fats Domino's first recordings were released in 1949. The first R&B crossovers to WHITE radio were, in this order, Facts Domino, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard -- Richard being eclipsed by Elvis covers.
For the 60's there needs to be a Beatles song, maybe "Rain". I would suggest also Jimi Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower" so you get both Bob Dylan and Hendrix in one.
Regarding the 45 records: They were the main format used in Jukeboxes, often found in Diners and Hamburger joints and Soda Parlors ala "Happy Days". Thus, most of the new 'rock-n-roll' music came out on 45's "singles" which could be distributed to radio stations, Jukebox owners and the general public. Another development in the later 50's was the transistor radio. Pocket sized transistor radios allowed teens to listen to their favourite radio stations away from their parents. While some cars had radios in the 50's, it wasn't until the mid 60's that most cars had radios (thanks to the transistors). Early car radios still used Vacuum Tubes (aka Valves to the Brits) and were an expensive add-on/option. BTW: One of Aretha Franklin's back-up singers was Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston's mother. Elvis Presley was a big fan of Gospel music and eventually recorded and album of Gospel music. Rock On! 🎸😎
Came here to see how many times you would be told Dolly Parton wrote that! 😆 I am the exact same age as Karl and my passion for music started in the 60s. I can't wait for the next one! Although I would not want to have to pick just 2-songs to represent the turmoil of the '60s. There was just so much going on. The rock music of 68/69 was very different from the rock music of '62.
As a potted history that was hard to beat. Two questions though - first, although RATC was the most successful early rock n roll record, what was intermediate between that and the dance band sound? It doesnt seem to be the first of its kind. Second, the doo-wop stylings and vocalisations of the other song. These are so distinct. Are they purely from the pentacostal style churches/African-American spirituals (I refrain from the old phrase) or were they also influenced by 'barber shop harmony' too? Indeed what was the appeal of using non-words as part of the melody? Was it simply in place of instrumentation? Thanks.
I just had a thought: Is it possible to talk about early rock and roll without mentioning Elvis Presley? Will there be some mention of Elvis Presley later on? Should he not be discussed as part of the rock landscape of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s?
karl, we did have slavery here, we gave it up about 30 years before the states, the underground railroad went both ways till then, slaves from canada escaping to the states. cute thing, i grew up in the nova scotian county where arguably the first ever race riot took place and very definitely the largest ever white on black race riot, one in the same.
I hope that when Amy & Karl return to the 1950s to listen to many influential songs of the period, that Karl will discuss the massive influence of Lonnie Donegan on the formation of British rock from the late 1950s. (There's a great book out there on Donegan.) Donegan started out as a trad jazz musician. During rest breaks of their club shows, he started playing some simple folk and blues-based music that soon became hugely popular in and of itself --and was dubbed "skiffle music." He began having hit records and concerts in the UK playing this relatively simple music, compared to the jazz he had been playing. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, 12-year-old Jimmy Page, et al, all began playing Donegan's skiffle, because all a young boy needed to learn was a handful of simple "cowboy chords" on guitar. This evolved into British rock.
Also, besides needing to learn only a few basic guitar chords, at first, you didn't need a big piano to lug around, a drum kit, or electricity for amplification. A simple acoustic guitar, some "pots and pans" or just a couple of simple drums to create the rhythm, and a tin wash tub with a broom handle and a long thick string to provide the bass. Check out a young 13-year-old Jimmy Page (future guitarist of the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin) in 1957 playing skiffle: ua-cam.com/video/ewNLaBhPRY8/v-deo.html
Finally, that old April 1957 TV clip of Jimmy Page and friends was broadcast only three months before Paul McCartney saw John Lennon playing skiffle music on stage at a fete in Liverpool July 1957--and the rest is .... well, you know.
One genre that was missed altogether is bebop, which was a go-between linking big band and rock. The bass parts of most 50's rock music was straight out of bebop.
Important to mention; the Chicago sound was influenced by musicians who came up from New Orleans, and most of them grew up with old-time blues of the South. This migration took place in the 30s and 40s. Also, in the 50s, many more parents than teens discriminated against music performed by black musicians, and since teens usually used their weekly allowance to buy records, the parents who paid the allowance had the power to say "Not that record!" / "Not those singers!" Parents were equally prejudice against white artists who performed "black music." Elvis Presley is a prime example, but even Benny Goodman was scorned for playing "jungle music" a decade earlier. (I'm 71)
I don’t know how much race played into parents and teens buying records. I mean it was hard to tell, Nat King Cole and the Mills brothers etc were black and totally mainstream popular artists as were Louis Armstrong etc. I think it was the style of music parents worried about. That rowdy beat heavy rhythm and crazy vocals with lyrics that were of questionable morals that worried them. Songs that didn’t evoke carnality or rebellion were fine regardless of race and rowdy songs about debaunchery were verboten regardless of the race of the performers. A lot of the color divide in popular music came from Radio stations worried about advertisers and night club owners worried about their backers and hotels worried about complaints. I mean it was more of a top down concern about live touring bands more than the average person listenning to the radio and trying to figure out what color the artists are to decide whether to like the music or not.
@@Hartlor_Tayley For a time, Black artists performed differently for White audiences than they did for Black audiences. There's a lot to discuss about music and color from the 20s clear up until today. I was introducing only one point that I thought worth mentioning.
This is very interesting. I was born in the 50s and so far everything is as I learned in my early years. One thing I need correct Karl on, America did not have slavery for 200 years. America had slavery for less than 100 years. America started in 1775-1776 and slavery was abolished in the mid 1860s. Unfortunately, British colonists brought slavery to North America (not America as America was not yet a country) around 1619. So it was British people who passed down the horrible legacy of slavery to America. America abolished slavery, it didn't start it.
Post-WW II it wasn't only that teenagers had "disposable cash," but also the automobile. Chuck Berry made a career of creating car tunes, some of them quite funny.
Don't want to be Debbie Downer, but it would be a disservice if I didn't say this. Canada did indeed have slavery. It was abolished earlier but it did happen.
I love these history discussion episodes, they are very informative and entertaining! I just wanted to clarify that the difference in race when I comes to music back in the 50s isn't 100% a "racial" issue. In the 1950s the USA was about 88% white and only about 6% black. A business gearing their products towards the massive majority of whites is more of a business decision than a racial one. I'm not saying racism wasn't a thing, of course it was, but the decision to cater to the massive white audience was to make money.
Of course! But WHY wasn’t the white audience going out and buying music by black musicians back then, as they do do now? Why weren’t the black groups getting radio play so that they COULD make money for the labels? That is the racial Part of it. I don’t think it was even that malicious or nefarious. Most whites just didn’t consider “their@ music and considered it @inappropriate” for white kids…ESPECIALLY GIRLS, to listen to it.
@@helenespaulding7562 I'm only talking about the music industry's decision to promote "white musicians" who would appeal more to white audiences. It was primarily to sell more. Yes, I'm sure there may have been some racism in that decision but the primary factor was to put the company's time and money into promoting acts that have an appeal to a VASTLY wider audience.
@@Mr.Batsu12 lots of black artists were big mainstream stars at that time but they were mostly radio friendly too. If it was race then there wouldn’t have been popular black artists
@@Hartlor_Tayley I'm not saying there were no successful black artists or that big companies refused to promote them. I'm just speaking in generalities. The overwhelming majority of America was white. A very tiny portion of America was black. It makes perfect business sense that companies primarily focused on promoting talent that they assumed would appeal to the white audiences more. Shooting for the larger audience is a good business decision. I think you could fairly criticize companies for not promoting black talent as much, not for racist reasons but for it being a stupid business decision. They assumed whites would only listen to whites. That assumption meant they likely didn't promote some amazing black artists at the time. They left a ton of extra money on the table. (I'm 100% a capitalist and seeing stupid business decisions companies make is really frustrating) As I said, I'm only referring to what the business side promoted. I don't doubt some of the people were racist to some degree but most people in the world care far more about the color green than they do black or white. As for the customers, most people care more about getting good music than they care about the color of the performer. Nat King Cole, Elle Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino... They weren't just popular with black audiences they were popular with everybody.
@@Mr.Batsu12 it was a lot tougher for black artists to break through but like you said demographics and economics and the assumption that Bing Crosby should be the template. The English in sixties had no such assumption.
