1, background

Looking back on American history in the first half of the 20th century, from the late 1920s to the mid-1930s, there was an economic crisis in Europe and America, and the Great Depression appeared. In the late 1930s, World War II broke out. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor 194 1? Stop? What are you doing? The barium war ended in 945. After 1950s, the United States was a relatively stable and prosperous period, and it was often regarded as a prosperous time for Americans. The 1960s was one of the most turbulent years in American history. Because the people opposed sending troops to participate in the Vietnam War, the whole country was in a state of extreme social and political turmoil.

In the 1950s, especially after 1952 Eisenhower came to power, the American economy began to stabilize and the whole society was in a state of living and working in peace. As a result, the middle class gradually increased, they raised children and there was a baby boom. The number of teenagers has increased unprecedentedly, and suddenly the world has become a world of young people. At that time, children's after-school life was usually to stay with their families. Television programs are also relatively healthy, and there is not much difference in music taste. Young people and old people enjoy basically the same music. They were all played by "big bands" in the forties and fifties, and Ding Bangxiang's songs lasted for decades. Lyrics often express pure love, music is not threatening, and tries to give people a comfortable and peaceful feeling.

By the mid-1950s, because of their superior living conditions, these teenagers did not go through the war and suffering like their parents, but they were also loved by their families. So they began to understand their parents' thoughts and lifestyles, and were unwilling to follow the path arranged by their parents. They have their own pursuits and hobbies, and because there are many people, they have formed a powerful force. They no longer follow their parents to enjoy those sentimental pop songs. At this time, they just found their own voice in rock music. Rock music is simple, powerful and straightforward, especially with a strong sense of rhythm, which conforms to the characteristics of energetic and positive youth; The unrestrained performance situation of rock music adapts to their rebellious psychology; The theme of rock music singing is closely related to their concerns.

2. The emergence of rock music.

In the early 1950s, there was a three-legged phenomenon in the American pop music market. The music that blacks like is mainly rhythm and blues, while whites above the middle class listen to Dingbang Lane, while rural listeners in the midwest like country music related to rural life. But in the mid-1950s (about 1954 ~ 1956), two obvious phenomena appeared in the record market, namely "market exchange" and "cover version". "Market Exchange *" refers to a record that was originally released in one market and achieved good results in another market. For example, some songs are among the best in the sales charts of rhythm and blues, and they are also very popular in the pop charts. Seeing this profitable market situation, some big record companies quickly produced their own versions based on popular rhythm and blues songs, which led to the emergence of a large number of "cover versions". At this time, the three markets that have been divided suddenly feel that the fence in the middle has fallen down, and a new style-rock music was officially born in this ruin.

Rock music was formally produced in the mid-1950s, but the term appeared in the early 1950s. 195 1 year, alan freed, the host of Cleveland Radio Records Company, coined the word "rock n" from a rhythm and blues song "We want to rock, we want to rock". From 65438 to 0955, the release of Blackboard Jungle had a great influence on the production of rock music. It tells the story of a group of students rebelling. A middle school teacher sang a song in front of this group of students. This song is an episode of the movie Rock Around the Clock (case 16). This song caused a great sensation among teenagers. 1July, 955, Rock Day and Night won the first place in the pop chart, marking the arrival of the rock era. Its singer bill haley became the first rock idol worshipped by teenagers. Since then, rock music has become popular all over the country.

1, the source of rock music

Rhythm and blues

Apartheid in the United States has always been very serious. In residential areas, schools, churches and various social facilities, whites and blacks are separated. Under the policy of apartheid, blacks kept their religion, language, clothing, dance and music. Rhythm and blues, like other black music, has its own set. It is called "national record", which is separate from the white music market.

