The History of Rock: For Big Fans and Little Punks

The History of Rock: For Big Fans and Little Punks — page 2 — FOR BIG FANS Three essential factors aligned in order for this book to come to life my passion for music the fact that I’m a teacher who interacts daily with children and finally the realization that there are almost no books about Rock for children This was the determining factor in embarking on this music epic targeted at children but winking at adults too There are many ways to write about the history of mu sic particularly Rock Each writer approaches the subject in a different way their own way of listening to and understanding music In this book I tried to follow the history’s timeline highlighting the most important art ists and bands I measured an artist’s relevance by the level of influence they had on others and by the depth of their mark on our culture This required investigative work consisting of research as well as structuring listen ing to and categorizing hundreds of bands In order to avoid making it too personal I perused books and refer ence websites different top charts from magazines and field experts lists of essential bands curated by musicians and music lovers whom I thank elsewhere in this book and also websites and biographies from the bands them selves Still I’ve surely left out some artists that should have been highlighted but space is finite I was fortunate enough to work with a talented team Nuno my project editor who had the demanding work of trimming unnecessary fat and improving many of the texts Joana who has materialized my ideas for each artist or band in art form Andreia who brought all the parts together without ever failing a deadline This team was joined by Pedro the translator who turned out to be much more than that being passionate about music he didn’t leave a loose end Finally Charlotte came aboard and reviewed the English text to make it bulletproof I made an effort to keep in mind that this book which may be of interest to adults was conceived of and written for children Therefore I tried to find funny anecdotes in the artists history and softened the language in order to make it fun to read the book I’ve wondered many times if the reason for this project’s existence lies actually in my own childhood in the plea sure that I would have drawn from reading such a book one that would reveal to me a less obvious musical realm in a way I could understand Rita Nabais

The History of Rock: For Big Fans and Little Punks — page 3 — wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom THE PIONEERS OF ROCK In the early 1950s a musical earthquake called Rock and Roll shook the United States of America The sounds and traditions coming from different places like the African rhythms and the melodies sung by European emigrants blended for the first time People from all races creeds and origins working side by side and listening to each other singing their songs influenced one another and fused their traditions in a rich cultural melting pot that would create the music that is simply known as Rock The energy-filled rhythms and the simple and saucy language struck a chord especially with adolescents A lot of musicians started Rock and Roll’s journey but in these pages you’ll find some of those that placed Rock in the history of music The band’s name Bill Haley His Comets was inspired by Halley’s Comet As Bill’s surname was pronounced the same way he decided to create a pun adding his Comets to Haley BILL HALEY and HIS COMETS At the start of his ca reer Bill Haley played and sang Country songs and then later R B One day he decided to mix these two styles in a single song called Crazy Man Crazy Young kids went wild with it That was when Haley decided to change both the style of his songs and of himself he swapped his cowboy outfit with a check ered jacket covered his hair with pomade which is similar to hair gel and started styling a big curl of it on his forehead Bill Haley His Comets were playing and singing Rock and Roll even before the name was invented To gether they recorded two of the most famous songs in the history of Rock Rock Around the Clock and Shake Rattle and Roll debut album 1953 origin Chester PA genre Rock and Roll Country Rockabilly famous songs Rock Around the Clock Shake Rattle and Roll See You Later Alligator LITTLE RICHARD Little Richard was one of the first Rock and Roll stars Even as a child growing up in a 12 child household he loved to sing He was 10 when he performed live for the first time and by 14 he had left his parents house to fol low travelling musical acts His songs were based on a magical formula fast and explosive piano playing coupled with lyrics filled with words that made no sense sung in a high pitched voice His first major hit was Tutti Frutti 6 He was really eccentric played like a madman had long hair and sang a lot of uuuhhhs a song that starts with the sentence Wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom whatever that means debut album 1957 origin Macon GA genre Rock and Roll R B Gospel Soul famous songs Tutti Frutti Lucille Long Tall Sally Good Golly Miss Molly

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