Whitney Houston did `not` write "I Will Always Love you" It was written by Dolly Parton. Also- a resume of the 1950s and not one mention of Elvis? Had they not heard of him in Canada?
I think he mentioned this is a quick survey of only two songs per decade and then he will circle back. I’m POSITIVE that Elvis will be given proper respect when he does that.
I’m going go recommend two 50s songs one is rockabilly one is for lack of a better word indescribable but the kind of music parents hated. Leroy by Jack Scott and Little Demon by Screamin Jay Hawkins.
As John Lennon said, when they went to see an Elvis movie, the girls in the theater would scream when Elvis showed on the screen -- "THAT'S a good job."
One story not mentioned here, maybe they get into it in the next episode was how Alan Freed played a roll in rock. Freed was the first radio disc jockey and concert producer who frequently played and promoted rock and roll; he popularized the phrase "rock and roll" on mainstream radio in the early 1950s. (The term already existed and had been used by Billboard as early as 1946, but it remained obscure.) He helped bridge the gap of segregation among young teenage Americans, presenting music by black artists (rather than cover versions by white artists) on his radio program, and arranging live concerts attended by racially mixed audiences. But alas, Freed also had controversial times in his career when it was shown that he had accepted payola (payments from record companies to play specific records), a practice that was highly controversial at the time. In 1964 Freed was indicted by a federal grand jury for tax evasion and ordered to pay $37,920 in taxes on income he had allegedly not reported. Most of that income was said to be from payola sources.
Although 4-track and 8.track was conceived in the mid '50's, the only one recording with that system was Les Paul. It became more common in the US in the '60's and The Beatles were didn't use it in England until '67 (SPLHCB). So I guess Rock Around The clock was mono or stereo. Cheers Karl!
To better understand the recording technology, I'd recommend a movie called, "Tom Dowd & the Language of Music". He was the recording engineer/producer from the 40s until the 2000s, and worked with everybody during all of that. He was one of the major influences on multi-track recording, and the sound of the artists he worked with, starting with jazz with people like Coltrane well into the rock era. Listening to him talk about putting together Layla is pure magic.
I mentioned in the live chat how the gospel music of the black churches influenced many British musicians of the 60s, including Mick Jagger and the Stones. This 'Aretha Franklin - Climbing Higher Mountains (Live at New Temple Missionary Baptist Church, 1972)' video shows Mick at the back of the church really getting into the spirit of things ua-cam.com/video/2mJvHJnRX8w/v-deo.html
Are you drunk? This style is called honky-tonk! Of course, he had a very indirect influence on the formation of rock 'n' roll, but why do you call it the first rock and roll record? Early proto-rock and roll is jump blues and rhythm & blues. Early proto-rockabilly is guitar western swing and hillbilly boogie
@@markmmv Chuck Berry said all he ever listened to was Hank Williams and the like. Berry didn’t hear Jump blues until after he left West Virginia. Hank is direct predessor of Chuck.
Actually, technically, there is no first, as it is an evolution of music not an immediate change. There are other songs, for example The Fat Man by Fats Domino that are considered the first, but again that is moot as there is no first. But thanks for the input.
@@Hartlor_Tayley Just out of curiosity, I wonder what many of the greats would be listening to today had they lived through the various changes in Rock.
@@karlsloman5320 that’s a great question. I listen to mostly old music that is new to me. The amount of recordings going back to Edison is staggering, so maybe they would be doing a similar thing. I don’t know. Would Charlie Parker be listening to Slayer or Drake ? Who can say?
One sad fact left out of the discussion about Jazz and Blues music was the fact that in that era there were so many great musicians who became legends in their own right, but were heavily into very hard life destroying drugs like heroine and most others struggled with alcoholism. You can hear that pain in the music but the paradox is that is so enjoyable to listen to. But that pattern will be repeated time and again through out the history of Rock which again, sadly has come to an end. Maybe there could be a discussion here on THAT subject. Rock is officially dead!
I'd really like to see you compare and contrast songs like, "Keep A-Knockin' (but You Can't Come In.) The original swing/jazz version by Louis Jordan vs the Rock and Roll version by Little Richard. Or "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" by Big Maybelle vs Jerry Lee Lewis.
I enjoy very much your channel. I am not a musician, I do not play any instrument, but I love music. I am behind in listening to all your content. Today is April 19, 2023 and this video was published "2 months ago". I *strongly* recommend that you edit the video to add a"clarification note" about the author of "I will always love you", this should not take much time and will make your material accurate. The error is at 25min 10 sec.
My favorite example of dancing as a thinly veiled reference to sex in early rock and roll is Twenty Flight Rock, about a guy who loves to visit his girlfriend on a Saturday night and just, you know, dance with her in private. As you do. But he has to climb twenty flights of stairs, so when he gets to the top he's too tired to "rock."
"Shh-Boom" is on the rhythm and blues side. It is a few steps removed from "pure" Gospel. It was a hit during the rock and roll era, so passed as rock and roll. Another who was really too old for teenagers? Chuck Berry. Another? -- honky-tonk country performer Carl Perkins.
I think it is quite inaccurate to say that the crew cuts went up higher with Shboom because they were white. I always found their version to simply be a lot better (And I didn't even know either group's skin colour until I saw this video). It's just a cleaner, sharper version.
I have to wonder what you're planning to do when there are multiple genres to follow in a decade. For example, the main genres that emerged and became popular in the 70's would be Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, and Punk Rock. I imagine that going over their developments in detail would be too time consuming to fit properly in one episode.
And Soft Rock, which was enormous, Country Rock, Funk, Pop Rock, Prog, Disco, & Jesus Rock. Punk was splitting quickly with Reggae impacting it & New Wave growing out of it.
True, there were just so many different genres in the underground and on the radio! Of course, the 3 genres that I named are the first ones to come to mind since the music that I tend to listen to is derived primarily from these genres.
Next up already the 60s? Can't be, skipping Elvis Presley?! He and no one else redefined rock 'n' roll in the 50s, gave it the sex components and the "aura" of a great, great movement and made it to a worldwide phenomenon.
It's hard for me to appreciate the history of rock and roll with constantly noticing the influence the roots of rock music constantly re- influenced it's evolution into multiple genres with sub classes. Jazz influences hip hop, hip influences lol yes bluegrass and country ( which in most cases needs to stop, just my opinion), bluegrass influences country as it always has done, disco, hard Rick, grunge Rick, Heavy Metal, death metal, Chicago blues, Chicago jazz, , new Orleans jazz, Cajun, honky tonk, Texas blues, southern rock, folk, rock , folk music in and on organically after the producers and AnR men get their say anyways. American music the US Constitution and maybe baseball will be the only things the US will be known for 1000 years from now.... and for being collectively a bunch of jack asses most likely as well All your vids are great. I look forward to seeing more. Happy Saturday.
That is a very good comment and I agree. I have a feeling that bands even influence themselves when it comes to music!! Seriously. Influences are immense, but they are simply that, influences. I would suggest that from the beginning of time ALL music influenced ALL music and it has become even more ubiquitous as mass media and communications have developed. To state that one type of music influenced another, to me, is ridiculous. Hell even in the albums I have produced, I have influences from all kinds of music in one album. It is the way it is. You cannot stop each type of music from influencing each type of music, even if you want to. For your comment about the Constitution and baseball, was that from Ken Burn's Jazz series? Thanks for the great comment.
How about landing the first people on the moon, the development of the personal computer, first successful constitutional republic, abolishment of slavery, etc.?
@@karlsloman5320 in the real old days young person had maybe one song or a part of a song that made them want to play music and they developed around what was available. Nowadays virtually everything ever recorded is there. Artists now not only have to compete with their contemporaries but they have to compete with everything ever made.
@@asquare9316 Did I or did I not mention the US Constitution? Screw the PC & the moon landing and Saran wrap too.. As for the abolishment of slavery, I mentioned the US Constitution in case you were elsewhere.
