Rock'n'Roll In America


America has been built by many properties. One property, which happens to be my favorite, is rock'n'roll, thus my project "Rock'n'Roll In America." To show how rock'n'roll has played a major role in helping to create America, I have produced four items: an audio cassette, a video cassette, and two written stories.

My first piece, an audio cassette, is made up of rock'n'roll songs from the 1950s and 1960s. each song has its own specific meaning--I will include the meaning from most of the songs. From a few songs, I chose a specific lyric as opposed to the entire song. The first song is Rock'n'Roll Is Here To Stay and it means that no matter the changes to America, rock'n'roll will always stay the same. Runaway tells of a lost love and the grief that comes with young love. The lyric I chose from Tell Laura I Love Her is of a love that will never be. The lyric "Happy birthday, sweet sixteen," which is also the song title, is a mile stone in any teenager's life. The Night Has A Thousand Eyes means that even white lies will be caught. Sealed With A Kiss tells of a teenage love that is put on hold because of summer vacation. Rock Around The Clock is considered to be the forerunner of rock'n'roll and tells of a good time had by all at a party. School Day talks about a student who can not wait until the end of the school day to go down the street and have a good time listening to rock'n'roll. Summertime Blues tells of a teenager who can not do anything during the summer because of his age. Yakety Yak tells teenagers not to talk back to their elders. The All-American Boy talks about a boy who wants a guitar to be a rock'n'roll star, but Uncle Sam would rather enlist him and cut his hair. Shades Of Gray means that we are all Americans whether we are white or black, or other color, no matter the original nationality. Making Our Dreams Come True is the way immigrants see America, as the "Land of Opportunity." Everything Is Beautiful means that we should not take our freedom for granted because America has many advantages over other countries.

My second piece is a video tape consisting of eight episodes from various TV series. The first episdoe I title "Patriotic Talent." The episode is from Laverne & Shirley and was the fourth installment of talent show episodes. The theme used for the talent show itself was America. Laverne and Shirley are told by their boss that he wants the talent show to be about America and Americans. When confronted by the Americans aspect, Shirley asks "Well, what are all of us?" and receives various nationalities from all her friends. She points out that "We're also Americans" and that they should work like "an American team" to put together the talent show. The group comes up with a skit about the history of America, which includes the songs Yankee Doodle Dandy, America, The Beautiful, When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again, and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. The group finishes the skit by singing Rock'n'Roll Is Here To Stay.

The next episode is titled "Card-Carrying Red Shoes" in which the Monkees sabotage a Russian-like version of Swan Lake called Chicken Lake. At the beginning, the Monkees are hired to play music for the dancers to practice to. American and "Druvanian" instruments clash and the Monkees are unable to make the music sound good. The Monkees standard video is called She Hangs Out, in which the Monkees play and sing in a more pleasant manner than with the "Druvanian" instruments.

The first Happy Days episode is "American Musical" in which the entire cast performs songs to go along with three aspects--causes, hardships, and influences of immigration--that Chachi needs to write a term paper on.

The next Monkees episode is called "I've Got A Little Song Here," in which Mike brings a song he wrote to "High Class" publishing. The head of the company, Irving Class, tells Mike that the song will be used in a big movi, for a price of $100. Mike sells his guitar and pays Irving the $100, but the song, I'm Gonna Buy Me A Dog, is not going to be used in the movie, which is a horror film. The rest of the Monkees find out and go to the music publisher and get Mike's money back after causing some havoc to Irving's movie set.

The second Laverne & Shirley episode is called "Do The Carmine," in which Carmine starts a new dnace craze with his song and performs it on "American Dance Party." Unfortunately, his fame is quickly ended when a member of the "Unamerican Acts Committee" tells Carmine that, when the record is played backwards, Communist words are heard.

The third Happy Days episode is "Who Gives A Hootenanny," in which Joanie and Chachi get the chance to perform a song on TV. However, their song is rock'n'roll and the program only showcases folk music. To keep their spot on the show, Joanie and Chachi perform a folk-rendition of the Dell-Vikings Come, Go With Me.

The third Laverne & Shirley episode is called "That's Entertainment," in which the cast performs songs to prove the differences between the various types of music--rock'n'roll, big band, and opera.

The first story is "Rock'n'Roll In America," written in the view of the characters from Laverne & Shirley. The story is about a party that Laverne and Shirley throw. They invite everyone and had asked them to bring 45s and 33s of rock'n'roll music. At the party, the girls' neighbors, Lenny and Squiggy, get a band together to perform. They perform two songs--If Only I'd've Listenend To Mama and Rock'n'Roll Is Here To Stay--then the record player is used again. After the party, the girls, Lenny, and Carmine--Shirley's boyfriend--are cleaning up while talking about the party. One way or another, by record or live performance, the party guests heard most of the Top 40. Later on, the girls tell each other what their favorite songs were and why.

The second story is "We Were Hired," written in the view of the music group, The Monkees. The band gets a call that they got a gig, that night. They hurry to pick songs to perform. Micky, Davy, and Mike all have plenty to choose from while Peter only has a few because he did not sing often. The boys finally decide on a set of songs and leave to perform. They return later that night, their gig was for an audience of great rock'n'rollers of the 50s--Micky is in shock, Peter got his guitar signed by Elvis, Davy hung out with the Beatles, and Mike tuned the guitars.

In conclusion, all the included pieces--audio, video, and written--each have its own view of how rock'n'roll is a major part of America. Without rock'n'roll, music would not be as diverse as it is today.