Women Rock Musician in History from the beginning in Unites States - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Rock and roll resulted from the convergence of rhythm, blues, and country musical genres plus a series of hi-tech developments, which creates an innovative market for the music. Blues are known to have developed from songs sung by African-Americans while working; they had originally been brought to the USA as slaves. While working at plantations, they used to communicate by means of “call and response,” fooling the plantation owners, saying that the music was happy though they actually used it to discuss issues about the owners; and just as rhythm and blues developed from blues, rock and roll developed from rhythm and blues (R&B). Among the great women that have made a contribution in the history rock and roll especially when it comes to playing instruments in bands or in singles included; Wanda Jackson (guitarist), Nancy Wilson (guitarist), Meg White (Pianist), Bonnie Rait (guitarist), and, other artists of today like Lady Gaga, who started playing the piano at a tender age and Taylor Swift who plays the guitar. Some of the technological advancements during the commencement of rock and roll in the 1940s included phonographs, which were initially bulky and could be damaged easily, so most people were tired of them, even though they were common. However, during the same time when rock and roll started, significant transformations were evident; the records that primarily played at 78 rpm (rounds per minute) were enhanced, and those that replaced them played at 33 and 45rpm, making them less bulky and easy to handle. American Rock (United States Rock) Women played key roles in the growth and development of the rock and roll genre, starting with early blues artists like Ma Rainey (Mother of the blues) and Bessie Smith (Vocalist from the black community), who were surprisingly the only women who recorded blues in the 1920’s, and Mother Maybelle Carter who recorded the first country music in 1927. These three plus other prominent women put on great effort towards establishing equality and basic human rights for the female gender emphasizing on the right to vote and working towards social justice (National Museum of Women Arts, 1). Moreover, other women involved in the campaign included; Ruth Brown and Lavern Baker (R&B singers), the famous rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson, Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe who mastered the guitar by the age of six, Memphis Minnie and Billie Holiday; some of who were talented and creative when it came to the different genres and were definitely trailblazers of rock and roll in the 50s. Significantly, as from 1950, rock and roll dominated most of the other music genres, making it a major force in American record sales, and crooners such as Patti Page found themselves pulled out of the pop charts due to the development and growth of rock and roll artists (Saatchi Gallery 1). Rock and roll bands and artists that dominated the pop charts during the 1950s included the Shirelles and the Supremes hence later on there were others like Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, Joni Mitchell, Carole King and Laura Nyro who ruled in the 1970s, setting a platform for the artists that are there today i.e. Carrie Underwood. Concomitantly, as rock and roll advanced, more divisions of it continued to emerge, such as surf music, which involved instrumental rock and roll, garage rock that was in the form of amateurish rock music, blues rock that often emulated jazz, folk rock that was identified with progressive or labor politics, and country rock that emulated country music. Others not so common were roots rock, psychedelic rock and southern rock, and by the 1970s there had been more such as progressive rock, glam rock, soft and hard rock (that are even common today), early ...Download file to see next pagesRead More