In some respects, I think it almost fits in with the atmosphere of the wild Prohibition era, swinging '20s more than the conservative '50s. I could almost see Al Capone-esque gangster types embracing it. Then again, without, say Big Band music, or Sinatra-type crooners paving the way, it might not have been accepted as easily and would've burned out probably.

I'm gonna say the WWII era or maybe just after. I think 1945/'46 to 1953/'54 is very similar to the Fifties, just minus the development of teen culture, TV and rock itself.

Really it couldn't have come out any earlier than it did, simply because the first solid body electric guitars (Gibson Les Paul, Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster) weren't introduced until the early 1950's.

7:30 a.m. I don't usually get up any early, so there's no reason.

Really it couldn't have come out any earlier than it did, simply because the first solid body electric guitars (Gibson Les Paul, Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster) weren't introduced until the early 1950's.



Yeah, that's true. But in a cultural sense, I agree that RnR probably could've come out in the '20s. As far as I know, that was the first decade to ever have a true 'youth culture'. I really couldn't imagine it coming out any time before that though.

^ Yeah, the '20s almost had more of a youth culture than the '30s and '40s did! However, I'm sure most of the teens of that time were too old by c. 1955 to get into it. After all, the adult figures of that time thought showing Elvis dancing below the waist on TV was evil, lol.

It would be interesting to see a generational conflict between a 15 and a 40-year old in the '50s on matters like this.

"Sure, we drank and had elegant parties, but unlike you hooligans, we didn't listen to this racket!" ;D

It would be interesting to get a firsthand perspective on this. It's sad that most teens of the 1920s are probably dead or towards the end of their life now (like a part of history is taken along with it). :(


Really it couldn't have come out any earlier than it did, simply because the first solid body electric guitars (Gibson Les Paul, Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster) weren't introduced until the early 1950's.


I think I read somewhere once that the Les Paul was invented in 1947, but yeah, as with anything, I'm sure it took several years before it popularized.

7:30 a.m. I don't usually get up any early, so there's no reason.


HA! HA! HA!

Really it couldn't have come out any earlier than it did, simply because the first solid body electric guitars (Gibson Les Paul, Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster) weren't introduced until the early 1950's.


This is so true, the hard body guitar sound is the foundation of rock and roll, it opened the door in the early 50's for a new sound in music. It took a few years to claim it's own personality with the help of disc jockeys like Alan Freed who gave Rock and Roll it's birth name in 1951 and started his quest to break down racial barriers in the new era of music played on the radio...the rest is history and every sound has it's place in it and 1957 in the words of Danny and Junior's..." Rock and Roll is hear to stay, it will never die"  HW

Really it couldn't have come out any earlier than it did, simply because the first solid body electric guitars (Gibson Les Paul, Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster) weren't introduced until the early 1950's.


That and badass Cadillacs.  The whole package, my lad, the whole package.  ;D

That and badass Cadillacs.  The whole package, my lad, the whole package.   ;D


Yes... the Cadillacs and dozens of the Black groups where an important building blocks in the foundation of the whole package that we take for granted, without the Black Artist music there's isn't Rock and Roll in the 50's.

But the true genius of innovation using the solid body guitar and music created for it is Chuck Berry. A Black Artist that created songs that had a new beat and sound like no other made at that time. Chuck Berry's songs and the solid body guitar sound combination was the mortar that binded the rock and roll building blocks and the white audience. I think his song "Rock and Roll Music" is the anthem of  Rock and Roll, it was created with all the new elements of the true rock and roll sound where all those who followed and expanded the rock and roll movement couldn't help but use his music for direction in their careers, such as the Beatles who are who re-released "Roll Over Beethoven" in honor of Chuck Berry.

Chuck Berry's music is timeless, you can listen to all his songs now and they sound as fresh as if they where made today...pull them up and listen to a true Master Artist.

"Hail Hail Rock and Roll" and "Hail Hail Chuck Berry"   

Yes... the Cadillacs and dozens of the Black groups where an important building blocks in the foundation of the whole package that we take for granted, without the Black Artist music there's isn't Rock and Roll in the 50's. 
 


I wasn't talking about the Cadillacs(group) I was talking about Cadillac cars.  To me cranking the tunes in a Caddy Convertible is the ultimate Rock and Roll wet dream

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004THAY.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

I wasn't talking about the Cadillacs(group) I was talking about Cadillac cars.  To me cranking the tunes in a Caddy Convertible is the ultimate Rock and Roll wet dream

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004THAY.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg


It crossed my mine that you might have meant the car, but the Cadillacs group seemed the way to go with the reply. But what's more interesting now, did you live your dream? I lived mine in my 60' Olds convertible, the Caddy was just a bit out of reach.

