This solid body electric guitar was made by the Gibson company in collaboration with the musician Les Paul. It was designed to compete with the Fender electric guitar and has been a very popular instrument ever since its beginnings in the mid-1950s.

Musical Elements.

The central musical instrument in most kinds of rock music is the electric guitar. Important figures in the history of this instrument include jazz musician Charlie Christian, who in the late 1930s was one of the first to perform the amplified guitar as a solo instrument; Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker, the first blues musician to record with an amplified guitar (1942); Leo Fender, who in 1948 introduced the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar; and Les Paul, who popularized the instrument in the early 1950s with a series of technologically innovative recordings. Rock-and-roll guitarist Chuck Berry established a style of playing in the late 1950s that remains a great influence on rock music. Beginning in the late 1960s a new generation of rock guitarists, including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Carlos Santana, experimented with amplification, feedback (a type of electronic sound distortion), and various electronic devices, extending the musical potential of the instrument.
Other instruments commonly used in rock music include the electric bass guitar (introduced by Fender in 1951); keyboard instruments such as the electric piano, organ, and synthesizer; and the drum set, an African American innovation that came into rock music from jazz and R&B music. Instruments that play important roles in certain rock-music genres include the saxophone-prominent in jazz-rock and soul music-and a wide assortment of traditional instruments used in worldbeat music. The microphone also functions as a musical instrument for many rock singers, who rely upon the amplification and various effects (such as echo) obtainable through electronic means.

Historical development.

The first type of rock music, rock and roll, originated in the United States in the 1950s, and was largely derived from music of the American South. In the United States, the affluence that followed the end of World War II in 1945 and the emergence of a youth culture-based in part upon the rejection of older styles of popular culture-helped rock and roll to displace the New York City-based Tin Pan Alley songwriting tradition that had dominated the mainstream of American popular taste since the late 19th century (see Popular Music: Early 20th Century). Rock and roll was a combination of the R&B style known as jump blues, the gospel-influenced vocal-group style known as doo wop, the piano-blues style known as boogie woogie (or barrelhouse), and the country-music style known as honky tonk.
During the 1950s the term rock and roll was actually a synonym for black R&B music. Rock and roll was first released by small, independent record companies and promoted by radio disc jockeys (DJs) like Alan Freed, who coined the term rock 'n' roll to help attract white audiences unfamiliar with black R&B. Indeed, the appeal of rock and roll to white middle-class teenagers was immediate and caught the major record companies by surprise. As these companies moved to capitalize on the popularity of the style, the market was fueled by cover versions (performances of previously recorded songs) of R&B songs that were edited for suggestive lyrics and expressions and performed in the singing style known as crooning, by white vocalists such as Pat Boone. The most successful rock-and-roll artists wrote and performed songs about love, sexuality, identity crises, personal freedom, and other issues that were of particular interest to teenagers.
Popular rock-and-roll artists and groups emerged from diverse backgrounds. The group Bill Haley and the Comets, which had the first big rock-and-roll hit with the song "Rock Around the Clock" (1955), was a country-music band from Pennsylvania that adopted aspects of the R&B jump-blues style of saxophonist and singer Louis Jordan. The unique style of Chuck Berry came from his experience playing a mixture of R&B and country music in the Midwest. The rock-and-roll piano style of Fats Domino grew out of the distinctive sound of New Orleans R&B, which also influenced singer and songwriter Little Richard. Rockabilly, a blend of rock-and-roll and country-and-western music, was pioneered by Memphis producer Sam Philips, who first recorded artists Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins on his Sun Records label. The earthy style of guitarist Bo Diddley derived from the blues of the Mississippi Delta region. The standard four-piece instrumentation of rock.

The British Invasion.

