Title: All Shook Up: How Rock 'N' Roll Changed America
Author: Glenn C. Altschuler
Pages: 136-192
Chapters: 5-6
SUMMARY: Rock & Roll died after ASCAP led assaults. Politicians and parents tried to bring the music down in any means. With "Elvis in the Army, Buddy Holly dead, Little Richard in the ministry, Jerry Lee Lewis in disgrace, and Chuck Berry in jail," rock and roll in America was dead (Altschuler 161). However, not for long, in England, bands like The Beatles and Rolling Stones secured the music; altered it in their own way and smashed it into American markets. This was the great British Invasion. Little Richard on the other side began to loose his rock vibe and turned to the moral of Christianity and churches. Soon enough, his divorce with his wife brought him back to the industry and joined with The Beatles in early '60s in Liverpool. Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gal, which gave Anti-Rock 'n' Roll people the power to use this as a weapon to wreck his career. He was open about it and so was Myra. This brought a downfall to Jerry's career. He lost his fans, record labels tried to cover him but failed. On the other side, Chuck Berry was arrested for violating the Mann Act, bringing a Mexican-Indian minor to U.S. to work for immoral purpose. The Beatles brought Chuck berry back by singing his songs that inspired them. While other rock 'n' rollers were ruined by scandals, Elvis stayed patriotic as a private in the army. Motown Records started to release their singles with black artists like Berry Gordy and reached mainstream during the '60s. The Beatles copied '50s American Rock 'n' Roll artists and approached teenagers in America without annoying adults. They became the hit and Elvis Presley was like 'dandelion tea' compared to The Beatles.
QUOTATION: "Compared to the Beatles' '100-proof elixir,' even Elvis was mere 'dandelion tea,' " (Altschuler 182).
REACTION: Who knew the Beatles furtively took the style and music from Americans, sold it to Americans and won the heart of Americans? Although in the end it came down to the Beatles, lets not forget all those great yet tragic Rock 'n' Roll artists of '50s inspired them. The Beatles basically took away the raw, anger and other immoral things from American Rock 'n' Roll music and collaborated their originality into it and made it a great music. The long fight against Rock 'n' Roll led by parents around the nation and politicians was settled down by the Beatles. Parents weren't annoyed anymore and teenagers were still happy to hear the music. The Beatles = The Great Compromisers.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
All Shook Up: How Rock 'N' Roll Changed America (Pages 80-136)
Title: All Shook Up: How Rock 'N' Roll Changed America
Author: Glenn C. Altschuler
Pages: 80-136
Chapters: 3-5
SUMMARY: With teens and their raging hormones, Rock 'n' Roll brought the sexuality out. Around the '57s Pat Boone and Dick Clarke became the messenger sent by God for the parents. They tried to put a lid on Rock 'n' Roll by creating dance shows such as Bandstand ,which attracted lots of teens. This was the moment of tranquility for the parents. This sent out message to many shows that Rock 'n' Roll should be banned but once Elvis appeared on the Ed Sullivan's show, it gave the show 43.7 ratings and 82.6 percent of the television audience. There was no stopping to Rock 'n' Roll when Elvis's body moves were magnetic and sexually arousing, Little Richard was charging erotically with his sexual lyrics and Jerry Lee Lewis was raping his piano. This became an entourage of immense sexual force that communicated with teens and became inexorable. Teenagers did not even exist before the 20th century. After the population in U.S. saw puberty decline and increase in youth marriages and that certain age group were associated with violence; the term was added as a slang. During WWII, teenagers took out their violence in public and began to rebel against their parents. To this, J.D. Salinger responded in a form of novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951) to express the feelings and actions of adolescents; how they were struggling like the protagonist Holden Caufield.
QUOTATION: "Jerry Lee Lewis 'raped his piano. He would play it with his feet, he would sit on it, he would stand on it, he would crawl under it, and he would leap over it.' He did the same with his microphone" (Altschuler 96).
REACTION: That is some rock 'n' roll spirit. I feel sorry for the piano and the microphone, however, it did belong to Lewis. This humorous line does suggest the torture and misuse of a piano but the deeper meaning is the actions and feelings of Jerry Lee Lewis. It is incredible how rock 'n' roll music can move a person (teenagers particularly) internally and externally making them have mixed sexual vibes inside and making them basically act like an unleashed beast. This was happening and is still happening to most teenagers. The moment they hear the music, it was like a command that said "Dance, Jump, Have Sex And Break Things," which eventually got them in trouble but it was addicting and undeniable.
Author: Glenn C. Altschuler
Pages: 80-136
Chapters: 3-5
SUMMARY: With teens and their raging hormones, Rock 'n' Roll brought the sexuality out. Around the '57s Pat Boone and Dick Clarke became the messenger sent by God for the parents. They tried to put a lid on Rock 'n' Roll by creating dance shows such as Bandstand ,which attracted lots of teens. This was the moment of tranquility for the parents. This sent out message to many shows that Rock 'n' Roll should be banned but once Elvis appeared on the Ed Sullivan's show, it gave the show 43.7 ratings and 82.6 percent of the television audience. There was no stopping to Rock 'n' Roll when Elvis's body moves were magnetic and sexually arousing, Little Richard was charging erotically with his sexual lyrics and Jerry Lee Lewis was raping his piano. This became an entourage of immense sexual force that communicated with teens and became inexorable. Teenagers did not even exist before the 20th century. After the population in U.S. saw puberty decline and increase in youth marriages and that certain age group were associated with violence; the term was added as a slang. During WWII, teenagers took out their violence in public and began to rebel against their parents. To this, J.D. Salinger responded in a form of novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951) to express the feelings and actions of adolescents; how they were struggling like the protagonist Holden Caufield.