1) The 45 was introduced by RCA in March 1949 and was a game changer. The records sounded better and were significantly lighter and more durable than the 78s they replaced. The sound reproduction equipment was smaller and more portable too so the teens were no longer shackled to the furniture sized record players at home. Freedom 😉 2) Recording to tape becomes affordable and the industry standard in the late 40s/early 50s. Freed from the straight jacket of cutting direct to master disc, little recording studios cropped up servicing loads of little record labels producing loads of records. It became economically viable to hire a studio, record and produce a small run for local/regional distribution. All of which meant stuff which would have previously hit the "cutting room floor", so to speak, gets released. For example, the original of "Little Darlin'" by The Gladiolas ua-cam.com/video/Z9G7IOgtH10/v-deo.html is all over the place, sounding as if the (single) microphone was placed in the next room. But the energy and the instrumentation ensures a placing in the R&B and Billboard charts. This, of course, is a fine example of Karl's "Caucasian-izing" when those prime Canadian cover artists, The Diamonds, record it and have the big international hit ua-cam.com/video/G5LMkAttTps/v-deo.html So that's the 50s!!?? On with the 60s?? Barely scratching the surface of the surface.
Virtually All those early small label regional singles are on UA-cam now and the breadth and depth of it all is so interesting. After hearing many of them my whole idea of music history in the last century is being revised. That version of Little Darlin has that mambo rhythm which was trendy at the time. All these things. I don’t know if it was caucasianizing when the bigger labels made blander more middle of the road versions they just wanted to sell records and get on the radio. I think its not a race thing at all, lots of black folks didn’t like the rough and rowdy stuff and lots of whites didn’t like the clean bland radio versions. I could be wrong but it seems to be more about the industry than the audience
@@Hartlor_Tayley I don't think it was caucasianizing either (that's Karl's word) - just business. It was easy for the larger labels to raid the R&B charts for likely songs with existing arrangements and produce a more professional version. With their established distribution channels they were far more likely to get larger sales (distribution was a problem for the independents). Even Hank Williams suffered from this with his #1 country hit "Cold, Cold Heart" which was a #1 pop hit for Tony Bennett both in 1951.
Thanks for bringing up how the vinyl format was a big improvement over 78 shellac. The 45 single was more flexible than Karl gives it credit and he does another error comparable to the one of slighting Dolly. The 45 was not limited to 3 minutes. It’s not why songs were around three minutes. The 45 could actually handle two three minute songs per side- thus the EP. So where DID the 3 minute song come from? The Shellac 78. The 78 record looks like the later 33 vinyl LP, but it actually could only do three minutes a side. That was already the norm when radio started playing records in the late 30s. By the 50s it was just accepted that a popular song was 3 minutes long. Otherwise it wouldn’t get radio play. Now the 33 LP looked similar to a 78 record, but it could do so much more it could put what had literally been an album of 78 records on one disc. It was a boon for longer classical pieces that had been butchered by the 78 format. But popular music still did three minute songs on a 33 LP, just 12 of them in the US or 14 in the UK: an album but no longer a literal one. The 45 went the other direction. A smaller vinyl disc with a bigger central hole that reproduced the 78 shellac’s format of one three minute song per side- just what radio demanded. In the years around their introduction circa 1950, the two vinyl formats battled each other to see which would win the battle. Players were for one format or the other. But something else happened. Player manufacturers made record players that could do all three speeds. You could play your old 78s as well as both new versions. Soon the competition dissolved. The record companies pressed both formats, Columbia did 45s and not just their 33 format. RCA did 33 LPs and not just their 45 format. So Karl got it backwards. But he was right about that 45s changed things. You see they were cheap. Kids could get pennies for recycling soda bottles and buy a hit record!
@@mirandak3273 ah yes the 45, I gave up Penny candy and comic books to buy 45s and play them over and over and over again. Everything in life was boring and tedious but those 45s were full of energy and fun. A magical world only you and maybe a couple of friends seemed to know about. A type of Narnia I suppose.
Hi Virgin rock, i loved your videos, and i think you would love to Review The álbum Clara Crocodilo, of The Brazilian artist Arrigo Barnabé. It isnt Just an piece of art, but is Also a piece of Brazilian history, involving It dictadorship. It would bê incredible If you could review It Reading The lyrics
You may not have been looking for the word appropriation, but that's what happened a lot through the music industry in the earliest days of Rock n Roll.
Interesting what you said about the social structure of rock'n'roll's first audiences - and it explains why while white teens tended to buy more records, and at that: records which lyrically reflected their situation in life, rock'n'roll songs by black artists tended to be more adult themed and reflected on working class issues: after a hard week finally getting paid and wanting to spend as much as possible on escapism and fun - for instance - as in Rip It Up by Little Richard.
Just a small correction of something Karl said: Dolly Parton WROTE I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston just covered it. Granted hers is the more famous version.
Ha! I paused just to go look for this comment.
Not in Dollywood
Thanks! That’s exactly what I was going to say! 😁👍
She not only wrote I Will Always Love you, but she wrote Jolene... the same day.
But imo Dolly’s is the better version.
Dolly Parton wrote "I will always love you"
Was just coming to say this. That song was NOT written by Whitney Houston. That’s heresy to say.
I came here to be the 400th person to say this. How did I do? ;-) Dolly wrote this masterpiece and Jolene on the same day!
I would have to mention Louis Armstrongs bands the Hot Five and the Hot seven from late twenties to early thirties. He basically invented jazz and his style and melodic phrasing goes right through rock and beyond. He also brought disparate genres together into a different new genre. Marching band and Jugband ragtime waltz Tin Pan Alley gospel blues etc. Louis Armstrong was I think the key innovator and visionary player that sets up the board for all that followed in popular music.
Louis Armstrong's contribution to not only jazz but 20th century popular music in general is incalculable and massive, of course, and he was certainly its first major breakout superstar. But it's inaccurate to say that he invented jazz, as it predated his emergence as an important musician by at least a decade, with noted artists such as King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Fletcher Henderson and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band coming on the scene well before Armstrong. He wasn't even the first jazz musician to incorporate what is perhaps jazz's most notable and famous element, syncopation.
His most important contribution to jazz, beyond helping to make it the most popular music in the world from the mid-20's to mid-40's, was to invent swing, or the swing style of playing, which was a "hot" and danceable form of syncopated jazz that led directly to the big band and swing era of jazz, and to become its first and probably biggest major international star (with apologies to Josephine Baker, Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith), basically the Elvis of jazz. He was also an incredibly talented trumpet player and later singer, famous for his rapid fire improvisations and scat singing.
To get a sense of how Armstrong transformed jazz into swing, listen to his seminal Potato Head Blues. For its first minute and fifty seconds it sounds much like standard fare 20's Dixieland jazz. And then he just breaks out in this amazing solo that changes everything, the way that Beethoven's 3rd Symphony changed classical music or the way that Rock Around the Clock basically transformed created rock music. It might sound fairly tame now but back in 1927 it was revolutionary. Just listen and hear.
@@kovie9162 great comments. I agree completely. To hear how Louis developed from the days with king Oliver to the Hot five is incredible. You right there was Jazz before Louis, but it wasn’t the same. The syncopation and ragtime was there too but Louis seemed to take in all of New Orleans and forge a new element. Swing and stride piano followed like Fats Waller. And over to Paris where Django picked it up and recorded what I would say were modern rock style guitar solos with a lot of flair and energy which you can hear a bit of in rock around the clock.
Karl, you asked for additions. So I just want to mention that after the war, a lot of American soldiers were stationed in England and Germany in particular. That's why America's influence was so huge there. This is important for what kind of music then developed in England on the basis of the American influence. Above all, Skiffle deserves a mention.
Dolly Parton WROTE “I will always love you.” Whitney covered it.
Which brings up a major hole in Karl’s discussion of 50s Rock ‘n Roll… Country Music, then known as Hillbilly Music. Thus “Rockabilly.”
I wish you, Karl, had pointed out “Rock Around the Clock” was not the first Rock ‘n Roll but half a decade later. It was just the first White version that got national attention of a genre that was about a decade old and had been called Rock ‘n Roll for half a decade starting with Alan Freed.
Good point about Rockabilly, it was there before the fifties and those old hillbilly records go all the way back. My view of the history of American music has changed a lot over the last several years because of all the old music on UA-cam. Western swing like Bob Wills was very close to rock and roll back in the thirties. I think rock and roll was popping out in different places under various genres for a long time before people like Little Richard just nailed it to the wall in a simpler more purified form. Very interesting.
I'm jumping ahead a couple of decades, and will probably bring this up again when we hit the 70's, but for those interested in the history of rock, I highly suggest watching the documentary "Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World". The contribution of our first nation brothers to rock has been greatly overlooked.
Didn't Elvis himself have Native American heritage?
