Rock and roll is one of the first genres of rock music. This genre was formed in the late 40s and early 50s of the 20th century in the United States of America. It is believed that the very name of the genre goes back to the compositions of gospel artists. In particular, they name the song “Good Rocking Tonight” by Roy Brown, which appeared in 1947, as well as the composition “Rock And Roll” by Billy Moore Wilde, which was presented to the public in 1949.

Rock and roll has its origins primarily in the blues. The formation of the genre was significantly influenced by the famous American blues musicians Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Rock and roll is born from the interaction of several musical genres: blues, rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie, jazz and country. Performers set the task of finding a fundamentally new sound and find it.

The very name “rock and roll” in relation to musical compositions began to be used thanks to disc jockey from Cleveland (Ohio) Alan Freed. It was he who did a lot to make the new genre popular. Thanks to rock and roll, it was possible to reconcile the white and African-American populations of the United States, and the hatred between them noticeably weakened. Main characteristic features rock and roll are fast tempo, 4/4 time signature, the lyrics contain an abundance of colloquial and slang, slang expressions.

No one can accurately name the first rock and roll single in the history of music. Opinions differ on this matter: some call the composition “Fat Man”, recorded by Fats Domino in 1950. But perhaps the first sign of rock and roll was the composition “Rocket 88” performed by Ike Turner, which was recorded in Sam Phillips’ studio in 1951. The formation of rock and roll is certainly associated with the names of the great and powerful Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and, of course, the “King of Rock and Roll” Elvis Presley.

Fats Domino demonstrated New Orleans boogie-woogie, which with all confidence could already be called real rock and roll. In 1954, Bill Haley's two singles "Rock Around The Clock" and "Shake Rattle And Roll" were released, which moved rock and roll from the field of experimental, unknown music of the American south into the mainstream. Little Richard laid the foundations of rock and roll as a rebellious movement in music: the rhythms of his compositions, accompanied by formal chaos on stage and loud shouts, were a challenge to society. Little Richard's music became the basis for the garage rock and proto-punk that came later. In 1955, the first single of Chuck Berry, who is the founder of rock poetry and, more broadly, rock style, was released. The main features of this style were manifested in special witty, defiant, rebellious lyrics, in a shocking manner of behavior on stage and in the manner of playing the guitar, which were picked up by general public almost instantly.

Rock and roll was born in the contradictory competition between African-American and white musicians. Initially, rock and roll was exclusively the privilege of black performers. But subsequently the palm in rock and roll began to belong to the white Elvis Presley, who managed to make rock and roll not just a popular musical genre, but a way of life for the broad youth masses not only in the USA, but throughout the world. Elvis was extremely popular, despite the fact that the quality of his musical compositions could not be compared with the compositions of black musicians.

Later, new, young musicians appeared: Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran. Rock 'n' roll artists had enormous commercial success. Well-known labels started a real hunt for young talented rock and roll teams.

The USA was not the only center for the development of the new genre. Rock and roll also developed in Europe. Old England became the stronghold of European rock and roll. If in the USA rock and roll was formed mainly on the basis of blues, rhythm and blues, jazz, country, boogie-woogie, which had long been performed by black musicians in America, then in England music had a huge influence on the formation of rock and roll in the skiffle genre. One of the most prominent representatives of this genre in England were Lono Donegan and John Lennon with their team “The Quarrymen”. English rock and roll was pioneered in the 1950s by Cliff Richard and The Shadows. Cliff Richard's composition "Move It" replaced the Americans in the charts.

But the rapid rise of the genre gave way to an equally rapid crisis and decline of rock and roll in the early 1960s. Many musicians died, Chuck Berry went to prison, Elvis Presley entered the cinema. Other musicians focused on blues, rhythm and blues, and country. Rock 'n' roll was at a standstill, despite the emergence of Chubby Checker's twist and the Californian surf rock of the Beach Boys.

Rock and roll would have died if not for the “British Invasion”, at the center of which were the Beatles. The British covered many of the hits of Chuck Berry and Little Richard. The British Invasion gave rock and roll a second wind.

The further development of rock and roll as a musical genre proceeded unevenly: rock and roll either flared up or died out. The peak of rock and roll's ignition occurred in the late 1960s, when the bands Creedence Clearwater Revival and Mungo Jerry came to the fore, and in the mid-1970s - this period is associated with the names of Cat Stevens and Showaddywaddy. ; and at the end of the seventies - the beginning of the eighties with the revival of interest in rockabilly among punk bands.

