Introduction: for those about to rock

Study of rock music is pretty much inevitable at Key Stage 4, since all the major GCSE exam boards include some aspect of rock music in their specifications, such as Queen’s ‘Killer Queen’ (Edexcel).

This Music Unit is inspired by some classic rock songs of the 1960s and 1970s era. We’ll explore songs and performances that – if you don’t know them already – will give you a sense of a time when music took on grand dimensions and legacies were crafted that still influence artists today.

Though there are many names for different styles of rock – progressive rock, psychedelic rock, glam rock and heavy rock, to name just a few – we will simply focus our concentration on the music and the leading artists who shaped the genre over those two decades.

The accessibility of rock ’n’ roll

In order to put our journey through the classic rock decades into context, we need to look at what was going on in the pop music scene nearly 70 years ago. In the 1950s, rock ’n’ roll had exploded in popularity as the music of the emerging teen culture. It was the kind of music that older generations disliked, and therefore represented rebellion and identity for the teenagers of the USA and UK. It was also accessible through its simplicity, as many youngsters were able to replicate their idols through their own self-taught instrumental skills.

ACTIVITY 1

Listen to ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’ by Elvis Presley 

ACTIVITY 2

Answer the following questions:

1. Why might this song be popular with teenagers in the 1950s?

2. What makes this music ‘accessible’?

3. Is it in a major or a minor key?

4. How could you describe what the drums are playing? What about the guitar?

A cleaner sound for the USA

This whirlwind that swept through popular culture was significant but relatively short-lived, as few of the biggest names of the 1950s lasted into the 1960s.

In America, teen idols and girl groups became the fad for a few years, with songs written by professional songwriters who worked shifts in teams in hit factories such as New York’s Brill Building, churning out songs for good-looking, clean-cut youngsters to front on TV. Some of these songwriters became household names as artists in their own right – they included Neil Diamond, Carole King and Neil Sedaka.

This can be illustrated perfectly with this video (from 1959) of teen idol Frankie Avalon performing his No.1 hit ‘Why’ in front of adoring, screaming fans (actually, he’s most likely to be miming).

ACTIVITY 3 

Listen to 'Why' by Frankie Avalon

ACTIVITY 4

Write your longer answers to the following in well structured sentences or paragraphs:

1. After the excitement of rock ’n’ roll and the sudden disappearance of many of its artists (see box below), why might artists like Frankie Avalon have become popular?

2. Why might a song like ‘Why’ appeal not only to young people of 1959 but also to older generations?

3. Does this video give you any clues as to why bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones became so popular in America a couple of years later?