Rock Music and The Diffusion of Imperialism in America

American Folk Music – as a part of folk culture. American Folk Music originated in Scotland and Ireland in the mid-eighteenth century. American Folk music’s hearth in the US is in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee. American folk music didn’t change during the 18th and early 19th century because of its locational isolation in the Appalachian mountains. American Folk music was introduced in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee by Scots-Irish frontiersmen. It diffused within its hearth area in America through its debut on the radio broadcast “Opry” causing it to then gain massive popularity throughout Nashville.  American Folk Music – as part of popular culture, after Folk music’s introduction to the greater public on the “Opry” radio show, it then spread throughout the South and encouraged many young artists to come to Nashville to pursue their musical careers in Folk music.

American Folk Music diffused from it origin place as it gained recognition in the south and encouraged the movement of many artists into Nashville in order to continue the tradition of folk music. This is an example of contagious diffusion as its popularity spread rapidly throughout the South, it’s also an example of stimulus diffusion as folk music took on new forms and mixed with other music styles but its underlying idea remained the same. American folk music transformed into country and western-style music as artists mixed its original form with cowboy songs and yodels.

Blues Music – as a part of folk culture:

1. Blues originated on the Mississippi Delta at the cusp of the 1800’s.

2. Blues as a part of folk culture holds its hearth in the American South.

3. The degree to which Blues spread was limited primarily as a result of the segregation of white and black churches as well as the shift in Northern white methodist churches that began to scorn the emotional expression in the church that was found in black churches.

4. Blues diffused within the region of its hearth due to the location of its origins on the mississippi delta and the spread of Blues through black churches and field workers as a form of both religious and cultural expression.

Blues Music – as part of popular culture:

1. Blues music’s hearth as a popular custom became Memphis after a man named W.C. Hardy took an interest in the unusual blue note that was used in many Blues songs and began recording the songs in written compositions.

2. Blues diffused from its origin place in Memphis through the production of records that spread to all ends of the country and through the movement of blacks to the north during the Great Migration. This type of diffusion is known as contagious diffusion since it spread from person-to-person as waves of black people moved North and brought with them Blues music.

3. Blues changed as it reached the East part of the country, where it was altered into what we now recognize as gospel music.

Rock Music:

The hearth areas of rock music are in the Appalachian Mountains, The Mississippi Delta, and Cleveland. The Appalachian Mountains are the hearth of American Folk music, The Mississippi Delta is where Rhythm and Blues music originated, and Cleveland is where Alan Freed first played Rhythm and Blues music on his white radio show and called it “Rock and Roll” in an attempt to get rid of its ties to the black community so that it would appeal to whites.

Migration Event: The Great Migration was a huge catalyst in the birth of Rock. The movement of people from the south brought with them too the movement of country and western through white southerners and rhythm and blues from the black southerners. Many Southerners moved from the south due to segregation and the lack of job opportunities and were drawn to the north for the fact that there wasn’t legalized segregation and the economic benefits that could be reaped from industrialization in the north. Segregation was a significant factor in the diffusion of music styles as rhythm and blues became popular mostly among blacks and western and country became popular among whites.

Expansion Diffusion: Of the three types of expansion diffusion, which are hierarchical, stimulus, and contagious, the spread of rock music can be attributed to all three of these different forms. Hierarchical in the way that white artists such as Elvis adopted Rock and Roll and spread it to a wider audience through his popularity and fame. Stimulus in the way that Rhythm and Blues music was at its roots a form of music popular in black communities but it took on the new name of Rock and Roll by Alan Freed to appease white audiences. Contagious in the way that it was spread rapidly from the United States to other countries across the world.

Stimulus Diffusions: Stimulus diffusion played an important role in the global popularity of Rock. Blues music was popularized and diffused within the South among blacks along the Mississippi Delta. It then gained even more significance after W.C. Hardy recorded the blue note and used the twelve-bar style to write down the blues songs. Eventually, white radio host Alan Freed noticed an interest among young white people in Rhythm and Blues music and capitalized on it, coining the term “Rock and Roll”, a form of music that maintained Rhythm and Blues’ underlying principles but took on a different name and was performed by white artists to better suit white communities.

Cultural Imperialism: Cultural imperialism is when a more dominant community or group encroaches upon a less dominant one with their cultural norms and behaviors. Ford states that Rock music is cultural imperialism and I agree with this. Rock music’s growing popularity in places like Tanzania or Ireland represents globalization but also threatens the extinction of the music that is characteristic to those places. Since the United States represents the more dominant country in both these instances, I agree with the statement that the global popularization of Rock music represents cultural imperialism. Cultural Appropriation: Cultural appropriation is the adoption of a minority group’s culture or certain aspects of it by a more dominant group. It could be argued that Rock is a form of this appropriation, since it is derivative of Rhythm and Blues music created by black artists that was renamed as Rock by white radio show host Alan Freed and then taken on by white artists as their own, with little to no recognition of the black artists who were the original creators.

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