THE EFFECT OF ROCK AND ROLL ON THE AMERICAN ECONOMY
How has Rock and Roll Effected the American Economy? Consider, if you will, the life of a teenager living in the 1940's. The Great Depression was finally coming to an end, but the memories of the rough times would scar its sufferers for a lifetime. Caused by a number of serious weaknesses in the economy, the depression saw a rapid decline in the production and sale of goods, as well as a sudden, severe rise in unemployment. Businesses and banks closed their doors, people lost their jobs, homes, and savings; many people depended on charity to survive (**encarta**). Teenagers were given a tremendous amount of responsibility. While their fathers were out doing what little work there was, it wasn't unlikely for teens to be at home with their mothers doing housework or caring for younger siblings. Life was less than easy, and the emerging world war didn't make it any easier. As the U.S. became the last great nation to join the second global conflict of the century, young men (many of them in their late teens) at their physical peak were sent out to the battlefield where about 274,000 of them would die for their country (editors of Time-Life books 29). The 50's brought about a tremendous change for the U.S. It
Rock and roll has been the most popular type of music for nearly 40 years. Some parents, accustomed to the essentially bland style of the 40s and early 50s, were outraged by rock and roll. The young couples of America were settling down to enjoy life, suburban style (editors of Time-Life books 53). He decided to put on his own show which he called the Moondog Coronation Ball of March 21, 1952. With paychecks fatter than ever, more and more Americans began moving to the suburbs, owning their own homes and vehicles, as well as throwing and attending cocktail parties (a popular pastime of young suburbanite couples). The success of rhythm and blues lead Freed to promote the music outside of the studio. The average worker was earning and estimated $6,500 by 1954. The music that was listened to by the teens of the exciting decade of the 50's is still loved by the generation X teens of today. What Freed knew, but few whites were aware of at the time, was that the term rock and roll was widely used in black music as slang for "sex" (rock and roll generation). Because so many requests flooded in from teenagers in the white suburbs as well as from blacks, Freed launched a late night show that played only rhythm and blues. Freed gradually started referring to rhythm and blues as rock and roll. Teenagers were and still are more easily persuaded than adults due to lack of life experience. Rock music was wild and crazy, everything that the 40's were not. No matter how we may think of it, music shapes the way we live our daily lives.
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