The fifties : rock and roll : Bill Haley : Rock around the clock

The birth of rock and roll in the fifites : Bill Haley, author of Rock around the clock and other well known singers such as Elvis Presley.

The fifties were years of increasing affluence in USA and in the UK. There was Second World War
and the world needed to be rebuilt.
This war had destroyed the industrial systems of American competitors and for this reason only
American industry could build it again. During the fifties the USA led the world in economic growth. The Marshall Plan, a program of economic aids for the west of Europe benefited British economy.
A mood of prosperity began to grow and this is encouraged by a low unemployment rate, a rising
per capita income and a growing standard of living.
People could buy new houses with a lot of consumer goods that the technology could now offer.
There was a new social group, the teenagers, that were encouraged to spend their money in
consumer goods. They were appreciated for an economical reason.
They became more skeptical about traditional values and they extended their interest. They became
also more creative.
There were, of course, criticism of the new affluence. This was about materialistic values, drink,
striptease clubs, increasing of juvenile delinquency, prostitution and illegitimate births.
In these period there were also the invention of the credit card and hire purchase.
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Rock 'n' roll was born with the song “Rock around the clock” of Bill Haley. This song was inserted in a soundtrack of a film dealing with the juvenile delinquency and became the hymn of the younger generation.
American teenagers considered this song a way for to express their rebellion for the capitalistic society. In young people's eyes America became the symbol of world liberty and human solidarity.

Bill Haley understood that American teenagers were fed up with romantic, soft music and
sentimental texts. They wanted that the rhythm was essential and they needed songs accompanied by
clapping and dancing.
The language had to reproduce the jargon of contemporary teenagers and to be simple.
The term rock meant dancing till complete physical exhaustion and it openly referred to sexual intercourse too.
Other singers of rock and roll are Elvis Presley and Chuck Barry.