| Modern
pop began with rock 'n roll in the early fifties and, basically, it was a mixture
of black beat music and white sentimental singing. What
was new about it was its aggression, its sexuality, its volume and its beat. It
was louder than anything before it mainly because of amplified electric guitars. Rock
'n roll was very simple music. All that mattered was
the noise it made, its power, its aggression and its newness. Most
of the lyrics were meaningless, simple slogans, but this wasn't stupidity, the
inability to write anything better, but a kind of teenage code that made rock
incomprehensible to adults. A famous British conductor
said that rock 'n roll had been played in the jungle for centuries and Frank Sinatra
said that it was played by mindless morons. For instance
the first record I ever bought was by Little Richard and it taught me everything
I would ever need to know about pop. The message was:
"Tutti frutti all rootie, tutti frutti all rootie, awopbobaloobop alopbamboom!" This
was a brilliant summing up of what rock 'n roll was all about. | 
