Slang, youth subcultures and rock music (English WinWord)

SLANG, YOUTH SUBCULTURES AND ROCK MUSIC CONTENTS I. Introduction II. Slang 1. Definition 2. Origins 3. Development of slang 4. Creators of slang 5. Sources 6. Linguistic processes forming slang 7. Characteristics of slang 8. Diffusion of slang 9. Uses of slang 10. Attitudes toward slang 11. Formation 12. Position in the Language III. Youth Subcultures 1. The Concept of Youth Subcultures 2. The Formation of Youth Subcultures 3. The Increase of Youth Subculture 4. The Features of Youth Subcultures 5. The Types of Youth Subcultures 6. The Variety of Youth Subcultures IV. Rock Music 1. What is rock? 2. Rock in the 1950s 3. Rock in the 1960s 4. Rock in the 1970s 5. Rock in the 1980s and 90s V. Rock subcultures 1. Hippie 2. Punk 3. Mod 4. Skinhead 5. Goth 6. Industrial 7. Hardcore 8. Straight Edge 9. Grunge 10. Alternative 11. Metal VI. Dictionary 1. Dictionary of youth slang during 1960-70s 2. Dictionary of modern British slang VII. INTRODUCTION My graduation paper is devoted to the study of the topic Slang, youth subcultures and rock music.

This work consists of 5 parts.

The first part is about slang.

What is it? Slang, informal, nonstandard words and phrases, generally shorter lived than the expressions of ordinary colloquial speech, and typically formed by creative, often witty juxtapositions of words or images. Slang can be contrasted with jargon technical language of occupational or other groups and with argot or cant secret vocabulary of underworld groups, but the borderlines separating these categories from slang are greatly blurred, and some writers use the terms cant, argot, and jargon in a general way to include all the foregoing meanings.

Origins of slang Slang tends to originate in subcultures within a society. Occupational groups for example, loggers, police, medical professionals, and computer specialists are prominent originators of both jargon and slang other groups creating slang include the armed forces, teenagers, racial minorities, ghetto residents, labor unions, citizens-band radiobroadcasters, sports groups, drug addicts, criminals, and even religious denominations Episcopalians, for example, produced spike, a High Church Anglican. Slang expressions often embody attitudes and values of group members.

They may thus contribute to a sense of group identity and may convey to the listener information about the speaker s background.

Before an apt expression becomes slang, however, it must be widely adopted by members of the subculture. At this point slang and jargon overlap greatly. If the subculture has enough contact with the mainstream culture, its figures of speech become slang expressions known to the whole society. For example, cat a sport, cool aloof, stylish , Mr. Charley a white man , The Man the law, and Uncle Tom a meek black all originated in the predominantly black Harlem district of New York City and have traveled far since their inception.

Slang is thus generally not tied to any geographic region within a country. A slang expression may suddenly become widely used and as quickly dated 23-skiddoo. It may become accepted as standard speech, either in its original slang meaning bus, from omnibus or with an altered, possibly tamed meaning jazz, which originally had sexual connotations. Some expressions have persisted for centuries as slang booze for alcoholic beverage. In the 20th century, mass media and rapid travel have speeded up both the circulation and the demise of slang terms.

Television and novels have turned criminal cant into slang five grand for 5000 . Changing social circumstances may stimulate the spread of slang. Drug-related expressions such as pot and marijuana were virtually a secret jargon in the 1940s in the 1960s they were adopted by rebellious youth and in the 1970s and 80s they were widely known. Uses of slang In some cases slang may provide a needed name for an object or action walkie-talkie, a portable two-way radio tailgating, driving too close behind another vehicle, or it may offer an emotional outlet buzz off! for go away! or a satirical or patronizing reference smokey, state highway trooper. It may provide euphemisms john, head, can, and in Britain, loo, all for toilet, itself originally a euphemism, and it may allow its user to create a shock effect by using a pungent slang expression in an unexpected context. Slang has provided myriad synonyms for parts of the body bean, head schnozzle, nose, for money moola, bread, scratch, for food grub, slop, garbage, and for drunkenness soused, stewed, plastered. Formation of slang Slang expressions are created by the same processes that affect ordinary speech.

