Great Rock Musicians: Their Achievements and Effect on Rock and Roll

The blues are undeniably the roots of early rock and roll. Rock
today
has mutated so much that the basic blues patterns have been all but
lost.
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the birth of, and evolution
of rock
and roll by focusing on three of the arguably greatest rock musicians
of the
sixties and seventies.
The origin of the blues can be traced to the emancipation of the
slaves
in the rural black areas of the south, where most of the people worked
on share-
cropping farms. Musically the blues are defined as a 12-bar chord
progression,
harmonized with the corresponding scales and patterns. The chord
progression
pattern is four measures of tonic chords followed by two measures of
sub-
dominate chords, two more measures of tonic chords, one measure of
dominate
chords, one measure of sub dominate chords, and finally two measures of
tonic
chords.
Blues performers would travel around the south singing about their
loss of
love and family, and the pains they were forced to endure. The music
became
popular because nearly every one who heard it could identify with its
message.
This type of Blues later became known as country blues because it was
rooted in
rural areas. The Blues became more main stream and popular in the
1920's
because of the recording industry coming into existence. More
instruments were
added such as pianos, organs, and wind instruments.
Big Band and Rhythm and Blues stemmed from City Blues.
Rock and Roll then stemmed from Rhythm and Blues, in fact, many of
the
first recorded "Rock" songs where simply white musicians re-recording
Rhythm
and Blues songs originally written by black artists.
It took Bob Dylan 23 years to realize that he wanted to become a
rock
musician. Bob Dylan, whose birth name was Robert Allen Zimmerman, had
a
relatively uneventful childhood in a Minnesota mining town. He adopted
his
pseudonym when he went to the University of Minnesota. "Dylan" came
from the
Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, with whom Zimmerman was frequently compared in
the
University folk circles. After leaving the University, Dylan moved to
New
York's Greenwich Village to follow his folk hero, Woodie Gunthrie. In
fact, his
main goal of moving to the Village was simply to meet his hero. He not
only met
the folk guru, but became a member of his group of followers, or
groupies. They
also became good friends.
Gunthrie got him a couple of gigs at various nightclubs around the
Village.
Dylan got enough attention at his nightly gigs to be noticed by the
Columbia
Record Company, specifically the producer John Hammond. His first
record, Bob
Dylan, was just his renditions of previously recorded songs, but it was
popular
enough to gain him a long term contract. The recording was so bare
bones that
the record cost only $402 dollars to make, not including production.
The songs Bob Dylan wrote weren't used by him exclusively,. He
actually
got his first important recognition when a song he wrote was used by
the Byrds.
The song was "Mr. Tambourine Man" and it went to number 1 on the
charts. The
introduction into the mainstream or pop arena was extremely important
to folk-
rock, giving it the recognition it desperately needed. Before this
song was
released the Folk-Rock genre was hardly viewable in the public eye, and
was only
popular in small folk circles.
Bringing the American folk scene mainstream did gain Dylan a lot
of
popularity, but it also got him some unwanted criticism from folk
musicians
across the Atlantic. In particular from a big name in British folk
music ,
Ewan MacColl. "I have watched with fascination the meteoric rise of the
American idol and I am still unable to see him as anything more than a
youth of
mediocre talent. Only a completely non-critical audience nourished on
the
watery pap of pop music could have fallen for such tenth-rate drivel.
'But the
poetry!' they say, what poetry? The cultivated illiteracy of his (Bob
Dylan's)
topical songs, are the embarrassing fourth grade schoolboy attempts at
free
verse." MacColl failed to see that American youth were not as
interested in an
idol following literary protocol as they were in the message and the
overall
sound.
Despite the criticism, Dylan produced many more incredibly
successful
songs for himself and others including: Sonny and Cher's "I Got You
Babe", the
immortal "All Along the Watchtower" performed by Jimi Hendrix, and the
eerily
infectious "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" By Guns n' Roses.
His first musical stance was as a war protest folk singer. .
During
the Cuban missile crisis he wrote "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." It was
a warning
and a portrait of what a nuclear war would be. Dylan gained the title
of
spokesman for his generation when he switched from folk to rock with
Highway 61
Revisited.
In 1966 he [reportedly] broke his neck in a motorcycle accident.
Whether
he did or didn't, he got a chance to escape from the spotlight He did
make
several albums privately after that but many said that he had lost his
musical
power, and the accident had broken his spirit as well as his neck. If
he had
broken his neck in the accident he would have achieved "mythical
status."
He made a musical comeback in 1975 with Blood on the Tracks.
Over the
years, Dylan has retained his popularity. He constantly surprises his
audiences
with impromptu changes in musical style. Many critics say the only song
writers that can be compared to Dylan are the team of Paul McCartney
and John
Lennon.
John Lennon began his musical career in high school, with he
band called
the Quarryman. In his sophomore year he met Paul McCarntey. A short
time later,
McCartney introduced Lennon to his friend, George Harrison, who was
only 13 at
the time. The band had a number of names besides The Quarrymen before
they
finally decided on the Beatles, intentionally misspelled so it would
have the
word "beat" in it.
Like Bob Dylan They gained the attention of a record company by
putting
on an excellent show in a club. However, unlike Dylan, the recognition
they
received wasn't direct.
