Can we really call it Rock and Roll when the music has changed so much in 50 years?

Question

Listen to the early Rock and Roll sometime, which was an offshoot of Rhythm and Blues and Country Music and first appeared in the 1950s. Early Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Elvis, Bill Haley and the Comets, etc.

Compare with today's Rock and Roll. Better? Not as good? Part of the evolution of the genre?

I was a teenaged disk jockey in 1958 and played a lot of the early stuff. I like most of the contemporary rock but is it truly Rock and Roll? This is a serious question!!

I know I'm old. That isn't part of the question. Nor does it affect my tastes or interests in the music.

I do hope Ghost lives long enough to have someone tell him he's old.

Great answer, Moogle King.

Answer 1

You are correct in that "Rock 'n' Roll" is a specific type of Rock, and what is called Rock and Roll today has little relation to it stylistically.

To be stylistically accurate, “Rock and Roll” typically has these characteristics:
A small ensemble of drums, bass and guitar(s), sometimes piano
A male singer,
is in 4/4 time and upbeat,
has simple chord progressions like I, IV, V,
is in easy "guitar-friendly" keys like C, A, G, E, or D,
involves eighth-note strumming in down-strokes with a pick,
a recurring figure with the 5th and 6th degrees of the scale,
and a loud snare back-beat on "two" and "four."

THAT is technically what rock and roll means.

If you are a musician and an experienced producer asks for "rock and Roll," you had better know that!

The reason the term is misused has to do with general musical ignorance and the profit driven nomenclature of record companies.

Entertainment industry flacks have to rename a style or repackage a style’s name every other year. What is really “power-pop” is sometimes labeled "punk." What was once called "New wave" is sometimes called "alternative." There are dozens of examples…

A and R people use contacts in trade-magazines, radio and television to promote new terms and repackage old ones. That's why we hear names for subtle distinctions within styles that are essentially the same. Grunge, metal, death metal, heavy metal... They are all just euphemisms for the current crap and mind-numbing noise foisted on the public.

The term ‘rock and roll’ has been usurped and misused countless times since the fifties. The reason for misuse of the term is musical illiteracy. The reason terms change or are usurped, is for the convenience of music marketing moguls.

Often, their new terms are insulting to the consumer. No one in his right mind wants to be a fan of "Emo" or "Mullet rock."

But still, new terms appear and the vast majority of musically illiterate masses still put most loud pop music under the overworked "Rock 'n' Roll." Umbrella.

You are correct. The artists you named are penultimate stylistic examples of what is properly called “Rock and Roll.”

For Joe Blow, “Rock and Roll is a blanket term for all non-orchestral vocal music. To the ignorant consumer, if it has loud guitar, drums and a singer, It’s all rock n roll!

Answer 2

That's really a double-edged question, I think and it really has more than one answer. On a technical level, yes, it is. Theoretically, rock and roll is defined by the beat. Whether it's Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley or Van Halen, you're going to find a very distinguishable 4/4 time signature that's (usually) accented on the 2 and the 4 of the measure. With something like blues, the beat while still being 4/4 has a different swing to it and will be accented in a different way. So, technically, yes. It is.

However, when it comes to rock and roll at it's heart, it's a totally different story. Rock and Roll has always been about rebellion at it's heart. Elvis broke the mold by swinging his hips when he danced. The Beatles had long hair and turned the world upside down. Black Sabbath broke the mold in many many areas. That's not really the way things stand anymore though. There's a problem in that most of what's released today may "technically" be rock, but it doesn't have the edge. In fact, it pushes the listener in a very subtle way into conformity with a certain image and what a record label says they should be about and enjoy. However, you will always have groups who will step outside their box and shake their collective musical fist at some set standard in an attempt to shake free of it. There's always going to be someone to carry the proverbial torch.

To quote Billy Joel:

Don't you know about the new fashion, honey?
All you need are looks and a whole lotta money"
It's the next phase, new wave, dance craze
Anyways, it's still rock and roll to me

Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout the new sound
Funny, but it's still rock and roll to me

Answer 3

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Answer 4

I think it's an understandable debate, but in short, I think the answer to your question is "yes." If you listen to classical music written in the 1700s and listen to classical music written in the 1950s you will hear HUGE differences (even not knowing much about classical music you WILL hear a radical difference). And yet, we still call it classical music, don't we? Similarly, the term "jazz" derived from a style of playing in the 1910's and yet there's stuff written today that we call "jazz." It is perfectly natural and I might add, inevitable that music will change. I particularly love rock music from the 1970s and (I know this is debatable) I think it is some of the best rock n' roll ever written. However, I'm happy to admit that there's some great rock music being created today(I think Dave Matthews are interesting and I think Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have kept their chops up pretty well. Anyway, I've rambled enough....hope that was at least some of what you were asking!

Answer 5

Yeah, everything from Buddy Holly to Marilyn Manson gets labeled "rock n' roll", doesn't it?!

I personally liked a lot of the doo-wop and rockabilly and other early forms of "rock" from the late '50s, even though they were already "oldies" by the time I was old enough to discover them in the '60s. I LOVED almost ALL popular music from the '60s! From Motown to British Invasion to "garage bands", this was probably the most prolific and diverse era in music history! In the '70s, I think a lot of the pop stuff went downhill, but rock flourished in that decade. The '80s - the MTV era - had a lot of great rock, but overall, I preferred the older stuff (there were a few exceptions!). I like very very little from the '90s, and it's been getting worse and worse every year it seems. I don't listen to new music anymore, not even rock. It's unlistenable. It's crap! Give me my "oldies" and "classic rock", and I'm happy. All the great music has already been done. End of story!

Answer 6

I am 29.

I believe that if we strictly compartmentalized songs, then the real rock and roll will only include some songs Chuck Berry, Elvis, and music of their likes. I say not all, because for example Elvis has ballades.

However, today when people say Rock and Roll, they are referring mostly to the entire genre of Rock which has different kinds (Grunge, Heavy Metal, Slow, etc...)

But, however you call it. And it has to be said: Why are we compartmentalizing songs anyway? Isn't it stupidity?
If the music is good, then let's just Rock On!

Answer 7

I think Rock and Roll thrived for the past 50 years by constantly evolving. What I think now, though, is that we are way past due for the next "revolution". Every 10 years or so, someone broke away from mainstream and created something amazingly new: Early rock, psychedelia, anthem rock, punk rock, new wave (ok questionable), grunge. But I've noticed that nothing new has come around since the early 90s...we are so past due for that band that makes us all gasp and say "What was that?"...hopefully they come around soon!

Answer 8

I firmly believe that R&R represented a certain era,say,early 50's to early 60's. But the true R&R (Sun Recordings) for example was dying out after middle 50's when teenagers preferred the pretty boy singers,who sang the teenage angst songs. Nothing wrong with those,I also liked them

Answer 9

yes
the uniform that is, as put by a character in gta vice city "Long hair and leather" is eternal
rock never died
and pop is for sissies
it's just that now rock has spread and broken up
fragments know as heavy metal, punk, emo, etc
"the day the music died" has not taken place and never will
i admit the days of: it's rock. solid answer just rock
are gone
now it's a question of what's more rock this type or that.
but rock will never dissapear
(this may not be the best answer but i stick by it)

Answer 10

We can still call it Rock n' Roll, but it has stemmed to different genres, like punk, emo, metal, underground and the likes.
As the world change, music evolves into something different as well.