Expressions may take form as metaphors, similes, and other figures of speech dead as a doornail. Words may acquire new meanings cool, cat. A narrow meaning may become generalized fink, originally a strikebreaker, later a betrayer or disappointer or vice-versa heap, a run-down car. Words may be clipped, or abbreviated mike, microphone, and acronyms may gain currency VIP, AWOL, nafu. A foreign suffix may be added the Yiddish and Russian -nik in beatnik and foreign words adopted baloney, from Bologna. A change in meaning may make a vulgar word acceptable jazz or an acceptable word vulgar raspberry, a sound imitating flatus from raspberry tart in the rhyming slang of Australia and Cockney London Sometimes words are newly coined oomph, sex appeal, and later, energy or impact. Position in the Language Slang is one of the vehicles through which languages change and become renewed, and its vigor and color enrich daily speech.

Although it has gained respectability in the 20th century, in the past it was often loudly condemned as vulgar.

Nevertheless, Shakespeare brought into acceptable usage such slang terms as hubbub, to bump, and to dwindle, and 20th-century writers have used slang brilliantly to convey character and ambience.

Slang appears at all times and in all languages.

A person s head was kapala dish in Sanskrit, testa pot in Latin testa later became the standard Latin word for head. Among Western languages, English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Yiddish, Romanian, and Romani Gypsy are particularly rich in slang. The second part of my graduation paper is about youth subcultures. Subcultures are meaning systems, modes of expression or life styles developed by groups in subordinate structural positions in response to dominant meaning systems, and which reflect their attempt to solve structural contradictions rising from the wider societal context The next part is about rock music in the 1950s - 90s. What is rock? Rock Music, group of related music styles that have dominated popular music in the West since about 1955. Rock music began in the United States, but it has influenced and in turn been shaped by a broad field of cultures and musical traditions, including gospel music, the blues, country-and-western music, classical music, folk music, electronic music, and the popular music of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

In addition to its use as a broad designation, the term rock music commonly refers to music styles after 1959 predominantly influenced by white musicians.

Other major rock music styles include rock and roll the first genre of the music and rhythm-and-blues music, influenced mainly by black American musicians. Each of these major genres encompasses a variety of substyles, such as heavy metal, punk, alternative, and grunge.

While innovations in rock music have often occurred in regional centers-such as New York City, Kingston, Jamaica, and Liverpool, England-the influence of rock music is now felt worldwide. The fourth part is about different rock subcultures such as hippie, punk,

Skinhead

Skinhead, goth, Hardcore, grunge, heavy metal and others. I discribed their fashion, style, bands, music, lyrics, political views. And the last part contains two dictionaries.

The first dictionary is about youth slang during 1960 -70s and the second dictionary consists of modern British slang. Slang an attempt of common humanity to escape from bald literalism, and express itself illimitably the wholesome fermentation or eductation of those processes eternally active in language, by which froth and specks are thrown up, mostly to pass away, though occasionally to settle and permanently crystallise. Walt Whitman, 1885 I. SLANG 1. Definition Main Entry 1slang Pronunciation sla ng Function noun Etymology origin unknown Date 1756 1 language peculiar to a particular group as a ARGOT b JARGON 2 2 an informal nonstandard vocabulary composed typically of coinages, arbitrarily changed words, and extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of speech - slang adjective - slang i ly sla ng - -lE adverb - slang i ness sla ng -E-n s noun - slangy sla ng -E adjective Main Entry 2slang Date 1828 intransitive senses to use slang or vulgar abuse transitive senses to abuse with harsh or coarse language Main Entry rhyming slang Function noun Date 1859 slang in which the word intended is replaced by a word or phrase that rhymes with it as loaf of bread for head or the first part of the phrase as loaf for head Source Webster s Revised Unabridged Dictionary Slang nonstandard vocabulary composed of words or senses characterized primarily by connotations of extreme informality and usually by a currency not limited to a particular region.

It is composed typically of coinages or arbitrarily changed words, clipped or shortened forms, extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of speech, or verbal novelties.

Slang consists of the words and expressions that have escaped from the cant, jargon and argot and to a lesser extent from dialectal, nonstandard, and taboo speech of specific subgroups of society so that they are known and used by an appreciable percentage of the general population, even though the words and expressions often retain some associations with the subgroups that originally used and popularized them. Thus, slang is a middle ground for words and expressions that have become too popular to be any longer considered as part of the more restricted categories, but that are not yet and may never become acceptable or popular enough to be considered informal or standard.

