War ends – soldiers return home.
Baby Boomers Arrive
The “King” Turns 10
After World War II, the soldiers returned home.
Between the summers of 1945 and 1946, war-weary soldiers came back, and birth rates surged—marking the birth of the Baby Boomer generation.
Fun facts:
In 1945, “The King” Elvis Presley was 10 years old…
No Boomers appeared in the Top 10 hits until…
- At 15, Peggy March (b 1948) had a #1 hit in 1963.
- At 13, Stevie Wonder (b 1950) had a #1 hit in 1963.
- At 16, Mary Weiss (b 1948) had a #5 hit in 1964.
On July 5, 1954, at 19, Elvis recorded “That’s All Right”—a song often called the birth of rock and roll.
But rock music really exploded after Elvis released a pivotal movie, “Loving You” on July 9, 1957.
Why does this matter for learning guitar?
It was during this period that nearly all guitar players—from supergroups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to tens of thousands of local bands—learned to play guitar without help.
Learning guitar used to be easy and fun… want to know the secret?
Revolution Evolution
Back Then
There were NO computers, NO internet, and NO videos (the first home computers appeared in the mid-1970s, and the internet wasn’t launched until the 1990s!).
Music was only available from radios and vinyl records—no DVDs, laptops, or MP3s.
Authority figures—(government, law enforcement, churches, and even music teachers)—called “rock ‘n’ roll” music “shameful, immoral, and sinful.” They tried everything to stamp it out.
Before 1957, guitars were used mostly for “background strumming” in jazz and country music. Electric guitars were new but still rare. Pianos dominated the music industry.
Why was Elvis’s movie Loving You a big deal?
Loving You was in color, and for the first time, teens saw their favorite music played on the big screen (many teens danced in the theater aisles).
Elvis used a guitar as the main instrument—rather than a bulky, expensive piano. Suddenly, playing guitar looked cool, affordable, and easy to do.
Thousands of teens thought, “If I learn to play guitar, I could become a movie star like Elvis!”
For the next 20 years, guitar sales shot up 1,000%.
By the 1980s, tens of thousands of local bands were playing all across North America.
Local 3 and 4 piece bands may be gone forever but the music they played will live on forever..