The ending of World War 2 sparked more interests in what is the social norm. Abundant about of people coming back from the war wanted to start families. The baby boom increased the about of kids in America drastically. These kids of the baby boom started a new age class in America, the “teenager”. Prior to World War 2 most of the youth in America was ether working or Joining the military to fight the war in Europe.
There was never an actually teenager stereo type. Due to the baby boom after the war, there were more teenagers than ever before with little or nothing to do. Nothing was marketed to the teenager. During the war many toy companies directed there attention towards the war’s needs. The age of the teenager was new to American culture. There was generational gap for the social norm of boys and girls. Children were starting to become more independent.
Mothers of children stated to join the working class leaving older children to start developing their own social class. Conformity and the desire to reject change were very common in the sass. When the teenager came about many of them had their own style and seemed to be rebellious. After the war there were many new technologies that were available to the teenager. The invention of the television and mass transportation made the biggest impact. The ability to hear outside influences and the ability to travel gave the teenager a broader spectrum of life.
There was draw to blues and Jazz music of the African American people because of its upbeat style. However it wasn’t until Elvis Presley came out that the draw of rock music took off. A white singer that sounded like a black singer was solid gold. With Elvis Presley style of music it appealed to the growing social class of the teenager. With the age of segregation at its peak it came as no surprise that the older generation saw rock music as corrupting the youth.
Many people claimed that rock music was the sole reason there was a growing existences of Juvenile delinquency. It seemed the more people spoke out against rock music the more popular rock music became. The teenager social class was growing every day and had become bigger than ever seen in the United States. The movie “Rebel Without a Cause” had come out depicting how rebel looks and acts, and any teenagers mimicked how that character acted and dressed. This became the norm of how teenagers acted.
In conclusion the reason that rock and roll music was so appealing was its inherent draw to rebel against the older generation. The slow tempo music of old was not suiting for the teenager. The upbeat music and its African American roots was the perfect storm for teenagers to rebel. The amount of teenagers in America was higher than ever and with the core audience of rock and roll music being teenagers it’s no wonder that rock and roll music took off. Teenager Appeal of Rock Music in the 1950 By superman