Compare the slang hooker and the standard prostitute.

Under the terms of such a definition, cant comprises the restricted, non-technical words and expressions of any particular group, as an occupational, age, ethnic, hobby, or special-interest group.

Cool, uptight, do your thing were youth cant of the late 1960s before they became slang. Jargon is defined as the restricted, technical, or shoptalk words and expressions of any particular group, as an occupational, trade, scientific, artistic, criminal, or other group. Finals used by printers and by students, Fannie May by money men, preemie by obstetricians were jargon before they became slang.

Argot is merely the combined cant and jargon of thieves, criminals, or any other underworld group. Hit used by armed robbers scam by corporate confidence men. Slang fills a necessary niche in all languages, occupying a middle ground between the standard and informal words accepted by the general public and the special words and expressions known only to comparatively small social subgroups.

It can serve as a bridge or a barrier, either helping both old and new words that have been used as insiders terms by a specific group of people to enter the language of the general public or, on the other hand, preventing them from doing so. Thus, for many words, slang is a testing ground that finally proves them to be generally useful, appealing, and acceptable enough to become standard or informal. For many other words, slang is a testing ground that shows them to be too restricted in use, not as appealing as standard synonyms, or unnecessary, frivolous, faddish, or unacceptable for standard or informal speech.

For still a third group of words and expressions, slang becomes not a final testing ground that either accepts or rejects them for general use but becomes a vast limbo, a permanent holding ground, an area of speech that a word never leaves. Thus, during various times in history, American slang has provided cowboy, blizzard, okay, racketeer, phone, gas, and movie for standard or informal speech.

It has tried and finally rejected conbobberation disturbance, krib room or apartment, lucifer match, tomato girl, and fab fabulous from standard or informal speech. It has held other words such as bones dice, used since the 14th century, and beat it go away, used since the 16th century, in a permanent grasp, neither passing them on to standard or informal speech nor rejecting them from popular, long-term use. Slang words cannot be distinguished from other words by sound or meaning.

Indeed, all slang words were once cant, jargon, argot, dialect, nonstandard, or taboo. For example, the American slang to neck to kiss and caress was originally student cant flattop an aircraft carrier was originally navy jargon and pineapple a bomb or hand grenade was originally criminal argot. Such words did not, of course, change their sound or meaning when they became slang. Many slang words, such as blizzard, mob, movie, phone, gas, and others, have become informal or standard and, of course, did not change in sound or meaning when they did so. In fact, most slang words are homonyms of standard words, spelled and pronounced just like their standard counterparts, as for example American slang, cabbage money, cool relaxed, and pot marijuana. Of course, the words cabbage, cool, and pot sound alike in their ordinary standard use and in their slang use. Each word sounds just as appealing or unappealing, dull or colourful in its standard as in its slang use. Also, the meanings of cabbage and money, cool and relaxed, pot and marijuana are the same, so it cannot be said that the connotations of slang words are any more colourful or racy than the meanings of standard words.

All languages, countries, and periods of history have slang.

This is true because they all have had words with varying degrees of social acceptance and popularity. All segments of society use some slang, including the most educated, cultivated speakers and writers.

In fact, this is part of the definition of slang. For example, George Washington used redcoat British soldier Winston Churchill used booze liquor and Lyndon B. Johnson used cool it calm down, shut up. The same linguistic processes are used to create and popularize slang as are used to create and popularize all other words. That is, all words are created and popularized in the same general ways they are labeled slang only according to their current social acceptance, long after creation and popularization. Slang is not the language of the underworld, nor does most of it necessarily come from the underworld.

The main sources of slang change from period to period. Thus, in one period of American slang, frontiersmen, cowboys, hunters, and trappers may have been the main source during some parts of the 1920s and 30s the speech of baseball players and criminals may have been the main source at other times, the vocabulary of jazz musicians, soldiers, or college students may have been the main source.

