When Rock and Roll rose in the 1950’s and 60’s parents began questioning themselves if they believed that Rock and Roll music was the cause for the breaking down of America’s traditional family which separated the ties between America’s youth from family values and morality, sexual, and racial customs.
After WWII, people were ready to live life a little, be able relax, and live I up (Repellent). From the big jazz concert band music of the early 1950’s throughout the middle of the decade into the rock ability of the late 50’s the mood was quite optimistic. The music was fast and the beat was swing baby swing all you could do was dance, dance, and dance until you couldn’t anymore. What they listened and danced to was nothing more …show more content…
“Rocket 88,” recorded by Ike Turner and Jackie Brenston in 1951, and Bill Haley's hit “Rock Around the Clock” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” in 1954 were a couple of great hits of the time. But it was Elvis Presley who was most known and earned the title of the King of Rock and Roll. Presley released his first hit “That's All Right Mama” in 1954 and became a singing sensation after it. Most of the musicians in the 1950’s and 60’s liked to mix different of sounds from various music genres and created the new electric sound that we know of today as Rock and Roll (“Rock and Roll”)... Even though Elvis Presley was a huge hit during this time it was beginning to open a rising tide of radically different themes; like eastern mysticism, psychedelic drug use and transcendentalism. Bands like the Beatles, the Velvet underground, and Jimi Hendrix had many songs with drug-related themes (Repellent) . Rock and Roll also pushed the limits of sexual expression, from Elvis the Pelvis grinding action to Little Richards sexually suggestive lyrics. Rock and Roll was the beginning of the creation of a century of musical experimentation. With its heavy back-beat to its amplified guitars, early Rock and Roll was raw and …show more content…
Parents then began to believe that there was an inner conflict between conservatives and rebellious forces of teenagers who felt liberated and were more likely to willingly rebel against their parents. Even though most adults of this time believed that Rock and Roll was responsible for the corruption of the traditional American family it also had some good effects as well. Rock and Roll music managed to do what nothing else could do, it integrated white and African American cultures. Rock and Roll had an overwhelming influence on the social interactions and intermingling of black and white teenagers. Many white parents in the 1950’s and 1960’s tried to ban their children from listening to Rock and Roll music and attending concerts believing that they did this to avoid provocative and exposure to their children from “black lifestyles”, but Parents realized that they could not hold back their children from wanting to watch and enjoy Rock and Roll music. Due to the fact that both black and white teenagers liked Rock and Roll they were more likely to socially interact and be willing to break the barriers of prejudice unlike their