Rhythm and blues is the result of the continuous development of blues music after World War II. On the basis of urban blues, it combines the characteristics of swing music and piano music Buji-Wuji, and its voice becomes more powerful, highlighting the rhythm of continuous progress. It also retains the tradition of improvisation of black music, and the ensemble still adopts the blues form of 12 bar and the repetitive harmony framework. Before World War II, blues records were operated by small record companies. After the war, due to the change of black social status, several major record companies became interested in black music. At this time, the chart began to use "rhythm and blues" instead of "national records". The representatives of this period are louis jourdan (1908 ~ 1975) and Joe Leakins. The characteristics of rhythm and blues are directly reflected in many rock music, especially in the early rock music, many of which are "cover versions" of rhythm and blues. In 1970s, the combination of rhythm and blues and gospel gradually accelerated its development. Therefore, all black music in the 1970s has a strong flavor of rhythm and blues, especially Sol's music (see Sol's music section for details) and rhythm and blues are sometimes almost indistinguishable (such as the works of marvin gaye and Jackson 5). After 1980s, R&B incorporated more pop music elements, making it more commercialized. For example, many rhythm blues have lost their original characteristics, and emphasizing the rhythm of backhand has become its main body. Sometimes, in singing, you can find a few blues notes brought out by sliding. In recent years, the music of so-called R&B singers Brandy&Monica and Brian Mcknight is no longer the real R&B. If we insist on theoretical analysis, we can only regard it as a commercialized R&B bleached by the pop music market. But not all R&B works are like this. For example, eric clapton's Change the World and Tracy Chapman's Give Me a Reason (17), two Grammy-winning works of 197, are all integrated with pop music. Rhythm and blues, as one of the important sources of rock music, has become a witness of history. After influencing rock music, its own continuous development also makes it one of the most popular music in the pop music world today.

Dingpan Lane (Dingpan Lane)

In the early 1950s, the Pop music "POP" that most people in China listened to was a continuation of the traditional style of Dingbang Lane. It was influenced by popular Hollywood movie music, Broadway musicals and swing music in 1930s and 1940s. Dingbang Lane is a place name, located at 28th Street (between Fifth Avenue and Broadway Street) in new york. Since the end of 19, there have been many music publishing companies, all of which have song salesmen playing the piano all day to attract customers. Due to the excessive use of the piano, the timbre is tired, just like knocking on an iron plate, so some people jokingly call it "Dingbang Lane" (or translated as "Pan Ting Hutong"). Ding Bangxiang is not only the publishing center of pop music, but also a symbol of an era and a representative of a style in the history of pop music. From the end of 19 to the end of 1950s, it lasted almost half a century.

Ding Bangxiang's songs are generally written by white professional composers. Different writers have different styles in different periods, but there are similarities. From the content, it is mainly about love, full of romantic feelings, or slightly nostalgic and sad, or cheerful and funny. No matter what happens at home and abroad, it is rarely reflected in Ding Bangxiang's songs. Mainly show the sunny side of life, as if Americans are enjoying life carefree; From the form of expression, the melody of singing, uncomplicated rhythm and harmony of natural sound system (sometimes changing chords and tone sandhi between phrases) mostly appear in the form of \ \ (verse-chorus \ ") (for example, 18). Ding Bangxiang's songs are generally sung by professional singers according to the score, paying attention to vocal skills, accompanied by bands or choirs, and often accompanied by string groups as the background timbre. For example, the famous pop singers bing crosby (1904 ~ 1977) and Frank Sinatra (19 15 ~ 1997) mainly sang Dingbang Lane songs. Dingbang Lane songs are mainly spread among urban whites, and rarely spread to blacks or the lower classes. The appearance of rock music in 1950s challenged the position of traditional Ding Bangxiang songs in the whole pop music. The famous composer of Dingbang Lane is irving berlin (1888 ~ 1992), and his masterpiece is White Christmas. Cole potter (189 1 ~ 1964), whose masterpiece is Night and Day; Jerome Kern (1885 ~ 1945), whose representative works include the musical Old Man River; Richard Rogers (1902 ~ 1979), whose representative works are musicals The Sound of Music and Blue Moon; George gershwin (1898 ~ 1937), whose masterpieces include Summer Time and rhapsody in blue.

Country music (see above for details)

Second, early rock music.

From the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, rock music grew rapidly from a toddler. During this period, the rock and roll stage showed a prosperous scene. First of all, the two pioneers made a relatively complete positioning of the concept of rock music, and then with the support of many rock stars, they presented three different styles.