@@SpuzzyLargo I know Jimmy Hendrix did
Yes, that documentary brought up interesting evidence that native American music was the basis for blues and hence later genres of American popular music. The " Rumble " in the title refers to the LInk Wray instrumental Rumble, and I believe he was native American as well. ( Just found Amy's channel recently, so my comment is seven months after this was broadcast. )
@@johnsilva9139 I think you'll enjoy this channel. Amy has a unique approach to her music analysis. She has certainly made me look at a lot of musical pieces with a new ear. If you are a Pink Floyd fan, you will enjoy her analysis of The Wall.
I think you left out two very crucial elements of the birth of R & R. One is Rhythm & Blues. While blues was a basic foundation for it, r&b went in a different direction. R&B had more jump and move that straight blues, or jazz. Songs from Wynona Harris, Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner, Little Richard and many others were more in the direction and influence of early r&r than the blues or jazz, especially when jazz headin in the Be Bop direction. A lot of the R&B musicians became the first r&r musicians.
The other element was Rockabilly. The combination of country & western, bluegrass and r&b came in from the other side. It was more guitar based and usually a trio or a 4 piece band like Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, Elvis, Bill Haley and others. Chuck Berry is the best example of both those two elements coming together.
Speaking of 45s, I have a 45 of King Curtis, Honky Tonk. I recorded it on cassette in 45rpm and 33rpm. It sounds fantastic in both!
Fascinating that what I consider contemporary music gets a serious historical treatment. I'm 73..
It’s nice you’re spending so much time up here, Amy.
You guys Amaze me! When I saw you were going to try and explain rock I thought Oh boy, I have to watch this disaster! I must say, I am Very pleasantly surprised! It is such a Very difficult thing to explain but when ya'll went back in time, I thought, wow, this might end up being very good, and, so far, it has been Amazing! I am about to be 68, music is like a family member to me. Your approach to this as well as the content is spot on. I look forward to all that is to come
I think very difficult to do. Everyone has a slightly different take on it. This channel is a treasure.
This was a great chat with many good and interesting points. Doo-Wop often gets overlooked.
❤❤I love how many artist would blend their roots into genres from the '40's, '50s, '60s, '70s, and beyond. Marvin Gaye is in my top 10. I hear rainbows when mixes the decades together.
Well done. In order to learn the history of art it requires a truthful study of both the society of the time and it's own past as well. Peace/JT
Great presentation. To hear Little Richard tell the tale, he single handedly created what we know as rock. He's not totally wrong. Chuck Berry's learning to play the piano parts on his guitar was another big stepping stone.
But for me, the most important part of the 50's era rock was the beginning of the transition from vocal oriented songs to a more guitar centered sound, leading into to 60's.
🤘🧙♂️🤘
Rich the Ancient Metal Beast
A good framing of the cultural backdrop of the times Karl. A very important aspect of the history.
It was good. I wonder how Be-Bop fit into it. The crazy fast rhythms and abrupt turns must have been an influence but I haven’t read anyone mention it specifically.
@@Hartlor_Tayley Not sure on bebop, although it undoubtedly had an influence for the reasons you mentioned. On the Doo-Wop side, one interesting influence that was mentioned by someone on the Chords video was the impact it had on the Beach Boys. But your mentioning bebop brings up an interesting question. Should Amy's third UA-cam channel be Virgin Bebop (Virgin Blues must come first), or should that just be a part of Virgin Jazz? When I found out Amy hadn't seen Star Wars yet, I also recommended she create a Virgin Movie Scores channel. Now that I learned you never saw it either, you will need to subscribe so you can hear John Williams score. Of course Amy has an excuse, not having grown up at that time Star Wars came out. You on the other hand? 😉
@@LeeKennison I saw Rocky Horror does that count ? I saw movies at the drive in ;). Movie theater was a bit of a hassle so I barely went. I think all those suggestions are great. Many amazing soundtracks. And the Jazz/ pre rock stuff is pure gold but I’m wondering if Amy and Vlad are going to have the time and energy to keep this channel going.
@@Hartlor_Tayley Rocky Horror probably doesn't count since it was required at the time. But then again, I thought Star Wars was also required. I'm surprised you weren't kicked out of the cool kids club. I still remember piling all my friends into my '69 Chevelle Super Sport in 1977 to go see Star Wars. We were blown away since there wasn't anything else like it at the time. Yeah, I think it was rather selfish of Amy and Vlad to decide to have a baby. They never really considered the impact it would have on the rest of us (just kidding)
@@LeeKennison a baby how could they do this to us. Lol. But I loved those old Chevelles, I had a 67. Man I was never a cool kid, a misfit even amongst the freaks. Hey I just found this cool video about a be bop drummer and thought of you. How the Girl from Ipanema been treating you? ua-cam.com/video/ZnHi0GR0REs/v-deo.html
Excellent discussion for the generalised history of the music and development of teenage culture in North America in the 1950s. Spot on with the discussion of doo wop.
I would add more info on (and songs by) Little Richard and Chuck Berry, as well as Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, and of course, Elvis Presley (who presented R&B without cleaning it up enough for some 'white' audiences).
While jazz, especially the big bands, had been hugely popular in the 1940s, in part because of radio broadcasts, and also because of being able to dance to it live in huge ballrooms, that changed in the 1950s. With the advent of bebop jazz, more complex rhythmic and melodic structures, and then "cool" jazz, this was music for more careful sitting and listening. The music of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Bud Powell, etc, was not generally dance music. (And I still love many of those 1950s jazz recordings, later leading to developments during the 1960s and 1970s in free jazz and jazz-rock fusion!) So things changed, with the desire for simpler dance music being satisfied by this hybrid of swing, R&B, gospel, blues, etc, then synthesised into what developed into rock music.
And all of those elements, including music from African American musicians and Caucasian American musicians, was heard without differentiation by some young and developing British musicians. The results of that exposure blew back to North America in the 1960s with the "British Invasion" of popular music created by those young people.
Thanks again, and looking forward to more history.
Yes ! Great comment. Bottom line is the Kids wanted to dance. Heavy progressive rock gave way to Disco for the same reason.
Good point, also gave way to Hip-Hop.@@Hartlor_Tayley
@@johnsilva9139 yes I suppose you are right.
Karl is such a great presenter. I was expecting some schmo making base analyses of rock standards and what I got was an engaging history lesson that contextualized the music thoroughly.
A reaction to Dolly Parton singing I will always love you is required now for penance 😂
The Voyager spacecraft had 2 songs on the gold disc that were significant to the genre. One by Louis Armstrong and one by Chuck Berry. They were alongside Bach Beethoven Mozart and Stravinsky. 👍
15:31 - one place I've heard Goodnight Sweetheart is at the "Harmony Sweepstakes" finals... Harmony Sweepstakes is an A Capella competition that spans the United States, with several regional finals, and then the regional winners come together for the overall finals. Because of the nature of all this, a fairly large percentage of the audience are trained or at least well practiced singers. And at the end of the night, *all* the finalists come together on stage (maybe 50-60 people, depending), and lead the auditorium (a 2000-seat house, that's usually quite full) in singing the song, after an exciting night of singing. It's a truly awesome (in the literal sense of the word) experience to be in that room. Would recommend!
Does UA-cam have an awards program? I’d like to nominate this channel (and Amy, Karl and Vlad personally too)! 😊
Yes, I agree. I am SO happy I stumbled on this channel, and anxiously await each new video.
To me rock is about a number of popular music forms of the late 40's and early 50's being synthesized into a new way of playing and singing music that came to be called rock. Namely, rhythm and blues, an electrified and more intense form of blues originally associated with Chicago, perhaps most famously exemplified by Muddy Waters, jump blues, a stripped-down version of big band jazz that was played to a blues progression and whose most famous practitioners were Louis Jordan and Louis Prima, and country, a southern and rural form of music made popular by musicians like Gene Autry and Hank Williams.
You can probably also throw in some jazz, in the jazz-blues-country guitar style played by the likes of Charlie Christian and Les Paul, as well as popular jazz standards as sung by the likes of Nat King Cole and the Ink Spots. Other popular music genres came to influence rock later on, like gospel and folk, but I think that there were the key ones that came together to become rock.
In a way rock was really rhythm and blues and jump blues for white audiences, but I think that that's an oversimplification that fails to take into account the importance of country music in early rock music and certain musical elements unique to rock music, like its tempo and rhythms and overtly sexualized and suggestive lyrics, playing and performing styles.
