The Electric Guitar's Central Role in Early Rock 'n' Roll: American Popular Music, Lecture notes of Music

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EARLY ROCK ‘N’ ROLL

THE ELECTRIC GUITAR

¡ Rock ’n’ roll elevated the electric guitar to a central position in American popular music. ¡ Engineers began to experiment with electronically amplified guitars in the 1920s. ¡ The solid-body electric guitar § Developed after World War II § First used in R&B, blues, and country bands ¡ Came into the mainstream with a somewhat dubious reputation § Carryover from the medieval European association of stringed instruments with the Devil § Associated with the music of marginalized regions and people

MUDDY WATERS (MCKINLEY MORGANFIELD)

¡ “Discovered” in the Mississippi Delta by Allan Lomax in 1941 ¡ Moved to Chicago in 1943 ¡ Played both acoustic and electric slide guitar ¡ The single greatest influence on the British blues boom in the 1960s

LISTENING: “HOOTCHIE COOTCHIE MAN”

¡ Muddy Waters, 1953

¡ Features Muddy’s lineup in the early 1950s:

§ Two electric guitars

§ Bass, drums

§ Amplified harmonica

¡ Combines blues form with strophic verse-chorus

structure

¡ Typical Chicago electric/urban blues

COVER VERSIONS AND EARLY ROCK ’N’ ROLL

¡ Cover versions

§ Copies of previously recorded performances;

often adaptations of the originals’ style and

sensibility, and usually aimed at cashing in on

their success

§ Often bowdlerized imitations of R&B songs

§ Helped fuel the market for rock ’n’ roll

BIG JOE TURNER AND “SHAKE, RATTLE,

AND ROLL”

¡ Big Joe Turner (1911–85)

¡ Called a “blues shouter”

because of his spirited,

sometimes raucous vocal

delivery

¡ Born in Kansas City, started out

singing with local bands

¡ “Shake Rattle, and Roll” was

Turner’s biggest rock ’n’ roll

record for Atlantic.

BILL HALEY (1925–81)

¡ Former DJ and western swing bandleader from Pennsylvania ¡ Dropped his cowboy image, c hanged the name of his accompanying group from the Saddlemen to the Comets ¡ In 1954, the Comets were signed by Decca Records. ¡ Moved toward the R&B jump band sound § Encouraged by A&R man Milt Gabler

BILL HALEY AND THE COMETS

¡ Recorded commercially successful cover versions of R&B hits in the mid-1950s ¡ Largest success came in 1955 with “Rock around the Clock”, the first record to become a #1 pop hit ¡ Recorded in 1954 and not a big hit when first released § Popularized in 1955’s Blackboard Jungle , a film about inner-city teenagers and juvenile delinquency ¡ Rock Around The Clock

CHARLES EDWARD ANDERSON (“CHUCK”) BERRY (B. 1926)

¡ Born in St. Louis, Missouri

§ Absorbed blues and R&B

styles

§ One of the first and most

successful black musicians to

consciously forge his own

version of blues and R&B

styles for appeal to the

mass market

LISTENING AND ANALYSIS: “MAYBELLENE” ¡ Verse-chorus form based on the twelve-bar blues ¡ Chorus: “Maybellene, why can’t you be true”— follows twelve-bar blues chord pattern ¡ Verse—no chord changes—all on the “home” (or tonic) chord ¡ Verses build enormous tension, so that when the choruses and chord changes return, there is a feeling of release and expansion.

LISTENING: “LONG TALL SALLY”

¡ Built on the twelve-bar blues, adapted to

reflect the more traditionally pop-friendly

format of verse-chorus

§ The first four bars of each blues stanza are set to

changing words—verses—while the remaining eight

bars, with unchanging words, function as a repeated

chorus.

EARLY ROCK AND ROLL

STARS: THE COUNTRY

SIDE

LISTENING: “DON’T BE CRUEL”

¡ Based on the twelve-bar blues

¡ Presley’s vocal is heavy with blues-derived and country

inflections.

§ Striking regional accent § “Hiccupping” effect on “please” § Strong backbeat from R&B § Opening electric guitar figure from western swing bands

¡ Imposed on all these diverse and intense stylistic

elements is a wash of electronic reverb

Don't Be Cruel

BUDDY HOLLY (CHARLES HARDIN HOLLEY) (1936–59) ¡ Clean-cut, lanky, bespectacled ¡ Began his career with country music, fell under the influence of Presley’s and formed a rock’n’roll band, the Crickets ¡ “That’ll Be the Day,” rose to Number One on the pop c harts in late 1957 and established his sound. § Combined elements of country, R&B, and mainstream pop