To fully understand slang, one must remember that a word s use, popularity, and acceptability can change. Words can change in social level, moving in any direction. Thus, some standard words of William Shakespeare s day are found only in certain modern-day British dialects or in the dialect of the southern United States. Words that are taboo in one era e.g stomach, thigh can become accepted, standard words in a later era. Language is dynamic, and at any given time hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of words and expressions are in the process of changing from one level to another, of becoming more acceptable or less acceptable, of becoming more popular or less popular. 2. Origins Slang tends to originate in subcultures within a society.

Occupational groups for example, loggers, police, medical professionals, and computer specialists are prominent originators of both jargon and slang other groups creating slang include the armed forces, teenagers, racial minorities, ghetto residents, labor unions, citizens-band radiobroadcasters, sports groups, drug addicts, criminals, and even religious denominations Episcopalians, for example, produced spike, a High Church Anglican. Slang expressions often embody attitudes and values of group members. They may thus contribute to a sense of group identity and may convey to the listener information about the speakers background.

Before an apt expression becomes slang, however, it must be widely adopted by members of the subculture.

At this point slang and jargon overlap greatly. If the subculture has enough contact with the mainstream culture, its figures of speech become slang expressions known to the whole society. For example, cat a sport, cool aloof, stylish , Mr. Charley a white man , The Man the law, and Uncle Tom a meek black all originated in the predominantly black Harlem district of New York City and have traveled far since their inception. Slang is thus generally not tied to any geographic region within a country.

A slang expression may suddenly become widely used and as quickly date 23-skiddoo. It may become accepted as standard speech, either in its original slang meaning bus, from omnibus or with an altered, possibly tamed meaning jazz, which originally had sexual connotations. Some expressions have persisted for centuries as slang booze for alcoholic beverage. In the 20th century, mass media and rapid travel have speeded up both the circulation and the demise of slang terms.

Television and novels have turned criminal cant into slang five grand for 5000 . Changing social circumstances may stimulate the spread of slang. Drug-related expressions such as pot and marijuana were virtually a secret jargon in the 1940s in the 1960s they were adopted by rebellious youth and in the 1970s and 80s they were widely known. 3.

Development of slang

Slang emanates from conflicts in values, sometimes superficial, often ... . 4. Thus slang e.g sucker, honkey, shave-tail, jerk expresses the attitude... A new slang term is usually widely used in a subculture before it appe...

Creators of slang

Names such as fuzz, pig, fink, bull, and dick for policemen were not c... 5. The humorous dickless tracy, however, meaning a policewoman, was coine... 6. .

Linguistic processes forming slang

The processes by which words become slang are the same as those by whi... Subsequently, it generalized again to mean any experience on any drug,... Clipping is exemplified by the use of grass from laughing grass, a ter... Funky, once a very low term for body odour, has undergone elevation am... 7.

Characteristics of slang

Civilized cultures and their languages retain many remnants of animism... The rate of turnover in slang words is undoubtedly encouraged by the m... While many slang words introduce new concepts, some of the most effect... It is also used in rhyming slang, which employs a fortunate combinatio... Food, drink, and sex also involve extensive slang vocabulary.

Diffusion of slang

Diffusion of slang. Others vividly express an idea already latent in the dominant culture ... Today, however, a sportscaster, news reporter, or comedian may introdu... Newly arrived bookmakers went to the end of the line, and any bettor r... Most of the originators and purveyors of slang, however, are probably ...

Attitudes toward slang

Attitudes toward slang. At the same time, it is being seriously studied by linguists and other... 11. Words may be clipped, or abbreviated mike, microphone, and acronyms ma... II.

The Concept of Youth Subcultures

2 With this division of labour there came an increasing specialisation... A number of different theories have been suggested for the formation o... One of the key ways in which they shock is through the clothes they we... A Construction of New Identities Based on Individualisation The new id... Youth must be allowed to exercise the power to bring change - they do ...

The Increase of Youth Subculture

There is a unity and a solidarity between the coming generation and th... The Position of Youth in the Society People who are marginalised or de... When the number of youth entering the market place drops, then youth a... This decline in youth as a market force, both as consumers and produce... 4.

The Features of Youth Subcultures

. The following insights were gained from class interaction on youth sub... The Features of Youth Subcultures. Family and Youth Subcultures In working class families, we noted that ... 5.

