The Influence and Importance of Technology on the Breakthrough of Rock Music During the Baby Boomer Generation
Logan Berry
The breakthrough of rock and roll during the Baby
Boomer Generation was due to many transformations in the American society. These
transformations include, technology, and the young, rebellious audience as well
as a couple others. One of the most important changes was technology. “The
cultural change of rock ‘n’ roll was linked to previous changes in technology”
(Geels 1428). With the invention
of Television on the rise, people began to prefer TV to the most recent
favorite, the radio. Television, although primarily indirect, played an
important role in shaping the advent of rock ‘n’ roll (Peterson 102). Who
wouldn’t prefer to listen to the news while also watching it on a screen, or
listening to music while watching the people play it? The radio industry knew
something needed to change, or they would soon become bankrupt. Their intention
was to create a smaller, portable radio but the Japanese beat them to it. The
Japanese shipped hundreds and thousands of cheap, lightweight, compact
transistor radios to the US, in which operated on small flashlight batteries
(Peterson 102). “Quickly young Americans learned to take these extremely
inexpensive sets to school, to the beach, to parties, to work- everywhere they
went” (Peterson 102). These transistor radios became extremely popular because
the BBG was coming up on their teen years, and since rock n roll related so
much to their style, transistors made for the perfect party music. Soon after
transistors were invented, phonograph records became a huge hit. “The growing symbiotic
relationship between phonograph record makers and commercial radio station
owners was centrally important in the advent of rock music in the mid-1950s” (Peterson
102). The use of these phonograph records somewhat turned the music industry
back around. As network radio programming transferred to television, radio
began playing records as the cheapest effective form of programming (Peterson
113). “The arrival of cheap
transistor radios and the development of the Top Forty radio-as-jukebox format
meant that a much larger number and far wider range of music was exposed to the
audience” (Peterson 113).
These videos show how transistors and phonograph
records were used.
Works Cited:
Geels, Frank W. "Analysing the breakthrough of
rock ‘n’ roll
(1930–1970) Multi-regime interaction
and reconfiguration in the multi-level perspective." Technological
forecasting & social change 74.8 (2007):1411-1431.
Peterson, Richard A. "Why 1955? Explaining the
advent of rock music." Popular music 9.01 (1990):97-116.
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