One way to define 50s Rock ‘n Roll is white hillbilly country music performers doing black race R&B music with a mainstream pop vocal chorus backing them up and a sax soloing like BeBop or a guitar trying to replace that sax.
Let’s throw in Bob wills and the Texas Playboys and Django Reinhardt too. Most of those Chicago blues artists came from Mississippi ( Muddy, Wolf and BB etc )
Amy, You are a producer. For sure. A la George Martin of Beatles fame. I love your facial expressions during the listen. And your analysis is honest and innocent and a gold mine of musical knowledge.
One thing I'd like to point out is the stop and start nature of early rock-n-roll songs. Muddy Water's who everyone "stole" it from. Elvis with "Heartbreak Hotel", Chuck Berry with "Johnny Be Good" and even Bill Haley uses this effect to a lessor extent in 'Rock around the Clock". Again....it's Muddy Waters! He's the man. With out Muddy there is no "ROCK-N-ROLL"
That was happening in Bebop Jazz maybe that was part of it. Sometimes people just get the same ideas from out of the blue
Most blues artists “stole” from other blues artists. I can think of two songs off the top of my head that were recorded by Big Bill Broonzy before Muddy Waters was recording them. He was at least twenty years older than muddy and died just as muddy started to make a name for himself. That being said, BBB probably “stole” those songs from someone else.
@@beatmet2355 everyone stole from everyone else. I agree
"The Blues Had a Baby And They Named Rock And Roll" (Muddy Waters)
If you want to know what gospel music did for rock and roll? You only have to look at 2 artist.
Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin.
Have you heard either of them, Amy?
Add The Staples Singers, who grew up singing the blues and not even knowing.
Good job, Karl. I agree with your views.
Link Wray really ought to have an 'atta boy' mention at least. Rebel Rouser was hugely influential in the development of rock, not only is it an instrumental which was quite odd for the time, but the song is dripping with attitude and reflected the rebellious nature of teens at the time. Plus it's one of the early songs that features a heavily distorted guitar which would really help set the electric guitar as the dominant instrument later on.
Link was fantastic. He even had instrumentals banned from the radio. Pure rock and roll bad ass.
Rebel Rouser was Duane Eddy. Link Wray was best known for Rumble.
@@srdjr6760 Duane eddy was another great rock guitarist
Yes. That’s half of another subgenre- Surf Rock. The other half was more vocal and built on Do-Wop & R&B.
@@mirandak3273 dick Dale and the deltones.
Would have been cool to see her reaction to Rock Around the Clock and then Rock This Town by the Stray Cats from 30 years later.
Good discussion. What's funny is, after searching, I found the 45s that my parents made on UA-cam. Cuca Records was in central Wisconsin, and recorded a lot of the bands from Green Bay/Appleton/Oshkosh/Madison/Milwaukee. They actually made some coin putting out the original version of the Fenderman's "Mule Skinner Blues". My dad's 45 that he played rhythm guitar on was Bob Mattice and the Phaetons "What's All This/Kawliga" Cuca Records 1960. "What's All This" is an answer to "Mule Skinner Blues", and "Kawliga" is a rockabilly version of the great Hank Williams song.
My mom's 45 is Karen Wells "Never Gonna Let You Go" Cuca Records 1961. Very up tempo for the time. I have quite a bit of vinyl of her, including her demos in Nashville. She did sing at the Ryman auditorium once while down there doing the demo. I think the story was it was between her and Dottie West, and they went with Dottie.
Thankfully, we have CDs and better things now, so if you make music or write it, these are cool things for your kids to have to remember you by, if you have the time to record something for them.
It's good that you mention the teenagers who became a "consumer force" during the 50s, but you still don't really seem to appreciate the role of rather "primitive" country and Chicago blues in the development of rock'n'roll. Many early rock songs are written in the 12 bar blues format that dominates these genres. Chuck Berry's (someone you neglect to mention for some reason) entire catalogue consists songs in the 12 bar blues vein. Elvis Presley, rock's first real "super star" had his first hit with a cover of "That's Alright, Mama", by blues singer Arthur Crudup. Arthur Crudup's entire repertoire basically consisted of two songs: a fast 12-bar blues and a slow 12-bar blues, to which he made up different lyrics.
An important element in this was that it was a musical format that was fairly easy for kids to learn on their own, just by listening to the radio or the records, without any real musical education, in contrast to the sophisticated chord progressions and arrangements that you had in the "swing" era that came before it.
There is a famous story about John Lennon and Paul McCartney who, when they had just started playing guitar, took a bus all the way to the other side of Liverpool to this guy who they had heard of, who knew the chord B7. They already knew E and A and the B7 chord was sort of the missing part of the puzzle. That is really how most rock musicians started out in the 50s and 60s. They were not sophisticated musicians with grand ambitions, they were kids, having fun.
Golly I could have sworn he said exactly that….several times
Right you are but I think he did say something to that effect.
@@helenespaulding7562 Well, I don't think he mentioned Chuck Berry, or Carl Perkins, or Eddie Cochran, who are very much the inventors of the rock'n'roll genre as we know it. He goes on about "doo-wop", and although that was kind of big in the 50s, it was much less of an influence on the rock music that came after than what we now know as "rockabilly".
@@MartijnHover I tend to agree. But he did mention Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Fats Domino, towards the beginning, when they said that the first 10 episodes are a quick survey through the decades and that once they’ve done that, they will circle back and go into more depth about each one. I don’t know why they’ve set it up that way, but there you go. I’m sure those great influencers will be discussed when they circle back.
I know that Robert Plant always mentions Cochran, Little Richard, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and several others, as great influences on him.
Really enjoying this series ❤
Karl should at least have mentioned that the rise of the guitar as the main instrument in Rock (next to the drums), came from the rural Blues men, who accompanied themselves on a guitar. In the classic Blues orchestras in the city, with their female singers, like Bessie Smith, the guitar played only a minor role. It was really the rural Blues (think Mississippi for a good example), that pushed the guitar to the fore.
He should have also mentioned the big influence of the first great electric guitar players, Jazzman Charlie Christian and Bluesman T-Bone Walker.
Then he should have mentioned how Muddy Waters came from Mississippi to Chicago and started playing his rural Blues on an electric guitar.
Then he should have introduced Chuck Berry to Amy.
And only t h e n the white bands, like Bill Haley & The Comets and the Rolling Stones (and the Beatles, and the Kinks).
But our self-proclaimed Rock history teacher jumps right in the fifties cross-over Rock ‘n’ Roll and eighties electric Blues Rock.
Karl hasn’t done justice to the roots of Rock ‘n’ Roll so far. For him, Blues seems to equal Stevie Ray Vaughan.
So far, he’s terribly disappointed me, and I wish Amy had a more faithful introduction to the history of Rock (as well as to the drums).
Before they started this series, Karl said we had to be patient and not immediately criticise him, because he might come up with the music we were missing, at some other point. But I do criticise him, for not giving Amy a c h r o l o g i c a l introduction of the music.
One last note. It makes no sense to drop names like Little Richard and talk about genres like Hip-Hop, if one hasn't introduced Amy to this music yet. Our Rush fan goes off into long monologues, and Amy is just sitting there smiling and nodding politely. I can't stand watching it, and I consider not watching the rest of this series.
How long do you want these videos to be? Sheesh! This one is already over 25 minutes (which is fine), but these are not 90 minute documentaries!
I was thinking the whole time "gospel influence" and I'm glad it was brought up. I have to make a big correction. Whitney Houston didn't write "I Will Always Love You." That was written and recorded by Dolly Parton.
He is absolutely right 💯
I'd say that Doo-wop had more to do with African-American gospel and pop music than Chicago-type blues scene (musically, not socially). The Ink Spots and Mills Brothers would've been the forerunners, as well as barbershop and gospel quartet styles. I can't think of any blues song that has a 4-part harmony style to it.
Also, the blues form - AAB /12-bar / I-IV-V chord progression - was different than most doo-wop. Doo-wop used mostly I-vi-IV-V.and an 8 or 16 bar pattern.