The Types of Youth Subcultures

The Types of Youth Subcultures Snejina Michailova, in Exploring Subcultural Specificity in Socialist and Postsocialist Organisations, presents the following understanding of the types of subcultures based on their internal logic of development a Stable Subcultures - these are functional and hierarchical and age-based. b Developing Subcultures - here there are two types, those that are i climbing - their role is becoming more important, and those that are ii climbing-down - their significance is being reduced. c Counter Cultures - those that confront and contradict the official culture, also called oppositional subcultures. 6. The Variety of Youth Subcultures Youth workers should, through research and observation, seek to identify the various subculture groups within the community in which the youth group operates, to ensure that the group is able to help to meet the needs of the different groups.

In Britain in the 1980s the following groups of youth were identified Casuals, Rastas, Sloans, Goths, Punks and Straights.

In South Africa in the 1990s the following youth subculture groups were identified Socialite, Striver, Traditionalist, Independent, Uninvolved, Careful and Acceptor.

In 1995 a market research project discovered that within the Black youth culture there are three main subcultures the Rappers, Pantsulas and the Italians.

While within the White youth subculture only thirty percent of youth identify with a subculture and the subcultures are far more numerous alternatives, Punks, Goths, Technoids, Metalheads, Homeboys, Yuppies, Hippies and Grunge. The following subculture groups were identified by students studying at the Baptist Theological College in South Africa Achievers Intellectuals Belongers Image-Conscious Very Poor Models Heavy Metal Dudes Rugby Boys Metalheads Hippies Mainstream Average Teenager Fashion Fanatic Intellectuals Physical Clubers Family Centered Workaholics Pleasure Seekers Hobby Fanatics Religious Freaks Head Banger Punk Home Boys Skater Gothics Yuppies Trendys Rappers Club-Hoppers Metal Heads Socialites Independents Uninvolved Carefuls Socialites - Pantsulas Mapanga Punks Mapantsula Strivers Comrades Preppy Outrageous Sexy Sporty Gothic Satanists Nerds Intellectual Strivers Socialites Jokers Gangsters Independents Traditionalists Teenyboppers Trendy Group Arty Type Alternative Group Drug Culture Gay Culture Squatters Vagrants Culture.

In the movie, The Breakfast Club, five teenagers are sent to detention for eight hours on a Saturday at their school Shermer High School, Illinois. They are Brian Johnson, a nerdy computer type, an intellectual who belongs to the Maths club Clair Standish, a princess - wealthy kid who is a popular type Andrew Clark - a sporty type who is in the school wrestling team Carl - a criminal type who has had a hard upbringing, a kid with an attitude Alison Reynolds - a strange girl, who is secretive, uncommunicative and dresses in black The teacher, Richard Vernon, says that they have to write an essay that explains who they are. During the day in detention, these five young people who would otherwise never together socially begin to find out about each other.

They share about their home, their parents, the things that they are able to do, and why they are in detention they even end up sharing a dagga joint. Very soon they are bonding together.

Someone asks the questions about whether they will still be friends when they see each other on Monday.

Some admit that they would be ashamed to greet the other person if they are with their friends. They get Brian to write the essay for the teacher. This is what he writes Dear Mr Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention, what we did was wrong, but we think you re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions.

But what we found is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club. The movie starts and ends with this letter being read. During the opening sequence the following quote by David Bowie is written across the screen, while the song by Simple Minds, Don t You Forget About Me, plays in the background And these children that you spit on as they try to change their world are immune to your consultations.

They re quite aware of what they re going through. In the opening scene where the letter is narrated by Brian, the reading ends with That s how we saw ourselves at 7 o clock this morning. We were brainwashed. When social workers start to research a subculture group they often find that the members of the subculture group are less that helpful.

Consider the following quotes It is highly unlikely that the members of any of the subcultures described in this book Reggae, Hipsters, Beats, Teddy Boys, Mods, Skin Heads and Punks would recognize themselves here. They are still less likely to welcome any efforts on our part to understand them. After all, we the sociologists and interested straights, threaten to kill with kindness the forms which we seek to elucidate we should hardly be surprised to find our sympathetic readings of subordinate culture are regarded by members of a subculture with just as much indifference and contempt as the hostile labels imposed by the courts and the press.

