Nothing is the same again. I dedicate this work to my black ancestors who led a legacy of courage and persistence in desiring freedom and justice to all. We live in urgent times in American history. We predicted that this time would come. Back in 1964, Barry Goldwater was explicitly clear on his agenda to destroy the New Deal liberalism as we know it. Goldwater is the person who didn't agree with the 1964 Civil Rights Act for states' rights reasons. States' rights have always been used by extremists to deprive the human rights of black people and other groups of people. Many people didn't believe him. Ronald Reagan was overt in his hatred of not only Medicare back in the 1960's, but progressive governmental programs have helped the least of these for numerous generations (Reagan publicly didn't want the California Housing Rights Act to be passed during the 1960's too). Some didn't believe him. When the Tea Party had tons of racists and extremists lying about President Barack Obama (The Tea Party's criticisms about Obama were beyond the legitimate critiques of some of his neoliberal policies), some didn't believe those extremists. Now, with Trump and his allies destroying many of the blessings of a progressive society, some are finally starting to resist far-right extremism. Far-right extremism is wrong because its ideals are antithetical to the Golden Rule and the hallowed precept that all human beings are created equal and entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Clarence Thomas made it known that he wants contraception restricted heavily to be on the table.
Many of the moderates are so concerned with the status quo that they let their guards down when fascism runs wild in American society and in other countries too (fascist movements are in Brazil, the UK, Hungary, Belarus, Russia, and other places of the world currently). This is the fight of our generation. Right now, (not in the 1950's), anti-racism books are being banned, some in Texas want to call slavery "involuntary migration," (which is offensive and insensitive to the black human suffering of the Maafa), and the right to protest has been restricted. Voting rights have been attacked at every corner from cutting the days when we can vote to the restrictions of voting boxes. You have to resist evil constructively in order to advance goodness. That is common sense. We are dealing with authoritarian fascist Trump white nationalism here. Trump and his allies were complicit in the attempted insurrection on January 6, 2021, against the U.S. Capitol in attempting to destroy American democracy. The Supreme Court could end affirmative action and other election policies as we know them in 2023 when they decide on new cases. My concern is that Trump and his allies won't be charged after conclusive evidence shows that they not only planned to overthrow the government, but they promoted interference against election procedures (including in the state of Georgia) which are felonies. Trump obstructed the work of Congress, conspired to defraud America, destroyed government records, kept classified documents in boxes at his home in Florida, tried to deprive state residents of a fair election process, tried to obstruct an official procedure, etc. This is ten times worse than Watergate period. Yet, these fascists are still here causing mayhem in the world. Trump, Bannon, Eastman, Meadows, Flynn, Giuliani, Brooks, Perry, and others are total disgraces. There were warnings about this too. As early as May 1, 2017, Chancy de Vega wrote a column at Salon citing the view of Historian Timothy Synder that Trump will try to stage a coup and overthrow democracy. Many moderates appease white racist fascists too. The important point is to get organized in standing up for our rights.
The DOJ has opposed making public details in Mar-a-Lago search warrant's probable cause affidavit. The issue is that Trump is switching justifications for keeping the boxes. The truth is that the FBI executed a legal search warrant on Trump's home. The investigation is ongoing on whether Donald Trump violated the Espionage Act or not. Many media organizations want the affidavit unsealed. There is increased legal pressure on Trump. A magistrate judge unsealed the Mar-a-Lago search warrant and property receipt on Friday. Republican politicians (who unconditionally support Trump) want the Justice Department to explain their reasoning, but the reasoning is clear and without ambiguity. Trump refused to give up classified information in boxes. After attempts made to do so, the FBI had no choice but to use a search warrant to retrieve these boxes. Attorney General Merrick Garland supported the actions of the FBI. The same GOP hypocrites who lecture people on respecting the blue now hate legal search warrants against a person.
Victory is ours as we will never give up.
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The History of Rock and Pop Music Part 1: (The Genesis)
For the eons of time, music has existed. Music is one major soundtrack of our human lives from celebrating graduation to experiencing the joy of weddings. Today, we live in a new period of time filled with crisis and hope. An unjust war in Ukraine continues to exist, and we must have the same spirit of love of justice. In our time, music is massively available from streaming services, Netflix, STEM devices, and YouTube. This new series is about the history of rock and pop. Rock came from the jazz and blues being found in the Deep South. I thought about doing this project for over a year. Currently, I have the time to do it. Like the previous R&B Music series, I won't sugarcoat events or history. Facts will be shown in order to give the audience a clear understanding of how music evolved over the course of time. To fully be attuned to the essence of American music, anyone has to comprehend the multifaceted styles of jazz and blues (Artists like Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Louis Armstong, John Coltraine, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Nina Simone, Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck, Cannonball Adderley, and Lena Horne established a glorious legacy that modern musicians follow). Pop encompasses many genres of music, and it was modernized by the 1930's and the 1940's. This work will not demonize every form of music as irredeemably wicked, but it would not deify individual artists either. It will show the real facts as they are without compromise or political correctness. Musicians like Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, U2, REM, Beyonce, The Beatles, Muni Long, Rosetta Sharpe, Arrested Development, and other groups will be mentioned in this series. The concerts, the lyrics, the entourage, and the controversies signify much of the cultural landscape of rock and pop. Subsequently, music deals with history and the many political plus social changes in our world. It is no secret that some of the local police (including some in the NYPD), the FBI, and other agencies have harassed or monitored musicians who called for progressive political change on the Earth (as proven by John Potash and other scholars). Now, it is time to present the truth, stand on justice, and evaluate many genres conclusively.