Ιn 1964 the Beatles traveled to New York City to appear on a television broadcast ("The Ed Sullivan Show," 1948 to 1971) and launched the so-called British Invasion. Influenced by American recordings, British pop bands of the period invigorated the popular music mainstream and confirmed the international stature of rock music. Soon, several British groups had developed individual distinctive styles: The Beatles combined the guitar-based rock and roll of Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly with the artistry of the Tin Pan Alley style; the Animals blended blues and R&B influences; and the Rolling Stones joined aspects of Chicago blues to their intense, forceful music.
As with early rock and roll, the major American record companies did not take the British bands seriously at first-the Beatles' first hit singles in the United States were released through small, independent record companies. Soon, however, the success of the British bands became too difficult to ignore, and some American musicians reacted by developing their own styles. In 1965 Bob Dylan performed live and in-studio with a band that played electric instruments, alienating many folk-music purists in the process. The folk-rock style was further pioneered the same year by the American band the Byrds, who had a number-one hit on the Billboard magazine music charts with a version of Dylan's song "Mr. Tambourine Man." The short-lived group Buffalo Springfield, formed in 1966, blended aspects of rock and country-and-western music to create country rock.
During the late 1960s, rock music diversified further into new styles while consolidating its position in the mainstream of American popular music. The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the first rock concept album, established new standards for studio recording and helped to establish the notion of the rock musician as a creative artist. Once again, American musicians responded to the British musical stimulus by experimenting with new forms, technologies, and stylistic influences.

San Francisco rock, or psychedelic rock, emerged about 1966 and was associated with the use of hallucinogenic drugs, such as Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, or LSD; psychedelic art and light shows; and an emphasis on spontaneity and communitarian values, epitomized in free-form events called be-ins. Musicians such as Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead experimented with long, improvised stretches of music called jams. Despite the antiestablishment orientation of the youth culture in San Francisco, such musicians and groups as Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and Santana (led by Carlos Santana) signed lucrative contracts with major recording companies.

Los Angeles 1960's.

Another important center of rock music in the 1960s was Los Angeles, where film student Jim Morrison formed the group the Doors and guitarist and composer Frank Zappa developed a unique blend of risquι humor and complex jazz-influenced compositional forms with his group the Mothers of Invention. In the late 1960s hard rock emerged, focusing on thick layers of sound, loud volume levels, and virtuoso guitar solos. In London, American Jimi Hendrix developed a highly influential electric-guitar style. His fiery technique gained exposure at the first large-scale rock festivals in the United States, Monterey Pop (1967) and Woodstock (1969). In 1966 the first so-called power trio was formed in London-the band Cream, which showcased the virtuosity of guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce, and drummer Ginger Baker. In the late 1960s additional styles emerged in the United States, including southern rock, pioneered by the Allman Brothers Band; jazz rock, proponents of which included the band Blood, Sweat and Tears; and Latin rock (a blend of Latin American music, jazz and rock influences, and R&B styles), exemplified by the music of Santana.

The Woodstock Art and Music Fair of 1969 drew more than 300,000 spectators to become one of largest mass-gatherings in the history of popular music. Many arrived up to a week before the outdoor event, drawn by the free-spirited, communal atmosphere as well as the legendary musical acts. The numerous performers included guitarist Jimi Hendrix, soul group Sly and the Family Stone, and rock groups the Grateful Dead and the Who.

In the early 1970s the popular mainstream was dominated by superstar rock groups, such as the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Chicago, and by individual superstars, such as Stevie Wonder and Elton John. Each of these groups and individual artists produced multiple albums, each of which sold millions of copies, pushing the industry to operate at a new scale.
Also highly popular was the singer-songwriter genre, an outgrowth of urban folk music led by artists Carole King, James Taylor, and Jackson Browne. At the other end of the stylistic spectrum, the heavy-metal style was pioneered by bands Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple, all of which featured aggressive guitar-laden songs. Art rock, represented by bands such as Emerson, Lake and Palmer, combined influences from classical music and displays of technical skill with spectacular stage shows. Glitter rock, or glam rock, cultivated a decadent image complete with such musicians as David Bowie and Marc Bolan wearing heavy makeup and sequined costumes and presenting themselves as sexually androgynous.

The most popular dance music of the 1970s was disco. Initially associated with the gay subculture of New York City, disco drew upon black popular music and simplified rhythms by adding steady bass-drum beats. Although much despised by aficionados of heavy metal, disco had a substantial impact on rock music, especially after the release of the motion picture Saturday Night Fever (1977) and its hugely successful disco soundtrack featuring the group the Bee Gees.

The 1970s also saw the development of funk, a variant of soul music that was influenced by rock. Influential funk musicians included singer Sly Stone with his San Francisco band Sly and the Family Stone, and vocalist George Clinton, whose groups Parliament and Funkadelic blended social satire and science-fiction imagery with African-derived rhythms, jazz-influenced horn music, long improvised jams, and vocal group harmonies.

Punk Rock.

