Chuck Berry and Teenage Culture in the 1950s Essay -- Biography Bio Mu

cronk cull and Teenage Culture in the 1950sTeenagers were a new species at the beginning of the 1950s. Before then, adolescents in America had traditionally gone to work to support their family or to adopt their own family as soon as they were old enough. However, the years of post- state of war prosperity and the expansion of suburbia provided teenagers (who were too young to remember the scarcities of the Depression and the war effort) with plenty of leisure time. At the same time, advances in technology do vinyl 45s cheap and easily accessible to both artists and listeners. White teenagers bought up pop hits coming off the Billboard 100, although galore(postnominal) who were listening to downhearted radio stations preferred rhythm and blues tunes which were al managements contend by black performers. In fact rhythm and blues was bonny much used as a synonym for black music. Chuck Berry was one of the first black musicians to do well with a white audience. Because of his m iddle class background, his energetic performing style, and his youth-associated lyrics, Chuck Berry broke through the race barrier and became one of the first flutter stars.Berry became a representative of the teenage generation, even though he recorded his first single at the age of 29. His experience ripening up, though he was almost 15 years older than many of his fans, was similar enough to the suburban experience that he could easily get a line with the restless attitude of white middle class teens. Berry was a city kid from St. Louis . . . not rooted in the rural then(prenominal) as were the country blues artists at cheater. (DeWitt, 140) The joys of fast cars, young love, and a rockin beat that Berry prized as a teenager did not come down with his age.Berry grew up around East St. Louis. Li... ...ve developed in the way it did, but without teenage fans, Chuck Berry might never sport recorded a song.BibliographyBerry, Chuck. Chuck Berry The Autobiography. New York Har mony Books, 1987.Chapple, Steve and Rebecca Garofolo. jounce n roll out is Here to Pay. Chicago Nelson Hall, 1977.Cohodas, Nadine. Spinning Blues into Gold The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records. New York St. Martins Press, 2000.DeWitt, Howard. Chuck Berry Rock n Roll Music. Freemont, CA Horizon Books, 1981.Halberstam, David. The Fifties. New York Villard Books, 1993.Hendler, Herb. Year by Year in the Rock Era. London Greenwood Press, 1983.Reese, Krista. Chuck Berry Mr. Rock and Roll. London genus Proteus Books, 1982.Rudolph, Dietmar. A Collectors Guide to the Music of Chuck Berry Lyrics. http//members.tripod.com/buitendeboot/LYRICS.HTML. 2001.