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The Music of the Ancient World
Music is the total expression of human sound. Sound can be arranged in rhythm, volume, and pitch including tempos. Since the birth of the human race, music has been prominently expressed in our world. During the Paleolithic times, researchers have found flutes. The Divje Babe flute was carved from a cave bear femur. The scholars believe that the item is at least 40,000 years old (Yet, there is debate on whether the object is a musical instrument or an object formed by animals). Stringed instruments were common during ancient times like the Ravanahatha as found in the Indus Valley civilization. We know about the Indian classical music or marga found in the Vedas, which are the ancient scriptures of the Hindu religion. Prehistoric musical instruments were found in China dating back to between 7000 and 6600 B.C. The Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal was found in clay tablets. It has been dated to ca. 1400 B.C. being the oldest surviving notated work of music. Ancient Egypt had tons of music with harps, flutes, and double clarinets, especially during the Old Kingdom. The Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt had percussion instruments, lyres, and lutes. Cymbals were found in music and dance. Modern-day Egyptian folk music is related to ancient Egyptian music as it maintained many of its features, rhythms, and instruments. There is a picture of the musicians of Amun in the Tomb of Nakht during the 18th Dynasty as Western Thebes. Asian music has been found in India, China, and ancient Indonesian music has been found since the Bronze Age culture (by the 2nd to 3rd centuries B.C.). This music uses kendang and gongs. Chinese classical music has spanned over 3,000 years. It uses musical notation called musical tuning and pitch, and it has pentatnoic-ditaonic (or a scale of twelve notes to an octave) like European-influenced music. The Shang dynasty of China has writing and oracle scripts that may refer to music (1600-1046 B.C.).
In Africa, there were tons of music during ancient times. Back in the day, the Sahara was filled with forests and water. From ca. 8,000 to 3,000 B.C., the climate changed. There were dance performances in the Neolithic era from 6,000 to 4,000 B.C. in modern-day Algeria. In West Africa, there is the Malian kore harp-lute being one of the most sophisticated of Africa's stringed instruments. African music consists of drums, xylophones, and call and response expressions. In the ancient West African Nok civilization in Nigeria, there are images of a man shaking two objects together which could be marcas. There is another sculpture including a man with his mouth openpolyrhythmic (that looks like he is singing) with another man playing the drum. African music is polyrhythmic. To this day, jazz, blues, Afro-Caribbean music, salsa, samga, conga, and other forms of music has been influenced by African musical traditions.
In ancient Greece, there was musical education for children. Musicians and singers were found in Greek theater with mixed gender choruses for entertainment, celebration, and spiritual ceremonies. There was the lyre used, there was the double reed aulos, and the kithara instrument. Ancient Greek music has influenced the Roman Empire, Eastern Europe, and the Byzantine Empire. We know that the Minoan civilization had lyre players among men and women. Herodotus wrote about the Scythian Philosopher Anacharsis playing the tympanum in his celebration of the Eleusinian Mysteries in ca. 575 B.C. The Bible mentions music constantly. Medieval Europe had chants and liturgical music from the Roman Catholic Church. Notre Dame had composers like Leonin and Perotin. Indian classical music was monophonic. Renaissance era music had many composers like Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, and Antoine Busnois. The invention of printing spread musical styles more rapidly. By the 1600's, sheet music was popular. One of the most revolutionary movements in the era took place in Florence in the 1570s and 1580s, with the work of the Florentine Camerata, who ironically had a reactionary intent: dissatisfied with what they saw as contemporary musical depravities, their goal was to restore the music of the ancient Greeks. Chief among them were Vincenzo Galilei, the father of the astronomer, and Giulio Caccini. The fruits of their labors was a declamatory melodic singing style known as monody, and a corresponding staged dramatic form: a form known today as opera. The first operas, written around 1600, also define the end of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Baroque eras. Johann Sebastian Bach and Francois Couperin were part of the Baroque era. The Classical period had a homophonic texture and the usage of melody with accompaniment. With Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and others, music changed forever. The Romantic era came about by the 19th century too.
Music of Freedom (The 19th Century)
By the 19th century, Romantic music and other forms of music was popular worldwide. Romantic music is about what the term defines. It is about music filled with love, emotion, and being expressive about the natural thinking of the human mind. Some of the composers of that time period were Schumann, Chopin, Johann Strauss II, Liszt, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, and other human beings. Also, music is not monolithic. It is important to accurately describe diverse forms of music globally. By the 1800's, the slave trade (as a product of the Maafa) started to be banned in many places around the world. The UK banned the slave trade in 1833, and America banned slavery legally kidnappedby 1865. The Maafa was the worst form of inhumane, forced kidnapping of human life in human history. Black Africans were brought against their will to the Americas, Asia, and Europe. From 1501 to 1867, about 12.5 million Africans were forced into slavery according to the 2015 Atlas. There were Spirituals used by black Americans to express their heritage. It merged African cultural traditions inspirituals the fight against slavery. Some spirituals were work songs, sing songs, and coded songs to yearn for freedom. In his 1845 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass wrote that slave songs were used to have a testimony against slavery and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains. Some spirituals evolved into various forms of blues and black gospel music. After emancipation, spirituals were popularized by ensembles like the renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers. They were created in 1871 to bring their music to an international audience.
