1950’s/ 60’s in Music

The 1950s and 1960s represented a turning point for music it was the first time when teenagers started to have there birth image and as a result, their own music. The instrumentation, subject material for lyrics and use of harmony changed drastically in the 50s and continued to develop into the 60s. New genres developed at the same time as this turning point such as endocarp, R&B, swing and pop. The use of electric guitar, outwit kit, keyboard, bass guitar and vocals as a common set up started in the 60s with The Beatles.Songs such as Hey Bulldog and Sgt Peppers lonely(a) Heats Club Band saw the transition from twelve bar blues to rifts and rock. Other genres such as R&B saw use of horns, piano, vocals, orbit vocals and electric guitar before its demise in the 60s. Subject material for lyrics in the 50s tend to be about romance and sorrow. AA son without a girl by Frankle Avalon contains themes of both love and sorrow, through lyrics such as And since youve come to me All the w orld has come to shine, Cause I institute a girl whos mine. The Beatles broke away from this tradition with their nonsense lyrics in I am the Walrus but other bands did not reiterate this. Another trend in the late 50s early 60s was to sing about dance and freedom such as Jailhouse Rock by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for Elvis, one of the later songs to continue the use of twelve bar blues. The 50s progression was a chord progression and turnaround used in the 50s and early 60s by doo-wop and later rock. The progression follows the pattern I vi IV V.Well known examples of the progression include The Beatles Strawberry Fields Forever and Penguins Earth angel. A modern version of the progression can be heard in Green Days Jesus of Suburbia and Justin Biebers Baby. Most classic rock in the 50s saw use of the twelve bar blues. Twelve bar blues is a chord progression, which most often follows the pattern of I I I I IV IV I I V V I I. With the end of the 60s came a demise of class ic rock and the emergence of new genres such as funk and disco.