The Birth (Mid 50's)

What is rock? Well that is one difficult question to answer if you go and look at the rock today and the rock from the past. That is why I have decided to take a look into where this genre originated and see how it has developed into what it is today.

The Birth
(Mid 50’s)

The man who combined these genres into rock and roll was Chuck Berry in 1955. It is hard to say and claim that, but based on all of the research that has been done I would have to say that Chuck was the one who did it. He is the first one to have a guitar as the lead instrument and use descending double-stops, the early essence of rock. His music was the point where T-Bone Walker’s guitar playing, vocal ideas of “shouters” as they were called and the boogie-woogie rhythm all joined together. The lyrics he wrote related to teenagers and hinted at taboo subjects (such as rebellion, sex, and drinking) which have developed into the basis of many rock songs of today. White kids around America connected and loved his music and he actually wrote his music. The problem was, he was black, and black musicians did not get the same airplay as white musicians. For this he lost his credit of being the king of rock and roll.
Seeing this type of music that Chuck had made was becoming popular, it started to spread many other black musicians who also began to perform this style of music. One of which was Little Richard out of New Orleans whose style reflected more of the gospel style of rock. Him and others played outrageously and helped set a standard that would later be reflected in punk rock.