Hansonia Caldwell, the author of African American music, spirituals: the fundamental communal music of Black Americans and African American music: a chronology: 1619-1995, said that spirituals "sustained Africans when they were enslaved." She described them as "code songs" that "would announce meetings, as in "Steal Away," and describe the path for running away, as in "Follow the Drinkin' Gourd." "Go Down Moses" referred to Harriet Tubman – that was her nickname—so that when they heard that song, they knew she was coming to the area...I often call the spiritual an omnibus term, because there are lots of different [subcategories] under it. They used to sing songs as they worked in the fields. In the church, it evolved into the gospel song. In the fields, it became the blues." Hansonia Caldwell, who was a professor of music at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) from 1972 to 2011, also oversaw an Archive of Sacred Music at CSUDH, "an extensive collection of music, books, periodicals, documents, audio & visual materials, and oral histories." Many spirituals were oral. Authors James Weldon Johnson and Grace Nail Johnson wrote their 1925 book entitled, "The Books of the American Negro Spirituals" to describe spirituals as a creation of African Americans. James Weldon Johnson and Grace Bail Johnson were a married couple who were active during the Harlem Renaissance. James was the leader of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). Many spirituals have Biblical references. There is no doubt that African influences were present in spirituals. Spirituals have a complex origin according to author Walter Pitt. Spirituals were expressed by the Hampton Singers (from Hampton, Virginia being from Hampton University). Their conductor was Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) until 1933. Booker T. Washington created the acapella Tuskegee Quartet in 1884. Future freedom songs like Oh Freedom and Eyes on the Prize have influences from early African American spirituals according to some people (like from the spiritual "I'll Be all Right"). The blues and gospel music genres evolved from African American spirituals. As Kim Fields has mentioned:
"Gospel music to me has always been a balm for the soul. It has been able to usher in the spirit, usher in worship, true worship and praise, healing. I find the music to be very good at healing and the passion, you know, which is a testimony being told in song."
— Kim Fields
Jazz and Blues
Jazz is more than one of the greatest forms of music in human history. It's a purely American art form in its origin being created by African American communities down in Delta at New Orleans, Louisiana. Some time ago, the Essence festival took place in New Orleans, which is a city filled with wonderful, vibrant cultural expression. You can't understand music in general without having a basic understanding of jazz music. By the late 19th century, Jim Crow was real and vicious. Many black people were lynched, and society was in the midst of the Gilded Age. During this time of harsh events, music inspired people to carry on the fight for human justice. The music of jazz is filled with swing and blue notes. It has complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms, and improvisation. Also, researchers have found African and some European influences in the music too. The term jazz was written as early as 1912. The beauty of jazz is that the performers don't have to have a single interpretation of the music. It can be different forms of expression. Long ago, many slaves in New Orleans were in a mark called Congo Square, where African dances took place. By 1866, almost 400,000 slaves were sent to North America from mostly West Africa and the Congo. The call and response style and the rhythms with power came from Africa. Some black musicians used European instruments by the early 19th century. Researchers have found Afro-Cuban musical influence on jazz when the genre of habanera spread globally.
Black people playing the piano soon developed the genre of ragtime. Ragtime was expressed in bars, clubs, and other places. Composers like Tom Turpin and William Krell were popular in America. In New Orleans, early jazz musicians played in bars including the red-light district around Storyville, New Orleans. Jazz regularly uses brass, drums, and various scales. Many bands utilized jazz elements. By 1914, Black Americans and Creole musicians played jazz in vaudeville shows. This music spread in the North and the West Coast of America. The Creole Band with cornetist Freddie Keppard had the first jazz concert outside America at the Pantages Playhouse Theater in Winnipeg, Canada. This was in 1914 when jazz was international. Integrated black and white band members were done by a white bandleader named Papa Jack Laine in New Orleans. This was very much ahead of its time because of the obvious reason. He employed players like George Burines and Sharkey Boanono. Storyville was the origin of many jazz legends like Louis Armstrong, Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Lorenzo Tio, and Alcide Nunez. Jazz used the saxophone too. There was the New York jazz style from James Reese Europe's symphonic Clef Club orchestra, Baltimore rag style of Eube Blake, and it spread into Ohio. The banjo and saxophone were encouraged in jazz productions.
The Jazz Age was from the 1920's to the 1930's when it was spreading to another level. This was the time when alcohol was banned in America, which was Prohibition. It was a decade filled with music, dancing, unique fashion, more traveling by cars, economic expansion, and the massive rise of extravagance. Dance songs, jazz, and show tunes were shown in many locations. Like many forms of music, some in the older generation called jazz immoral because it has been linked to the culture of the Roaring 20s (which was the prelude to the Sexual Revolution of the 1960's. Nothing is new under the sun). In 1919, Kid Ory's Original Jazz Band of Musicians played in San Francisco and Los Angeles. By 1922, they were the first black jazz band in New Orleans to make recordings. In 1922, Bessie Smith made her first recordings too. Chicago had King Oliver and Bill Johnson. Bix Beiderbecke formed the Wolverines in 1924. There were orchestras formed by Fed Waring, Jean Goldkette, and Nathaniel Shillkret. Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Fletcher Henderson, Earl Hines, Claude Hopkins, and Don Redman were black legendary jazz artists. Louis Armstrong did a great deal to popularize jazz in world culture. He toured the world. He made his own music, and he was very talented with solo improvisations. Armstrong also popularized scat singing which is still used today in all sorts of music. Armstrong worked in many bands like his Hot Five Band and the Fletcher Henderson dance band as early as 1924 (for a year). European jazz was found in the United Kingdom, France, and many other places. The French jazz band of the Quintette du Hot Club de France started in 1934. It included a merging of African American jazz and other French music.
