British rock and roll, or sometimes British rock 'n' roll, is a style of popular music based on American
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
, which emerged in the late 1950s and was popular until the arrival of
beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music genre that developed, particularly in and around Liverpool, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffle ...
in 1962. It was important in establishing British youth and popular music culture and was a key factor in subsequent developments that led to the
British Invasion
The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on b ...
of the mid-1960s. Since the 1960s, some stars of the genre, most notably
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...
, have managed to sustain successful careers and there have been periodic revivals of this form of music.
Origins
In the 1950s, Britain was well placed to receive American rock and roll music and culture.
[R. Unterberger, "British Rock & Roll Before the Beatles" ''Allmusic'' retrieved 24 July 2009.] It shared a common language, had been exposed to American culture through the stationing of American troops in the country, and, although not enjoying the same economic prosperity as the US, had many similar social developments, not least of which was the emergence of distinct youth leisure activities and sub-cultures. This was most evident in the rise of the
Teddy Boy
The Teddy Boys or Teds were a mainly British youth subculture of the mid 1950s to mid 1960s who were interested in rock and roll and R&B music, wearing clothes partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, which Savil ...
s among working-class youths in London from about 1953, who adopted a version of the Edwardian styles of their grandfathers' generation.
British audiences were accustomed to American popular music and British musicians had already been influenced by American musical styles, particularly in
trad jazz
Trad jazz, short for "traditional jazz", is a form of jazz in the United States and Britain in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, played by musicians such as Chris Barber, Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, Ken Colyer and Monty Sunshine, based on a revival ...
, which also exposed some to the precursors of rock and roll, including
boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pian ...
and the
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
. From this emerged the
skiffle
Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United States ...
craze in 1955, led by
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002), known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the "King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scotl ...
, whose version of "
Rock Island Line
"Rock Island Line" is an American folk song. Ostensibly about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, it appeared as a folk song as early as 1929. The first recorded performance of "Rock Island Line" was by inmates of the Arkansas Cummins ...
" reached the
Top 10 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
[M. Brocken, ''The British folk revival, 1944–2002'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003), pp. 69–80.] Skiffle produced an Anglicised and largely amateur form of American folk song, chiefly notable for inspiring many individuals to take up music. These included many of the subsequent generation of rock and roll, folk, R&B and beat performers, among them
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
and
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
, who first performed together in the
Quarrymen
The Quarrymen (also written as "the Quarry Men") are a British skiffle/rock and roll group, formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Originally consisting of Lennon and several schoolfriends, the Quar ...
skiffle group in 1957.
[
At the same time, British audiences were beginning to encounter American rock and roll. For many, this was initially through American films, including '']Blackboard Jungle
''Blackboard Jungle'' is a 1955 American social drama film about an English teacher in an interracial inner-city school, based on the 1954 novel ''The Blackboard Jungle'' by Evan Hunter and adapted for the screen and directed by Richard Brooks. I ...
'' (1955) and ''Rock Around the Clock
"Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was record ...
'' (1955). Both films contained the Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band founded in 1947 that continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group record ...
hit "Rock Around the Clock
"Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was record ...
" and helped it to top the UK chart in 1955 and again in 1956. It also set off a moral panic
A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear, often an irrational one, that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", usua ...
as young cinema goers ripped up seats to dance, which helped identify rock and roll with delinquency. This led to it being almost banned by TV and radio stations, making it something of an underground youth movement, which was widely adopted by the Teddy Boy sub-culture. In the 1950s,
Radio in the UK
Radio enjoys a huge following in the United Kingdom. There are around 600 licensed radio stations in the country. For a more comprehensive list see List of radio stations in the United Kingdom.
BBC Radio
The most prominent stations are the nati ...
was almost exclusively in the hands of the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. Popular music was only played on the
" arrangements. Nevertheless, American rock and roll acts became a major force in the UK chart.
reached number 2 in the UK chart with "Heartbreak Hotel" in 1956 and had nine more singles in the Top 30 that year. His first number 1 was "All Shook Up" in 1957 and there would be more chart-toppers for him and for
in the next two years.
of American records. These were often recorded with session musicians and, even if note perfect, lacked the energy and spontaneity that characterised American rock and roll. They were often fronted by teen idols co-opted in an attempt to break into the suddenly emerging youth market.