The History of Rock and Roll in the United States, by Robert Willey and James Thompson
Introduction
The history of rock and roll in the United States is about to be unrolled before you. We wrote this textbook because the others we considered for the class looked to us like encyclopedias. In our opinion they are too long, and cover too many musicians. We assumed that you weren’t going to read hundreds of pages, and that even if you did, you wouldn’t remember most of what was covered. We tried to leave out anything that wasn’t essential, and limited the story to a few key artists. The idea is to help you develop a framework that you can use to help understand other music that you come across in the future.
In order to get the most out of the book, click on the links to listen to the songs before, while, and after you read about them. Let the music sink in. Take time to enjoy it, but also become an active listener. Think about what you’re listening to, and how it fits with the points being made in the text. Keep asking yourself: “What is great about this?” You will get out of it what you put into it, and we think that if you love music as much as we do it is worth the effort to open your mind and ears to it to prepare yourself for a lifetime of listening pleasure.
There are preview questions to answer at the start of each chapter to help alert your unconscious mind what to watch for. You’re not expected to know all the answers at that point, but trying your best will make reading the chapters more productive. Pulling facts out of your memory after you read a chapter is the best way to review and retain the new information. Answering the questions at the end of the chapters will help you remember what you’ve read. The mind map outlines are designed to help you create frameworks to store the information in your brain.
Our goal in writing the book is to help you increase your awareness and understanding of American popular music, and to make listening to music more interesting and enjoyable. After working through the book you should be able to:
Rock and roll has been offending polite society since it began in the 1950s. The lyrics that your great-grandparents thought were too racy then wouldn’t raise an eyebrow today. Songs are still bleeped when broadcast on radio using the public airwaves, but artists have free reign to curse and use sexual language when they are streamed over the network. If you are offended by that you may want to avoid songs referenced on our Spotify playlists that have the “Explicit” tag.
This is the companion website for the book. We hope you will use it for links to the playlists and other enrichment material.
Bon voyage!
In order to get the most out of the book, click on the links to listen to the songs before, while, and after you read about them. Let the music sink in. Take time to enjoy it, but also become an active listener. Think about what you’re listening to, and how it fits with the points being made in the text. Keep asking yourself: “What is great about this?” You will get out of it what you put into it, and we think that if you love music as much as we do it is worth the effort to open your mind and ears to it to prepare yourself for a lifetime of listening pleasure.
There are preview questions to answer at the start of each chapter to help alert your unconscious mind what to watch for. You’re not expected to know all the answers at that point, but trying your best will make reading the chapters more productive. Pulling facts out of your memory after you read a chapter is the best way to review and retain the new information. Answering the questions at the end of the chapters will help you remember what you’ve read. The mind map outlines are designed to help you create frameworks to store the information in your brain.
Our goal in writing the book is to help you increase your awareness and understanding of American popular music, and to make listening to music more interesting and enjoyable. After working through the book you should be able to:
- Explain some of the contributions of African-American culture to the development of popular music.
- Cite some of the economic, political, social, and cultural factors that shaped popular music since the 1950s.
- Describe the styles that are related to rock including how the feel of the beat has evolved.
- Analyze the lyrics to a song and put them into context.
- Explain how the music business influences what you listen to.
- Explain the impact of changes in technology on the way music is created, transmitted, and heard.
Rock and roll has been offending polite society since it began in the 1950s. The lyrics that your great-grandparents thought were too racy then wouldn’t raise an eyebrow today. Songs are still bleeped when broadcast on radio using the public airwaves, but artists have free reign to curse and use sexual language when they are streamed over the network. If you are offended by that you may want to avoid songs referenced on our Spotify playlists that have the “Explicit” tag.
This is the companion website for the book. We hope you will use it for links to the playlists and other enrichment material.
Bon voyage!