After WWII, swing jazz was dying out because of the lack of experienced musicians, limitations of recording, etc. This caused a new generation of artists filled with experiments, harmonic substitutions, and further developments. This new generation of bebop jazz was filled with people like Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Max Roach, Kenny Clarke, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie. This jazz was a faster tempo, complex patterns, and a wider set of notes. Many vocalists of a large band could into pop music like Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Dick Haymes, and Doris Day. Some still used pre-war jazz like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. Bebop was listened to heavily. Around the 1940's, Afro-Cuban jazz was further popularized by artists like Mario Bauza, Chano Pozo, and other human beings. African jazz was done by Mongo Santamaria, who was a Cuban percussionist. As jazz evolved, we saw hard bop, modal jazz, and free jazz. Free jazz was done by Sun Ra, Bill Dixon, Steve Lacy, and other people. John Coltrane embraced free jazz too. John Coltraine wanted to go against the grain. So, his playing was more abstract and he used multiphonics, altissimo register, and other styles. John Coltraine in June of 1965 worked with 10 musicians to finish recording the work of Ascension, a 40-minute-long piece without breaks. Free jazz would spread into Europe to like artists like Ayler Taylor, Steve Lacy, Peter Brotzmann, etc. Jazz would spread in Latin America, Afro-Brazilian culture with the bossa nova style, and Africa. Jazz merged with rock with artists like Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and Miles Davis. Miles Davis would have rock elements in his albums like In a Silent Way. Jazz-funk and traditional jazz would come in the 1980's with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. Wynton Marsalis is the artist that Generation X and older Millennials identify as the start of the modern age of jazz.
Wynnton Marsalis used elements of free jazz and traditional music. By the 1980's, jazz legends were abundant with Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans Miles Davis, Betty Carty, Art Blakey, etc. Smooth jazz was highly popular in the 1980's and beyond. The music of Anita Baker, Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan, Sade, and others had smooth jazz elements. We know about the jazz saxophonists like Grover Washington Jr., Kenny G, Kirk Whalum, Boney James, and David Sanborn making smooth jazz international in scope. As time went on, new forms of jazz existed like nu Jazz, Acid jazz, and Jazz rap. Hip hop artists sample jazz beats constantly like Rakim and Gang Starr. The Tribe Called Quest album of The Low-End Theory (1991) is filled with jazz sonic influences. M-Base of the 1990's, Harry Connick Jr., and 21st-century jazz have been going strong. The Epic is a jazz album released by saxophonist Kamasi Washington.
The blues have similarities and many differences from jazz music. The blues was created in the Deep South in the 1860's. It's a cousin to the spirituals and work songs. It has been filled with ballads, shouts, chants, and other forms of expression. That is why the blues and jazz are the origins of rock and roll, R&B, and even some aspects of hip hop music. The call and response style, the blues scale, and the bass deal heavily with the blues. The blues is not just about showing music about human pain or living through turmoil. It can be about joy, self-awareness, and courage too. The term blues has been used since the 1600's and 1700's. Back then, the blues have been referred to as drinking alcohol or a depressed mood. The free-born black woman Charlotte Forten wrote the phrase of "the blues" on December 14, 1862, in her diary (when she was 25 years old). She was a schoolteacher in South Carolina educating both slaves and freed people. Many songs like Poor Rosy overcame her depression. The early blues lyrics were usually made of a single line repeated 4 times. The mother of the blues was Ma Rainey (1886-1939). She was a subject of a movie about her life. The blues of the early 20th century had an AAB pattern of a line sung over the four first bars, its repetition over the next four, and a longer concluding line over the last bars. Early blues songs were Dallas Blues in 1912 and Saint Louis Blues in 1914. W.C. Handy wrote his own style. African American blues singers talked about their personal realities of fighting racism, sadness, and pain. The Igbo had melancholic music too. The Blind Lemon Jefferson's Risin High Water Blues in 1927 described the deadly Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. Also, there were lyrics in blues that were different if you know what I mean. Decades before Lil Kim, Millie Jackson, and other singers, the blues had humorous, profanity-filled, and sexually explicit lyrics. There were songs from Tampa Red with controversial themes like gambling, magic, etc. People called these songs "dirty blues." Artists like Lil Johnson, Harry Roy, Dinah Washington, Bessie Smith, and Lucille Bogan (including Bo Carter, The Midnighters), etc. were very overt in showing sexual lyrics. Writer Ed Morales claimed that Yoruba mythology influenced early blues. He cited Robert Johnson's Cross Road Blues being a covert reference to Eleggua, the orisha in charge of the crossroads. There were many religious people involved in the blues too like Charley Patton, Skip James, Bland Willie Johnson, and Reverend Gary Davis (who were Christians).
"There's a category for me. I like to be referred to a singer of good songs in good taste."
