Reading rock history
Rochester History of Rock, Part One (chs. 1–7).
Full University of Rochester (John Covach) History of Rock Part One. Part Two (after 1970): https://www.coursera.org/learn/history-of-rock-2
Jump to era / band pages when we have them. Skip ahead freely.
Chapter 1 · The night before
- 1.1Music industry in the first half of the 20th centurySong over version: publishers, sheet music, songwriter vs performer.
- 1.2Radio: from regional audiences to a national audienceNetworks and super stations build a shared national pop audience.
- 1.3Pop stars before 1955Crosby, big bands, singing groups, Sinatra and early-50s followers.
- 1.4Les Paul and the impact of technologyOverdubbing, tape, and solid-body electric guitar.
- 1.5Origins of country & westernTwo regional styles before the Nashville merger.
- 1.6The rise of NashvilleOpry, Acuff-Rose, Hank Williams, bluegrass.
- 1.7R&B before 1945Race records, Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson, jump blues.
- 1.8R&B after 1945Migration, indie labels: Chess, Atlantic, Sun, Specialty, Imperial, Dot.
- 1.9Local R&B radio in the 1950sBlack-oriented radio, Alan Freed, white teen eavesdroppers.
- 1.10Doo-wop and gospelStreet vocal groups and church roots of R&B singing.
- 1.11Hokum blues and sexual lyric codesInnuendo, cover sanitizing, and race in the marketplace.
Chapter 2 · Birth and first boom (1955–1959)
- 2.1Rise of 1950s youth culture1955 as year zero; youth culture; delinquency films and Rock Around the Clock.
- 2.2Radio and recordsR&B radio, Alan Freed, independents vs majors.
- 2.3Crossovers and coversCharts, crossover, and white cover versions.
- 2.4First rock musicians to cross overHaley, Domino, Berry, Little Richard, Pat Boone.
- 2.5Rise of Elvis PresleySun, RCA, TV, market saturation.
- 2.6Sam Phillips sells Elvis’s contractWhy Sun sold Elvis to RCA.
- 2.7Rockabilly in Elvis’s shadowSun roster, rockabilly peers, Buddy Holly.
- 2.8The day the music diedExits, payola, and the late-1950s squeeze.
Chapter 3 · Winter of rock, spring of soul (1959–1963)
- 3.1Audience and market: looking for the next ElvisRock enters a relative quiet. Merchants still hunt for the next Elvis, while quieter changes take shape inside the business.
- 3.2Brill Building pop songwritingThe Brill Building model returns music to an era when songwriters and performers are separate roles.
- 3.3Teen idolsIn the late 1950s, good-looking, non-threatening teen idols surge and win big commercially.
- 3.4ProducersIn the late 1950s the producer role rises: people want studio sounds that are not mere copies of the stage. Phil Spector builds his unique Wall of Sound.
- 3.5Sweet SoulLeiber and Stoller fuse R&B, classical strings, and Latin rhythm into what becomes Sweet Soul.
- 3.6Sight and tactile stimuli (TV, film, dance crazes)TV, film, and dance crazes—sight and tactile stimuli—powerfully push rock’s transformation.
- 3.7Folk revivalFolk music is born in the 1940s–50s; after a quiet early-1950s spell it revives in the late 1950s. The key acts are the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary.
- 3.8Rockabilly PopstersRockabilly stars absorb teen-idol pop elements, soften the sound, and helps open the path to surf music.
- 3.9Surf musicSurf music joins instrumental and vocal traditions; themes center on surfing, cars, and girls—an American-only style.
Chapter 4 · The Beatles and the British Invasion (1964–1966)
- 4.1IntroductionAfter the years of variety, the British Invasion begins.
- 4.2Britain and America in the early 1960sBefore the British Invasion, British pop mostly sat under American pop—but Britain had its own early pop practices.
- 4.3Rise of the BeatlesThe Beatles changed the British scene and the American scene.
- 4.4Beatles as students of American popThe so-called British Invasion was largely a study of American pop; the Beatles are the prime example.
- 4.5Beatles from craftsmen to artistsLed by the Beatles, rock musicians began shifting from craftsmen to artists, and an aesthetic centered on authenticity took shape.
- 4.6Blues in BritainLondon’s blues revival raised a generation of blues fans who later led rock bands.
- 4.7Arrival of the Rolling StonesRooted in blues, the Rolling Stones appear and begin early songwriting.
- 4.8Rolling Stones in the U.S.Success came harder for the Rolling Stones than for the Beatles.
- 4.9Other British bandsIn the British Invasion, most bands can be grouped as Beatles-type or Stones-type.
- 4.10The Kinks and the WhoThe Kinks and the Who were two distinctive forces within the British Invasion.
Chapter 5 · America’s reply (1965–1967)
- 5.1Bob Dylan and a new generation of songwritersBob Dylan begins as a folk performer, widens what a traditional folk singer can do, and helps open the singer-songwriter model.
- 5.2Dylan goes electricBob Dylan begins adding electric instruments to his music—a marker for the birth of folk rock.
- 5.3The Byrds and folk-rockThe Byrds open the folk-rock wave; its source is Bob Dylan.
- 5.4Phil Spector’s lasting production legacySonny & Cher and the Beach Boys inherit Phil Spector’s production legacy and push it further.
- 5.5Meanwhile, back on the East CoastFolk acts who move to L.A., such as the Byrds, help make America’s reply—while East Coast acts keep shining too.
