Rock n Roll is a form of music that appeals to a worldwide audience. With so many artists and bands falling under the category of rock n roll, one might question what exactly it is that defines this genre of music? To understand how we label rock n roll we must trace the music back to its roots and see how we arrived at rock n roll and why the concept is often misleading. Modern day Rock n Roll can be traced back to numerous sources and for this reason we will see that Rock n Roll is a difficult concept to define. In this essay I will attempt to provide an alternative way of organizing popular music after a thorough investigation of what Rock n Roll really is.
Many historians believe that rock n roll began with the blues of the 1920's and 1930's. Looking even further past this we can find that the blues originated from slave songs in the south.
English: MARCO,LA VOZ DEL ROCK AND ROLL Español: ...
English: A photograph promoting the film Jailhouse...
Chuck Berry in Brunnsparken, Örebro, Sweden.While African-American blues artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker and more directly responsible for creating the term Rock n Roll, we cannot ignore the foundations of their music came from slave workers. Also in the 1920's we saw the birth of the modern recording industry. Now people could listen to other work and implement it into their own. Through this styles spread and new ideas were originated. Another technological advancement in the 1920's was the radio which allowed for artists to gain national exposure.
In particular, Robert Johnson utilized the radio to his advantage to spread his blues style across the United States and gain popularity. His delta blues style was strikingly similar to the sound of rock n roll that would emerge 20 years later. This approach to the Missipppi blues was imitated...