MU121 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Fats Domino, Maybellene, The Beach Boys
Document Summary
Lecture 4 - the rise of rock "n" roll. Black artists have trouble crossing over into white charts. Ex little richard"s tutti frutti reaching high success until its covered by white guy who"s version makes it into charts and takes over. Black artists realize they are seen as a threat. They alter image to appear less intimidating or threatening. He adapts very kind looking appearance and personality. Most stuff that crossed over is not sexually explicit. Hard to tell if he"s white or black. Dominant form of artist: male, singer-song writer, guitarist. Guitarists were not necessarily main event of r&b. R&b was based on pianists and horn players and boogie woogie. Has lyrical content people were not exposed to. Aimed at white audience, trying to enlarge his demographic. Ripped off by beach boys surfin usa. Just as black artist begins to crossover, white artist steals spotlight. Beach boys took chuck berry"s song, put new lyrics.
