While juvenile delinquents, beats and beatniks were a minority,rock 'n' roll fans continued a more widespread challenge to the dominant culture
Challenge of Teenage Culture
Before the arrival of rock 'n' roll- 1950's- there was no sharply defined 'teenage' music
Teenagers swooned over Frank Sinatra & parents liked him too
Rock 'n' roll was 'young music'- it combined black 'race music' (rhythm & blues) and hillbilly (country & western)
1953- Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed played black artists' rhythm & blues records, labelling it 'rock 'n' roll' because the lyrics were frequently focused on sexual activity
Freed's white, teenage radio audience loved the strong beat & whites such as Bill Haley & His Comets began copying it
Popular Rock 'n' Roll Artists
Chuck Berry
Little Richard
Elvis Presley
Rock 'n' Roll was Popular- Young People
Added to their sense of group identity- only they could appreciate it
with temporary jobs & frequently generous allowances from their parents, teenagers had money to spend on records:
$182 million-1954
$521 million-1960
Older Generations- Less Enthusiastic
Time Magazine compared rock 'n' roll concerts to Hitler's rallies
A psychiatrist described the music as a 'communicative disease...a cannibalistic & tribalistic kind of music'
Parents feared the impact of rock 'n' roll on their children as it was often critical of middle-class behaviour & full of sexual longing
Some white parents feared black culture contaminating their children
