The 50’s Decade

musical appreciation
Wars
• Cold War between USA and The Soviet
Union
• Korean War (1950 – 1953) between North
Korea and the Republic of Korea (South
Korea). When it began, North and South
Korea existed as provisional governments
competing for control over the Korean
peninsula, due to the division of Korea by
outside powers.
• Vietnam War (1955 – 1975) also kwon as the
Resistance War Against America was
officially fought between North
Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam
was supported by the Soviet Union, China,
and other communist allies; South Vietnam
was supported by the United States, South
Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Thailand
and other anti-communist allies.
• Cuban Revolution (1953–1959) – The 1959
overthrow of Fulgencio Batista by Fidel
Castro, Che Guevara and other forces
resulted in the creation of the
first communist government in the Western
hemisphere.
Television
• The 1950s are known as The Golden
Age of Television by some people.
• Sales of TV sets rose tremendously in
the 1950s and by 1950 4.4 million
families in America had a television
set.
• Americans devoted most of their
free time to watching television
broadcasts. People spent so much
time watching TV, that movie
attendance dropped and so did the
number of radio listeners.
• TV affects all aspects of American
culture. "Television affects what we
wear, the music we listen to, what
we eat, and the news we receive."
Film
• Films of the 1950s were of a wide
variety. As a result of the
introduction of television, the
studios and companies sought to put
audiences back in theaters.
• Cinemascope
• Big production and spectacle films
perfect for this gained popularity,
with the many historic and fantasy
epics
• The science fiction genre began
its golden age during this decade
• The highly noted actors James
Stewart, John Wayne, and Marlon
Brando were at the peak of their
popularity.
• Alfred Hitchcock was at the peak of
his craft
Fashion
• Greasers style icons and anti-
authoritarian figures, men wore
tight trousers, leather jackets and
emphasis was on slicked, greasy
hair.
• Christian Dior “The New Look”
• Coco Channel The Chanel suit
was known as a status symbol for
wealthy and powerful women
• Short hair was very popular for
young women in the 1950s
Rock and Roll
• In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan
Freed began playing rhythm and blues music
for a multi-racial audience, and is credited
with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to
describe the music.
• The 1950s saw the growth in popularity of
the big boom electric guitar (developed and
popularized by Les Paul).
• Rock and roll influenced lifestyles, fashion,
attitudes, and language. In addition, rock and
roll may have contributed to the civil rights
movement because both African-American
and white American teens enjoyed the music.
• Rock and roll was one of the first music
genres to define an age group.
• Rock and roll spawned new dance crazes
including the twist.
• American teens watched Dick
Clark's American Bandstand to keep up on
the latest dance and fashion styles
Elvis Aaron Presley
• Rockabilly
• Influenced and incorporated his
style of music with some of the
greatest African American musicians
like BB King and Chuck Berry
• Racist problems
• Milton Berle Show Hound Dog
controversy “Elvis the Pelvis”
• He want to be an actor, Love me
tender was his first movie
• In 1958 he join the army
• Died August 16, 1977 (aged 42)
Chuck Berry
• Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and
Roll"
• His music style included guitar
solos and showmanship
• Johnny B Goode Voyager Golden
Record 1977
• In 1987, Berry was charged with
assaulting a woman at New York's
Gramercy Park Hotel
• In 1990, he was sued by several
women who claimed that he had
installed a video camera in the
bathroom of his restaurant
• A police raid on his house found
intimate videotapes of women, one
of whom was apparently a minor,
and drugs
Bill Haley & His Comets
• Founded in 1952
• From late 1954 to late 1956,
the group placed nine singles
in the Top 20
• The single "Rock Around the
Clock" became the biggest
selling rock and roll single in
the history of the genre
• Bill Haley had previously been
a country music performer
• "Crazy Man, Crazy" was the
first rock and roll song to be
televised nationally
 Little Richard
• Frenetic piano player
• His charismatic showmanship laid the
foundation for rock and roll
• "Tutti Frutti" became an instant hit,
reaching No. 2 on Billboard magazine's
• The Beatles opened his concerts in
Europe
• Sexual problems (Bisexual)
 Jerry Lee Lewis
• Often known by his nickname, The
Killer
• Rock & roll's first great wild man and
one of the most influential pianists of
the twentieth century
• His 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin'
On" that shot Lewis to fame worldwide
• Rock career failed for a wrong
marriage with his cousin
• Reapers in 1968 singing country music
• Live at the Star Club, Hamburg,
recorded with the Nashville Teens in
1964, which is considered one of the
greatest live rock-and-roll albums ever
The King of Rock & Roll