MU121 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Regular Grid, Cymbal, Jackie Brenston
Lesson 1: The 50s – What to Listen for in Rock
The Fan Mentality
- Fans of rock music listen frequently to the music of a particular artist, group, or style
and gather interesting facts about both the artists and the music
- We must strive to be balanced as we study rock’s history and development, which
often forces us to consider carefully music we probably wouldn’t choose to listen to
otherwise
The Ups and Downs of Chart Positions
- Charts are viewed with understandable suspicion because little is known about how
they have been put together in the past, making them susceptible to manipulation
o They are still the best instruments to judge listeners’ changing tastes, even if
chart measurements are flawed
- The Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) awards gold records for sales of
500,000 units and platinum records for sales of 1 million units, which can be helpful
in measuring the success of an album or single
The Four Themes
- Four important themes are pursued throughout the course:
o Social, political, and cultural issues
o Issues of race, class, and gender
o The development of the music business
o The development of technology
- Each theme plays an important role in the development of rock music as a musical
style and a force in the popular culture
- In terms of technology, the rise of radio in the 20s and the emergence of television
after World War II are central factors in rock’s explosion into mainstream American
culture in the mid-50s
o Also important was the development of MTV in the early 80s
Tracking the Popularity Arc
- In many cases, a specific style of rock will appear within a relatively restricted
geographic region and remain unknown to most fans of popular music
o Ex. few rock fans were aware of the punk scene in New York during the mid-
70s, and bands such as Television, the Ramones, and Blondie played to small,
local audiences
o The American punk style developed within this small subculture before
breaking into the national spotlight in 1978
o By the early 80s, some artists formerly associated with punk embraced rock
mainstream, while the more die-hard, aggressive groups retreated back into
the punk underground
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- The rise of punk from a small, regional underground scene to mainstream pop
culture, and its subsequent retreat, follows a pattern
o The popularity arc
- Typically, histories of rock music account for the time each style spends in the pop
limelight (the peak of the arc) creating a chronology without examining a style’s
pre-mainstream roots or existence after the commercial boom years
What to Listen for in Rock
- Rock generally uses a limited number of common formal types
- Understanding formal structure will help us hear new things in the music itself and
perceive similarities between musical styles that may otherwise seem very different
Rocket ’88.’
- Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats, 1951
- Recorded in Memphis and produced by Sam Phillips
o Elvis Presley’s first producer
- Considered by many to be the first rock and roll song
- Brenston only wrote the lyrics and lifted the music from an earlier song called
Cadillac Boogie
o Called a borrowing – common in early rock and roll
- Simple Verse Form: repeats a single section of music to form larger structural
patterns, and each section is either a verse or instrumental verse
o Common in rock music
- Beats: commonly found in groups of four, which means you can count one, two,
three, four and continue counting one, two, three, four again rather than five, six,
seven, eight
- Measures: each group of four beats
o Also called a bar
Typical Formal Types in American Popular Music
- The analysis of musical form is a study of the way sections are structured in a piece
of music and the way these sections combine to produce larger structures
Rhythm and Meter
- Meter: the ways of organizing rhythm and beats
o A fuller consideration takes into account not only how many beats are in
each measure, but also how each beat may be subdivided
o Plays a crucial role in establishing the rhythmic feel of a song
- Rhythm: the ways musical sounds are organized in time
- Beat: a regular rhythmic pulse
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lesson 1: the 50s what to listen for in rock. Fans of rock music listen frequently to the music of a particular artist, group, or style otherwise. The ups and downs of chart positions and gather interesting facts about both the artists and the music. Charts are viewed with understandable suspicion because little is known about how chart measurements are flawed. The record industry association of america (riaa) awards gold records for sales of. 500,000 units and platinum records for sales of 1 million units, which can be helpful in measuring the success of an album or single. Four important themes are pursued throughout the course: social, political, and cultural issues, issues of race, class, and gender, the development of the music business, the development of technology. Each theme plays an important role in the development of rock music as a musical style and a force in the popular culture.