Rockabilly is a type of rock and roll that was formed from the interaction of rock and roll and the southern variety of country - hillybilly with an admixture of blues. This music was performed by Elvis Plesley. Other representatives of this type of rock and roll were Johnny Cash, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins. Subsequently, rockabilly turned into a movement of adherents of the “Fifties” (50s) culture around the world. The center of this movement, oddly enough, was Europe. Neo-rockabilly is associated with the groups “Stray Cats”, “The Cramps”, “Heavy Trash”. In the wake of rockabilly in the 80s, rock groups “Bravo”, “Brigada S”, “Mister Twister”, “Nochnoy Prospekt”, “Zoo”, “Secret” appeared in the Soviet Union. Of particular note are the two St. Petersburg teams “Meantraitors” and “Swindlers”, which were the link between Soviet Union and the global rockabilly movement.

1986 marks the year of the establishment of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is replenished annually at a special ceremony in New York. Since 1993, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum has existed in Cleveland (Ohio, USA).

The most famous rock and roll performers:

Chuck Berry

Ritchie Valens

Gene Vincent

Wanda Jackson

Fats Domino

Eddie Cochran

Little Richard

Jerry Lee Lewis

Ricky Nelson

Roy Orbison

Carl Perkins

Elvis Presley

Bill Haley

Recently, the rock band “LaScala” visited our city with an acoustic concert. In conversations about creativity and the eternal, we also talked about what lies behind the concept of rock and roll, so popular abroad in the second half of the twentieth century, and then widely spread in our country, and what real rock should be like. n-roller.

This is not the first time we have asked musicians this question, but no one has yet didn't name ten rules, Although, the LaScala group almost approached this mark and named seven.
First to the question of what is rock and roll, and can it exist in the modern music industry, answered vocalist of the group Anya Green: “It’s a way of life, not just music”.
Lera Skripnik, drums:“I agree with Anya, this is a state of mind.”
Max Galstyan, guitarist: “I hate rock and roll (everyone laughs at these words)! He ruined my whole life."

Then, during the conversation musicians named what a real rock and roller should be.

1. Lera Skripnik: “The first rule of a true rock and roller is that there are no rules.”.

2. Anya Green: “Live for music, approach your creativity adequately, feel that you really have something to say to people.”

3. Max Galstyan: “Love what you do, do what you love”.

Max Galstyan: “In fact, the topic is controversial, because I have a specific attitude to what is understood by this concept in our country.”

Anya Green: “Yes, rock and roll in our country is a little, to put it mildly, not rock and roll.”

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4. Max Galstyan: “It (rock and roll) has died abroad, now it’s show business, a game, hence the following rule: Play and have fun".

5. Anya Green: "Yes, by at least, it sounded honest. There are certain rules that apply to all types of music. For example, I believe that today musicians on stage lack adequacy to their creativity.
Many young people join groups and play, although not all of them, absolutely uninteresting, low-quality music. It’s wrong when people get up in the morning, put on a tie, take a briefcase and go to the office, and in the evening, having overpaid, position themselves as rock and rollers, hence the rule: No honesty - no rock and roll».

6. Max Galstyan: “For some reason, this culture is misunderstood and the concepts of rock and roll and quality music are confused. In fact, these are different things.Rock and roll is self-sacrifice».

7. Max Galstyan: “A professional can play in any pub. A rock and roller may not even know “two chords,” but it will be rock and roll. Was Cobain an outstanding guitarist? Sid Vicious, although it was partly a project, it was real. And it was served exactly as it was. But he took it all seriously, apparently, and died early. It doesn’t mean that to be a rock and roller you have to die at 27 or not live to see 40. You just have to look for new forms while remaining real.”

More than 30 years ago, back in 1983, Boris Grebenshchikov and the Aquarium group recorded the undisputed hit of that time, “Rock and roll is dead...”. But it seems that they would rather forget BG and his hits than ROCK AND ROLL, who has become an immortal legend! So, where and how did His Majesty Rock and Roll appear?

Brief background

The early 1950s became the atmosphere of jazz parties, where the idea of ​​something “like that” was already in the air. The closely and constantly intersecting musicians of that time in the States constantly shared their thoughts with each other and every now and then played their discoveries for each other and for a mass audience.

American entertainment in those days was inextricably linked not with jazz, but with commercial orchestras, sugary-sweet and neatly sleek, both musically and visually. It looked very respectable, but there was no talk of improvisation, nor of what is called “drive” today. The white, emotion-seeking youth of that time (they were also called bobby-soccers) persistently and methodically searched for more, and since radio had a strong influence, the immersion in “black” radio stations became stronger and deeper.

And while this was in its infancy, there was no particular hysteria, but the trend was seen by the one who became the “discoverer” - the DJ Alan Freed. In fact, no one can name the exact date of the birth of rock and roll, but we know the year absolutely precisely: rock and roll was born in 1952, how?