It crossed my mine that you might have meant the car, but the Cadillacs group seemed the way to go with the reply. But what's more interesting now, did you live your dream? I lived mine in my 60' Olds convertible, the Caddy was just a bit out of reach.


No, never had a Caddy convertible, or any convertible, the closest I would say would be the '68 Camaro.

No, never had a Caddy convertible, or any convertible, the closest I would say would be the '68 Camaro.


Hey! I bought a used 68 Camaro in 1975 for $500.00 it was a nice little car to go to work in, but I only kept it for a few months because it was to fast and it didn't hold the road very good, it bounced all over it, and fished tailed when it rained. I traded it in for a new 1976 Chevy Malibu, they gave me $800. for it... not bad. I hope yours was a better riding car.   

Rock'n'Roll is one of those genres which is so much tied up with an attendant culture - the culture of hot rods, milk bars, drive-in movies, the dances...that it's impossible to separate the music from the cultural phenomena. Rock'n'Roll was about kicking off your shoes - if not rebelling against the 'Establishment', or yourself for the sake of it, then just to have a good time. But if you're talking about the music, alot of faster Blues and R'n'B as early as the 1930s had that Rock'n'Roll sort of feel. But to me, it's the post war prosperity and boom of suburbia in the Post War years - from the whitewashed 50s - which set the scene for Rock'n'Roll.

Really it couldn't have come out any earlier than it did, simply because the first solid body electric guitars (Gibson Les Paul, Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster) weren't introduced until the early 1950's.


I was going to say the same thing. Plus, Rock and Roll music got a lot of it's style from the R n'B twelve bar structure adopted as early as the 1930's.

  The blues had a baby. Rock and roll was formed from speeding up the drums, and guitar riffs being used in blues songs. Big Mama Thorton recorded a blues version of Hound Dog a couple of years before Elvis Presley was ever known outside his family.
    Some people think that Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets was the first song to be labeled as rock and roll, but the credit has to go to Ike Turner, who in 1951 recorded and released a song called Rocket 88. To most rock historians, this is actually the first R&R song to be released.

Interesting that this topic came up.

I'm doing a generational report where I work and while during research on the generation between the WW2 GI's and Boomers (1925-1945) I noticed something very interesting. I knew that the second wave (born between 35-45) held the founders of Rock and Roll- Buddy Holly, Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Beatles, Rolling Stones. However I didn't know that the first wave was rich with the legends of R&B which paved the way for Rock and Roll like Chuck Berry and Little Richard.


Yeah, that's true. Alot of the early rockers were actually Silent Generation-ers. Like Chuck Berry was born in 1926. This is ironic, since I'll bet most people their own age considered themselves too old to like that music once it got popular (they would be almost 30 in 1955, which was considered alot more "old" back then).

I think some of the earliest songs that could be defined as 'rock and roll' actually did come out in the late 1940s. Alot of the R&B songs that came out around 1949 or so were actually pretty close in sound to what would be considered rock a few years later. You can find more information about when rock and roll really began here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_rock_and_roll_record

Well ultimatly the earliest date would depend on whenever the electric Guitar was invented.

That would be 1941, when Les Paul designed one of the first solid body electric guitars in the world for The Gibson Guitar Corporation..

I believe it could have gotten popular in the roaring 20's, but it would have been wiped out rather quickly during the Great Depression, since it was such a conservative time (even moreso than the 50's). And a British Invasion would never have happened at that point, which was ESSENTIAL to the evolution of rock n' roll, since the electric guitar hadn't been created (early rock n' roll mainly used acoustics). Also, the Ed Sullivan show wasn't around, which is what introduced America to the biggest artists of the 50's and 60's (Elvis, the Beatles, the Doors, etc.)  :)

And it couldn't have happened before the 20's because vinyl and record players were invented right around the turn of the decade (even if the 1900's and '10's were pretty progressive era's).

   The blues had a baby. Rock and roll was formed from speeding up the drums, and guitar riffs being used in blues songs. Big Mama Thorton recorded a blues version of Hound Dog a couple of years before Elvis Presley was ever known outside his family.
    Some people think that Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets was the first song to be labeled as rock and roll, but the credit has to go to Ike Turner, who in 1951 recorded and released a song called Rocket 88. To most rock historians, this is actually the first R&R song to be released.

I agree that rock & roll was created from the blues. The late 40's is when the likes of Muddy Waters & Willie Dixon first recorded their songs for all to hear. Waters also helped Chuck Berry get his first record contract.