American Hit Radio History Popular
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I started listening to the radio in the early “70′s. At that time, there were a great deal of comedy television shows invented to showcase a band’s music. There was, for instance, the “Sonny and Cher Comedy hour” with their great music and outlandish costumes interspersed with good-natured bickering. Several of these comedies, such as “The Partridge Family” with David Cassidy, “Getting Together” (with Bobby Sherman) and ” the Monkees” served to make their stars a teen heartthrob. There were likewise potpourri shows like the “Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour”. Glen commented that “It’s aweinspiring when you think with regards to the power of TV and movies. If I hadn’t had hit records, I wouldn’t have gotten TV and movies, but the Goodtime Hour made my career explode all over the world.” I loved these shows, peculiarly their music. Television shows have always been a big influence on our enjoyment of rock music, even now. I soon developed an interest in the history of rock and roll. The words “Rock and roll” were apparently primary applied in 1951 by a Cleveland disk jockey called Alan Freed, and were taken from the song “My Baby Rocks Me with a Steady Roll”. It was conventional in blues music, which evolved in the 1950′s from rhythm and blues, to use the terms “rock, roll, rock and roll, etc) to refer to sexual intercourse. Freed used the term to mean music with a raw, heavy, back beat in order to include whites in his audience. He started a radio program called “Moondog Rock and Roll Party” that played black music for a white audience; his a lively interest for black music became contagious. In 1952, Freed organized the primary rock and roll concert. The record industry, conscious that a new and general music was being devised by blacks, tried to exploit it. In 1952 “Bill Haley and the Comets” became the basi (black) rock and roll band, though at that time the US was still largely racially divided. When Sam Phillips founded Sun Records, he declared “If I could find a white man who sings with the Negro feel, I’d make a million dollars”. In 1952 the “Bandstand” television program went on the air. In 1953, Bill Haley’s “Crazy Man Crazy” became the firstborn rock song to enter the Billboard charts. “Crying in the Chapel” by the Orioles, became the firstborn black hit to top the white pop charts. In 1954, doo-wop, a new kind of black vocal harmoniousness emerged, with the Penguins’ Earth Angel (1954) and by the Platters’ Only You (1955). Juke box machines were spreading in the early ’50′s and the firstborn solid body electric guitars were brought onto the market. In 1954, record companies swapped to “45′s, and the transistor radio was introduced. Record players became cheaper. Now teenagers could listen to their music anyplace they wanted. “American Graffiti” was a outstanding movie to spotlight early rock and roll. Bill Haley’s “Rock around the Clock” was the primary rock song used in a movie, and it became the national anthem of rock and roll; turning rock and roll into a nationwide success in 1954. In 1955, Chuck Berry became the initial major composer of rock and roll (instead of just an interpreter). He was the initial one to have the guitar as the lead instrument and to have descending pentatonic double-stops (the essence of rock guitar). Unfortunately, being black, he didn’t get the same airplay as a white musician so he remained a cult figure. I do not forget him most for “Johnny Be Goode” Elvis Presley’s recorded his primary record was in 1954 and, since his basi hits (such as Good Rocking Tonight) were all black ones, enabled white kids to play black music. With his huge success, white “rockers” were not only endured but even promoted by the major record producers. The music of black’s (such as “Shake, Rattle, and Roll”) was still more powerful and primary however. Slowly and regularly “white rockers” played more guitar than piano and singers started out to sing their own songs (instead those of professional songwriters). “Black rockers” had always written their own songs and composed on the guitar. This is how rock and roll became guitar-based, employed a little combo rather of an orchestra, and so emphasized the rhythm rather of the harmony. Rock musicians were expected to have a guitar in front of them even though most of the white ones didn’t know how to play the guitar. The record industry boomed and independent labels flourished. By 1959, the market portion of rock and roll was 42.7%. This, in spite of a bill proposed in Congress in 1955 to ban rock and roll in the U.S. Thank god, that didn’t happen! The 1960′s saw a “British invasion” of rock bands. The Beatles were the most noteworthy of these; they made rock the most usual music in America. Bob Dylan employed rock and roll to protest war, poverty, and racism. Rock and roll continued to create and change. Although rock and roll is still around, it doesn’t mean the same thing as it did these firstborn two decades. After the advent of disco in the “70′s, a heap of people thought rock was losing it is originality. It rebounded with hard rock and heavy metal in the 80′s. Rap, a black movement, became very popular. By the late 90′s persons were complaining rock was too depressing. Then the very young group Hanson appeared with “MMM Bop” and took the world by storm. Other “boy bands” followed, along with shows on finding them and making them into stars. Even now we have shows like “American Idol” which are very popular. Rock music seems to have it is ebbs and flows, most of all evolving and altering with American culture. It has been the soundtrack of our lives. |
