The era of the Roaring Twenties was a time of great social change. Many of these changes were heavily influenced by jazz music. During this time, the country was coming out of World War I and the attitude of most people was gloomy and sad. Dance and music clubs became extremely popular in an effort to improve the quality of life for many people. After experiencing the death and destruction caused by World War I, young men and women were ready for a change. They wanted to forget the misery of wartime and instead focus on having as much fun as possible. Young people of this period wanted to rebel against the restrictive pre-war attitudes of their parents and society. In an attempt to defy tradition, they exhibited what was considered outrageous behavior at the time. Jazz music served as a catalyst for the freedom they aspired to. The decade between 1920 and 1930 was a time of prosperity for the United States. During this period the nation's wealth nearly doubled (Burns). The rural population also declined as people moved to urban areas as the country became more industrialized. Cities were where the jobs were and the promise of a more exciting lifestyle. This urbanization allowed people to come into contact with other cultures, including their music. Large numbers of African Americans were included in this urban migration. They were moving from the rural South to the cities of the North, and they brought with them a kind of music unlike anything young white Northerners had ever heard before. It wasn't their parents' music and they embraced it. This music moved away from classical forms, rejecting the chromatic scale and choosing discordant sounds (Samuel). T...... middle of paper ......ty and Agricultural and Mechanical College, 2003.Clegg, Stewart. “If people are weird, does the organization make us normal?” The essay manual of new approaches to organization studies. Comp. David Barry. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2008. Print.Music That Scared America: The Early Days of Jazz. Irvine, CA: Humanities out there in the Santa Ana Partnership, 2006Nichols, Kathleen L. Jazz Age Culture. August 11, 2008. Pittsburgh State University. April 11, 2011. Samuel, D. (2007). American Expatriates in the 1920s: Why Paris? Speakeasy, Flappers and Red Hot Jazz: Prohibition Music. and Riverwalk Jazz. April 11, 2011 .The jazz age. nd Trail End State Historic Site. April 11. 2011 .