It might be instructive to say something about Elvis's first recordings at Sun (where Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Ike Turner, et al also recorded), as these were really breaking ground in the South, fusing country, pop, and R&B into a new cultural phenomenon. By the time Blackboard Jungle came out in 1955, Elvis had 3 or 4 regional hit records on his hands, and was causing quite a commotion in live appearances. Elvis and Bill Haley were on the same bill in Cleveland in the fall of 1955, too!
Agree doo-wop is not blues. If it was, what would be so special and distinctive about Lou Reed and the Velvets? They'd just be another white blues rock band. But they weren't.
Another pioneer song. Seven Come Eleven with Benny Goodman. A pioneer riff based song and electric guitar with Charlie Christian.
Charlie Christian was a pioneer of electric guitar. His album solo flight was very influential.
Fats Domino's first recordings were released in 1949. The first R&B crossovers to WHITE radio were, in this order, Facts Domino, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard -- Richard being eclipsed by Elvis covers.
Woah. Hit the brakes there, Karl. Whitney Houston did NOT write “I will always love you.” That was written and recorded by Dolly Parton in 1973.
Cultural appropriation? (tongue in cheek comment)
She wrote “I will always love you” and “Jolene” on the SAME DAY !
For the 60's there needs to be a Beatles song, maybe "Rain". I would suggest also Jimi Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower" so you get both Bob Dylan and Hendrix in one.
Regarding the 45 records: They were the main format used in Jukeboxes, often found in Diners and Hamburger joints and Soda Parlors ala "Happy Days". Thus, most of the new 'rock-n-roll' music came out on 45's "singles" which could be distributed to radio stations, Jukebox owners and the general public. Another development in the later 50's was the transistor radio. Pocket sized transistor radios allowed teens to listen to their favourite radio stations away from their parents. While some cars had radios in the 50's, it wasn't until the mid 60's that most cars had radios (thanks to the transistors). Early car radios still used Vacuum Tubes (aka Valves to the Brits) and were an expensive add-on/option.
BTW: One of Aretha Franklin's back-up singers was Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston's mother. Elvis Presley was a big fan of Gospel music and eventually recorded and album of Gospel music. Rock On!
🎸😎
Came here to see how many times you would be told Dolly Parton wrote that! 😆 I am the exact same age as Karl and my passion for music started in the 60s. I can't wait for the next one! Although I would not want to have to pick just 2-songs to represent the turmoil of the '60s. There was just so much going on. The rock music of 68/69 was very different from the rock music of '62.
As a potted history that was hard to beat. Two questions though - first, although RATC was the most successful early rock n roll record, what was intermediate between that and the dance band sound? It doesnt seem to be the first of its kind. Second, the doo-wop stylings and vocalisations of the other song. These are so distinct. Are they purely from the pentacostal style churches/African-American spirituals (I refrain from the old phrase) or were they also influenced by 'barber shop harmony' too? Indeed what was the appeal of using non-words as part of the melody? Was it simply in place of instrumentation? Thanks.
I just had a thought: Is it possible to talk about early rock and roll without mentioning Elvis Presley? Will there be some mention of Elvis Presley later on? Should he not be discussed as part of the rock landscape of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s?
karl, we did have slavery here, we gave it up about 30 years before the states, the underground railroad went both ways till then, slaves from canada escaping to the states. cute thing, i grew up in the nova scotian county where arguably the first ever race riot took place and very definitely the largest ever white on black race riot, one in the same.
Karl, you have to apologize to Dolly Parton 😅
Ohh. Looking forward to you reviewing Paul Simon - Love me like a rock.
I hope that when Amy & Karl return to the 1950s to listen to many influential songs of the period, that Karl will discuss the massive influence of Lonnie Donegan on the formation of British rock from the late 1950s. (There's a great book out there on Donegan.) Donegan started out as a trad jazz musician. During rest breaks of their club shows, he started playing some simple folk and blues-based music that soon became hugely popular in and of itself --and was dubbed "skiffle music." He began having hit records and concerts in the UK playing this relatively simple music, compared to the jazz he had been playing. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, 12-year-old Jimmy Page, et al, all began playing Donegan's skiffle, because all a young boy needed to learn was a handful of simple "cowboy chords" on guitar. This evolved into British rock.
Also, besides needing to learn only a few basic guitar chords, at first, you didn't need a big piano to lug around, a drum kit, or electricity for amplification. A simple acoustic guitar, some "pots and pans" or just a couple of simple drums to create the rhythm, and a tin wash tub with a broom handle and a long thick string to provide the bass. Check out a young 13-year-old Jimmy Page (future guitarist of the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin) in 1957 playing skiffle: ua-cam.com/video/ewNLaBhPRY8/v-deo.html
Finally, that old April 1957 TV clip of Jimmy Page and friends was broadcast only three months before Paul McCartney saw John Lennon playing skiffle music on stage at a fete in Liverpool July 1957--and the rest is .... well, you know.
One genre that was missed altogether is bebop, which was a go-between linking big band and rock. The bass parts of most 50's rock music was straight out of bebop.
Many consider Rocket 88 to be the first rock song, although it wasn't as popular as Rock Around the Clock.
Good class.
"Rocket 88" from 1951 is also an early rock song.
The Jokers, Sabre Dance
2 minutes, no words
Important to mention; the Chicago sound was influenced by musicians who came up from New Orleans, and most of them grew up with old-time blues of the South. This migration took place in the 30s and 40s. Also, in the 50s, many more parents than teens discriminated against music performed by black musicians, and since teens usually used their weekly allowance to buy records, the parents who paid the allowance had the power to say "Not that record!" / "Not those singers!" Parents were equally prejudice against white artists who performed "black music." Elvis Presley is a prime example, but even Benny Goodman was scorned for playing "jungle music" a decade earlier. (I'm 71)
I don’t know how much race played into parents and teens buying records. I mean it was hard to tell, Nat King Cole and the Mills brothers etc were black and totally mainstream popular artists as were Louis Armstrong etc. I think it was the style of music parents worried about. That rowdy beat heavy rhythm and crazy vocals with lyrics that were of questionable morals that worried them. Songs that didn’t evoke carnality or rebellion were fine regardless of race and rowdy songs about debaunchery were verboten regardless of the race of the performers. A lot of the color divide in popular music came from Radio stations worried about advertisers and night club owners worried about their backers and hotels worried about complaints. I mean it was more of a top down concern about live touring bands more than the average person listenning to the radio and trying to figure out what color the artists are to decide whether to like the music or not.
@@Hartlor_Tayley For a time, Black artists performed differently for White audiences than they did for Black audiences. There's a lot to discuss about music and color from the 20s clear up until today. I was introducing only one point that I thought worth mentioning.
@@g-ma_of_8 this is true. You made good points
This is very interesting. I was born in the 50s and so far everything is as I learned in my early years. One thing I need correct Karl on, America did not have slavery for 200 years. America had slavery for less than 100 years. America started in 1775-1776 and slavery was abolished in the mid 1860s. Unfortunately, British colonists brought slavery to North America (not America as America was not yet a country) around 1619. So it was British people who passed down the horrible legacy of slavery to America. America abolished slavery, it didn't start it.
Britain abolished slavery before America did.
@@Hartlor_Tayley yes, but not in North America. The Virginia Company of London brought slavery to North America ca. 1619.
No. Dolly Parton wrote "I Will Always Love You".
Post-WW II it wasn't only that teenagers had "disposable cash," but also the automobile. Chuck Berry made a career of creating car tunes, some of them quite funny.
dolly parton wrote i will always love you not whitney houston
Don't want to be Debbie Downer, but it would be a disservice if I didn't say this. Canada did indeed have slavery. It was abolished earlier but it did happen.
I did not know that, or had forgotten it
I love these history discussion episodes, they are very informative and entertaining!
I just wanted to clarify that the difference in race when I comes to music back in the 50s isn't 100% a "racial" issue.
In the 1950s the USA was about 88% white and only about 6% black. A business gearing their products towards the massive majority of whites is more of a business decision than a racial one. I'm not saying racism wasn't a thing, of course it was, but the decision to cater to the massive white audience was to make money.
Of course! But WHY wasn’t the white audience going out and buying music by black musicians back then, as they do do now? Why weren’t the black groups getting radio play so that they COULD make money for the labels? That is the racial
Part of it. I don’t think it was even that malicious or nefarious. Most whites just didn’t consider “their@ music and considered it @inappropriate” for white kids…ESPECIALLY GIRLS, to listen to it.
