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Rock 'n' Roll |
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Listen to Buddy Holly 
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Challenged the Sanitised, Commodified, Predictable Music of the Industry! In Fact the Emergence of Rock 'n' Roll Challenged Everything! |
RM Radio Coming Soon 
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When Rock n Roll came along, the major record makers ignored it as a momentary flash. They were very wrong. Almost overnight, small niche companies that specialized in the new music, like Sun Records in Memphis, were swamped with orders. From 1955 to 1957 the number of records on the trade journal Billboards Top 10 list from independent companies quintupled from 8 to 40. |
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Even though losing market share, the major companies were slow to respond. One
cautious reaction was to issue toned-down remakes of Rock n Roll songs that were
catching on, in a practice called `covering’. An example was the cover of `Roll With
Me Henry’ by Etta James - it was covered by a less suggestive song called 'Dance With
Me Henry’ by Georgia Gibbs and soon became a hit. This process of modifying a
song to appeal to 'vanilla mass-market' tastes, and to avoid the risks inherent in doing
new things, was repeated hundreds of times. Each time, say cultural historians, artistic
authenticity was compromised.
Etta James - Roll With Me HenryEtta James - The Wallflower (Roll With Me Henry)
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Georgia Gibbs - Dance With Me HenryGeorgia Gibbs- Dance With Me Henry
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Covering
The industry practice of `covering’ soon became wide spread. For example, when Little
Richard‘s 1955 recording `Tutti Frutti’ picked up a following, there were white parents
who didn’t want their kids listening to `black music’. As a result that racist phobia
also contributed to a form of covering, in which major labels issued the same music,
sometimes toned down, with white artists. Pat Boone, for example covered `Tutti
Frutti’. However, the kids of America, both black and white wanted the real thing, and
that's’ how Rock n Roll in one sense furthered the cultural integration of American
society.
Richard‘s 1955 recording `Tutti Frutti’ picked up a following, there were white parents
who didn’t want their kids listening to `black music’. As a result that racist phobia
also contributed to a form of covering, in which major labels issued the same music,
sometimes toned down, with white artists. Pat Boone, for example covered `Tutti
Frutti’. However, the kids of America, both black and white wanted the real thing, and
that's’ how Rock n Roll in one sense furthered the cultural integration of American
society.
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Little Richard - Tutti Frutti
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Pat Boone - Tutti Frutti
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Cultural Homogenization
Also the certain sameness of sound, or 'sanitization', that major record companies
sought as a means to maximise sales using this well known formula produced a
phenomenon called 'cultural homogenization', which was worrying as many
historians argue that historically many of the great creative contributions in music have
come from lean and hungry independent companies, or 'indies'.
Rockabilly innovators like Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins, for example, were at their
best when recording with scrappy little risk taking indies. The result was a new
richness and diversity in the culture, just at that same time when the majors were
discouraging risk and innovation.
For their sales, the majors of the industry instead sought a teen age audience for their
watered down adaptations of the original, innovative works, resulting in a commercially
safe pop that would sell to a mass audience.
Cultural homogenization in the industry remains what some call an elitist-populist issue.
Elitists saw sameness, even if popular, was undesirable because art should always be
exploring new ground. Otherwise, culture stagnates. Populists on the other hand,
trusted the marketplace to shape the direction of the culture.
For the industry, profit can be made by imitating what’s gone before and been
successful. It’s always safer to be derivative than innovative. Critics note that
conglomerate parent companies persistently pressure their recording subsidiaries to
increase profits, which in effect, discourages artistic innovation and risk. This is not to
say there is no innovation, but there are financial lures and rewards for homogenization
that supersede a sense of responsibility to foster artistic contributions, hence the
backing in the 1990s for example of such acts as Paula Abdul, the New Kids, Milli
Vanilli (who late proved to be fraudulent), Rick Astely and Kylie Minogue.
Rick Astely
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Kylie Minogue
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Paula Abdul
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The New Kids
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Milli Vanilli
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Perhaps- the most classic examples of industry sanitisation and homogenization - not to
mention direct `factory created products’ - were the Monkees and the Spice Girls, but
we shall talk about them later, but we can at least look at them now, see below.
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The Monkees - I'm A Believer
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Spice Girls - Wannabe
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Nevertheless, while company dictated commercialism and homogenization became a
factor in Popular Music, they are less a problem these days. Many performers now
come from a different tradition, such as the emergence of 'Garage Bands' with their
low-cost recording and mixing equipment.
Radio Airplay
Still such music as that produced by Garage Bands, still has to get airplay. Record
companies ship new releases free to radio stations in hope of airplay. Few make it.
Stations are inundated with more records than they can possibly audition, most also
stick to a playlist of already Popular Music rather than risk losing listeners by playing
untried records. They also stick to charts of what music is selling and being played
elsewhere - hence there is yet another sanitising, homogenising effect.
