However, this diversity of genres goes back to the creation of rock n’ roll. We’ll see about that right away.

First, rock n’ roll appeared in the 1950s. If you haven’t read the post about rock music’s creation and its creators, I put the link here. But as soon as it appears, we can see that there are 4 different kinds of rock!

Let’s see the characteristics of each of them in 2 posts (I take care of our brains ;))

Mainstream Rock n’Roll

Mainstream rock n’roll refers to the rock n’roll we hear on the radio. Its characteristics are:

The dominant influence of Black music.

Almost everything in this style brings us back to Rhythm and Blues. The most direct link is formal and harmonic.

–What’d I Say : Ray Charles

– Whole Lotta Shaking Going On: Jerry Lee Lewis

– Ain’t That A Shame: Fats Domino

– Rock Around The Clock et Shake, Rattle and Roll: Bill Haley

– Johnny B. Goode: Chuck Berry

– Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock et I Got Stung: Elvis Presley

– Tutti Frutti, Lucille et Good Golly Miss Molly: Little Richard

It is a non-exhaustive list of examples of blues whose initial form was not always respected. Whether it’s the measurements or the construction of the songs.

The accompaniment is often played on the double bass

This is one of the most emblematic elements. Its main characteristic is to be more melodic and to play a more active role in rock n’roll and blues than in variety and country and western.

A fast tempo

Even very fast. It’s possible that a song has a black pulse far greater than 180.

For those whose musical notions are very distant, if not zero, a black equals a time.

Treatment of accentuation is different

In popular music, on 4 bars, the 1st and 3rd beats are generally more pronounced than the 2nd and 4th. In many rock songs, the usual approach is reversed. This would be one of the reasons for the attraction for rock music.

Vocal performances inspired by Rhythm and Blues as well

Part of the rock reputation comes from the name given to singers: shouters. The latter are more used to spit their words than to singing. This practice will become established in rock. A typical example is Little Richard.

Others simply change their tone of voice to make it harder and/or rougher. However, the majority of rock singers sing like those of variety.

Also, sometimes in songs, when the singer doesn’t sing/shout:

• Either a soloist takes over with his instrument,
• Either the choirs sing/shout in response to the latter.

This practice refers us, once again, to the African-American practices of work songs, blues, and jazz.

Nevertheless, mainstream rock n’ roll (and all forms of rock after it) is much more than music. They are also texts, attitudes, clothes, hair trends, and so on.

Lyrics

If you look at the lyrics of rock n’ roll, there is nothing revolutionary. Most of them talk about love. It’s the sonorities and the turn of the texts that mark.

Gender doesn’t get worked up, teach lessons or wish to deliver a coherent message. They claim that love, friendship, and other entertainment are the priority of teenagers.

This observation is surprising when we know that the majority of rockers come from difficult social backgrounds and that their biographies testify to the dysfunctions of the USA at the time (segregation, poor white trash).

They have no demanding messages, but a desire to touch the hearts and guts of young people.

Rockabilly

Rockabilly is a portmanteau word for rock and hillbilly. The latter designates traditional white music (or the stereotype of the uneducated peasant attached to his land, but we will stay on the first option).

Some set his “date of birth” at the time of Elvis’s release of that’s All Right Mama in 1954.

It is also, originally, the work of small independent labels such as Sun Records. But other labels will mark its existence like Meteor Records, King Records, CBS or Chess Records.

The big difference between mainstream rock n’roll and rockabilly is the dosage of country and western music in them.

Its characteristics are complicated to define like that. It’s by comparing it to mainstream rock n’roll that it is easier to spot its features.

More restraint

Rockabilly is more in restraint. There are fewer raw sounds, savagery, and abruptness.

Processing of backbeats

There is also less emphasis on the backbeats (2nd and 4th beats of a measure). This will be worth the first controversy in the field of rock between authenticity and trade.

We find, in rockabilly, a majority of white people from the south of the USA who work in the same studios and with the same musicians as the stars of rock n’roll mainstream. More than that, some will oscillate between the two genders. Examples include Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Bill Haley.