@@helenespaulding7562 I'm only talking about the music industry's decision to promote "white musicians" who would appeal more to white audiences. It was primarily to sell more. Yes, I'm sure there may have been some racism in that decision but the primary factor was to put the company's time and money into promoting acts that have an appeal to a VASTLY wider audience.
@@Mr.Batsu12 lots of black artists were big mainstream stars at that time but they were mostly radio friendly too. If it was race then there wouldn’t have been popular black artists
@@Hartlor_Tayley I'm not saying there were no successful black artists or that big companies refused to promote them. I'm just speaking in generalities.
The overwhelming majority of America was white.
A very tiny portion of America was black.
It makes perfect business sense that companies primarily focused on promoting talent that they assumed would appeal to the white audiences more. Shooting for the larger audience is a good business decision.
I think you could fairly criticize companies for not promoting black talent as much, not for racist reasons but for it being a stupid business decision. They assumed whites would only listen to whites. That assumption meant they likely didn't promote some amazing black artists at the time. They left a ton of extra money on the table.
(I'm 100% a capitalist and seeing stupid business decisions companies make is really frustrating)
As I said, I'm only referring to what the business side promoted. I don't doubt some of the people were racist to some degree but most people in the world care far more about the color green than they do black or white.
As for the customers, most people care more about getting good music than they care about the color of the performer. Nat King Cole, Elle Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino... They weren't just popular with black audiences they were popular with everybody.
@@Mr.Batsu12 it was a lot tougher for black artists to break through but like you said demographics and economics and the assumption that Bing Crosby should be the template. The English in sixties had no such assumption.
Whitney Houston did `not` write "I Will Always Love you" It was written by Dolly Parton. Also- a resume of the 1950s and not one mention of Elvis? Had they not heard of him in Canada?
I think he mentioned this is a quick survey of only two songs per decade and then he will circle back. I’m POSITIVE that Elvis will be given proper respect when he does that.
I’m going go recommend two 50s songs one is rockabilly one is for lack of a better word indescribable but the kind of music parents hated.
Leroy by Jack Scott and Little Demon by Screamin Jay Hawkins.
As John Lennon said, when they went to see an Elvis movie, the girls in the theater would scream when Elvis showed on the screen -- "THAT'S a good job."
16:50 - Karl, you may want to check your facts on that. Certainly Canada had a lot less of it than in the United States, but less isn't none. :-/
Karl is spot on again :)
One story not mentioned here, maybe they get into it in the next episode was how Alan Freed played a roll in rock. Freed was the first radio disc jockey and concert producer who frequently played and promoted rock and roll; he popularized the phrase "rock and roll" on mainstream radio in the early 1950s. (The term already existed and had been used by Billboard as early as 1946, but it remained obscure.) He helped bridge the gap of segregation among young teenage Americans, presenting music by black artists (rather than cover versions by white artists) on his radio program, and arranging live concerts attended by racially mixed audiences. But alas, Freed also had controversial times in his career when it was shown that he had accepted payola (payments from record companies to play specific records), a practice that was highly controversial at the time. In 1964 Freed was indicted by a federal grand jury for tax evasion and ordered to pay $37,920 in taxes on income he had allegedly not reported. Most of that income was said to be from payola sources.
Although 4-track and 8.track was conceived in the mid '50's, the only one recording with that system was Les Paul. It became more common in the US in the '60's and The Beatles were didn't use it in England until '67 (SPLHCB). So I guess Rock Around The clock was mono or stereo. Cheers Karl!
To better understand the recording technology, I'd recommend a movie called, "Tom Dowd & the Language of Music". He was the recording engineer/producer from the 40s until the 2000s, and worked with everybody during all of that. He was one of the major influences on multi-track recording, and the sound of the artists he worked with, starting with jazz with people like Coltrane well into the rock era. Listening to him talk about putting together Layla is pure magic.
@@benyalow645 I have that movie. And yes, Dowd was an amazing engineer and producer.
Didn’t Whitney cover Dolly Parton’s song not write it?
Didnt Dolly Parton write I Will Always Love You, not Whitney Houston, it was a big hit for her though still yeah.
I mentioned in the live chat how the gospel music of the black churches influenced many British musicians of the 60s, including Mick Jagger and the Stones. This 'Aretha Franklin - Climbing Higher Mountains (Live at New Temple Missionary Baptist Church, 1972)' video shows Mick at the back of the church really getting into the spirit of things ua-cam.com/video/2mJvHJnRX8w/v-deo.html
@@johnbowley1950 Agreed!
That’s incredible.
Move it on over, hank williams, first rock n roll song
Are you drunk? This style is called honky-tonk! Of course, he had a very indirect influence on the formation of rock 'n' roll, but why do you call it the first rock and roll record? Early proto-rock and roll is jump blues and rhythm & blues. Early proto-rockabilly is guitar western swing and hillbilly boogie
@@markmmv Chuck Berry said all he ever listened to was Hank Williams and the like. Berry didn’t hear Jump blues until after he left West Virginia. Hank is direct predessor of Chuck.
Actually, technically, there is no first, as it is an evolution of music not an immediate change. There are other songs, for example The Fat Man by Fats Domino that are considered the first, but again that is moot as there is no first. But thanks for the input.
@@Hartlor_Tayley Just out of curiosity, I wonder what many of the greats would be listening to today had they lived through the various changes in Rock.
@@karlsloman5320 that’s a great question. I listen to mostly old music that is new to me. The amount of recordings going back to Edison is staggering, so maybe they would be doing a similar thing. I don’t know. Would Charlie Parker be listening to Slayer or Drake ? Who can say?
One sad fact left out of the discussion about Jazz and Blues music was the fact that in that era there were so many great musicians who became legends in their own right, but were heavily into very hard life destroying drugs like heroine and most others struggled with alcoholism. You can hear that pain in the music but the paradox is that is so enjoyable to listen to. But that pattern will be repeated time and again through out the history of Rock which again, sadly has come to an end. Maybe there could be a discussion here on THAT subject. Rock is officially dead!
Befoe "Rock Around the Clock" was Jackie Brenson's "Rocket 88". And then there was Gospel "rocker" Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
I'd really like to see you compare and contrast songs like, "Keep A-Knockin' (but You Can't Come In.) The original swing/jazz version by Louis Jordan vs the Rock and Roll version by Little Richard. Or "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" by Big Maybelle vs Jerry Lee Lewis.
I will always love you by Whitney Houston was a cover, written and originally performed by Dolly Parton. Whitney did not write this.
I think you might want to look at crossovers like Buddy Holly and the crickets.
I enjoy very much your channel. I am not a musician, I do not play any instrument, but I love music.
I am behind in listening to all your content. Today is April 19, 2023 and this video was published "2 months ago".
I *strongly* recommend that you edit the video to add a"clarification note" about the author of "I will always love you", this should not take much time and will make your material accurate. The error is at 25min 10 sec.
Ray Charles (Georgia), who was huge, came from blues, into rhythm and blues, and eventually some "jazz".
I wonder what Jolene must have been bringing to make someone stacked as Dolly Parton so insecure.
Don't forget the influence of Bandstand with Dick Clark and Elvis. Can't wait to hear your review of Purple People Eater and the Chipmunks. 😜
Carl must know Dolly Parton wrote Whitney Houston's big hit I Will Always Love You. Seems like he is fishing for comments.
My favorite example of dancing as a thinly veiled reference to sex in early rock and roll is Twenty Flight Rock, about a guy who loves to visit his girlfriend on a Saturday night and just, you know, dance with her in private. As you do. But he has to climb twenty flights of stairs, so when he gets to the top he's too tired to "rock."
at 25.11 he says wh wrote it ,,, dolly parton wrote i will always love you not whitney houston
"Shh-Boom" is on the rhythm and blues side. It is a few steps removed from "pure" Gospel. It was a hit during the rock and roll era, so passed as rock and roll.
Another who was really too old for teenagers? Chuck Berry. Another? -- honky-tonk country performer Carl Perkins.
I think it is quite inaccurate to say that the crew cuts went up higher with Shboom because they were white. I always found their version to simply be a lot better (And I didn't even know either group's skin colour until I saw this video). It's just a cleaner, sharper version.