The relationship between the radio and record industries is a two-way street. The
stations need 'records' (or songs), and the recording industry needs radio to air its
products. Recordings that win airplay are almost assured success. This interdependence
expanded to television in the 1980s when cable (MTV) built their programming on
video versions of Popular Music. So it's all a two way street with the recording industry
depending on radio and music videos to promote new music. (There also can be the
illegal avenue of 'Payola' - the paying of bribes to radio people to promote new
recordings.)
So within the industry, it can be considered that both artistic dynamics and corporate
forces work to shape the nature of Pop Music.
But Outside The Industry There Has Also Been The Role Of
Governments And Other Forces Shaping And Censoring Pop Music
Particularly For Example - The Radical Right In Politics
Governments And Other Forces Shaping And Censoring Pop Music
Particularly For Example - The Radical Right In Politics
The Role Of Governments And Censorship
Bill Haley & The Comets
There has also been the role of governments and their
censorship activities alongside many of the 'Right' in public
politics. Campaigns to ban records are nothing new. In the
roaring 20s, some people saw Jazz as morally loose. White
racists of the 1950s even called Bill Haley’s rock `nigger
music’. War protest songs of the Vietnam period angered many
Americans.
While US Government attempts to censor records have been rare, the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) sometimes kept records off the market. The FCC
can take a dim view of stations that air objectionable music, (ie. language, drugs, etc)
which guides broadcasters toward caution.
As for the role of the 'Radical Right' (conservative and reactionary political interests) in
the US. The politically active radical right has long affected what record makers do. The
radical right has campaigned against specific artists and records in protests to Congress
and the FCC, it has also staged boycotts against stations and held record - burning
rallies in the past.
The Effect
What effect have the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the radical
right had on the recording industry? Both have influenced, depending on geography
and political climate, the nature of Pop Music in the US. Fear of these powers, for
example, forced CBS to remove Dylan’s `Talking John Birch Society Blues’ from his
second album and from the Ed Sullivan Show. Pete Seeger was blacklisted from
commercial radio and TV for nearly 17 years. Ed Sullivan changed the title of the
Rolling Stones: 'Let’s Spend The Night Together’, to `Let’s Spend Some Time
Together’. Further, Barry McGuire’s 'Eve of Destruction' and Crosby, Stills, Nash and
Young’s `Ohio’ were blacklisted in many parts of the country. Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway
To Heaven' came under heavy criticism as well, because it was assumed to be referring
to drugs and sex. Moralists long have objected to some lyrics and pressured record-
makers to change their sources of music. Naturally, stations do not want to risk their
licenses and because the music industry is so dependent on airplay, hardly any music
that might offend makes it to market. For example, the British also banned/censored a
number of songs during the Falklands War, as did the US government in the Gulf War -
so it can be a widespread practice.
But For Our Purposes We Are More Interested In The Politics Between
The Machine And Society
But we are not so much interested in the internal politics of the 'machine' because as
we know in Western society, it reflects capitalism. What is more interesting is the
politics of the interface between the industry and the popular culture of society itself.
In other words - the interface between the music itself and the people and the impact
this has had, not just domestically but globally, and also the process which has
seen the industry project Westernization and other values to the world. And we are
interested in what has happened post 1950 and the emergence of Rock n Roll.
The Machine And Society
But we are not so much interested in the internal politics of the 'machine' because as
we know in Western society, it reflects capitalism. What is more interesting is the
politics of the interface between the industry and the popular culture of society itself.
In other words - the interface between the music itself and the people and the impact
this has had, not just domestically but globally, and also the process which has
seen the industry project Westernization and other values to the world. And we are
interested in what has happened post 1950 and the emergence of Rock n Roll.
With the Emergence Of Rock n Roll There Was More Power In The
Artists Hands
But power to do what? Surveys indicate that only 3% of youth really listen to the
lyrics in Pop Music, but nevertheless there still is considered an overall effect that Pop
Music has on its audience. And it this is what we shall look at.
Despite many studies being undertaken, to many it is unclear whether people's values
and mores are actually affected by lyrics. Most seem to indicate very little. Most people
use it as background noise, few (3%) are fully attentive to lyrics. However many critics
nevertheless argue that the lyrics of Pop music can have an insidious subliminal effect.
For example, some songs repeat their simple and explicitly sexual messages over and
over, as many as 15 to 30 times in one song. Surely such messages find their way into
people's subconscious - even if they can’t recite the lyrics.
Artists Hands
But power to do what? Surveys indicate that only 3% of youth really listen to the
lyrics in Pop Music, but nevertheless there still is considered an overall effect that Pop
Music has on its audience. And it this is what we shall look at.
Despite many studies being undertaken, to many it is unclear whether people's values
and mores are actually affected by lyrics. Most seem to indicate very little. Most people
use it as background noise, few (3%) are fully attentive to lyrics. However many critics
nevertheless argue that the lyrics of Pop music can have an insidious subliminal effect.
For example, some songs repeat their simple and explicitly sexual messages over and
over, as many as 15 to 30 times in one song. Surely such messages find their way into
people's subconscious - even if they can’t recite the lyrics.
