The Five Styles of Rock n' Roll

To excerpt from Charlie Gillett's "Sound of the City" I will start with this...

"In the years from 1954 to 1956, there were five distinct styles, developed almost completely independent of one another, that collectively became known as rock n' roll: northern band rock n' roll, whose most popular exemplar was Bill Haley; New Orleans dance blues; Memphis country rock (also known as rockabilly); Chicago rhythm and blues; and vocal group rock n' roll. All five styles, and the variants associated with each of them, depended for their dance beat on contemporary Negro dance rhythms."

I will only briefly discuss these styles and the artists that made them popular because you really should be reading this in the book, but I feel like I should give you access for more one-stop shopping.

Northern Band Rock n' Roll--As I said earlier, when you think of this style you should remember Bill Haley and His Comets. This type of rock exemplified high spirits and feelings of togetherness. The tempo was almost always fast and the music was meant to get people excited. Lyrics usually never centered around heartbreak or solitude but instead were typically about the music itself or partying. See "Rock Around The Clock" and "Let's All Rock Together" or Ritchie Valens' "Come On, Let's Go"

New Orleans Dance Blues--First type of rock n' roll that really put the singer in the forefront, and as a result the rhythms were looser and less mechanical than in northern band rock n' roll. There was rarely any backup vocals and the band played a supporting role. New Orleans dance blues was made popular by a number of figures but probably most famously by Fats Domino and Little Richard. Both played chords with both hands giving their records a driving-boogie influenced feel, and in many of their songs there is a tenor sax solo 2/3 of the way through. Fats was known for his effortless vocal control and cajun accent and Little Richard was known for his wild spirit and intensity that he brought to his records.

Rockabilly--Gillett refers to this as country rock, and he is probably right. But after last lecture let's try and separate the type of country rock that Gram Parsons started and bands of today have turned into alt country such as Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Ryan Adams and The Cardinals and My Morning Jacket, and this kind. Rockabilly is a blend of blues and country and western and the distinct sound was born in Memphis and is probably credited to the vision of Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Like I said earlier in this blog, you will never get away from Sam Phillips, EVER. The reason it sounded so much different than traditional country of the time is because the guitars were heavily electrified, some even with slight distortion and all rockabilly records featured drums, were completely forbidden in traditional country at the time. The reason this style of music encompasses blues and country is not only in the rhythms, typically faster blues rhythms but played with the brightness of country guitar, but also in the way each singer added his own touch. Elvis sang in a blues style, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash sang in a country style. Rockabilly never featured saxophones or any horns for that matter and the singers were much more personal. According to Gillett this was the most complete form of rock n' roll. REMEMBER THAT.

Chicago Style Rhythm and Blues--This is my favorite type of music besides classic and most specifically southern soul. This is almost exclusively a black equivalent to Memphis's rockabilly and the main figure for this style of music is Chuck Berry. Bo Diddley is also a large figure for the Chicago blues sound and there are many other giants as well. The focus was almost completely on rhythm, and there are basically two styles, what some people call a typical "chunka chunka" blues rhythm, (Think Muddy Waters) and the Bo Diddley beat, which probably came from African drum syncopations.

Vocal Groups-The general preoccupation with rhythm is least in this form. The focus was on vocal harmonies which were rarely present in the other five styles and the tone distinction between the lead singer and his/her backup singers. To get an idea of this distinction think of David Ruffin-era Temps. Topics and singers were often more sentimental and this style became a huge outlet for black vocal groups to reach white audiences because songs could be taken slow and themes were more universal and less particular to region unlike blues which is almost always lyrically focused on location and hardship.

Alright, I hope this helps and like I said, the gist of this is what you need and if you have trouble categorizing artists this should help you. Will get more to you soon. You've been lovely, I'd have you any time...DXL