Rhythm And Blues Research Paper

With all the sadness in the world, where have the blues gone? Blues music is one of the most creative and expressive genres out there, yet it is wildly underappreciated among younger generations. They are unaware of the beauty and history of the misunderstood genre. In order to understand the blues, we must discuss what blues music is, its history, and the state of the blues today.

The intended audience for the early rock and roll of the 1950's and 1960's were that of a teenage audience while blues, jazz and country were aimed toward the more adult crowds. With the maturation of an unprecedentedly immense and prosperous teenage audience, rock and roll music developed the sound of young America and soon spread about the world. Folklorists like to sentimentalize blues music as being an unadulterated expression of culture, but documented blues music was carefully promoted to its intended audience from its very beginning. As early as the 1920s, music intended at African-Americans was labeled as “race music”, and the best way to publicize it was in the pages of African-American newspapers. These newspapers had a wide transmission

Over the years, African American Music has developed as not only as cultural but also artistic phenomenon affecting the world. The music takes its own stand of being dominant as well of having a prevailing means of expression through the use of the lyrics. The lyrics of many songs tend to use a specific type of language in order to create that connection between the listeners. This certain style of language helps the listeners to think on a deeper level about the real meaning behind the lyrics.

The birth of R&B was created by African American in the early 1960’s from Soul music, Jazz, Gospel, Pop music and Blues as time went on R&B was born. In its earlier days, R&B Music was all about racial issues, and artists gave a lot of importance to the style and arrangement, which included different instruments and rhythms to produce different types of sounds. The result was live music that had catchy lyrics and was widely used in dance

African Americans had a major role in the development of popular entertainment in America. Following the Civil War, black Americans, developed a new style of music called ragtime which eventually evolved into what we now know as Jazz. In developing Jazz, African Americans contributed knowledge of the dance and folk music of people across Africa. Together, these musical forms had a major influence on the development of music within the United States and around the world during the 20th century. Early jazz and blues recordings were made in the 1920’s and the early part of the 20th century saw a constant rise in their popularity.

In a time where racial integration rarely ever occurred, especially in the South, “early rock-and-roll music, which boasted black and white artists and black and white fans… drew on both black rhythm-and-blues and white country influences… [this] symbolically reproduced the best hopes of many activists”(Ward). This seemingly insignificant occurrence was actually very significant in that it was one of the first instances in the time period of the Civil Rights . The occurrence brought about a new change for the way society works. Known as the movement that brought both races together, it allowed the race and people of white descendants to view the other side of blacks as the same humans that white people are. The civil right movement was happening at the same time as rock & roll was being revolutionized by African Americans, the connection seen was stated as “The threat integration posed to white Americans by the Civil Rights Movement was magnified as Rock & Roll gained popularity with white teenagers. Identifying correlations between the evolving musical style of Rock & Roll and the societal changes, attitudes and expectations engendered through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s”(Ward). The changing ways of the youth toward an African American Rock & roll allowed the most of the population to have an open

In 1951, Alan Freed, a European American disc jockey for a Cleveland radio station, first coined the term rock’n roll. Fifty years later, if you were to poll the general public on which race would dominate that genre of music, the response would be overwhelmingly whites. But rock’n roll is not a white mans music. African American’s were and still are an essential cornerstone of the genre known as rock’n roll. But rock’n roll simply would not exist if it weren't for African Americans. Their presence is felt in almost every genre of music known to the United States. Early twentieth century black musicians helped shape, influence and create my favorite genre of music today.

In the 1950’s, rock and roll type music began and started to become popular in America. However, due to the nature of America, with its racism and segregation, white people did not accept rock and roll with open arms. This was because rock and roll “was credited with … promoting integration and economic opportunity for blacks” (Altschuler, “Pivotal Moments in American History: All Shook Up: How Rock’n’Roll Changed America”, 35). Not only had this, but rock and roll originated from black culture and African-American music styles like jazz, blues, and gospel. Despite becoming prominent during this racially tense time in American history; rock and roll brought everyone together, instead of pushing everyone away. Rock and roll even allowed several African-Americans to become famous, such as LaVern Baker and Antoine “Fats” Domino. These African-Americans used their musical talents to further unite the communities with rock and

In the 1960's, America was ready for a change. Black rhythm and blues known as Motown became popular. Bob

African Americans contributed highly in the music genre rock-and-roll, which is something people don’t really discuss. Rock and roll was highly influenced by the Blues, from rhythm and instruments. One African-American Blues singer, Muddy Waters was one Blues singer that influenced rock and roll, he changed the sound of his music which gave it a rock and roll sound as we know it today. Many believe Elvis was the first to sing Rock and Roll but Joe Turner’s song “Shake, rattle and Roll” (1951) sounds much like rock and roll and not Blues. This is ignored by many because of the racism in society, especially at that time. Many Black artists were not acknowledge even after they passed away and white male artists were

Between the two World Wars, jazz and swing were all the rage. Starting in the late 1910’s, jazz, an amalgamation of gospel, blues, ragtime and march, became the popular music of choice for African-American citizens – the descendants of slaves whose music influenced jazz. Jazz quickly caught on, and exploded during the 20’s, spreading to white citizens as well as black. In the 30’s, jazz music was supplemented by swing, a form of jazz which had larger bands, and which tended to focus more on a singer rather than a performer.

In the 1950’s R&B began to define the sound of Rock n Roll which was about intense social and racial pride. Such artist as Little

Throughout the history of this country, the music of African-Americans has remained a strong influence upon our society and culture. Beginning with the music carried over from Africa with the slaves, up until now, with the new styles created by urban youth today, African-Americans have retained certain elements within their music which makes it unique from any other musical form. Some of the musical forms which were created from, and/or were strongly influenced by afro-centric musical characteristics are: Hymnals, Gospel, Spirituals, Ragtime, the blues, and R&B. While many of these musical forms are still popular today amongst Blacks and Non-Blacks, jazz and hip-hop are arguably the two most widespread and

Rhythm and blues, also known today as “R & B”, has been one of the most influential genres of music within the African American Culture, and has evolved over many decades in style and sound. Emerging in the late 1940's rhythm and blues, sometimes called jump blues, became dominant black popular music during and after WWII. Rhythm and blues artists often sung about love, relationships, life troubles, and sometimes focused on segregation and race struggles. Rhythm and blues helped embody what was unique about black American culture and validate it as something distinctive and valuable.

As the popularity of black artist started to build, especially in America, new variations of gospel and R&B developed; forming soul and funk. Were in the past, black musicians were ignored by the record companies, because they were not part of the music business model.