Other features of rockabilly are:

Lyrics

They refer to the recurring themes of the time, that is to say: cars and sentimental relationships.

The construction of melodies

Songs often follow patterns in 8 or 16 bars directly inheriting the country and western.

Here are examples:

• Peggy Sue, Not Fade Away and That’ll Be The Day: Buddy Holly
• Wake Up, Little Susie and Bye Bye Love: Everly Brothers
• Susie Q.: Dale Hawkins
• Great Balls On Fire: Jerry Lee Lewis

The occasional use of the blues form

We can sometimes see the presence of the blues form in the melodies. However, it does not give this style to the song.

For example :

• Oh boy !: Buddy Holly
• Bird Dog: Everly Brothers
• Be-Bop-a-Lula: Gene Vincent

The bass line

The latter is much more influenced by country and western than rhythm and blues.

Instrumentation very similar to Rhythm and Blues

However, with some changes:

• A saxophone that “screams less”
• More frequent use of acoustic guitar and double bass. The latter is played in a “slapped” way. (that is to say, pulling the rope to hit the key. This produces a more percussive sound.)
• Melodies are sung with a natural voice and in an understandable way.

Rockabilly became an acceptable alternative to the rock n’ roll mainstream.

Especially as the rockabilly singers often seem more reasonable than their “savages” colleague screaming their rock n’roll. Moreover, most have an ideal son-in-law look that works best with parents.

We just discovered what the rock n’roll mainstream and rockabilly genres were. Next time, we will see the 2 other genres that existed from the beginning of rock.

Now, if you had to choose, would you be more team rock n’roll mainstream or rockabilly?

That’s for now! You can listen to the artists and songs mentioned in the article in the playlist right here. And feel free to share if you liked it or if you think it could interest someone you know.

Also, you can see all the drawings / caricatures right here !

See you soon !

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Sources :

Une histoire musicale du rock de Christophe Pirenne

Wikipédia

Musical Notation – Learning Music for Kids – The quarter note, the half note and the whole note – Smile and Learn : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y46FuaUMtBw

Artiste Audio :https://artisteaudio.fr/histoire-du-rockabilly/

Claire Abe

The post The first genres of rock music: part 1 appeared first on Rock N' Roll World.

Each of us can claim they’ve used or heard the word “rock n’roll” or “rock music”. But do we know what that means? How and who created it?

Let’s have a look!

WHAT’S ROCK MUSIC ?

When I checked in the Oxford Learner’s dictionaries, rock music is: “a type of loud popular music, developed in the 1960s, with a strong beat played on electric guitars and drums“. There you go! You’re welcome.

I hope you don’t stick to this definition, because I don’t! Let me explain to you a little more about rock music.

Rock is a musical genre born far from the framework of any academic teaching. At first, it was a bit like «uncultivated peasant music». Great right?

It is the meeting between different genres of music from various cultures including blues, rhythm and blues (mix of jazz and blues), gospel, and country. I’ll talk about it more deeply in this post.
Basically, musicians took the predominant presence of the guitar and then speed the rhythm.

Then, rock music has evolved again and again to lead to a lot of different categories of rock and then metal music.

WHO CREATED ROCK MUSIC?

Well, the official story is this one.

On July 5, 1954, three young men named Elvis Presley (singer), Scotty Moore (guitarist), and Bill Black (bassist) walked into the studio to initially record some pop cover. They keep making recordings without success. Then, during a break between two recordings, Elvis started a cover of a song written by bluesman Arthur Crudup named That’s Allright. This was a huge success! Two weeks later, they returned to the studio to record a second cover, this time of a bluegrass song, Blue Moon Of Kentucky. That’s how the legend of Elvis, the King, was born.

This is all very well, but did Elvis invent something?…
The answer is NO. He just picked up some hits that we suggested to him, or that he liked, and then he adapted them with a more contemporary sound and a faster rhythm. These aspects may give the impression that he is the creator, but he’s actually not.

However, he has contributed greatly to the spread of rock music.

