Musical Development From The 50 S - 2068 Words

Musical development from the 50’s to the present day 1950’s The 1950’s was a very important decade in the development of music as it saw the birth of rock n’ roll. Artists such as Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry took the style of playing already established in genres such as blues and country music and completely renovated it. They took the idea of a 12 bar blues pattern and sped it up and added rhythmic, catchy hooks to make the music easy to dance to. The lyrics of songs about the genre itself as well as teenage love and sex, although the latter was only referred to through slang terminology, appealed greatly to teenagers of the time due to their rebellious nature. Rock n’ roll also saw the bass guitar replacing the upright bass in most†¦show more content†¦Songs such as hound dog and jailhouse rock made him one of the most renowned performers of all time and still influence music greatly even today. While Presley was no doubt the most successful and best known artist of the decade, there are several other performers who were key figures in establishing rock n’ roll as the music of the era. Artists such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Bill Haley and the comets played an integral role in creating rock n’ roll and making it a success with songs such as Johnny B Goode and rock around the clock . 1960’s Without a doubt the most influential event in the development of music in the 1960’s was what became known as the British invasion. With the televised beatings of peaceful civil-rights protestors the American youth became disenchanted with their government and the music that was produced up until 1963 began to reflect that. After 1963 however acts that had been hugely successful in Britain began to make appearances in America, most notably the Beatles. The band, later known as the fab four, became an overnight success in the states and very few American artists maintained any semblance of popularity as a result of the ensuing beatlemania as it