Rock And Roll Essay
Dylan Morganstein
Inart 116
Essay 1 Position Paper
Rock and Roll as a Melting Pot
Black artists indeed were “robbed” black of their music, credit for their contributions made, and their just due. The main problem was shown through their recordings made by other artists who ended up profiting tremendously. All in all, African Americans contribute a huge influence on rock and roll. One of the greatest contributions that came from the African Americans had to be the blues. It doesn't matter what instrument, from basses to percussions, this music took America by storm. During the 1920s while blue recordings were being made, the “Boogie-woogie”, a piano style of blues formed. This style, created in Texas, exponentially gained popularity. However …show more content…
The perfect and obvious example is that Elvis recorded three songs written by an African American Artist, Arthur “big boy” Crudup. Elvis ended up winning this battle due to his popularity, which ended up throwing poor Crudup out of business. Elvis went on to thrive tremendously, while of course, Crudup did not get any credit. I would not understand why African American people would continue to even make music if they were going to see their possessions possibly get used incorrectly. African Americans did not deserve to get their style and music robbed. With that being said, it is not completely justifiable to even make a claim saying that rock and roll belongs to African Americans. Just because blacks originated styles of rock and roll, that does not mean that other artists did not make up music and lyrics on their own. There have probably been hundreds and hundreds of rock and roll artists who were not African American who were successful. Rock and roll was made to be heard and played by both whites and blacks. While African Americans may have began rock and roll, and for people to claim the music as “black music” is clearly not justifiable by any
Inart 116
Essay 1 Position Paper
Rock and Roll as a Melting Pot
Black artists indeed were “robbed” black of their music, credit for their contributions made, and their just due. The main problem was shown through their recordings made by other artists who ended up profiting tremendously. All in all, African Americans contribute a huge influence on rock and roll. One of the greatest contributions that came from the African Americans had to be the blues. It doesn't matter what instrument, from basses to percussions, this music took America by storm. During the 1920s while blue recordings were being made, the “Boogie-woogie”, a piano style of blues formed. This style, created in Texas, exponentially gained popularity. However …show more content…
The perfect and obvious example is that Elvis recorded three songs written by an African American Artist, Arthur “big boy” Crudup. Elvis ended up winning this battle due to his popularity, which ended up throwing poor Crudup out of business. Elvis went on to thrive tremendously, while of course, Crudup did not get any credit. I would not understand why African American people would continue to even make music if they were going to see their possessions possibly get used incorrectly. African Americans did not deserve to get their style and music robbed. With that being said, it is not completely justifiable to even make a claim saying that rock and roll belongs to African Americans. Just because blacks originated styles of rock and roll, that does not mean that other artists did not make up music and lyrics on their own. There have probably been hundreds and hundreds of rock and roll artists who were not African American who were successful. Rock and roll was made to be heard and played by both whites and blacks. While African Americans may have began rock and roll, and for people to claim the music as “black music” is clearly not justifiable by any