1, bill haley (bill haley, 1925 ~ 198 1)

Bill haley is the first rock idol worshipped by teenagers, and is often called "the father of rock music". His music style involves country music, rhythm and blues and pop music, which just shows the three sources of rock music in the mid-1950s.

Bill haley was born in Michigan on 1925. His father is a textile worker and can play banjo. His mother is a piano teacher. Bill haley studied guitar and sang country songs since he was a child. He also likes and is familiar with rhythm and blues, and founded \"(Saddlemen in 1950. When bill haley sang country songs, he occasionally found that it was acceptable for white listeners to sing rhythm and blues songs in country music style. 1953, he renamed the band "Comet", and consciously combined country music with the strong rhythm of R&B. 1954, bill haley recorded rock and roll day and night, which had only a general effect at first, but when it was combined with the movie "Blackboard Jungle" in 1955, it caused a huge impact.

In 1970s, bill haley suffered from paranoia and alcoholism, and died of heart disease in 198 1. As one of the pioneers of rock music, bill haley played an indelible role in the creation of rock music.

2. Elvis Presley (1935 ~ 1977).

Elvis Presley, the most influential singer in 1950s, is known as "the king of rock music", and he has made great contributions to the popularization of rock music.

Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi on 1935. From a poor family, my father was a truck driver and lived at the bottom of the white society. Because he lives with blacks, his social status is the same as that of blacks. Presley was exposed to white and black cultures since childhood and grew up under the influence of church gospel songs. 1/kloc-0 began to learn guitar at the age of/,so he absorbed white music and black music. The Presleys moved to Memphis on 1948, and he often went to the black part of the city to listen to the songs of Bbking and others.

1953, Presley found a job as a truck driver after graduating from high school. That summer, he went to the recording studio of "Sun" record company and recorded two songs as birthday gifts for his mother. At this time, Sam Phillips, the owner of the record company, discovered the potential of Presley, a white man with a black voice and feeling, and signed a contract with him. 1July, 954, the first album "Nothing" was released, which was an unexpected success in the local area. His stage performances (such as hip twisting and other large-scale movements) have won the love of many young people. /kloc-in the autumn of 0/955, RCA Victory Records was signed. 1956, with the release of Heartbroken Hotel (case 19), it became famous in one fell swoop. 1958, when his career was brilliant, he left the music world, gave up singing and enlisted in the army until 1960. From 1962 to 1968, Presley lived in seclusion in his hometown of Memphis except filming. 1967, Presley married Priscilla Biliu. After marriage, he gave birth to a daughter, but six years later they divorced because of the breakdown of their marriage, and the daughter was awarded to the woman. His spirit was stimulated and his mood was low. He weighs more than 200 Jin, which is detrimental to the stage image. So he started dieting, taking diet pills and taking drugs, which greatly affected his health. 1977 August 16 died of heart disease at home at the age of 42.

A generation of singers left the world and shocked the whole country. By the time he died, at least 500 million records had been sold. Indeed, Presley's success was not accidental. Some people say that he is the embodiment of rock music. His appearance is lovely, with an unconventional rebellion; He is religious, filial to his parents, patriotic (such as volunteering to join the army) and never evades taxes. The most important thing is that he combines two cultures (black culture and white culture) better than any singer. Moreover, Presley also sang more musical styles on the basis of two cultures. His singing is both shouting and tenderness, involving patriotism, religion, escapism, social criticism, local flavor and romantic sentiment to meet the needs of different classes. He became the favorite figure of different music lovers. After Presley's death, the music industry tried to find another singer as versatile as him, but it never succeeded. 3. Three styles.