I’d like to compare this to putting a filter on a picture to make it look better and pretend it’s your own when it’s not your pic in the first place…

PS : to be clear with the King’s fans, I have no problem with Elvis Presley. I’m just exposing facts.

WHO DID REALLY CREATE ROCK MUSIC?

We can say that several artists helped create rock n’roll music. We can mention :

Sister Rosetta Tharpe :

Before all the artists I’ll quote below who helped create rock n’roll music, there was Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Considered the godmother of rock n’roll music even as the creator, she’s a gospel and blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. This is in one of her songs, where we’ll be able to hear a guitar solo for the first time. She’ll influence great rock n’roll figures like Chuck Berry or Little Richard.

Unfortunately forgotten for decades (like a lot of women would I say), She’ll be back in the spotlight in 2018 when all of her records came out and with her introduction to the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.

Louis Jordan :

Very popular in the 40s, he’s called The King of Jukebox ’cause he’s one of the rare black artists to have his name in both rhythm and blues and American pop charts.

Ex-saxophonist of the Chic Webb orchestra, his high-energy style of playing gives a “jive” sound to it. This allowed him to be considered one of the rhythm and blues and rock n’roll pioneers.

It develops some basics of the genre as :

• Wild and powerful stage performances,
• Lyrics full of innuendo,
• And mostly, great quality of interpretations.

Antoine “Fats” Domino :

Singer, pianist, and songwriter, he’s the most famous New Orleans rock ‘n’ roll rep.

His first album, The Fatman, recorded in December 1949, soon inherited the title of «first rock’n’roll album». The song is part of the New Orleans tradition, as well as boogie-woogie and blues.

His features as well as his round and warm voice will influence many rhythm and blues bands.

Ike Turner

March 5, 1951, he recorded with singer and saxophonist Jackie Brenston Rocket88. Almost everything is there to make a rock’n’roll success :

• Lyrics about a powerful old mobile,
• A rhythm based on the eight to the bass*,
• A furious saxophone,
• A relentless riff,
• The use of an artificially saturated guitar.

However, the song was released under the name of Jackie Benston and His Delta Cats. He wasn’t credited as a co-writer, and nothing changed in his career.

By the way, for those who don’t know Ike Turner, but know Tina Turner and think “Oh! That’s funny, they share the same name”, well, that’s because he was her ex-husband. Here you go!

Little Richard Penniman :

Pianist, singer-songwriter, he records his first album in 1951. In it, we can hear some typical characteristics of rock n’roll music, like :

• The piano and bass are punctuated by a walking bass* that will become THE melodic phrase of rock n’roll,
• The stop time (stop of the musical accompaniment) that precedes the chorus,
• Minimalist lyrics,
• An accompaniment including a trumpet and a saxophone section

* Eight to the bass and walking bass are explained in this post.

However, the closest one who can be credited as the “creator of rock n’roll music” is :

Bill Haley :

After being one of the first white country musicians to sing a rhythm and blues song, his transition to rock n’roll music will be done in a radical way by integrating a drummer in his band. Rock around the clock (April 1954) shows EVERY musical trait of rock n’roll :

• A real band with bass/drums/guitar/piano/saxophone,
• Festive lyrics,
• All musical characteristics of the genre (e.g., rhythmic, riff, syncope, etc.)

The success will be even bigger when the song will be taken for the film credits of the movie Blackboard Jungle, released in 1955. Thanks to the cinema, rock n’roll music has its first anthem.

WHY IS ELVIS MORE REPRESENTED AS THE ROCK AND ROLL CREATOR THAN BILL HALEY?

The recording condition

First, the answer lies in the recording condition of Bill Haley and His Comets’ title. They don’t match the image we want of rock n’roll:

• The song was recorded by two famous Tin Pan Alley celebrities. (Tin Pan Alley was the name of the first popular music industry in the USA). At the time, the song lyricist was 59 and the songwriter 39. (which was considered as old for the teenagers and young adults )
• It was recorded in a big firm (Decca)

Making this one a founding title of rock music is to reconsider the fact that rock is from an African-American rural genre and practiced by disadvantaged south white trash.

