Two Lives of Rock 'n' Roll

Two Lives of Rock ‘n’ Roll

            “Rock and Roll is a style of popular music that derives in part from blues and folk music and is marked by a heavily accented beat and a simple, repetitive phrase structure” (dictionary.com). Rock ‘n’ Roll became popular in the 1950’s and is now a major genre of music people love and appreciate. On Sunday, 12 April, 2015, I sat down with Libbi and Terry O’Sullivan-- two people who have been greatly affected by the influence and culture that is Rock ‘n’ Roll music.     

            Libbi grew up in Athens, Tennessee. Early childhood was hanging with the guys. She was the only girl in her neighborhood, so she grew up as “one of the guys”. Kickball, soccer, football, you name it, she did it. Terry grew up in Livonia, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Early childhood in the big city had similarities to small town living. Terry lived in one of the last parts of town that still had properties over an acre large. There was a ball field right behind his house, where all the locals would come and play. When a parent was looking for their child, the first place they would call was the O’Sullivan household. This made his home a good place for people to hang out. Terry and Libbi lived similar lives, even though they were hundreds of miles apart. With sports, games and various activities, one thing rose above them all as the champion of down time—Rock and Roll.

            In their areas of living, everyone wanted to listen, dance or be Rock and Roll. According to Terry “Everyone bought things through layaway.” Terry had a small paper route and every week when he got his income he, like most others, saved up for a Transistor Radio. The Transistor Radio was similar to what we now call IPods. Kids would save money for months for this new gadget that they could carry around and listen to music on. Most people had televisions, but only used them on weekends. According to the O’Sullivans, “The item for entertainment was the radio.”

            Kids of the fifties era loved to play music. They did not have video games to pass the time like kids today. They would either play sports, listen to the radio or they would simply create their own music. Terry said in the interview: “We would have jam sessions. A couple times a week we would all get together and play music. Several of my friends, including myself, played guitar and various other instruments.” Libbi was a little different, she knew how to play the piano, but in her group of friends there was someone who was better at it. She said “At the time we did not have keyboards to carry around and play on. We had one solo piano at someone’s house and whoever was the best, normally played.” Libbi would dance to the music because she loved the sound and the way it made her feel. Regardless the method, both teens found some way to thoroughly enjoy Rock n’ Roll.

            With all this talk of Rock ‘n’ Roll one begins to wonder where it got its start. According to encyclopedia.com: 

The first rock 'n' roll record to achieve national popularity was "Rock Around the Clock" made by Bill Haley and the Comets in 1955. Haley succeeded in creating a music that appealed to youth because of its exciting back beat, its urgent call to dance, and the action of its lyrics. The melody was clearly laid down by electric guitar; the lyrics were earthy and simple. Haley abruptly ended the ascendancy of the bland and sentimental ballads popular in the 1940s and early 50s. He also succeeded in translating black rhythm and blues into a form that adolescent white audiences could understand. (Columbia Encyclopedia)

Although Bill Hayley was the birth of modern Rock ‘n’ Roll his fame was largely eclipsed by the King himself, Elvis Presley. When the question “Who changed the face of modern Rock ‘n’ Roll music?” came up in the interview both subjects provided the same response “Elvis Presley.” Terry and Libbi both knew that there were other artists such as: Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis that were big names of Rock ‘n’ Roll, but both agreed that Elvis was certainly the top dog after his first appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show”.

            Elvis appeared on the “Ed Sullivan Show” September 9, 1956. During his performance of “Hound Dog” he was moving around and shaking his hips. Libbi said “Parents were appalled at the sight of this”. She said her mother got a good laugh out of the whole situation because all the other parents “took it very seriously”. Terry and Libbi both remembered the second time Elvis appeared on the “Ed Sullivan Show” and said that all they showed was the top half of his body. Rock ‘n’ Roll was causing distress in the parents and arousal in the children. Shortly thereafter, Elvis Presley began making appearances in all mediums including radio, television, live concerts and even movies. Throughout his career, Elvis Presley performed in thirty-three different movies, had fourteen Grammy nominations, of those fourteen, he won three. He even won the Grammy Lifetime Award at age thirty-six.  This further exacerbated parents discomfort and children’s rebellious love for the King. 

Many traditional people hated Rock ‘n’ Roll. “Churches proclaimed it Satan's music” (USHistory.org). Famous singer/songwriter Frank Sinatra said: “Rock and roll is the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression — lewd, sly, in plain fact, dirty — a rancid-smelling aphrodisiac and the martial music of every side-burned delinquent on the face of the earth.” Rock ‘n’ Roll had the potential to bring out the best and worst in people. It gave people a way of releasing undiscussed emotions and that scared them.