Birth and giving of a name

Alan himself was then 30 years old, in search of his place in show business, he “flew” in an attempt to become a radio commentator in New York, but succeeded in getting a job as a disc jockey in Cleveland (radio station WJW). And this is where a historical musical event happened: the words from a then popular song in the style of rhythm and blues literally “grew together”, sounding like “ We'll rock, we'll roll"and the growing passion of "white youth" for "black rhythms."

Without asserting anything, we will nevertheless inform you that two musicians are traditionally named as contenders for the title of “dad”: Ike Turner with his composition " Rocket 88" or Little Richard with written around the same time, but recorded and promoted later " Tutti-Frutti" The popularizer and promoter of style is considered Chuck Berry.

Interesting fact: those who carefully watched the famous film trilogy “Back to the Future” remember that according to the plot, rock and roll is “born” as a result of the guitar playing of the main character, who went back in time and “gave” the sound and rhythm of his favorite rock music. n-roll to Chuck Berry’s brother, who played traditional jazz and blues at the “sweet school ball.” A time loop is, of course, a funny and original idea, but...

And here Alan Freed, who is literally hard of hearing, but not quick-witted and commercially acumen, begins to actively promote the “ rock-and-roll» everyone accessible ways! First, Alan persuades the WJW director to air new program, and weekly. Secondly, he throws real rock parties. But then “older white America” rises up and strictly shows the place of the blacks... After this, literal military actions are unleashed against the music that unites whites and blacks, who, moreover, not only listen to music, but sometimes behave inappropriately, and sometimes even aggressively.

Clearly an "unwanted baby"

This is not everyone’s opinion, but still the American (or rather racist) audience rebelled, and stones rained down on the “baby”. Radio and television literally filled enough famous personalities who stated:

1. That rock and roll will ruin and destroy America and its culture.
2. That rock and roll is a black and even communist infection!
3. That rock and roll should be banned forever (that's democracy...).
4. That jeans should also be banned!

In such an unfriendly, even hostile atmosphere, Alan Freed does not give up and continues to fight, how?

Rock and roll confidently gets on its feet and walks, and then flies!

Fried calls his weekly radio program “Rock and Roll Party.” Moon Dog"(in English: Moondog`s Rock And Roll Party), since he chooses for himself the pseudonym Moon Dog or Moon Dog, which was successful in those dark times. A good move: this is the image of a lonely howling wild beast, which is very romantic, but on the other hand - if the transmission goes over, then it is not his name that will suffer, but only his nickname, which, if anything, can be changed!

In such a heightened passion, very little time passed, and the violent “spin-spin” (this is how the combination rock-n-roll can be literally translated) literally broke through the defense line and won its place in the sun. The film contributed greatly to this "Slate Jungle", in which rock and roll was launched into the consciousness of the masses "Rock Around the Clock" performed by orchestra Bill Haley, who became one of the “white” performers of driving music. Yes, and not far adolescence Bill, who was then about 30 years old, was not very popular with young people, who longed to see one of their peers in the front row.

This is where Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and many others appeared, fledged and became luminaries. We make no claims to the logic or chronology or level of popularity of this list. Someone will still be at the beginning, and someone at the end. And it’s also impossible to list all the “heroes of rock and roll,” but these are traditionally included in every conceivable collection of hits, for which we thank them and respectfully bow to them.

What is rock and roll in a musical sense? In essence, this is a traditional twelve-bar blues, but with a smooth and accelerated rhythm (without swing), consisting, like classic blues, of small major seventh chords. Many musicians talk about it as a harmonious combination of rhythm and blues with country and some samba. We won't argue.

So is Rock-and-roll dead or not yet?

Why did this question even arise? In the late 50s and early 60s, there were reasons for rumors “about the funeral of rock and roll”: in 57, for religious reasons, Little Richard left the stage, within two years - in 59 and 60 - B. Holly, R. Valens and E. Cochran die, in the same 60th, Elvis was drafted into the army for 2 years, returning as a different person in character... And add to this the long imprisonment of Chuck Berry and the boycott of Jerry Lewis, Because of the marriage to the “excessively young bride”, it becomes clear that we are talking about serious things.

But rock and roll continues to live in numerous compositions of famous rock bands: starting with “ Roll Over Beethoven"The Beatles continued" Are You Ready, Eddie?" from E, L&P, " Long Live Rock-n-roll" And " If You Don't Like Rock'n'Roll"from Rainbow and others. And if not pure rock and roll, then at least covers of hits were, are and will be heard.

And although after the 60s the luminaries of the genre stopped performing, rock and roll will not die as long as those who listen and love it are alive, no matter what its opponents say!

Rock and roll is danced by presidents and janitors, young and not so young, owners of mansions and those who are penniless. This is a dance for everyone who loves life.

History of origindance

The birthday of this super-popular dance is considered to be April 12, 1954. It was on this day that a film was released in US cinemas in which a dancing couple “twirled and twirled” to the tune of the song “Rock Around the Clock.” The public liked the dance so much that it spread throughout American states with the speed of an epidemic. Then rock and roll “captured” Europe.

