It’s a Friday afternoon in 1957, and your big sister is watching TV with her friends. You hear the sound of a piano, but it’s nothing like the classical songs your mom makes you practice over and over. This music is . . . rocking.
You look at the screen and see a man in a suit playing a glittery guitar. He’s singing about dancing to rock and roll music. You can’t help tapping your feet and bouncing up and down.
After World War II, everyday American life changed a lot. For one thing, media played a much bigger role. Media are forms of mass communication, like newspapers, magazines, radio, and television. More people enjoyed the same books, movies, and TV shows, so popular culture became more important. By the end of the 1950s, nine out of ten homes had a TV set. Americans saw things on television that they had never seen before.
