Blues: An Introduction
At the start there was Blues – see below for further clarification.
Artists to take advantage of the Blues scene (gaining both themselves and it popularity) were The Rolling Stones; The Yardbirds etc etc
Most of these bands were categorised as Rock n Roll, an extension of the form of music Elvis Presley had popularised. Two powerhouses of the Rock n Roll movement were Clapton and John Lennon.
Rock n Roll was more of an attitude, rather than being about the music as Blues strictly was. To refer to Elvis again, his ‘moves’ added to the craze. Even his hip movements were considered ‘horrific’ and vulgar by public masses then.
Rock’n’roll also profited from the popularity of horror movies in the 1950s. Whatever the deeper intentions of the films however, these rock’n’roll records were by and large made by producers and session musicians under punning pseudonyms to capitalise both on the popularity of rock’n’roll and horror movies among the young. These were picked up in the late 1970s by bands like the Cramps.
