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OK....What IS "Rock & Roll?"...IYHO


charlie brown

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I think in ways Axe hit it...

 

And the comment on Chuck Berry.

 

But frankly I think it's just a marketing label for a more marked beat with generally an abbreviated combo playing an evolving pop music with evolving electronically enhanced dance beats.

 

Country, so-called, simply was a bit slower in getting to about the same place while maintaining a slightly different set of roots, albeit intertwined and vice versa.

 

"Rock" to me simply tended from the mid 1950s to today to be the evolving mainstream of pop music. There still are regional and occupational variations but heck, "country" as in Hank Jr. is probably more rebellious than most rock, just rebelling against different stuff.

 

Where I find some special social interest is how so-called "Christian Rock" came into the equation in a specialized marketplace that once was considered more a "country Christian" market. No, I'll not really enjoy either, but that's just me.

 

m

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Defining what Rock N Roll means to me is strangely difficult. I feel it in my heart and soul but putting it into words is not as easy. Perhaps AXE's definition is the best put into words and I KNOW I couldn't have said it any better.

 

If you lined up a song each from ACDC, Britney Spears, Enya, Justin Timberlake, and Michael Buble, I'd have no trouble telling you which of those IMHO was Rock N Roll. Naturally I'd say ACDC. But someone else may pick one of the others. So maybe Rock N Roll is a personal thing.

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Well...to ME, it's all "rock & roll!" Subcatagorizing it, as common as that is, drives wedges

between people...benign or not...as those might be. Yes, it IS "personal," but it's also all

encompassing. We define a sub-genre within it, either to market it, differently, or to set

ourselves apart...define more clearly what WE like...which becomes "elitist," to a degree.

Then, it's easier to critisize other forms, even if only in "fun," and even other people's likes

and dislikes. It's human nature, to do that. I mean, we've witnessed it on this thread, and

in other's before...how many times?! lol

No big deal..."It's only Rock & Roll"...but it's interesting...to me, anyway.

 

CB

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The bit of who might "be" rock 'n' roll made me chuckle.

 

Yeah, I'm a super Chuck Berry fan in a lotta ways, but...

 

Here's where I show my age:

 

Say rock 'n' roll and I think Bill Haley and the Comets. Then Roy Orbison. I never was an Elvis fan. Everly Brothers maybe... Doo wop, yeah. Duane Eddy and "Because they're young." Sandy Nelson and "Teen beat." The Fleetwoods. Little Anthony and the Imperials. Raindrops and Dee Clark. The movie Key Witness, Ruby Duby Du and Leatherjacket cowboy...

 

Yeah, a lotta exploitation, but... The world was recovering from WWII; the economy was expanding; teens actually had money to spend on movies, records, '49 chevies and '53 fords - and dates. Switchblade knives and big city zip guns. A good clean fight after a football game and a couple of illegal beers. Pool halls and leather jackets. The sounds of a snooker game. Brake fluid that never washed out of your jeans.

 

Peeling out before cheater slicks were invented. Hurst mystery shifters. Reverb units and back seat speakers to add to the tube car radio to really blast out while cruising town. Turned up jacket collars. Car club plates and jackets. Drag races on the unofficially marked quarter mile north of town. Girls twirling in poodle skirts and "can cans." Moms who wore dresses even to paint the porch. Sock hops.

 

The banker walked into the ice cream parlor next door and asked how much the jukebox paid between when school got out and they closed at 9 on Friday night. Pulled out cash, gave it to Mr. Plumlee, walked over to the jukebox and literally pulled the plug. I saw that one happen.

 

The lone married guy in a rock band trying to find his place. Then The Cuban Missile crisis live in black and white. Kennedy killed. The folk scene. The beat scene, music, poetry and images. Cool jazz or rock? Drugs. Race questions. Long greasy hair replaced by longer dirty hair. Kant, Schopenhauer and Bertrand Russell. DNA discovered. The Pill.

 

A different age, to be sure.

 

m

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LOW LEVEL ANIMAL RHYTHM

 

We had a teacher at school in the 60's. He was what people my age will know as a "Square" (Still love that term)

 

We have never forgotten his derogatory description of rock and roll - we have worn it as a badge of honor ever since!!

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The bit of who might "be" rock 'n' roll made me chuckle.

 

Yeah' date=' I'm a super Chuck Berry fan in a lotta ways, but...

 

Here's where I show my age:

 

Say rock 'n' roll and I think Bill Haley and the Comets. Then Roy Orbison. I never was an Elvis fan. Everly Brothers maybe... Doo wop, yeah. Duane Eddy and "Because they're young." Sandy Nelson and "Teen beat." The Fleetwoods. Little Anthony and the Imperials. Raindrops and Dee Clark. The movie Key Witness, Ruby Duby Du and Leatherjacket cowboy...

 

Yeah, a lotta exploitation, but... The world was recovering from WWII; the economy was expanding; teens actually had money to spend on movies, records, '49 chevies and '53 fords - and dates. Switchblade knives and big city zip guns. A good clean fight after a football game and a couple of illegal beers. Pool halls and leather jackets. The sounds of a snooker game. Brake fluid that never washed out of your jeans.

 

Peeling out before cheater slicks were invented. Hurst mystery shifters. Reverb units and back seat speakers to add to the tube car radio to really blast out while cruising town. Turned up jacket collars. Car club plates and jackets. Drag races on the unofficially marked quarter mile north of town. Girls twirling in poodle skirts and "can cans." Moms who wore dresses even to paint the porch. Sock hops.

 

The banker walked into the ice cream parlor next door and asked how much the jukebox paid between when school got out and they closed at 9 on Friday night. Pulled out cash, gave it to Mr. Plumlee, walked over to the jukebox and literally pulled the plug. I saw that one happen.

 

The lone married guy in a rock band trying to find his place. Then The Cuban Missile crisis live in black and white. Kennedy killed. The folk scene. The beat scene, music, poetry and images. Cool jazz or rock? Drugs. Race questions. Long greasy hair replaced by longer dirty hair. Kant, Schopenhauer and Bertrand Russell. DNA discovered. The Pill.

 

A different age, to be sure.

 

m

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I vote that Milod include pictures with his magazine articles. ;) ;) :D

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Rock and Roll used to be slang for secks or so I've read.

 

I prefer to use the term, "Making the beast with two backs".

 

Shakespeare, I believe..... Othello, more specifically..... it's what Iago said to Desdemona's father when he ratter her out that she was rock 'n rollin' with Othello.

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Rock and Roll is dead. When every mall, commercial and corporation spews it out it's not about sticking it to the man, it's part OF the man. Rock had it's time and now it's gone, but it will always be a part of us in spirit.

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