-Sarah Vaughan
The cyclic musical form in blues with a repeating progression of chords is similar to the call and response theme found in African and African American music. I Got the Blues was the first blues sheet of the blues. It was published by New Orleans musician Antonio Maggio in 1908. The blues were spread by Hart Wand and W.C. Handy. The first recording by an African American singer was Mamie Smith's 1920 rendition of Perry Bradford's Crazy Blues. The blues existed in the 1890's. The blues spread into the Deep South and Texas. There were blues in Clarksdale, Mississippi. As juke joints grew, the blues were more common. The banjo and the words from the griots definitely influenced blues music. When the guitar was used in forms of expression, the sounds of blues flourished. In Memphis, there was the Memphis Jug Band. Frank Stokes and Memphis Minnie used many instruments. Also, Bessie Smith was the Queen of the Blues during the 1920's. She has shown urban blues or music about city life. There were Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Lucille Goban. Mamie Smith performed across the country too. Ma Rainey was the Mother of Blues. As time went onward, we saw electric blues shown in Chicago, Memphis, and St. Louis. People know about John Lee Hooker using the guitar. Muddy Waters shown out in his music. Many people spread the music from Mississippi to Chicago like Willie Dixon, Jimmy Reed, and Howlin' Wolf.
The saxophone and the harmonica were commonly used in the blues as time went onward. Willie Dixon was a legend in the Chicago blues scene. By the 1940's and the 1950's, the blues gave birth to rock and roll and R&B music. The Chicago blues influenced Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. B.B. King has been a legend of blues long before the 1960's. Artists like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles always give credit to African American music in their performances and albums. With the civil rights movement, the Free Speech Movement, and the anti-war movement, festivals like the Newport Folk Festival brought blues to many audiences. Stevie Ray Vaughan of Texas is a blues legend too. Rock groups used blues elements like Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, the Doors, The Allman Brothers Band, and Jimi Hendrix (who was a blues-rock performer too). From the 1980's to our time, blues artists of every color have shown their talent like ZZ. Hill, Bobby Rush, Denise LaSalle, Peggy Scott-Adams, and other human beings. The blues do deal with emotion, content, and expression like Duke Ellington used big band, bebop, and blues elements in his piano work. Even country music has been merging with the blues for decades. The blues is a universal artform that remains one premiere genre of America including the world.
Swing
Swing music is a type of jazz. It came about during the late 1920s and the early 1930's. It uses an off-beat sound. Some have soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. Also, many big bands were part of swing music too. Some of the famous people who used swing were Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Harry James, Lionel Hampton, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, and Django Reinhardt. Dance music existed back then. There were pioneers of this sound like Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, etc. Swing declined by the end of World War II. The Earl Hines Orchestra and the Duke Ellington Orchestra showed tons of swing music. Swing was very short-lived. By the end of this era, vocalists were the leaders of large bands with vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald, Vaughn Monroe, and Frank Sinatra. Swing would exist later with Bobby Darin, Judy Garland, and Nat King Cole. The Big band musical genre made a huge comeback during the 1990's and 2000s with Royal Crown Revue, and other artists.
Early Rock and Pop
By the 1950's, modern pop, rock, R&B, jazz, doo- wop, swing, country, and other genres of music were international and powerful. The 1950's saw the prelude to other musical movements spreading across the world. By the mid to late 1950's, rock and roll dominated popular music. It was music created by black people mixing rhythm and blues, the spirituals, and gospel music. Rock and roll had a blues origin too. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience and is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the music. Back in the day, rock and roll was a slang word meaning sex. The electric guitar was popularized by Chuck Berry, Link Wray, and Scotty Moore. Chuck Berry and Little Richard were pioneers of Rock and Roll music. Berry had showmanship that would be years ahead of its time. Prince, Michael Jackson, Elvis, Chris Brown, and others got their stage performance skills in large part from Chuck Berry. Les Paul did guitar music too. Little Richard admitted that Chuck Berry was one of the best of rock and roll:
"...One or two times I played the piano on some of his songs. He's a rocker, he could really rock for real. He ain't just jiving around. He really puts it down and he picks it up and throws it out to the audience. He was the greatest rock n' roll musician though he could play more than that, he could play all types of music. I learned those rock n' roll riffs he had...Really, Chuck was the star of the show. But we'd be onstage together and we sang together. I'd tell him I'm the creator of rock n' roll, he'd say "I am," but I have to admit, he's older than me, he came before me. The truth is the truth. Chuck Berry, his songs are rock n' roll standards, and mine are classics also. "Roll Over Beethoven," "School Days," and here I come with "Good Golly Miss Molly" and "Long Tall Sally." Chuck had more hits than I had. But we both contributed. It's been a blessing and a lesson, and I thank God for letting me live at this time so I could be a part of it...."
The mother of Rock and Roll would be the expert guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who performed gospel too. Bill Haley and His Comets, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Big Joe Burner, and Gene Vincent showed early rock sounds. Elvis Presley was a very popular rock and roll artist. He was born in the South in Tennessee. He learned rock and soul music from black people (like B.B. King), and he developed his style. The modern-day Rock and Roll Era grew after the film The Blackboard Jungle. The film's use of Bill Haley and His Comets' "(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock" during the opening credits caused a national sensation when teenagers started dancing in the aisles. The conservative artist Pat Boone is known for his hits like Two Hearts, Two Kisses, etc. Many people complained about Boone (he would later be a well-known far-right activist) covering black R&B hits for mainstream pop acceptance. Little Richard, Glenn Miller, Chuck Berry, and Frank Sinatra had a huge following. Elvis was a pop sensation among teenagers especially. Back in the day, America was a much more conservative nation. So, even Elvis dancing with his legs moving was considered back then as too vulgar. Dick Clark hosted American Bandstand to host pop and rock artists, starting in 1957. Many of the artists like teens loved by the late 1950's were Bobby Darin, Ricky Nelson, Frankie Avalon, Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka, Bobby Rydell, Connie Francis, and Fabian Forte. Ritchie Valens (who was a Hispanic American), The Big Bopper, and Buddy Holly passed away early in their lives. R&B-influenced acts like The Crows, The Penguins, The El Dorados and The Turbans all scored major hits, and groups like The Platters, with songs including "The Great Pretender" (1955), and The Coasters with humorous songs like "Yakety Yak" (1958), ranked among the most successful rock and roll acts of the time period.