They had played as the backup band on a Tony Sheridan record..
The two
final songs on the record they wrote and performed themselves. Word
got around ,
and one record store owners noticed that he couldn't keep that
specific record
on the shelves. Brian Epstein (the record shop owner) talked to the
band, told
them what was happening with the record and asked them to make a demo
recording
to send to several record companies. After being rejected by two other
labels,
George Martin at Colombia like what he heard and signed the band. His
only
condition was for the Beatles to loose Pete Best, their drummer. They
did, and
hired Ringo Starr, who had sat in for Best several times, as the full
time
drummer.
In 1962 they released their first single, "Love Me Do". It
sold like
crazy locally, but only reached number 17 on the charts, still very
good for a
debut. Their next single, "Please Please Me", made it to number one
on the
charts. They had become Britain's top rock band virtually over night.
Their
popularity could only grow with the releases of two more number one
singles:
"From Me to You", and "She Loves You". When they released the album,
Please
Please Me., it stayed at number one for 30 weeks. The release of the
song "I
Want to Hold Your Hand" in 1964 sparked on of the most important
musical events
of this century, The British Invasion of America.
The British Invasion was a movement of British music and
musicians
across the Atlantic to America. Bands such as Led Zepplin, Black
Sabbath, The
Rolling Stones and The Zombies, Ccme through the hole that the Beatles
had made.
Another phenomenon the song sparked was "BeatleMania".
"BeatleMania" saw it's beginnings when the Beatles made an
appearance on
the Ed Sullivan Show. When the Beatles toured the U.S. for the first
time, the
crowds exhibited a kind of "mob adulation". Their first album was on
the top
over every chart it could be on in both the U.S. and Britain. The only
thing
that could take it from its place was their second album (Rock Giants).
The name
of the album was Meet the Beetles. It stayed at the top of the British
charts
for 22 weeks, and was selling extremely well all around the world. The
singles
from the LP all went straight to number one on the pop charts,
replacing each
other in succession. The sixth single of the album had the largest
advanced
orders in recording history.
The Beatles produced six more albums for a total of eight, all
of which
went to number one. The Beatles where also the creators of several films
including The Yellow Submarine , which has become a musical cartoon
classic.
By the time the Let It Be tapes came out in 1970, the "Fab Four"
where
falling apart, Paul desperately tried to keep the band together, but
when he
realized he was the only one who still cared about it, he gave up as
well. The
group disbanded in 1971, through a law suit. John 'Lennon had a fairly
successful solo career with Yoko Ono after the band's breakup, until he
was
assassinated in 1980. Paul continues to have a successful musical
career
to this day. The number of number one Beatles' singles, 20 in the
United States,
"has never been matched, nor is it likely to be"(Rock Giants).
Jimi Hendrix was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. His
entire
family was very musically inclined. His father and aunt played
together at the
local Baptist Church. His main influence was his father's immense
collection of
Blues and R & B records.
In 1959, he dropped out of high school and joined the military.
He was
discharged when he hurt himself in a parachute drop (Rock Giants).
After he was
discharged he joined a circle of big name black performers, such as
Little
Richard and Wilson Pickett and others. This is where he would learn
some of his
most impressive stage tricks like playing over his head and behind his
back.
Hendrix didn't think that he could ever become a big name in
Rock and
Roll star, because of his unworthy voice. But when he heard Bob Dylan,
he
realized that the voice wasn't important as he thought it was.
In 1965 he formed Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, and began
touring
Greenwich Village. While playing at these clubs he started
incorporating some
of his trademark techniques into his performances, such as feedback and
fuzzboxes. Jimi got his break while The Animals where touring in the
United
States. Chas Chandler, the bassist of The Animals, heard Jimi playing
and
convinced him to move to Britain.
Chandler matched Jimi with Mitch Mitchel and Noel Redding, to
for the
Jimi Hendrix Experience. The group rose to fame in a matter of months
playing
in popular clubs. Their first single, " Hey Joe", and their second,
"Purple
Haze", where both fairly successful, and they where both included on
the group's
first album, Are You Experienced. His sound, matched with his talent,
is a
phenomenon no musician has ever been able to duplicate. For example,
he could
give the impression that he was playing two guitars at once. Hendrix
made five
albums in total but was only satisfies with Electric Lady Land, which
contained
his most successful single: Dylan's "All along the Watchtower".
Hendrix's most
memorable performance was in 1969, at Woodstock, where he played his
immortal
"Star-spangled Banner", however it is still unclear if he played the
song in
such an unpatriotic, angry style in protest of the war, or from the
pressure
from black militant groups. In 1970 Hendrix died from inhaling his
own vomit
after an intoxication of barbiturates. The debate has never been put
to rest
over whether it was suicide or carelessness. "Jimi Henrix was and
original, and,
unlike most great rock musicians suffered no imitators" (Rock Giants).
Rock and roll has become one of America's greatest musical
culture
contributions. Indeed, America would not be the same if it did not
have rock
and roll. One of the reasons rock has become so great is that rock
groups in
more present time have tried to follow the highly creative musical
standards set
by the musicians in this paper. If rock continues to follow the trends
set
fourth by the greats, Neil Young's lyrics may prove true, "Hey, hey,
my, my,
rock and roll will never die."