About 1976 punk rock originated in New York City and London as a reaction against the commercialism of mainstream rock and the pretentiousness of art rock. Punk-rock music was raw, abrasive, and fast. London punk groups included the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and the Police (see Sting), while New York punk and new wave (a style similar to punk) music included the bands the Ramones, Blondie, and Talking Heads, and vocalist Patti Smith.

Also in the mid-1970s, reggae music-developed by musicians in the shantytowns of Kingston, Jamaica-began to attract attention among youth in Great Britain and the United States. The style, associated with political protest and the Rastafarian religion, combined elements of Jamaican folk music with American R&B influences. Reggae's popularity among American college students was stimulated by the 1973 film The Harder They Come, which starred reggae singer Jimmy Cliff in the role of an underclass gangster. The superstar of the style was Bob Marley, who by the time of his death in 1981 had become one of the most popular musicians in the world. 

Concerts & Radio Programms.

Despite these diverse stylistic developments, the music business in the United States had actually become more centralized in the 1970s. Spontaneous mass gatherings, epitomized by Woodstock, had been replaced by carefully managed stadium concerts. The individualistic local radio programming of the late 1960s was substituted with national radio formatting, in which music tailored to sell products to certain audiences was distributed nationally on tape to be broadcast from local stations. Economic factors encouraged major record companies to pursue almost exclusively artists with the potential to sell millions of copies of albums. While potential profits from hit albums had risen greatly, the financial risks involved in producing such music had also increased considerably. From 1978 to 1982 the American rock-music industry experienced financial difficulties as sales of recorded music dropped by almost $1 billion and receipts from live concerts experienced a similar decline.

1980's.

Technological advances led to a revival of the music industry during the 1980s. The market for popular music expanded with new media formats, including music video, introduced by the Music Television (MTV) network in 1981, and the digitally-recorded compact disc, introduced in 1983. In 1982 entertainer Michael Jackson released Thriller, which became the biggest-selling album in history, and established a trend in which record companies relied upon a few massive hits to generate profits. Jackson's success contributed greatly to proving the promotional value of music videos. It thereafter became very difficult for record companies to achieve hit records without having the music receive intensive airplay on music-video networks.
Other mainstream rock hits of the 1980s came from a group of charismatic artists, each of whom attracted mass-audience followings extending across traditional social boundaries. Singer Bruce Springsteen appealed to many as a working-class hero. Other superstars followed Jackson's lead by integrating dance and video presentations into their work, including the artist formerly known as Prince (), whose 1984 single "When Doves Cry" was the first song in more than 20 years to top both the pop and R&B charts in Billboard magazine; and Madonna, who came to symbolize female sexual liberation through her controversial videos and lyrics. Also during the 1980s the audience for heavy metal expanded from its original white-male, working-class core to include more middle-class fans, both male and female. By the end of the decade, heavy-metal bands, such as Van Halen, AC/DC, and Metallica, accounted for as much as 40 percent of all sound recordings sold in the United States. 

Ethnopop.

Anticipated by reggae in the 1970s, worldbeat music (also called ethnopop) began to emerge during the early 1980s, with the success of the album Juju Music (1982) by Nigerian musician King Sunny Ade music, which blended traditional African drums with electric guitars and synthesizers, helped to stimulate an interest in non-Western music in the United States and Great Britain, and opened the way for artists such as Youssou N'Dour, from Senegal; Papa Wemba, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, formerly Zaire); Ladysmith Black Mambazo, from South Africa; Ofra Haza, from Israel; Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, from Pakistan; and the Gipsy Kings, from France. Rock superstars, such as Peter Gabriel, David Byrne, and Paul Simon, whose 1985 album Graceland featured musicians from Africa and Latin America, played an important role in exposing worldbeat musicians to audiences in the United States and Europe, and reaffirmed the worldwide appeal of rock music.

Rap.

Perhaps the most significant rock-music development of the 1980s was the rise of rap, a genre in which vocalists perform rhythmic speech, usually accompanied by music snippets, or samples, from prerecorded material or from music created by synthesizers. Rap originated in the mid-1970s in the South Bronx community of New York City and was initially associated with a cultural movement called hip-hop, which included acrobatic dancing (known as break dancing) and graffiti art. DJs such as Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa experimented with innovative turntable techniques, including switching between multiple discs; back-spinning, or rotating the disc by hand in order to repeat particular phrases; and scratching, moving the phonograph needle across vinyl record grooves to create rhythmic sound effects.
The first rap records were made in 1979 by small, independent record companies. Although artists such as the Sugarhill Gang had national hits during the early 1980s, rap music did not enter the popular music mainstream until 1986, when rappers Run-D.M.C. and the hard-rock band Aerosmith collaborated on a version of the song "Walk This Way," creating a new 

Current trends.