Prominent Artists
Crooners like Dorothy Kirsten and Bing Crosby continued to make music. Stax Records would develop in 1957 showing a new era of Southern soul and Memphis soul styles. By 1959, Sam Cooke's Sar label would exist, and Berry Gordy's Motown Records would exist. Sam Cooke was one of the best vocalists in history with songs about love/romance and politics. Motown, even in 1959, had huge popularity and power that inspired future black artists. Motown is beloved by people of every color as well. There is no music of today without the influence of Motown Records. Otis Redding had his start in the 1950's too. Big Mama Thornton had the like of Hound Dog too. Country music by the 1950's was in abundance, and black artists were in Country music too from its earliest days. Ray Charles, Nina Simone, and Dinah Washington during the 1950's expressed jazz music in a widespread fashion. Harry Belafonte popularizing the Calypso music of the Caribbean is represented in the song Banana Boat Song from his 1956 album of Calypso. The Weavers, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, The Kingston Trio, Odetta, and several other performers were instrumental in launching the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. In Europe, Africa, Oceania, Asia, and other places of the world, music was never bland. It was filled with life and vibrant influences.
Conclusion
In the world, music represents a large part of our culture. A lot of people underestimate the benefits of music. Music can calm people down, it can grow intellectual creativity, and it can build up one's soul. The foundation of music today in 2022 has always been old-school music. Back in the day in the United States of America, blues and jazz were prominently expressed by a wide spectrum of human beings. These genres have roots in the polyrhythmic sounds from Africa. Also, many early American music came from influences from the Americas, Europe, and Asia. With the spirituals in America from groups like the Jubilee Singers, they set up the foundation of modern-day gospel music. The spirituals also influenced the development of jazz and blues. From the blues, we see R&B music and rock and roll. Jazz is American music from the Delta at New Orleans with legends like Louis Armstrong, John Coltraine, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker (or "Bird"), Sarah Vaughan, and other artists who took musical expression seriously. Popular artists like Nat King Cole, Bring Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Doris Day, Connie Francis, and other icons shaped modern-day music in multifaceted ways. From the 19th century to 1960, the old school was abundant and diverse. With country music, a lot of folks don't know that black folks were in country music since its invention. The soul singers of Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke took the country by storm. By 1960, the development of Motown was in its infancy, but its legacy has a worldwide quality and nature. The diverse genres of music gave voice to the oppression, inspiration to unsung human beings, and further strength towards human beings seeking purpose. Soon, the 1960's would have a musical revolution that would still impact the world today in late 2022. The 1960's had some of the greatest music in all of human history, and that is not hyperbole. That is just a plain fact. In the near future in about early 2023, the pop and rock music of the 1960's will be shown here. By the 1960's, music became more revolutionary reflecting the cultural revolution of that decade. Electric music merged with pop songs to create an entirely new facet of expression. Funk and soul music gained popularity too. By the end of the day, with music festivals, psychedelic sounds, and music about political issues, the music of the 1960's can never be forgotten in our consciousness.
Watergate: 50 Years Later
It has been more than fifty years since Watergate started. It was one of the largest political scandals in American history with parallels to the scandal of Trump and his allies trying to destroy democracy with their efforts to steal the 2020 election. Watergate was more than a far-right burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. (in the Watergate Office Building) on June 17, 1972. The events of Watergate-related to the actions of CREEP (or the Committee for the Re-Election of the President) were real too. We know now that the actions of the burglars caused the U.S. House of Representatives to give the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary to form additional investigations. The Senate made the U.S. Senate Watergate Committee make more investigations. President Richard Nixon, according to witnesses, approved of plans to cover up the administration's involvement in the break-in, and there was a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office. Nixon wanted to keep the Oval Office tapes, and an impeachment process against Nixon from the House started in 1973.
The Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to release the tape to government investigators. The Nixon White House tapes proved that he conspired to cover up activities after the break-in and tried to use federal offices to deflect their investigation. The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against Nixon for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. With his complicity in the cover-up made public and his political support completely eroded, Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974. It is believed that, if he had not done so, he would have been impeached by the House and removed from office by a trial in the Senate. He is the only U.S. president to have resigned from office. The Nixon administration bugged offices of political opponents, monitored activist groups, and used agencies to be used as political weapons. On September 8, 1974, Nixon's successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned him. There were 69 people indicted and 48 people—many of them top Nixon administration officials—convicted. The Watergate situation documented the corruption of evil people and how you have to use safeguards in protecting our democracy. At this time, it is more important than ever to fight for our democracy and learn lessons from Watergate indeed.
The Prelude and the Start
Watergate existed in stages. As early as July 1, 1971, David Young and Egil "Bud" Krough wrote a memo suggesting the creation of what would later be the "White House Plumbers" in response to the leak of the Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsberg. The Pentagon Papers exposed the desperation of American political elites in using exaggerations and deception in advancing the Vietnam War. By August 21, 1971, Nixon's Enemies List was started by White House aides (Nixon may not have been aware of it) to use the federal government to target progressive activists. On September 3, 1971, "White House Plumbers" E. Howard Hunt, G. Gordon Liddy, and others break into the offices of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist Lewis Fielding looking for material that might discredit Ellsberg, under the direction of John Ehrlichman or his staff within the White House. This was the Plumbers' first major operation.