From Subculture The Meaning of Style by Dick Hebdige, Routledge, 1967. A 16-year-old mod from South London said You d really hate an adult to understand you. That s the only thing you ve got over them - the fact that you can mystify and worry them. From Generation X by Hamblett and Deverson, Tandem, 1964. III. ROCK MUSIC Main Entry 1rock Pronunciation rдk Function verb Etymology Middle English rokken, from Old English roccian akin to Old High German rucken to cause to move Date 12th century transitive senses 1 a to move back and forth in or as if in a cradle b to wash placer gravel in a cradle 2 a to cause to sway back and forth a boat rocked by the waves b 1 to cause to shake violently 2 to daze with or as if with a vigorous blow a hard right rocked the contender 3 to astonish or disturb greatly the scandal rocked the community intransitive senses 1 to become moved backward and forward under often violent impact also to move gently back and forth 2 to move forward at a steady pace also to move forward at a high speed the train rocked through the countryside 3 to sing, dance to, or play rock music synonym SHAKE - rock the boat to do something that disturbs the equilibrium of a situation Main Entry 2rock Function noun Usage often attributive Date 1823 1 a rocking movement 2 popular music usually played on electronically amplified instruments and characterized by a persistent heavily accented beat, much repetition of simple phrases, and often country, folk, and blues elements Main Entry rock and roll Function noun Date 1954 2ROCK 2 Source Webster s Revised Unabridged Dictionary ROCK, also called ROCK AND ROLL, ROCK ROLL, or ROCK N ROLL form of popular music that emerged in the 1950s. It is certainly arguable that by the end of the 20th century rock was the world s dominant form of popular music.

Originating in the United States in the 1950s, it spread to English-speaking countries and across Europe in the 60s, and by the 90s its impact was obvious globally if in many different local guises. Rock s commercial importance was by then reflected in the organization of the multinational recording industry, in the sales racks of international record retailers, and in the playlist policies of music radio and television.

If other kinds of music classical, jazz, easy listening, country, folk, etc are marketed as minority interests, rock defines the musical mainstream.

And so over the last half of the 20th century it became the most inclusive of musical labels everything can be rocked and in consequence the hardest to define.

To answer the question What is rock? one first has to understand where it came from and what made it possible.

And to understand rock s cultural significance one has to understand how it works socially as well as musically. 1. What is rock? The difficulty of definition Dictionary definitions of rock are problematic, not least because the term has different resonance in its British and American usages the latter is broader in compass. There is basic agreement that rock is a form of music with a strong beat, but it is difficult to be much more explicit.

The Collins Cobuild English Dictionary, based on a vast database of British usage, suggests that rock is a kind of music with simple tunes and a very strong beat that is played and sung, usually loudly, by a small group of people with electric guitars and drums, but there are so many exceptions to this description that it is practically useless.

Legislators seeking to define rock for regulatory purposes have not done much better. The Canadian government defined rock and rock-oriented music as characterized by a strong beat, the use of blues forms and the presence of rock instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, electric organ or electric piano.

This assumes that rock can be marked off from other sorts of music formally, according to its sounds. In practice, though, the distinctions that matter for rock fans and musicians have been ideological. Rock was developed as a term to distinguish certain music-making and listening practices from those associated with pop what was at issue was less a sound than an attitude.

In 1990 British legislators defined pop music as all kinds of music characterized by a strong rhythmic element and a reliance on electronic amplification for their performance. This led to strong objections from the music industry that such a definition failed to appreciate the clear sociological difference between pop instant singles-based music aimed at teenagers and rock album- based music for adults. In pursuit of definitional clarity, the lawmakers misunderstood what made rock music matter.

Crucial rock musicians For lexicographers and legislators alike, the purpose of definition is to grasp a meaning, to hold it in place, so that people can use a word correctly for example, to assign a track to its proper radio outlet rock, pop, country, jazz. The trouble is that the term rock describes an evolving musical practice informed by a variety of nonmusical arguments about creativity, sincerity, commerce, and popularity. It makes more sense, then, to approach the definition of rock historically, with examples.

The following musicians were crucial to rock s history. What do they have in common? Elvis Presley, from Memphis, Tennessee, personified a new form of American popular music in the mid-1950s. Rock and roll was a guitar-based sound with a strong if loose beat that drew equally on African-American and white traditions from the southern United.