What was the historical context during the time when rock and roll emerged? How did rhythm and blues (R&B) develop? Describe the impact of the radio. Identify the importance of Alan Freed, Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips, and Bill Haley (and Blackboard Jungle).
How did national tensions over race and civil rights affect musicians and the music industry? How did the rise of rock and roll benefit African Americans, challenge stererotypes, and encourage mixing of the races? How were blacks exploited and their music appropriated? Identify the importance of Nat King Cole, Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry.
Why were adults so concerned about young people and sex in the 1950s? How did rock and roll make many adults feel threatened and undermined? How did they respond? How successful were they in cleaning up the lyrics? Identify the importance of Pat Boone, Dick Clark, Elvis, and Jerry Lee Lewis?
Why did adults blame rock and roll for encouraging youthful disrespect and rebelliousness? How did a teenager subculture emerge in the United States in the twentieth century? How did rock and roll (as well as teenagers' buying power) help create a distinct and separate culture for young people? How did people defend rock and roll against its negative image? Identify the importance of Dick Clark's Your Happiest Years, Pat Boone's 'Twixt Twelve and Twenty, Hollywood teenpics, and the television show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
Which segments of the entertainment industry benefited from rock and roll? Which groups were hurt or left behind? Identify ASCAP and BMI and explain how ASCAP used monopoly accusations and the "payola" scandal to try to suppress rock and roll. How was it that Alan Freed was destroyed while Dick Clark survived? How did the payola controversy hurt rock and roll?
What accounts for the apparent decline in the vitality of rock and roll by about 1960? Where were its leading figures? What was the impact on rock and roll of the plane crash that killed Big Boppr, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly? How did American rock and roll affect young aspiring British musicians? What sort of rock music was produced during the "lull" of the early 1960s? Identify Berry Gordy. How and why did the Beatles revive American rock and roll?
In summary, how did rock and roll "change America"?