We’re observing how music changes decade by decade. We started in 1941 – ten years later, the big bands were largely gone, sweet singers were big, rhythm and blues was everywhere.
And we were on the cusp of rock and roll.
A young Elvis Presley was listening to Big Boy Crudup songs on the radio. Bill Haley was singing with a western swing band – in 1951, he covered a record that some say was the first rock and roll song.
Listen to the sounds of 1951