Bill Haley image

Then, the second part of the answer is Bill Halley himself.

The way he looked didn’t match either with what was expected of teenagers and young adults. He didn’t fit with rock music’s values. Bill Haley was 29 in 1959 (so, when you referred above, he was old), he was considered “ugly”, was married, a father, and agreed with eternal America’s values which he should be against. It was a lot, there!

You need to know that, in those days, to be black, ugly, alcoholic, vulgar, wise, or stupid was enough to compromise success. Time has changed…

Elvis makes the connection and corresponds perfectly to the image of rock. He is a kind of link between White Trash and Black people.

By being seduced by Black people’s music, he crosses borders.

What transforms Elvis as a King, it’s his capacity to personify a new social type. With his position, he redefines at the same time values of social classes, ethnicity, age, sex, and nationality.

What about Chuck Berry?

You’re gonna tell me I’m writing a post about the creation of rock and I’m not talking about Chuck Berry? Well, here I am!

Guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Chuck Berry is considered one of the pioneers of rock and roll and one of its greatest representatives. By mixing country, rhythm, and blues and blues, he creates his style.

His stage performances will earn him the nickname Crazy Legs. It was even copied years later by some guy called Angus Young.

Although his role is undeniable in the history of rock, he takes a lot from artists such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Louis Jordan.

So from my perspective, Chuck Berry, like Elvis Presley, mixes different elements already existing to do something else.

Again, I’m just stating the facts, and I really like Chuck Berry’s work.

In conclusion

What we must remember, is that several artists contributed to the creation of rock n’roll music. And ALL can be considered founders, co-founders of rock’n’roll.

I end this post with a list of artists (not as known as those above) who helped to lay the foundation of rock n’roll music.

• Merle Travis : Merle’s BoogieWoogie (1947)
• Frank Culey : Cole Slaw (1949)
• Ralph Willis : I’m gonna rock (1949)
• Amos Milburn : Bad, bad Wiskey (1950)
• Billy Love : Juiced (1951)
• Curley Williams : Move a little closer (1951)
• Dominos : Sixty Minutes Man (1951)
• Lucky Joe Almond : Gonna Rock n’Roll (1954)

Also, you can find just below the playlist where all the artists and songs I mentioned are. And don’t forget to share the post if you liked it or if you think it might interest someone you know!

Also, you can see all the drawings / caricatures right here !

See you soon !

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Speed Metal : the beginning of speed

Posted on April 25, 2025 by Claire Abe

Hey ! We meet today to talk about a genre that marked a turning point in the world of metal when it …

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What makes a good rock / metal song ?

Posted on February 28, 2025 by Claire Abe

Hey ! Today, we meet to discuss a topic that I find very interesting: What makes a good rock/metal s…

Uncategorized

Blues rock : Back to the roots

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Claire Abe

Hey there ! Today we meet for a recognizable and inevitable genre! I’ll get you in the mood. Imagine…

Sources:

Oxford Learners Dictionaries : https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/rock-music

Une histoire musicale du rock – Christophe Pirenne

Wikipédia

Qu’est-ce que le rock ? – Nicolas Journet – Les Grands Dossiers des Sciences Humaines : https://www.cairn.info/magazine-les-grands-dossiers-des-sciences-humaines-2012-3-page-31.html

Rosetta Tharpe, la marraine du rock’n’roll – La chronique d’Aliette de Laleu – France Musique https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEmip-4TAJk

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, la femme qui inventa le Rock’n Roll – Campus Protestant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5m3yh2gTLk

Universal :https://www.universalmusic.fr/artistes/20000126256

Universal :https://www.universalmusic.fr/artistes/20000087921

Universal : https://www.universalmusic.fr/artistes/20000055301

TéléMatin -Musiques – Le père du rock n’ roll aka Chuck Berry : https://www.universalmusic.fr/artistes/20000055301

Claire Abe

The post Rock music : definition and creation appeared first on Rock N' Roll World.