Applied English for American Society & Culture through Music (Seibert)
Reading Comprehension, Chapter 13, Pages 214-232

Optional

Rock and Roll

214

1. For the first time in history, teenagers after World War II had enough _______________ to influence the popular music industry.

2. After World War II, parents and children often thought very differently. Children had not experienced the economic depression of the late 1920s and had not experienced or remembered the war. This difference in thinking (and in musical preferences) was called "the __________________ gap".

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3. Before 1949, " _______ records" referred to recorded music marketed to black listeners. However, 1949 the magazine Billboard began to call this black popular music " _________ and _________ ".

4. Rhythm and blues ensembles (groups) were primarily vocal with a lead singer and often a group of singers behind the lead singer. Was this group behind the lead singer usually all women or all men? ______________

5. Some black performers of rhythm and blues sang and played in a style that was more acceptable to whites and sounded more like Tin Pan Alley or included Tin Pan Alley songs. Some of these performers were the Mills Brothers, the Ink Spots, and the soloists ____________________________ , ____________________________, and ____________________________ .

6. Black rhythm and blues and what other kind of music shared many characteristics? ________________________________

7. What style of music, which became the most popular music the world has ever known, was a merger of R and B and country music? ____________________ .

8. Who first used the term "rock and roll" for the style of music that Bill Haley and Elvis Presley made so famous? ___________ ____________

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9. R and B musician Joe Turner wrote the song "Shake, Rattle and Roll", but when the group "___________________________________ " recorded his song, it instantly went to the top of the music charts. The next year this song became the first international rock and roll hit: ______________________________

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10. When a voice or instrument makes a nice "warm" sound by "waving" the tone or wavering between tones it's called ______________ .

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11. Most (twelve-bar) blues and early Chicago rock and roll songs were ___________________ (similar or different?) in form and harmony.

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12. Write T or F next to each statement about Chuck Berry:

___ he strongly influenced Elvis Presley

___ he was a great guitarist

_T_ he was very good at improvising melodies

___ he was a talented songwriter

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13. A very popular early television program called "American Bandstand" featured white teen idols singing what kind of music? ____________________________________

14. Did the group "The Beach Boys" sing about surfing, war, civil rights, or Salem? _____________

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15. Was Berry Gordy, Jr. a rock pianist or a songwriter? _______________

16. What company did Berry Gordy, Jr. form? ___________________ He formed the company to market this kind of music: ___________________________________

17. When we think of the city of Nashville we think of country music, but when we think of "Motown" we think of the "motor town" city of __________________ where most American cars were made and still are made.

18. Part of the Motown sound included a background group of singers who stood behind the lead singer and sang harmonies consisting of nonsense syllables. These background groups were called ______________ groups.

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19. Did young English fans of rock and roll deplore (strongly dislike) or like the commercialization of rock and roll? __________________________

20. Were the Beatles' early songs violent and rebellious or simple and naive? ______________ and _________________

21. In 1962, the performance that first made the Beatles famous was a joint appearance with the singer Little Richard in what city? _____________

22. One of the members of the Beatles was an outstanding (excellent) poet. Who was this? ___________________

23. In their later years, was the instrumental music of the Beatles more significant or less significant than in earlier years? ___________________

24. Did the Beatles perform as a group for about 5, 10, 15, or 20 years? __________

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25. ______________________________ (Reginald Kenneth Dwight) was an English rock star who wore crazy clothes and spectacles (glasses).

26. The group called "The Who" wrote a rock opera called ___________________ .

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27. Was a saxophone usually part of the small groups of that played early soul music? ________

28. One of the first blacks to become an expert using studio recording technology was ________________________________ .

29. Several musicians we have learned about in class were poets and songwriters, too. Did Ray Charles also write poetry? _________

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30. In what city did "acid rock" begin? ______________________

31. Psychedelic rock is another name for __________ rock, which included light shows, smoke and fog machines, and very loud amplification.

32. Which of the following was not popular in the early 1960s: Motown recordings, acid rock, or Elvis Presley? _______________________________

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33. Was Jimi Hendrix a soul singer or blues singer? _______________________