How I Learned To Love Rock And Roll

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I have been spending quite a lot of time listening to rock and roll (and other music from the rock and roll 'era' c.late 50s). This was sparked by a sudden and complete infatuation w/"Chantilly Lace" by the Big BOPPER.

So I wanted to ask - what do my fellow Poptimists think about rock and roll? Do you like it? Do you listen to it? How does it stack up next to pop now (or pop from a more recent then)? Is it pop at all? Is it rock? Does the path of listening to rock and roll lead inexorably to the Stray Cats? etc. etc.

Here are some things about rock and roll which relate to other Poptimist concerns:

- The tracks are generally very short.
- They are often quite goofy.
- They sound like they were done very quickly.
- They mostly came out on single.
- There was a hell of a lot of it.
- There are a lot of boys with guitars around.
- Rock and roll is pretty old.
- Chunks of it are very revered.
- It gets revived a lot.

HMMMMMM. Over to you crazy comments box cats!

Comments

[koganbot]

It didn't just mean one thing! It started off as a certain tendency in 1940s r&b, a turning up of the exhilaration and desperation, but by no means only meant the fast dance numbers; when white youth were discovering dancing to it in large numbers, what they were dancing to got classed as rock 'n' roll. Then it started getting tailored to the emerging teen market. But, by no means did this mean its getting dulled down. It probably did mean getting more obvious, but also sweeter and sillier. My guess is that you'd end up more positive than negative on it, esp. the stuff that leans r&b, and the distinction between it and r&b is often unclear. I think you would love some of the sweet sad balladeering. And my guess is that very early Elvis - stuff like "Baby Let's Play House" and "Mystery Train" - would please you, before he superaccentuated all of his characteristics. And you would like the fact that the music was dance music, before rock came along and (sometimes) turned into an anti-dance.