Now To Examine The Emergence Of Modern Popular Music Since
The 1950s
We now need to turn to the emergence of modern Popular
Music with our dividing line being the 1950s - as there was a
perceptible change in the nature of Popular Music in the mid
1950s. And the music that followed reflected the system -
internally and externally. But in looking at modern Pop - we
first need to discern the different styles of what we now
know became 'Rock', as these styles or sub-genres first
emerged.
For our purposes Rock n Roll itself was significant for it ushered in a whole new era.
One which we will no longer examine in terms of the internal politics of the music
industry but more what the music itself projected externally in terms of the implicit
political culture it reflected, and indeed influenced in turn.
Let's Now Take A Brief Glimpse At The Emergence Of Rock n Roll
And Some Of Its Later Variants (Styles) Post The 1950s Which Have
Become Simply Described As Rock (even Disco is included in this),
Which Have All Formed Part Of Modern Western Popular Music.
Rock 'n' RollElvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock
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Go To Rock 'n' Roll 
Go To 'Rock' 
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'Rock' - Its Early VersionBeatles - A Hard Day's Night
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Psychedelic RockThe Beatles - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
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Go To Psychedelic Rock 
Go To Glam
Rock 
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Glam RockMarc Bolan & T Rex - Get It On
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Country RockEagles - Take It Easy
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Go To Country Rock 
Go To Progressive Rock 
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Progressive RockQueen - We Will Rock You
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Surf Rock
Dick Dale - Surfing Drums
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Go To
Surf Rock 
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Now - All The Above Styles (Genres) And More Of Music Are Political Statements In Themselves! Why?
Because they all reflect eras, and the dominant Western political culture at the time -
which as we know is the Western capitalist system. To quote one expert, Frith:
`Rock music is capitalist music. It draws its meanings from the relationships of
capitalist production, and it contributes, as a leisure activity, to the reproduction of
those relationships; the music doesn’t challenge the system but reflects and illuminates
it. Rock is about dreams and their regulation, and the strength of rock dreams comes
not from their force as symbols, but from their relationship to the experience of work
and leisure: the issue, finally, is not how to live outside capitalism (hippie or bohemian
style), but how to live within it. The needs expressed in rock - for freedom, control,
power, a sense of life - are needs defined by capitalism. And rock is a mass culture. It
is not folk or art but a commoditised dream: it conceals as much as it reveals. For every
individual illuminating account of our common situation there are a hundred mass
musical experiences that disguise it. Rock, for all the power of its individual dreams, is
still confined by its mass cultural form. Its history, like the history of America itself, is
a history of class struggle - the struggle for fun.'
Now Collectively This Form Of Music Has Power. It Has Projected
And Assisted Cultural Imperialism, Globalism And The Westernization
Of The Global Community.
The emergence of Rock in all these forms nevertheless produced an implicitly
politicising process as we shall see later - a process with much power (for
Westernization).
Collectively Western Rock Has Been a Tool of Westernization and Cultural
Imperialism and its stylistic changes and evolution has reflected different eras,
processes and developments. At times it has reflected both domestic and international
politics. It has reflected the First Cold War, Detente, the Vietnam War, the Second Cold
War and many developments in the the Post-Cold War era. For example, the music of
the 1960s Counter Culture reflected the despair of Vietnam, and a basic questioning of
of US and Western values.
The spread of Western Popular Music has also reflected international power change - ie
Globalisation and Westernization, it has aided it and not only reflected domestic change
but also sometimes spearheaded such change, hence one of the themes we examine
is Pop Music as a US\Western cultural tool that has swept, and still impacts on, the
world.
Thus, Western Pop Music has long been considered a tool of Cultural imperialism - a
means of Westernization or Globalisation of the World. Music reflects different cultures
and as such can also become a tool or even weapon of international conflict.
Can we therefore marry international politics with Rock n Roll? We can! Can we
marry domestic politics with 'Rock'? We also believe we can as music typifies or
is symbolic or characteristic of generations or cultures. And in the West, it has been
typical of subcultures within dominant forms of our Western Society.
In The Next Segment, we examine the implicit politics of modern Western Pop Music
and in so doing draw the connections and perhaps impact the industry has had. We
shall start off next time again with the emergence of Rock n Roll but this time we will
concern ourselves with the political views/ messages/themes projected implicitly by
this music to the rest of the world. But as we do, we must always remember music can
impact differently on audiences - and we therefore must always keep this in mind.
To Go To Segment 3: 'The Implicit Politics Of Rock n Roll' -
Click Below
For A Video History Of Rock N Roll - See Parts 1-5 Below
Click Below
For A Video History Of Rock N Roll - See Parts 1-5 Below
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Part One
History of Rock n Roll Part 1
Part Three
History of Rock n Roll Part 3
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Part Two
History of Rock n Roll Part 2
Part Four
History of Rock n Roll Part 4
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Part Five History of Rock n Roll Part 5
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