Of course, rock and roll dance and the musical direction under the same name are inextricably linked. First came new, slightly shocking music. And then a dance was “constructed” to the dynamic melodies of rock and roll. The rock and roll designer was singer Bill Haley. He mixed two musical styles - country and rhythm and blues - and slightly sped up the tempo. Afterwards, the “parent” conjured the mixture for a long time, and finally found the missing ingredient - swing.

The then completely unknown truck driver, Elvis Presley, was entrusted with promoting the new direction. Which he did, and with stunning success.

What is rock and roll?

Actually, dance rock and roll is one of the forms of jive, adapted for the broad masses of dance lovers. Complex acrobatic elements are simplified, and all these dynamic movements, twists and turns during partner transitions and turns can be performed on a small “patch” or even leaving the place. Rock and roll can be danced in couples and groups. But the classic version, of course, is a pair dance - a partner and a partner.

Rock and roll has three components: the main stroke, the twist and the spin. The basic move is very similar to a jive and is easy to learn, but the remaining two elements can only be performed beautifully by experienced dancers.

Kindsdance

Rock and roll can be presented in two forms. The first - disco version - is available to everyone, is performed at dance evenings and does not require special training. A more difficult form to perform is acrobatic rock and roll.

Acrobatic rock and roll

Rock and roll in its classic version, the so-called pure rock and roll, very quickly became extremely popular after its appearance. For lovers of this incendiary dance, since the 60s, competitions and competitions have been organized and held one after another. In an effort to win, the participants tried to include more and more difficult tricks in their performance, thereby gradually complicating the dance.

In the early 70s, Swiss choreographer Rene Sagarra, impressed by competitive battles, created a new dance - sports rock and roll. He retained the essence of the dance - cheerful recklessness and daring, but subordinated the dance steps to a strict plan. Teachers and choreographers found the new version of the dance very organic, and since then rock and roll has officially become a sports dance.

Since 1977, rock and roll has acted as an independent sport. Dance elements are so tightly intertwined with acrobatic tricks, all kinds of somersaults, flights and complex lifts that the question is - is it a sport or an art? - remains unanswered.

• Category “A” is the most complex program, which contains very complex acrobatic elements, lifts and tricks
• Category “B” - average difficulty program
• Category “C” is a program that does not include any breathtaking tricks, but is presented with graceful and simple pirouettes and lifts.

World and European Championships in acrobatic rock and roll are regularly held, although only in categories “A” and “B”. And the World Federation of Acrobatic Rock and Roll includes 40 national federations.

Features of rock and roll

Time signature 4/4

Fast or very fast pace

Rock and roll is the name of a musical style that means “swing and roll” in English. This style was born in the middle of the last century in the USA and can be described as early stage in the development of this musical movement.

Rock and roll is a movement in popular music that is a synthesis large number American music styles. Unknown to anyone at that time, musicians originally from the American South began to independently mix compositions in the style of country, gospel, boogie-woogie and many others, achieving an unusual sound of music.

It is believed that the founder of this style was an American musician and singer, who was also the author of the lyrics of his songs. His first and most significant composition in this area is “Rock Around the Clock”. But the name of the style itself was proposed by Alan Freed, who at that time worked as a DJ at one of the radio stations.

The face of this style is considered to be Elvis Presley, who remains in the memory of fans as the “king of rock and roll.” The memorable songs of Elvis Presley shaped the musical taste of the youth of that time. In the sixties, this style lost its leading position, and began to regain popularity with the advent of the Beatles. Since then, this musical style has been briefly called “rock.” .

In the Soviet Union, they learned about rock and roll around the end of the fifties, but the audience of Soviet listeners of this music was very small. The first performers of this style in the USSR appeared in the first half of the sixties in the Baltic republics, Leningrad and, of course, in Moscow and played mainly English-language hits. The music of these groups was quite amateur in nature, and soon in their repertoire rock and roll compositions were replaced by performances of songs by groups such as the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, etc. In the highest echelons Soviet power this style was ignored, although it was often used for anti-Western propaganda. Rock and roll compositions in Russian began to be played in the Soviet Union in the second half of the seventies, and at the same time the revival of this style began in the West. . The groups “Zoo”, “Bravo”, “Secret” were at that time the most famous performers and promoters of rock and roll in the USSR. Subsequently, many club bands appeared playing in this style (Mr. Twister, etc.).

Modern performers boldly mix styles and sounds, so today works in the rock style are closely intertwined with ethnic melodies or hip-hop, and there are much more shades in rock music. From year to year, this style has more and more fans. Every year on April 13, fans in all countries celebrate World Rock and Roll Day.