Rock music has grown to include hundreds of musical styles, some of which define a broad mainstream, while others are supported by small but devoted audiences. As in earlier decades, major record companies have used independent labels to find new trends and locate promising talent.
Rap music continued to develop in the 1990s, stimulating controversy over its sometimes violent lyrics. Many rap styles gained popularity, including the gangsta (gangster) style of such rappers as Ice-T, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Doggy Dogg; the pop-rap style of M.C. Hammer; the reggae and folk-influenced sound of Arrested Development; and the mixture of hip-hop and jazz developed by Us3. Heavy metal has remained popular, as evidenced by huge arena concerts featuring such bands as Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth. A style known as alternative rock, popularized in the late 1980s by the group R.E.M., combines heavy-metal guitars, folk and punk influences, and cryptic, introspective lyrics. The alternative style spawned a number of substyles, such as the grunge rock of Seattle-based groups Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam. Techno, a style of dance music that gained popularity in the 1990s, combines computer-generated, discolike rhythms with digital samples. Acid jazz is a related style, combining rock, soul, R&B, and jazz influences.
Music video has remained an important means of introducing new performers. Other new media technologies, including the use of fiber-optic cables and satellite transmissions, have changed the way people access popular music. Advances in recording-studio technology, digital recording equipment, and synthesis techniques have allowed musicians, producers, and music engineers to exert far greater control over their final product than previously possible. In live concerts, miniaturized and relatively portable amplification equipment has been introduced to create the illusion of direct communication between the audience and the performers. In contrast, the Lo-Fi movement developed in the 1990s as a reaction against the glossy production values of mainstream popular music. This movement stresses primitive, low-fidelity recording techniques that reflect those used in the 1950s for rockabilly and in the 1970s for punk rock. 

Sociological Significance.

Since its inception in the 1950s, rock music has moved from the margins of American popular music to become the center of a multi-billion-dollar global industry. Closely connected with youth culture, rock music and musicians have helped to establish new fashions, forms of language, attitudes, and political views. However, rock music is no longer limited to an audience of teenagers, since many current listeners formed their musical tastes during the golden age of rock and roll. Similarly, while rock has historically encouraged new creative expressions, the innovations of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix have defined a tradition to which successive generations of musicians have repeatedly turned for inspiration.
From its origins, rock music has been shaped by a complex relationship between freedom-symbolized by the image of the rebellious rock musician-and corporate control. Originally a mixture of styles outside the mainstream of white middle-class popular taste, rock and roll soon became a mass-produced commodity. This tension between individuality and commercialism still looms large in rock music and is reflected in fan distaste for musicians who compromise, or sell out, their musical values in order to secure multi-million-dollar recording contracts. Shaped by technology, the growth of the mass media, and the social identities of its artists and audiences, rock music continues to play a central role in the popular culture of the United States and, increasingly, the world.

This solid-body electric guitar is a Stratocaster, made by the Fender company. Unlike acoustic guitars, the electric versions create sound by converting the vibrations from the strings into electronic impulses. The Stratocaster was first made in the mid-1950s and has changed little since that time. It is very popular with rock-and-roll musicians. 

