The 1950s: The Decade of Conflict of Generations

“The reward for suffering is experience. ” This quote said by Harry S. Truman, the President in the 1950s, represents the title of this paper very well. The multiple conflicting events that was faced during that period is what caused the president of the time to utter these words. Due to the conflict in politics, entertainment, and technology, “The 1950s: The Decade of Conflict” is an appropriate name for the decade in our history.

The conflict in entertainment was predominant as well. Specifically, with all the new music coming out that the people from the prior generation did not understand, and or approved of. With the lack of more interesting music for the appeal of the youth, some creators started coming out. Sam Philips, the same man who produced “Rocket 88” by Jackie Bernston, which is often considered one of the first rock and roll records, also discovered Elvis Presley, the king of rock. That same record company had some blues singers, such as Howlin Wolf, who inspired Elvis to incorporate elements in his own music. This new type of music was feared by adults because of its black origins and sexual topics, but inspired the youth of the time. Elvis, however, did not fall to the negativity of the adults, instead he covered African American songs in rebellion of the former generation. Some of the songs that he covered were “Mystery Train” by Junior Parker, and “Hound Dog” by Big Mama Thornton. Elvis’ style of music was the complete opposite type of music before his time. Even the way Elvis danced was not approved by the people of the previous era, the way that he swung his hips made them uncomfortable. When Elvis was on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956, the cameras only filmed him from the waist up so that the people wouldn’t have to see him dance. Despite being hated by the adults of the time that night that the show had him on broke all the single-night ratings up to that point (Tetrault 1).

Others alongside Elvis started to only appeal to the youth of the time. African American artists of the time started to sing songs that appealed only to the youth. Chuck Berry, one of the greatest rock and roll poets of all time set the standard for other artists after him. One of Mr. Berry’s greatest hits was “Johnny Be Good. ” Another iconic artist of the time was Little Richard who was known for his bombastic performance style. His performance style as well as his lyrics earned him great popularity among the youth. His performances also earned him great enmity from older audiences. Some of his more popular hits were “Good Golly Mrs. Molly, ” “Tutti Frutti, ” and “Long Tall Sally” (Tetrault 2). By the late 1950’s Detroit’s Motown Records came out. The Motown sound was characterized as a lead singer delivering melodic line backed up by emotional instruments. Some Popular Motown artists consist of The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and Diana Rose and the Supremes (Tetrault 2). By that time rock and roll was made for the youth and youth alone. Music made for the youth of the time had the youth in mind, the artists knew that that the parents would dislike it. They often disapproved of the type of music that their children were listening to.

The conflict between the generations definitely came to light when the topic of fashion is in the conversation. Just like today where the older generations do not approve of the type of clothes that the youth is wearing today, they did not approve of the fashion in the 50s. In the 1950s after the World War II Americans started to develop their own fashion sense that was not like any the world had seen. The fashion for boys was the stereotypical 50s greasers look, with the blue jeans tucked in to the plain white t-shirt. This type of look for the youth symbolized the rock and roll culture of the time. Some rock artists were wearing this type of style such as James Dean and Marlon Brando. The stereotypical 50s style continued with the girls at the time. The girls wore a tight sweater, a long, full skirt usually with an image on it, ankle high socks, and saddle shoes, shoes that are sturdy with a vibrant strap going across the top of it. This style of clothing was featured in a plethora of nostalgia movies that came out such as “American Graffiti, ” and “Grease” (Gianoulis 1).