Elvis paved the way for other bands to step in and take the spotlight. Terry saw first-hand the rise of Motown. “In its classic era, the seminal music scene of the 1960s, Motown’s artists were among the most popular, establishing a standard of excellence and sophistication that has never been surpassed” (Classic.Motown.com). It started off as a simple dream for Berry Gordy Jr. He took out an eight-hundred dollar loan from his family to start his small Detroit record company. Artists like Stevie Wonder and the Temptations, made their mark on the world because of Motown Records. Little did Gordy know, Motown would become the icon for R&B and Jazz.

In the late 1700’s, England lost America. According to Time Magazine, in the early 1960’s, The Beatles won it back. According to the O’Sullivans, the funny accented boys from across the pond were the biggest thing since our humble King, Elvis Presley.

It was a sweet surrender, as millions of kids (and not a few adults) succumbed to the sound of guitar-wielding, mop-topped redcoats playing rock & roll that was fresh, exotically foreign and full of the vitality of a new age in the making…This was the British Invasion, and the Beatles were its undisputed leaders. (Parke Puterbaugh)

The Beatles were but one of the power houses that made up The British Invasion. The Rolling Stones and The Who were a couple more honorable mentions from that era.

            Into their teen years, Terry played a major role in a few local bands that soon went on to travel to various cities in the north. To draw upon famous bands for inspiration, this young rag tag group of friends decided to attend the festival known as Woodstock. The age of pure Rock ‘n’ Roll was over, and the time of psychedelics and protest Rock began. It was hard to retain first-hand information from the O’Sullivans for various reasons. Libbi had a stable job at the time, and the thought of all the “dope smokers” disgusted her and dissuaded her from attending. Terry, on the other hand, was whole heartedly attending “Woodstock.” From my understanding, Terry was enjoying himself so much, that the experience became a blur. His son has told me stories that may or may not be true regarding Terry’s recreational activities during Woodstock. However, I am not at liberty to discuss them because they were not first-hand stories. What I have been able to gather is the unbelievable lineup of the three day festival. Among it were some of the big names of Rock ‘n’ Roll: Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Ironically, the festival took place in Sullivan county New York. The 1970’s were a time of peace and love and Woodstock was the poster child. The O’Sullivans believe the seventies genre of Rock was completely based of the experiences that took place during that large festival in the little town of Bethel. As Bethlehem was the birth place of Jesus, the O’Sullivans believed Bethel was he birth place of seventies rock.

            According to Terry, Rock ‘n’ Roll took a weird turn in the 1980’s. He said “It’s not that it was bad music. I liked the eighties. It was just a weird time for people.” Glamour Rock took the stage and dazzled all who listened, whether for the good, or the bad. The O’Sullivans enjoyed various bands, but none really stood out except for the ones they had been listening to in the previous decades. Although there were many bands that contributed to the eighties Rock ‘n’ Roll, the only thing that the O’Sullivans really got from this decade was each other.         

            I had the pleasure of asking these two wonderfully willing people how their relationship came to be. The response I got was no less than expected. They met in 1988, at a dance and their love for music brought them together. The following decade also made further advances in their family—Micah. He is the only child between them and soon became part of the next generation that was influenced by Rock ‘n’ Roll.

            Terry and Libbi have always encouraged their child to go out, have fun and let Rock ‘n’ Roll feed his spirit. I had the opportunity to go with Terry and Micah to Mayhem Festival in Florida, where we saw many modern Rock bands and experienced our own little small scale version of Woodstock. Terry and Libbi are eager to see what will become of Rock in the years to come. They look forward to enjoying new experiences with the current generation and are more than willing to help feed our desire for the music.

WORKS CITED

Puterbaugh, Parke. "The British Invasion: From the Beatles to the Stones, The Sixties Belonged

to Britain." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 14 July 1988. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

"rock Music." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed.. 2014, ERIC WEISBARD,

"Rock;Roll." Dictionary of American History. 2003, "Rock Music." Encyclopedia of Occultism;Parapsychology. 2001, "Rock ‘N’ Roll." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. 2008, "rock;roll." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009, and "rock 'n' Roll." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed.. 2014. "Rock Music." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

"Classic Motown." History -. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

"ABOUT ELVIS PRESLEY." Bio. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.