Count Bessie left hand
oops! I will always love you was written by Dolly Parton
I wonder how many times Karl will be scolded by the chat for the Whitney Houston mistake. #Houstongate2023
Lol
As many times as there are broken scroll wheels on mouses
I have to wonder what you're planning to do when there are multiple genres to follow in a decade. For example, the main genres that emerged and became popular in the 70's would be Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, and Punk Rock. I imagine that going over their developments in detail would be too time consuming to fit properly in one episode.
And Soft Rock, which was enormous, Country Rock, Funk, Pop Rock, Prog, Disco, & Jesus Rock. Punk was splitting quickly with Reggae impacting it & New Wave growing out of it.
Oh! Silly me. I forgot one of my favorite 70s subgenres: Glam!
True, there were just so many different genres in the underground and on the radio! Of course, the 3 genres that I named are the first ones to come to mind since the music that I tend to listen to is derived primarily from these genres.
How can you talk 70's and not mention disco? Even if you didn't like it, it was huge.
Next up already the 60s? Can't be, skipping Elvis Presley?! He and no one else redefined rock 'n' roll in the 50s, gave it the sex components and the "aura" of a great, great movement and made it to a worldwide phenomenon.
It's hard for me to appreciate the history of rock and roll with constantly noticing the influence the roots of rock music constantly re- influenced it's evolution into multiple genres with sub classes. Jazz influences hip hop, hip influences lol yes bluegrass and country ( which in most cases needs to stop, just my opinion), bluegrass influences country as it always has done, disco, hard Rick, grunge Rick, Heavy Metal, death metal, Chicago blues, Chicago jazz, , new Orleans jazz, Cajun, honky tonk, Texas blues, southern rock, folk, rock , folk music in and on organically after the producers and AnR men get their say anyways. American music the US Constitution and maybe baseball will be the only things the US will be known for 1000 years from now.... and for being collectively a bunch of jack asses most likely as well All your vids are great. I look forward to seeing more. Happy Saturday.
Baseball ? Now that’s depressing.
That is a very good comment and I agree. I have a feeling that bands even influence themselves when it comes to music!! Seriously. Influences are immense, but they are simply that, influences. I would suggest that from the beginning of time ALL music influenced ALL music and it has become even more ubiquitous as mass media and communications have developed. To state that one type of music influenced another, to me, is ridiculous. Hell even in the albums I have produced, I have influences from all kinds of music in one album. It is the way it is. You cannot stop each type of music from influencing each type of music, even if you want to. For your comment about the Constitution and baseball, was that from Ken Burn's Jazz series? Thanks for the great comment.
How about landing the first people on the moon, the development of the personal computer, first successful constitutional republic, abolishment of slavery, etc.?
@@karlsloman5320 in the real old days young person had maybe one song or a part of a song that made them want to play music and they developed around what was available. Nowadays virtually everything ever recorded is there. Artists now not only have to compete with their contemporaries but they have to compete with everything ever made.
@@asquare9316 Did I or did I not mention the US Constitution? Screw the PC & the moon landing and Saran wrap too.. As for the abolishment of slavery, I mentioned the US Constitution in case you were elsewhere.
1) The 45 was introduced by RCA in March 1949 and was a game changer. The records sounded better and were significantly lighter and more durable than the 78s they replaced. The sound reproduction equipment was smaller and more portable too so the teens were no longer shackled to the furniture sized record players at home. Freedom 😉
2) Recording to tape becomes affordable and the industry standard in the late 40s/early 50s. Freed from the straight jacket of cutting direct to master disc, little recording studios cropped up servicing loads of little record labels producing loads of records. It became economically viable to hire a studio, record and produce a small run for local/regional distribution. All of which meant stuff which would have previously hit the "cutting room floor", so to speak, gets released. For example, the original of "Little Darlin'" by The Gladiolas ua-cam.com/video/Z9G7IOgtH10/v-deo.html is all over the place, sounding as if the (single) microphone was placed in the next room. But the energy and the instrumentation ensures a placing in the R&B and Billboard charts. This, of course, is a fine example of Karl's "Caucasian-izing" when those prime Canadian cover artists, The Diamonds, record it and have the big international hit ua-cam.com/video/G5LMkAttTps/v-deo.html
So that's the 50s!!?? On with the 60s?? Barely scratching the surface of the surface.
Virtually All those early small label regional singles are on UA-cam now and the breadth and depth of it all is so interesting. After hearing many of them my whole idea of music history in the last century is being revised. That version of Little Darlin has that mambo rhythm which was trendy at the time. All these things. I don’t know if it was caucasianizing when the bigger labels made blander more middle of the road versions they just wanted to sell records and get on the radio. I think its not a race thing at all, lots of black folks didn’t like the rough and rowdy stuff and lots of whites didn’t like the clean bland radio versions. I could be wrong but it seems to be more about the industry than the audience
@@Hartlor_Tayley I don't think it was caucasianizing either (that's Karl's word) - just business. It was easy for the larger labels to raid the R&B charts for likely songs with existing arrangements and produce a more professional version. With their established distribution channels they were far more likely to get larger sales (distribution was a problem for the independents). Even Hank Williams suffered from this with his #1 country hit "Cold, Cold Heart" which was a #1 pop hit for Tony Bennett both in 1951.
@@sharonsnail2954 yes it was just business. Great reply.
Thanks for bringing up how the vinyl format was a big improvement over 78 shellac. The 45 single was more flexible than Karl gives it credit and he does another error comparable to the one of slighting Dolly.
The 45 was not limited to 3 minutes. It’s not why songs were around three minutes. The 45 could actually handle two three minute songs per side- thus the EP.
So where DID the 3 minute song come from?
The Shellac 78.
The 78 record looks like the later 33 vinyl LP, but it actually could only do three minutes a side. That was already the norm when radio started playing records in the late 30s. By the 50s it was just accepted that a popular song was 3 minutes long. Otherwise it wouldn’t get radio play.
Now the 33 LP looked similar to a 78 record, but it could do so much more it could put what had literally been an album of 78 records on one disc. It was a boon for longer classical pieces that had been butchered by the 78 format. But popular music still did three minute songs on a 33 LP, just 12 of them in the US or 14 in the UK: an album but no longer a literal one.
The 45 went the other direction. A smaller vinyl disc with a bigger central hole that reproduced the 78 shellac’s format of one three minute song per side- just what radio demanded.
In the years around their introduction circa 1950, the two vinyl formats battled each other to see which would win the battle. Players were for one format or the other.
But something else happened. Player manufacturers made record players that could do all three speeds. You could play your old 78s as well as both new versions.
Soon the competition dissolved. The record companies pressed both formats, Columbia did 45s and not just their 33 format. RCA did 33 LPs and not just their 45 format.
So Karl got it backwards.
But he was right about that 45s changed things. You see they were cheap. Kids could get pennies for recycling soda bottles and buy a hit record!
@@mirandak3273 ah yes the 45, I gave up Penny candy and comic books to buy 45s and play them over and over and over again. Everything in life was boring and tedious but those 45s were full of energy and fun. A magical world only you and maybe a couple of friends seemed to know about. A type of Narnia I suppose.
I hope you don’t forget the Everly brothers, they brought the Harmony.
Bill Haley was a country musician, and "too old" to be a "rocker". And the evolution of rock and roll by young "kids" quickly passed him by.
Hi Virgin rock, i loved your videos, and i think you would love to Review The álbum Clara Crocodilo, of The Brazilian artist Arrigo Barnabé. It isnt Just an piece of art, but is Also a piece of Brazilian history, involving It dictadorship. It would bê incredible If you could review It Reading The lyrics
That álbum IS Full of serialism and bossa nova
In The most inovative way
Not only Dolly wrote I will always love you, her version too me was much more honest and pure than Whitney’s.
You may not have been looking for the word appropriation, but that's what happened a lot through the music industry in the earliest days of Rock n Roll.
No, it's called inspiration or influence.
@@asquare9316 everybody stole from everybody else.
@@Hartlor_Tayley absolutely agree
Interesting what you said about the social structure of rock'n'roll's first audiences - and it explains why while white teens tended to buy more records, and at that: records which lyrically reflected their situation in life, rock'n'roll songs by black artists tended to be more adult themed and reflected on working class issues: after a hard week finally getting paid and wanting to spend as much as possible on escapism and fun - for instance - as in Rip It Up by Little Richard.
I am missing Big Mama Thornton in this
I like the belly drum.
I specifically put on weight to improve the tone of mine. Yeah, that was the reason.