Mainstream rock

Among the three sources of rock music, we mentioned that rhythm and blues is the most important source of rock music. The characteristics of rhythm and blues have also been preserved and developed in rock music, thus forming the mainstream style of rock music in the 1950s. The role of rhythm is obvious in all rock music, but it is more prominent in mainstream rock music. Rock music is usually in four beats. In the traditional four beats, 24 beats are weak beats, but many mainstream rocks emphasize the strength of 24 beats, and some mainstream rocks also emphasize the four beats of each bar. The rhythm of mainstream rock changes faster than R&B, and the backhand is more intense and feels stronger. Drummers are as important as other musicians in a band. They not only simply beat the time, but also often participate in the composition of rhythm on the piano and guitar. And they also form a clear bass line with the bass. The bass of country music and pop music usually has a bass every beat or every other beat. After absorbing Boogie-Woogie elements like R&B, mainstream rock not only provides simple chord bass, but also provides short melody graphics, providing three or four chords, and some even add one or two chords (Example 20).

Mainstream rock has inherited the strong singing style of rhythm and blues. For white people, there are few such types before, but there are decades of development history in rhythm and blues. Mainstream rock often adopts the structure of 12 bar blues, or changes it on this basis. Such as the hound of Elvis Presley and the prison rock, Lucille of little richard (case 2 1). In the 1950s, little richard was the singer who could best embody the characteristics of this shouting rock music.

Little richard, 1932, was born in Macon, Georgia, USA, and was the third of 12 children. He grew up in a poor family. Under the influence of his family, he sincerely believed in God and participated in the choir of the local church.

Little richard is so crazy about singing that he always looks sweaty when he sings, shouts and dances. From 65438 to 0957, he devoted himself to religion and cut off all performances. 1962, inspired by the Beatles, he decided to return to rock music while touring in England. By the end of 1960s, his style seemed a little out of date, but his influence could still be shown from other rock singers. In the 1970s, he tried to make a comeback, but failed because he was involved in drug abuse, alcoholism and homosexuality. In the early 1980s, he once again gave up his wild lifestyle and turned to religion.

soft rock

Mainstream rock music is rarely influenced by pop, but other rock music combines pop elements to form a relatively mild rock music style. Some people scoff at this kind of rock music and call it "cheap rock", but it has its own market. Things are often relative. With a relatively strong mainstream rock style, its opposite-moderate rock will certainly appear. Presley set a good example for the development of moderate rock, such as songs from the 1950s such as I want you, I need you, I love you, Don't, and Love Me Tender (case 22). By the 1960s, his works were more in the direction of moderate rock, and some of them were no different from Popper's.

Rock and roll (Rockabilly)

Mountain rock is usually formed by white musicians with country music background and influenced by rhythm and blues. It is a combination of rock music and the predecessor of country music-mountain music, as the word "rockabilly" itself indicates: it is a combination of "rock" and "Hillbilly". Mountain rock appeared in the southern United States in 1950s, and was the predecessor of country rock. According to the singing style of folk songs, acoustic guitars are usually used as rhythmic instruments. In addition, drums that have never been used in traditional country music also appear in rocks. Generally speaking, it is difficult to accurately distinguish the difference between rocks and mainstream rocks. Like mainstream rock, the rhythm is strong and progressive, but the intensity is reduced and diluted, and the sound is high and clear, so there is no need to shout. Some people think that its style is not pure, not real rock; Others think that rock music can be accepted by more people in this way. In fact, bill haley's "Day and Night Rock" is decorated with rhythm and blues material and familiar country music. It not only laid the foundation for mainstream rock music, but also laid the foundation for mountain rock. The most influential representative of Shanshi is the "Everly Brothers" singing group.

"Avery Brothers" consists of Don Avery (born in 1937) and Phil Avery (born in 1939). Take Presley as an example, they have developed towards rocks and achieved great success. Musically, they are not directly influenced by rhythm and blues, and basically maintain the traditional mountain music style, and pay attention to the use of harmony when singing. 1988, the first batch of "Avery Brothers" was officially listed in the Who's Who of Rock and Roll.

Mainstream rock, moderate rock and mountain rock, these terms are only used to explain the different tendencies of rock music styles. Every singer has his own singing characteristics, some of which typically reflect a certain tendency, while others do not. Even for the same singer, there are differences in different works in different periods. Therefore, it is not appropriate to give a singer a hard label.