QUOTATION: "Jerry Lee Lewis 'raped his piano. He would play it with his feet, he would sit on it, he would stand on it, he would crawl under it, and he would leap over it.' He did the same with his microphone" (Altschuler 96).
REACTION: That is some rock 'n' roll spirit. I feel sorry for the piano and the microphone, however, it did belong to Lewis. This humorous line does suggest the torture and misuse of a piano but the deeper meaning is the actions and feelings of Jerry Lee Lewis. It is incredible how rock 'n' roll music can move a person (teenagers particularly) internally and externally making them have mixed sexual vibes inside and making them basically act like an unleashed beast. This was happening and is still happening to most teenagers. The moment they hear the music, it was like a command that said "Dance, Jump, Have Sex And Break Things," which eventually got them in trouble but it was addicting and undeniable.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
All Shook Up: How Rock 'N' Roll Changed America (Pages 60-80)
Title: All Shook Up: How Rock 'N' Roll Changed America
Author: Glenn C. Altschuler
Pages: 60-80
Chapters: 2-3
SUMMARY: Little Richard and other black rock 'n' roll bands began to march and make history as their flamboyant shouts attracted many fans including white girls. Little Richard became famous with the hit "Long Tall Sally" and "Tutti Frutti," however, they had to change the lyrics simply purifying it for all audiences. Despite the purifying, Little Richard was still a hit even among whites. The people feared their uprising into the white society because white girls were all over him. Others simply stepped back because they thought he was homosexual. Little Richard used to do lots of make up which is why he was ambivalent about his homosexuality and danger to appear threatening to whites. Chuck Berry began to approach and adapt to his white listeners. This gave him and Little Richard a voice to black culture and social aspiration. Berry became one of the first rock 'n' roll superstar with his instant hits. He created his song in a way where it held different meanings of race and oppression. The racial innuendo went to another limit when Berry released his song "Brown-eyed handsome man," which lyrics' contained superiority of a brown-eyed man over other men, even doctors and lawyers. After a while, Berry began to cut down on the racial stuff so fans wouldn't view it as bias and stopped presenting his characters in the song as colored men. Unlike other rock 'n' roll era, '50s was a simple one which emphasized on love and marriage not teenage sex and pleasure. It was less formidable and opposite of what critics feared. This '50s rock 'n' roll music brought parents to the attention of sex. Parents magazines began to give instruction on talking to their kids about sex. Even high school sex courses began to attract more parents. This didn't feel like Rock 'N' Roll.
QUOTATION: "'By wearing this makeup,' he claimed, 'I could work and play white clubs, and the white people didn't mind the white girls screaming over me...They was willing to accept me, 'cause they figured I wouldn't be no harm'" (Altschuler 61).
REACTION: My reaction was also ambivalent as I dwelt upon a question. This whole makeup fabrication was clever but it came to my concern if Little Richard was homosexual. Was it his way to just cover up his homosexuality? If not, then it was very intrepid of him to put of silly makeups and perform. He became one of the first few black rock 'n' roll musicians to actually reach out to white listeners, more specifically, girls. Although, Little Richard did claim that he was doing all of this in order to appear as a non-lethal musician so he could be permitted to play in front of the white crowd, questions still raise about him hiding his ambivalence about his homosexuality. On the bright side, other musicians such as Chuck Berry received chances to approach white listeners then it grew on from there.
Author: Glenn C. Altschuler
Pages: 60-80
Chapters: 2-3
SUMMARY: Little Richard and other black rock 'n' roll bands began to march and make history as their flamboyant shouts attracted many fans including white girls. Little Richard became famous with the hit "Long Tall Sally" and "Tutti Frutti," however, they had to change the lyrics simply purifying it for all audiences. Despite the purifying, Little Richard was still a hit even among whites. The people feared their uprising into the white society because white girls were all over him. Others simply stepped back because they thought he was homosexual. Little Richard used to do lots of make up which is why he was ambivalent about his homosexuality and danger to appear threatening to whites. Chuck Berry began to approach and adapt to his white listeners. This gave him and Little Richard a voice to black culture and social aspiration. Berry became one of the first rock 'n' roll superstar with his instant hits. He created his song in a way where it held different meanings of race and oppression. The racial innuendo went to another limit when Berry released his song "Brown-eyed handsome man," which lyrics' contained superiority of a brown-eyed man over other men, even doctors and lawyers. After a while, Berry began to cut down on the racial stuff so fans wouldn't view it as bias and stopped presenting his characters in the song as colored men. Unlike other rock 'n' roll era, '50s was a simple one which emphasized on love and marriage not teenage sex and pleasure. It was less formidable and opposite of what critics feared. This '50s rock 'n' roll music brought parents to the attention of sex. Parents magazines began to give instruction on talking to their kids about sex. Even high school sex courses began to attract more parents. This didn't feel like Rock 'N' Roll.
QUOTATION: "'By wearing this makeup,' he claimed, 'I could work and play white clubs, and the white people didn't mind the white girls screaming over me...They was willing to accept me, 'cause they figured I wouldn't be no harm'" (Altschuler 61).
REACTION: My reaction was also ambivalent as I dwelt upon a question. This whole makeup fabrication was clever but it came to my concern if Little Richard was homosexual. Was it his way to just cover up his homosexuality? If not, then it was very intrepid of him to put of silly makeups and perform. He became one of the first few black rock 'n' roll musicians to actually reach out to white listeners, more specifically, girls. Although, Little Richard did claim that he was doing all of this in order to appear as a non-lethal musician so he could be permitted to play in front of the white crowd, questions still raise about him hiding his ambivalence about his homosexuality. On the bright side, other musicians such as Chuck Berry received chances to approach white listeners then it grew on from there.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