Rhythm-and-Blues Music or R & B, variety of different, but related, types of popular music produced and supported primarily by black Americans beginning in the early 1940s (see African American Music). Rhythm-and-blues music, also known simply as rhythm and blues, embraces such genres as jump blues, club blues, black rock and roll, doo wop, soul, Motown, funk, disco, and rap. First coined in 1949 by Jerry Wexler, who would become prominent with Atlantic Records, the term rhythm and blues was used as a synonym for black rock and roll (rock-and-roll music of black musicians) in the early and mid-1950s. Until white rock-and-roll performers such as Bill Haley and Elvis Presley achieved mass popularity in the mid-1950s, what was commonly referred to as rock and roll by white disc jockeys and fans was referred to as the latest style of R&B by black disc jockeys and fans.
As a tradition, R&B has provided the single greatest influence on popular music worldwide for much of the 20th century. This influence can be traced in forms of rock music, country and western, gospel music, and jazz as well as in a variety of non-Western forms of music (see Worldbeat), including Nigerian juju, a style of popular dance music, and Algerian rai, another popular style distinguished by its rebellious lyrics. As the influence of various styles of R&B has grown, black urban values have also permeated a wide variety of other cultures, most notably that of contemporary Euro-American youth.
Common Musical Elements
Despite vast differences between genres, such as rap and jump blues, there are common musical and social elements that link the many styles of R&B. Musical rhythm is the most important distinguishing characteristic of R&B music and its substyles. While all genres of R&B typically depend upon four-beat building blocks (measures or bars) and employ a backbeat (beats two and four accented in each measure), the specific approach to the expression of musical time (the so-called groove) is one of the primary means of differentiating one genre from another, and even one player or band from another.
Timbre is another important distinguishing characteristic of R&B. Timbre refers to the quality or color of a sound-for example, a listener may tell a saxophone and a guitar apart, or distinguish one vocalist from another, by the differences in their timbre. Most styles of R&B rely extensively on timbre variation over the course of a performance to achieve interest. R&B singers and instrumentalists often alternate between gentle, smooth timbres and harsh, raspy timbres, giving the music a wide range of emotional expression.
In addition to rhythm and timbre, other common elements of R&B music include the use of: (1) the twelve-bar form, a three-lyric line structure originating in earlier styles of blues; (2) call and response, whereby a singer or instrumentalist will sing or play a phrase and another vocalist or instrumentalist will answer with another phrase; (3) incessant repetition of musical notes, rhythms, phrases, or verses; (4) the use of blue notes (notes that bridge the musical relationship between the minor and major modes; see Mode); and (5) a tightly integrated and complex blending of instruments, in which it is often difficult to differentiate the separate sounds or instruments being played at a given moment.
Finally, with the exception of rap, most R&B performances share a common instrumentation, with the performing ensemble divided into a rhythm section and a horn section. Typically, the rhythm section consists of a drum set, bass, piano (sometimes organ instead of or in addition to piano), and guitar, while the horn section features saxophones, trumpets, and occasionally trombones. The emphasis on horns in most styles of R&B has been one of the ways in which the music has historically been differentiated from white rock music.
History, Origins
Rhythm and blues originated from the sociological, industrial, and technological changes that took place in the United States just prior to and during World War II (1939-1945). Foremost among these changes was a widespread shift in American demographics. Attracted by relatively high-paying wartime employment, hundreds of thousands of black Americans migrated from the rural South to Midwest, Northeast, and West Coast cities. In popular music, new styles were created to meet the changing tastes of this demographic group, leading to the development of the urbane sounds of R&B.
The profound sociological changes of the World War II period were accompanied by two significant technological developments: the invention of the electric guitar in the late 1930s and the discovery of the German-invented tape recorder by the music industry at the end of the war. With the new, relatively affordable technology of magnetic tape, which simplified the recording process (see Sound Recording and Reproduction: The Tape Recorder), enterprising individuals were able to start independent record companies. Since the major record companies in the United States, with the exception of Decca Records, had little interest in R&B, newly formed independent companies, such as Atlantic, Chess, Specialty, and Modern, were crucial for the production and distribution of R&B recordings.
Another important industrial change resulted from the rise of television broadcasting in the United States in the late 1940s. Radio-station owners who thought that television would soon make radio obsolete sold their stations at bargain prices. New radio-station owners, seeking a niche in the marketplace, often turned to newly urbanized American blacks. Beginning with the Memphis radio station WDIA in 1948, these emergent black-oriented radio stations allowed the new independent record companies to air the sounds of R&B to a black urban audience. 21 Early R & B styles Although the sounds of early black urban music were being performed throughout the United States, the recording of R&B began on the two coasts. Former big-band jazz musician Louis Jordan formed a small ensemble in 1938, which he eventually named the Tympany Five. Signed to New York-based Decca Records, Jordan recorded primarily in the up-tempo, horn-driven style known as jump blues. His compositions tended to be based on traditional 12-bar blues and featured appealing riffs (repeated phrases commonly played by the horn section), simplified rhythmic solos, and humorous lyrics. Many of Jordan's biggest hits, including "G.I. Jive" (1944), "Caldonia" (1945), and "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" (1946), were exceedingly popular with both black and white audiences. The jump-blues style he originated rapidly spread among black musicians, with distinctive regional variants emerging in cities such as New Orleans, Louisiana, and Memphis, Tennessee. Jordan influenced every R&B artist in the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s, including James Brown, B. B. King, and Chuck Berry.
At the same time, a number of pianists, including Nat "King" Cole and Charles Brown, pioneered a much quieter, subdued style known as club blues. These artists were often called sepia Sinatras (see Sinatra, Frank), a moniker that reflected the crooning vocal style that characterized this genre. By playing ballads with a highly rhythmic piano style, Cole, like Jordan, was able to sell his music well to both black and white audiences.
Two other styles of R&B were popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s: an instrumental strain largely modeled on jump blues and featuring a coarse, honking tenor saxophone sound; and the vocal-group genre. The most important musicians who promoted the instrumental style were tenor saxophonist Big Jay McNeely, alto and baritone saxophonist Paul Williams, and tenor saxophonist Joe Houston. The most important vocal groups of the time 

