The 1950's were a time of social change in the American youth. This change was a result of the Rock and Roll music that originated in the 1950's. Rock and Roll gave teenagers the freedom to develop independent ideas from those of the older generation, and it allowed for conformity among members of the younger generation. .
After World War II and the depression, American citizens had an abundance of money to spend. The yearly income for the average suburban family at this time was six thousand five hundred dollars, which was a lot in the 1950's. People had the money for nice property, homes, cars, and entertainment. This created a very pleasurable atmosphere for Americans, especially after the gloomy years of war and an horrible depression. Before this period of prosperity among Americans, society's values were based upon adult ideas and adult oriented music. .
Popular music in the early forty's consisted of jazz, swing, bebop, country, honky-tonk, gospel, classical, and waltzes. This music was very boring to the younger audience. Until rock and roll music came about, white teenagers had no exciting music in which they could express themselves with dancing.
Rhythm and blues was popular among the African-American population of America, but until the early 1950's, white people had little interest in rhythm and blues. Two men, wanting to make a profit and expand the growing music business even more, exposed rhythm and blues to white teenagers. In 1951, Allen Freed, a disc jockey in Cleveland, Ohio teamed up with Leo Mintz, one of Cleveland's largest record store owners, to introduce traditionally African American music to the white population. Once the music aired, a large number of teens, regardless of their race requested the rhythm and blues music written and sung by black artists. Once white teenagers discovered this "new" style of music to which they could easily dance, the record industry started to introduce a new style of music with a special sound.