By early 1972, the Plumbers, at this stage assigned to the Committee to Re-Elect the President (abbreviated CRP, but often mocked by the acronym CREEP), had become frustrated at the lack of additional assignments they were being asked to perform, and that any plans and proposals they suggested were being rejected by CRP. Liddy and Hunt took their complaints to the White House – most likely to Charles Colson – and requested that the White House start putting pressure on CRP to assign them new operations. It is likely that both Colson and White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman did so, starting the train of events that led to the Watergate break-ins a few months later. This narrative was confirmed in the famous "Cancer on the Presidency" conversation between Nixon and White House Counsel John Dean on March 21, 1973. By May 2, 1972, J. Edgar Hoover died, and L. Patrick Gray was appointed acting FBI director. On May 28, 1972, Liddy's team broke into the DNC Headquarters at the Watergate complex for the first time. They bugged the telephones of staffers.
Denials and Investigations
On June 17, 1972, five men (i.e. The Plumbers) were arrested in a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate hotel and office complex in Washington, D.C. They were arrested at 2:30 am. when they were trying to burglarize and plan surveillance bugs in the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate Building Complex. By June 19, 1972, despite efforts by Steve King, Martha Mitchell acquired a copy of the Los Angels Times. She recognized the name of one of the Watergate burglars being James W. McCord Jr., security director of the CRP. Events evolve quickly. By June 20, 1972, President Richard Nixon and his aide H.R. Haldeman discussed Watergate. Later, prosecutors find an 18-minute gap in the tape of that conversation. On June 20, 1972, : Reportedly based on a tip from Deep Throat (associate director of the FBI Mark Felt), Bob Woodward reports in The Washington Post that one of the burglars had E. Howard Hunt in his address book and possessed checks signed by Hunt, and that Hunt was connected to Charles Colson. On the same day, Nixon and Haldeman have a conversation that is recorded by the White House taping system. Eighteen and a half minutes of this conversation will later be erased. On June 23, 1972, in the Oval Office, H.R. Haldeman recommends to President Nixon that they attempt to shut down the FBI investigation of the Watergate break-in, by having CIA Director Richard Helms and Deputy Director Vernon A. Walters tell acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray to, "Stay the h___ out of this". Haldeman expects Gray will then seek and take advice from Deputy FBI Director Mark Felt and Felt will obey directions from the White House out of ambition. Nixon agrees and gives the order. The conversation is recorded.
By September 15, 1972, seven men, including two former White House aides, were indicted by a federal grand jury in the Watergate break-in. These people include Hunt and Liddy. On November 7, 1972, Nixon was re-elected. He defeated George McGovern (who was a progressive decade ahead of his time) with the largest plurality of votes in American history.
From January 11-20, 1973, five of the men plead guilty to conspiracy, burglary, and wiretapping. Two men stand trial and are convicted. Liddy and James W. McCord Jr. were convicted after the trial. January 20, 1973, was when President Richard Nixon was inaugurated for his second term. On February 28, 1973, a confirmation hearing started for confirming L. Patrick Gray to be the permanent Director of the FBI. During the hearings, Gray revealed that he complied with an order from John Dean to provide daily updates on the Watergate investigation. He also said that Dean had "probably lied" to FBI investigators. On March 17, 1973, Watergate burglar McCord writes a letter to Judge John Sirica, claiming that some of his testimony was perjured under pressure and that the burglary was not a CIA operation, but had involved other government officials, thereby leading the investigation to the White House. John Dean told Nixon that there is a "cancer" on the Presidency on March 21, 1973. The McCord letter is made public by Judge Sirica in open court at McCord's sentencing hearing on March 23, 1973. White House counsel John Dean started to cooperate with federal Watergate prosecutors on April 6, 1973. By April 27, 1973, L. Patrick Gray resigned after it comes to light that he destroyed files from E. Howard Hunt's safe. William Ruckelshaus was appointed as his replacement. By April 30, 1973, Haldeman, Kleindienst, and Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman resigned. White House aide John Dean was fired in the same day too.
Choas and the Supreme Court
A new era of the Watergate scandal existed when the Senate Watergate Committee started its nationally televised hearings on May 17, 1973. Independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox was appointed to oversee the investigation into possible presidential impropriety. That was on May 19, 1973. John Dean told Watergate investigators that he has discussed the cover-up with Nixon at least 35 times on June 3, 1973. July 13, 1973, was when Alexander Butterfield, former presidential appointments secretary, revealed that all conversations and telephone calls in Nixon's office have been taped since 1971. Nixon later ordered White House taping systems disconnected on July 18, 1973. President Richard Nixon refused to turn over presidential tapes to the Senate Watergate Committee or the special prosecutor (citing executive privilege). So, the case to receive the tapes from Nixon would go all the way to the Supreme Court on July 23, 1973. By October 10, 1973, Spiro Agnew resigned as Vice President of the United States due to corruption while he was the governor of Maryland. Agnew blamed black civil rights leaders for the rebellions of 1968, but he hypocritically was involved in financial corruption. Gerald Ford is nominated as Vice President under the 25th Amendment on October 12, 1973.
