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Barbershop Quartets
Barber shop quartets became very popular during the early 1900’s and was usually sung while waiting to get a haircut. Many songs sung were folksongs and usually the group consisted of four people. During the 1930’s barbershop quartets started declining in popularity but some bands still keep the genre alive. -
Period: to
Rock and Roll
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The Blues
Blues music is a genre that originated from african americans in the early 1900’s and it usually spoke of the hardships that the person was going through at the time they wrote the song. Blues usually goes to a slow steady beat and at the beginning was sung by poor african americans and watched by poor african americans. Eventually though Blues changed and became very popular in the 1940’s with help from people like Muddy Waters. -
Bo Diddly
Bo Diddley was born on December 30th, 1928 and grew up to become a blues singer and songwriter. He was an important figure in the transition of Blues music to Rock and Roll. His songs had a mix of african american beats and blues guitar, some of his songs were “Bring it to Jerome” and “Mona”. -
Rock and Roll Piano
•In the early 40’s and throughout the 50’s it became popular to perform rock and roll using a piano. While this period only lasted around 10 years because although good music was created like “Whole Lotta Shakin” and “In a Shanty In Old Shanty Town”. Movement was constricted while playing on a piano and the most that could be down was standing up while playing guitar allowed the musician to walk around and dance while playing. -
Muddy Waters-Blues
•Muddy Waters also known as Mckinley Morganfield who became a renowned blues guitarist by 1940’s. He didn’t really hit it off though until he came to Chicago and there he became very popular especially in 1946 when he hit it off with big record companies like R.C.A. Muddy Waters had a blend of blues music vamped up by his electric guitar. -
The Great Migration
•The Great Migration was an African American Movement that involved the movement of more than 6 million african americans from the South to the North. This is an important part of history because many famous black musicians were involved in the great migration and they brought their style of music with them to the North. Chicago was where people like Muddy Waters went to go to Chess Records and start recording their own music. The movement didn’t start to pick though until the late forties a -
Gospel Music
•Gospel Music had been around since the late 1800’s and overtime evolved until in the 1950’s it peaked in popularity because it was a cheap and easy way to perform music for African Americans. Many musicians made it popular by blending blues and gospel together. Today Gospel is still sung but usually in Christian Churches but it is nowhere as widespread as it once was. -
The Electric Guitar becomes affordable
•The electric guitar was invented in the 1930’s but was very expensive until in the 1950’s the price dropped and it became affordable for most people to purchase. This helped with spreading rock and roll because now many teenagers could now play songs that their favorite artists at the time had played. -
Elvis Presely signs on with Chess Records
On this year Chess Records picked up Elvis Presley and he started out making his own versions or styles of songs like with Blue Moon of Kentucky. Presley quickly rose through the ranks becoming a musical sensation in the late 50’s and started creating his own music like You ain’t nothin but a hound dog. Presley lived the American dream growing up very poor but in the end becoming rich because of his musical talent. -
"Maybellene" By Chuck Beryy
Maybellene is regarded by many historians as the first Rock and Roll song. At the time this song was not very popular and it was released by Chess Record Companies, the song is about a guy chasing his girlfriend in a car race and he talks about broken romance. The author, Chuck Berry was considered the Godfather of the Rock and Roll genre and he went on to create many famous songs and inspire many people. -
Doo Wop
Doo Wop a style of music in which the singer sings nonsense words to a good beat and usually has little to no instrumentation. Usually done in small groups and became very popular in the 1950’s. Doo Wop was developed by African Americans in the early 40’s but wasn’t used in real song until 1955. -
The Beatles
•The Beatles much like the Rolling Stones were from Great Britain and after being successful in Britain moved to America to tour in which they became insanely popular. The Beatles made many great songs like “Hey Jude” and “We All Live In A Yellow Submarine”. The Beatles though unlike the Rolling Stones only lasted 10 years until in 1970 they broke and went their separate ways, still they continued to make great music. -
African American Civil Rights Movement
•The civil rights movement was a time when african americans were protesting for more freedoms and eventually earned them. This is an important part for african american musicians because they earned more freedoms. Also the crowd that watched the musicians changed from mostly all white to mixed crowds. -
The Rolling Stones
•The Rolling Stones regarded as one of the best Rock and Roll bands ever got their band name from Muddy Water’s song,Rolling Stone. The band which is all British hit it off in the early sixties making many popular songs like Jumpin Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women. The band still exists to this day and they wouldn't have existed if it weren’t for musicians before them like Muddy Waters who against odds became very famous musicians.
