The Misunderstood History, Cange, And Impact Of Rock And Roll

An Endless Evolution: The Misunderstood History, Cange, and Impact of Rock and Roll

The beautiful thing about art is how it signifies an evolution. Every artistic piece takes an influence from earlier works, it has to. However, there is a fine line between an influence out of admiration and blatant copying. Throughout history, accomplishments made by people of color have been wrongly overshadowed or credited to their white counterparts. Music has been no exception. Rock and roll has had a huge impact on the music industry in the past century, but the true pioneers of the genre have been overlooked. While white artists have been credited with the beginnings of rock and roll, they were strongly influenced by African American musicians and culture

Fans and musicians were now using rock and roll to fight for social equality, while the unrecognized roots of the genre were a part of the issue in question. Rock was born in an age of segregation. From education to music, the racial division of Jim Crow America was everywhere. For decades, the music industry had been separated into “black music” and “white music.” Black and white artists both made music targeted either adults or children; so teenagers would listen to both. This was eventually given the name “Race music,” a genre catered towards teenagers, music that was neither predominately black nor white. This was rock and roll, and it's important to understand that it was first a mixture. Rock and roll smelled like teen spirit, and the younger generations were living for it. Rock music grew, becoming a dominant subculture in adolescent America; however, the internalized segregation within the country forced it to grow away from its roots. Rock and roll began to desegregate the music industry as a mixed genre, but as it grew in popularity, only white musicians were truly in the spotlight. Many songs written by black musicians during the uprising of rock and roll were only popular after being recorded by white artists. An example of this is Otis Blackwell, who originally wrote Elvis Presley’s All Shook Up, Don’t Be Cruel, and Return to Sender, as well as the future Jerry Lee Lewis hit Great Balls of Fire. Even when they were credited to their work, black songwriters often made little to no profit from their work while musicians like Elvis Presley made millions. Society failed to accept potential racial equality in music, so the portion of rock and roll established by African American artists was whitewashed to fit the public