- 5.6Garage bandsThe British Invasion sparks a garage-band boom: most acts are brief, but they matter for punk later.
- 5.7TV rockShows such as American Bandstand help U.S. acts shine and help launch groups like the Monkees.
Chapter 6 · Motown pop and southern soul (1960–1969)
- 6.1PrefaceMotown pop and southern soul are the two main sources of 1960s Black popular music; James Brown is the benchmark between them.
- 6.2Hitsville U.S.A.: MotownSongwriters, the studio band, etiquette coaches, choreographers, and label management together form the Motown assembly line.
- 6.3Motown artistsA deep artist roster makes Motown Hitsville U.S.A. in substance as well as in name.
- 6.4Soulsville U.S.A.: Stax and southern soulMemphis’s Stax label shapes southern soul and, with Atlantic, carries it into wider circulation.
- 6.5Stax artistsArtists such as Aretha Franklin push southern soul forward and outward—even when the records are not wholly made in the South.
- 6.6Motown, Stax, the Invasion, and America’s replyThe British Invasion hits white pop hard; Black pop led by Motown and Stax largely rides through and keeps thriving.
- 6.7James BrownWhile Motown deliberately dials down Black musical markers for commercial reach, James Brown refuses to compromise—and that stance unexpectedly wins him more white listeners, huge commercial success, and the foundation of his status as the Godfather of Soul.
Chapter 7 · Psychedelic wave (1966–1969)
- 7.1LSD, music, and “tripping”Psychedelic music grew out of the use of the hallucinogen LSD. That use was certainly hedonistic, but it was also tied, to a degree, to the countercultural social currents of the time.
- 7.2Origins of hippie aestheticsSerious lyrics and music, plus instrumental virtuosity and new technology, made rock begin to take itself seriously—perhaps the start of the hippie aesthetic.
- 7.3Beatles and Beach Boys pushing formal bordersAfter huge commercial success, the Beatles and the Beach Boys began treating the studio as an instrument and exploring how to widen music’s borders.
- 7.4San Francisco psychedelic subcultureIn late-1960s San Francisco a full psychedelic subcultural scene took shape—venues, radio, shops, and more. They were also early products of rock culture.
- 7.5Key San Francisco bandsThe Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and Country Joe and the Fish were among the important musicians of the San Francisco psychedelic scene.
- 7.6London psychedelia and the undergroundWhile San Francisco psychedelia was in full swing, London across the water developed a psychedelic culture with a subtle relationship to it.
- 7.7London psychedelia’s mainstream starsMainstream stars such as the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton were not the main force of the psychedelic wave, but they still contributed to its development.
- 7.8Psychedelia in Los Angeles and elsewhereFrom the 1960s the music industry accelerated its shift from New York to Los Angeles; the chief L.A. psychedelic representative is the Doors.
- 7.9Hippie nationAt the end of the psychedelic wave, hippie culture moved from underground into the mainstream and deeply shaped mainstream culture after 1969.
Appendix · Further reading
- 1Rock Chronicles — ed. David RobertsIf you only pick one band book, start here. ~250 influential acts: short histories, lineups/changes, key albums, classic photos, A–Z for lookup. Narrow and shallow—great bands exceed 250, and the cut-off misses later acts—but still solid for tracing who did what when.
- 21001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die — ed. Robert DimeryChronological checklist of 1001 albums from the 1950s into the 21st century—not rock-only: jazz, pop, folk, hip-hop too. Each entry: artist, producer, year, label, key tracks, short take. Useful for hunting records and sketching how popular music moved. Newest English runs to 2018; the Chinese import (Central Compilation Press) is still the 8th edition (2005 update).
- 3Rock Connections — ed. Bruno MacDonaldLess dense than the two above; stronger on how styles and bands connect—people, scenes, inheritance. Plenty of lesser-known anecdotes; more fun to read for lineage than for encyclopedia entries.
- 4Rock: Rock's Past and Present — Kevin J. H. DettmarAnother rock survey, written by a professor—deeper cultural discussion and the author’s own thinking alongside the timeline. Downside: non-color printing leaves many photos muddy.
- 5The Greatest Albums You'll Never Hear — ed. Bruno MacDonaldOdd angle: albums you will never hear. Less a listening guide than music gossip—why they stayed unreleased: creative collapse, feuds, label and market choices. Genuinely fun to read.
- 6Guitar Family Trees — Terry BurrowsTreasure shelf for guitar fans: famous guitars and makers, players’ instruments, tone traits, and tracks that show each model’s voice.
- 7How Music Works — David ByrneAfter the history arc, how music gets made—ideas, writing, stage, recording, tech, market, managers and labels—told from Byrne’s own grind from obscurity to the front. Broad and clear for fans, not deep theory.
- 8摇滚中国 — Sun YiStill no compact Chinese Rock Chronicles for domestic acts. This is closer, but remains a cultural study of mainland rock and intellectual currents—not a work catalog. Worth it for reform-era economic and cultural shock on Chinese music and youth, and a partial map of Chinese rock.
- 9把青春唱完 1990–1999 — Gao YuanA photo book. Sparse text; the camera records Chinese rock on and off stage across that decade—players’ youth, and a slice of our own.
- 10摇滚梦寻 — Xue JiEarly Chinese rock interview book—Cui Jian, Tang Dynasty, Black Panther, Compass, and peers. Honest and serious; does not dodge the historical backdrop. The most grounded group portrait of that first wave.