Leigh Peel, Lauren Price,
Nadine Mensah, Nina Foster,
Taylor Jones, Julia Allcott,
And Kayla Ward
1950’s Notes Sheet!
Historical Background:
- Political
- Presidents: Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower
- Brown vs. Board (1951): established separate public schools for black and white students and denied black children equal educational opportunities
- Cold War: series of wars involving the U.S, their allies, and the Soviet Union
- Korean War (1950-1953): Started between North Korea & Republic of South Korea then escalated to a war between Western Powers and the U.S and their allies
- Red Scare: time when there was a fear of an outburst of communism
- McCarthyism: Senator Joseph McCarthy led a nationwide movement that accused people of being communists – as a result many people lost their jobs and the fear of communism grew
- Economic
- WWII had created jobs and allowed industries to open back up
- Many American products were being sold overseas
- Industries started to prosper – automobile, aviation, technology and housing
- Social Events
- Levittown: one of four towns that were made to keep people segregated – influenced the rebellious music of the 50’s
-Technology
- Inventions: color tv, first 3-D movie, leak-free ballpoint pen, polio vaccine, first plastic coke bottle
Music
-Style
- started out as Big Band and Easy Listening, then went into Doo Wop, and then began to turn into Rock-n-Roll
-Mainstream
-Influence from R&B can be seen in the vocal style, a melodic baseline, simple -chords and an accented rhythm
-Drums produced a backbeat (2+4)to create further excitement
-Used the 12- bar blues form
-Artists: Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, Ray Charles, Danny and the Juniors, Bobby Day, etc.
-Rockabilly (Rock and Hillbilly)
-Vocal style that was similar to crooning in slow songs,
singing was presented clearly on pitch–no sliding, and the lyrics were enunciated
-instrumentation similar to mainstream, but less emphasis on saxophone; acoustic guitars used more often
-drums were added, reflecting the R&B influence
-earlier rockabilly used acoustic bass; later used electric bass
-although some songs used the 12-bar blues form, many followed the 8- or 16-bar patterns typical of C&W and pop songs
-the backbeat on 2 & 4 was present to help identify rockabilly as a rock style
-Artists: Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson, Buddy Holly, etc.
-Soft Rock
-Two distinct branches were evident: (1) white soft rock, (2) black soft rock (doo-wop groups, etc.)
-Pop influence
-"Doo-Wop" refers to songs with "nonsense" syllables, e.g., doo-be-doo-be-doo-be-doo-shoo-be-doo, etc.
-White soft rock artists: Pat Boone, Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Darin, Connie Francis, Elvis, etc.
-Black soft rock artists: The Platters, The Coasters; The Diamonds (white group singing in a black doo-wop style), etc.
-Artists
- Johnny Cash: mainly known as a country artist, but did sing other genres including rock n roll and rockabilly
- Ella Fitzgerald: known as “first lady of song”; known for her purity of tone and skat singing
- Nat King Cole: a leading jazz pianist famous for his voice; one of the first African Americans to host a television show
- Chuck Berry: pioneer of rock n roll; American guitarist, singer, and songwriter