In the 1950s the dominant strains of R&B began to be directed toward teenagers instead of adults. The vocal-group style of the 1940s gave way to 1950s doo wop, which featured close-harmony singing, usually at slower tempos. Artists such as the Five Keys, and later the Coasters and the Drifters, sang songs with lyric themes that voiced concerns of American teenagers, including rebellion, school, romance, and cars.
Pioneered largely by guitarist Chuck Berry and pianist Little Richard, black rock and roll emerged during the 1950s and forever changed American culture. The crucial innovation of black rock and roll was in the expression of rhythm. Berry and Little Richard subdivided the basic quarter beat into two eighth notes, rather than following the three-eighth-note, or triplet, shuffle subdivision that had been the hallmark of the earlier blues styles. With this innovation, an exciting, propulsive groove could be achieved. Both artists also substantially increased the tempo of their performances, giving their music a frantic style that appealed to American teenagers. Finally, both artists wrote songs that reflected the youthful fancies of their audience. Classics such as Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" (1955) and "Lucille" (1957) and Berry's "Maybellene" (1955) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958) were covered (performed by other musicians) innumerable times in the 1960s and 1970s. As important as these artists were in originating a new style of music, their influence in later decades was felt primarily by white rock musicians, as trends in R&B tended to increasingly diverge from rock and roll beginning in 1960.

In the 1960s the three most important styles of R&B were: (1) Chicago soul, influenced by gospel-music songs; (2) the Motown sound, which combined polished songwriting with a straightforward vocal delivery; and (3) southern soul, the most gospel-influenced style of R&B. Chicago soul was epitomized by the work of singer and songwriter Curtis Mayfield with the group the Impressions. Mayfield tended to write what he termed "songs of faith and inspiration," with compositions such as "People Get Ready" (1965), which featured several different lead singers trading vocal lines in call-and-response fashion. Other trademarks of Mayfield and the Chicago soul genre included the frequent use of falsetto (an artificially high voice), the writing of idiosyncratic parts for stringed instruments, the use of the vibraphone (a musical percussion instrument), and a song structure that incorporated short two- and four-bar interludes, often arranged for unique instrumental combinations such as vibes and guitar.
In 1959 the Motown record company (see Motown Record Company, L.P.) was formed by Berry Gordy, Jr., in Detroit, Michigan. Gordy was so successful at developing a recognizable sound for Motown recordings that the company name quickly began to be applied as a designation for a genre of music. The most important Motown artists of the 1960s included singer Diana Ross with the female vocal group the Supremes, singer and songwriter Smokey Robinson with the male vocal group the Miracles, and the male vocal group the Temptations. The majority of Motown artists (exceptions including saxophonist Junior Walker and singers Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder) were vocal groups that updated the doo-wop style of the 1950s with a heavy, even beat. The productions were ornate, laden with strings and horns. Influenced by Tin Pan Alley, a popular style of American songwriting (see Popular Music: Early 20th Century), the compositions and arrangements were exceedingly well crafted. Motown represented the sound of American youth through most of the 1960s and, for an independent record company, achieved unprecedented success.
Southern soul was originated by singer and songwriter James Brown and singer and pianist Ray Charles. On many of the earliest soul records, Charles would take a traditional religious song, such as "I Got Religion," and transform it into a secular paean to love ("I've Got A Woman," 1955). This style was fully realized on recordings issued by Memphis-based Stax Records and New York-based Atlantic Records in the mid- and late 1960s with vocal artists such as Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding. Beginning at the same time as Motown, Stax developed its own unique, identifiable sound around a studio band consisting of instrumental group Booker T. and the MG's, keyboardist Isaac Hayes, and the Mar-Key horn section (later the Memphis Horns). With star artists, such as Redding and soul duo Sam and Dave, producing a sparse, gospel-derived sound, Stax performers sold records to white audiences while generating substantial record sales among black audiences. By adding such refinements as string accompaniments, southern soul remained a significant presence in popular music throughout much of the 1970s, with such successful artists as the family vocal group the Staple Singers and Memphis-based singers Isaac Hayes and Al Green. 