On October 20, 1973, Cox refused to compromise on the tapes, and Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused and resigned in protest. Acting Attorney General Robert Bork fired Cox, and this was known as the Saturday Night Massacre. November 1, 1973, was when Leon Jaworski was appointed the new special prosecutor. President Richard Nixon gave his famous "I am not a crook" speech at a televised press conference at Disney World (in Florida on November 17, 1973). The Senate voted 92 to 3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President on November 27, 1973, and the House voted 387 to 35 to confirm Ford as Vice President. Gerald Ford takes the oath of office an hour after the vote on December 6, 1973. January 28, 1974, was when Nixon campaign aide Herbert Porter pleads guilty to perjury. Nixon personal counsel Herbert Kalmbach pleads guilty to two charges of illegal campaign activities on February 25, 1974. On March 1, 1974, in an indictment against seven former presidential aides, delivered to Judge Sirica together with a sealed briefcase intended for the House Committee on the Judiciary, Nixon is named as an unindicted co-conspirator. The "Watergate Seven" (Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Colson, Gordon C. Strachan, Robert Mardian, and Kenneth Parkinson) were formally indicted on March 4, 1974. Judge Sirica ordered the grand jury's sealed report to be sent to the House Committee on the Judiciary on March 18, 1974. On April 5, 1974, Dwight Chapin was convicted of lying to a grand jury. Ed Reinecke, Republican lieutenant governor of California, was indicted on three charges of perjury before the Senate committee. Special Prosecutor Jaworski issued a subpoena for 64 White House tapes on April 16, 1974. The White House released the edited transcripts of the Nixon tapes, but the House Judiciary Committee wants the actual tapes to be turned over on April 30, 1974. The impeachment hearings start before the House Judiciary Committee on May 9, 1974. Woodward and Bernstein's book called All the President's Men was published by Simon & Schuster on June 15, 1974 (ISBN 0-671-21781-X). July 8, 1974 was when the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in United States v. Nixon.
On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court ruled that Richard Nixon must hand over the tapes. The tapes exposed everything. From July 27-30, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee approves three articles of impeachment: obstruction of justice, misuse of powers and violation of his oath of office, and failure to comply with House subpoenas.
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Nixon and others were Guilty
On August 5, 1974, the smoking gun tape is released to the public. In the recording of a June 23, 1972, conversation, Nixon is heard approving a proposal from his chief of staff to press the FBI to drop its investigation of the Watergate break-in six days earlier. Republicans who had intended to support Nixon in an impeachment trial abandon him. So, Nixon and Haldeman made a plan to block investigations. Even Republican Senator Barry Goldwater doesn't support Nixon anymore. On August 8, 1974, Richard Nixon gave his resignation speech in front of a nationally televised audience. By August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned. On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford pardons Nixon. President Gerald Ford testified before Congress on the pardon. He was the first sitting President to testify before Congress since President Abraham Lincoln. November 7, 1974, was when the 94th Congress was elected. The Democratic party gained up 5 Senate seas and 49 House seats. Many of the freshman congresspeople were very young, and the media called them "Watergate Babies." On December 31, 1974, the Privacy Act of 1974 was passed into law as a result of Nixon administration's abuses of privacy. On January 1, 1975, John N. Mitchell, John Ehrlichman, and H. R. Haldeman were convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. The investigation of foreign and domestic intelligence gathering activities (filled with corruption) was done by the Church Committee, headed by Frank Church on July 27, 1975. On November 4, 1975, President Ford replaced many Nixon cabinet members in the "Halloween Massacre." It was engineered by Ford aide Donald Rumsfeld. Richard Cheney, George H. W. Bush, and Brent Scowcroft joined the Ford administration. Rumsfeld was the Secretary of Defense, and Henry Kissinger remains as Secretary of State, not the National Security Advisor. The Church Committee was superseded by the Senate Committee on Intelligence on May 5, 1976. Nixon gave his first major TV interview about Watergate with TV journalist Davis Frost on May 4, 1977. He published his memoirs about the Watergate saga on May 15, 1978. On October 25, 1978, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was enacted. This caused the creation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court which limited federal government domestic surveillance powers, and it has been recommended by the Church Committee.
The Aftermath and Lessons Learned
There are tons of lessons learned from Watergate. Richard Nixon was born in poverty. He struggled a lot in California during his early life. He was a WWII veteran being part of the Navy. He had a choice to either be a progressive hero or an establishment figure who worked with extremists in trying to ruin progressive institutions. Unfortunately, Nixon chooses the latter. His angry jealousy of John F. Kennedy was apparent. His narcissism was clear. His overt bigotry, racism, and anti-Semitism were on full display on those tapes from the 1970's. Him going to the Bohemian Grove decades ago which was a hotbed of Republican establishment figures doing rituals, etc. showed that Richard Nixon was supported by the elites. Richard Nixon wasn't acting like the new Nixon during the late 1960's. He had the same old mentality of "us against them," anti-Communist paranoia, and a sense of disdain for progressive activism. When he was President, he illegally monitored people, bombed Cambodia (which was illegal), and planned a cover-up over the Watergate burglary. For years, the Nixon administration violated the human civil liberty rights of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. His actions merit no justification, and he was about to be convicted. Yet, Gerald Ford pardoned him. The lessons learned about Watergate are that the federal executive doesn't have omnipotent political power, checks and balances are necessary for the government to prevent dictatorship, no one is above the law, and accountability matters. By the 1970's, new laws existed to address Watergate and the overreach by the CIA and the FBI. Yet, Trump and his team still tried their failed coup d'état on January 6, 2021. The Trump conspiracy existed long before 2021 too, and Trump never learned the Watergate lessons indeed. With our lives, we have to make it right to protect our democracy more than ever.
By Timothy
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