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Period: to
1940s to 1970s
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Mitch Miller
Miller joined Mercury Records as a classical music producer and served as the head of Artists and Repertoire (A&R) at Mercury in the late 1940s, and then joined Columbia Records in the same capacity in 1950. This was a pivotal position in a recording company, because the A&R executive decided which musicians and songs would be recorded and promoted by that particular record label. He sought out talent that was more from the pop genre -
Term "Rock & Roll" was first coined
(1951) Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience, and is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the music. -
(1954) Bill Haley and Comets
(1954) Bill Haley and Comets begin writing hit songs while using “African American” sounds of rock n’ roll -
Censorship of music discussed
1957) Congress decides to start discussing whether some offensive lyrics should start to be censored -
(1958) Elvis Presley drafted into Army. This would stir up controversy about the military draft
(1958) Elvis Presley is drafted into the U.S. Army. This would stir up controversy about the military draft -
The Day the Music Died
(1959) "The Day the Music Died", 3 Feb 1959, Rock 'n' Roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. This was referred to "The Day the Music Died" in Don McLean's song, "American Pie" -
Mary Ethel Dozier
Mary Ethel Dozier added the verse, "We are not afraid" to the song We Shall Overcome. In the summer of 1959 Tennessee state police tried forcibly close down Highlander. Her contribution was a classic example of how freedom songs were created, or recreated, during the ongoing struggle -
British Invasion in the U.S.
(1964)The biggest and most influential group from the “British invasion” was the Beatles. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starkey (a.k.a. Ringo Starr) swept America off its feet. They landed at Kennedy Airport in America on February 1964 premiering their famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. -
Chuck Berry "Promised Land"
The Promised LandChuck Berry wrote "The Promised Land" which offered partial allegory of the 1961 freedom ride organized by CORE and continued by SNCC to protest the continued segregation of interstae transportation in the South -
Migration to Haight-Ashbury
(1967) 100,000 people migrate to the Haight-Ashbury region of San Francisco, California. The city will become the center for the "Summer of Love." -
Woodstock
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The concert for Bangladesh
A concert for Bangladesh, attended by the stars of the counterculture such as Bob Dylan, became the most successful benefit event since the war, and began a tradition of rock stars acting like prominent political personalities. The shows were organised to raise international awareness and fund relief efforts for refugees from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), following the 1970 Bhola cyclone and the civil war-related Bangladesh atrocities.