Funk and Disco.

In the late 1960s, at the height of soul music's popularity, significant changes in cultural views began to be articulated by many black Americans. Black militancy began to make its presence felt, accompanied by an increased sense of African heritage. This cultural and social emphasis on African identity was reflected in popular music. With the song "Cold Sweat" (1967), James Brown signaled the birth of funk music. Funk de-emphasized melody and harmony, bringing rhythm, the defining aspect of African music, to the foreground. Funk recordings, like much indigenous African music, often consisted of a complex groove in which every instrument played a different rhythm, and all sounds fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Complete verses and choruses were often written without a chord change. This style was adopted by a number of artists, perhaps most significantly by soul group Sly and the Family Stone and vocalist George Clinton with the groups Parliament and Funkadelic. These musicians synthesized the funk style with elements from white rock music.
Disco rivaled funk's popularity in the early 1970s and ultimately surpassed it by the middle of the decade. Like funk, disco was a dance-oriented style. In contrast to funk, however, disco was dominated by arrangements featuring strings and synthesizers that tended to boost the importance of beats one and three, often creating a heartbeat-like rhythm. Springing out of Latino, black, and gay subcultures and prominently featuring women artists, such as American singers Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor, disco was viewed by many as a substantial threat to mainstream rock music. Despite the hostility with which it was met, disco managed to give rise to a handful of highly original ensembles, such as Earth, Wind & Fire and the Fatback Band.

Dance music and Rap.

In the 1980s and 1990s disco gave way to a number of other genres. During this period, superstars such as Prince, Michael Jackson, and Janet Jackson worked within funk and other styles of dance music and produced songs by borrowing from a number of styles. Michael Jackson, in particular, was influenced by popular music from other ethnic regions, most notably Central and South America (see Worldbeat). Although a number of hybrid styles were created during this time, most popular R&B music remained dance-oriented. Moreover, with the rise of music video in the early 1980s, the dancing abilities of performers gained much greater significance.
The most significant development in popular music in the 1980s and 1990s has been the advent of rap, which originated as a genre of folk music in New York City's south 

R & B Current trends.

By the mid-1990s, elements of rap-including sampling, scratching (a percussion technique that involves running a record needle manually across vinyl records), and declaimed vocals-had become part of what could perhaps best be described as dance-based, post-disco music. The vocal-group tradition of R&B continued, as did the prominence of solo vocal acts, such as singers Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and Luther Vandross.

R & B Sociological Significance.

The various styles of R&B have followed a cycle that originated in the mid-19th century with music from minstrel shows. The general cycle starts when black Americans develop a musical style that is an integral part of a much larger black subculture, embracing language, fashion, demeanor, and attitudes. From the outset of this development, a small number of white Americans become interested in both the music and the subculture and actively participate on the fringes of the nascent subculture. Eventually, some of these white participants begin to make their own versions of the music, some of which then gain widespread popularity among white youth. The popularity of the music transfers part of the language, fashion, style of dance, and attitude of the subculture into the mainstream of American culture.
Beginning in the late 1980s, the hip-hop subculture of rap introduced words such as yo, chill, and dis, once virtually unknown outside of inner-city communities in the United States, to the national lexicon. Similarly, rap fashion can be found in small towns and white suburbs alike. Rap has had a great influence on youth in the United States and has helped broaden this group's awareness of black history and culture.

I am going to end here, I hope you did enjoy your visit and that you had the opportunity to find out some interesting things about our lovely music.

Best Regards to all of you,