The Roaring 20s saw massive growth in entertainment spending and popular culture in America. Sports like baseball and boxing saw huge popularity increases. New forms of media also emerged like radio, talking pictures, and animated films. Education systems expanded rapidly during this time with high school attendance quadrupling from 1914 to 1926.
32315 1 Origins of Rock ‘n’ Roll • Three musica.docxtamicawaysmith
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Origins of Rock ‘n’ Roll
• Three musical ancestors of Rock
– Country & Western
• Grand Ole Opry and image
• Controversial subjects in lyrics
– Rhythm & Blues
• 12-bar Blues, insistent rhythm, shout-style vocals
• Hokum, Boogie-woogie, Electric guitar
– Pop music
• Strong connection to jazz (Big Band Swing)
• Simple, catchy melodies
• 1950: all three coexisted in separate
markets
– Billboard magazine tracks sales of popular
music
– Separate charts for each genre
• By 1954, markets began to merge
• Crossovers: a crossover hit originates in
one market, but also succeeds in another
– “Earth Angel”—R&B song, made the pop
charts
– “Tennessee Waltz,” “Heartbreak Hotel”—
C&W hits, on pop charts
• Covers: an artist’s version of someone
else’s song
– “Earth Angel”—original by The Penguins
(R&B), covered by the Crew Cuts (Pop)
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Emergence of Youth Culture
• Prior to 1950s, entertainment industry aimed
at adults
• Mid-’50s: identifiable youth culture
– Movies present images of rebellious youths
• Rebel Without a Cause, Blackboard Jungle
• New role models, dress code, slang, hairstyles
• Black leather jacket, upturned shirt collar, slicked
back hair (“ducktail” or “d.a.”)
• Record companies realize teens have
disposable income
Bill Haley and The Comets
• Haley’s band started with C&W, began
covering R&B songs
– “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” orig. by Joe Turner
– “Rock Around the Clock” orig. by Sonny Dae
• Featured on soundtrack to Blackboard Jungle
• Two months at #1 on pop charts (1955)
• Haley, born in 1927, too old to be the new
face of youth culture
• Laid foundation for Rockabilly
– R&B material, with C&W sound
Elvis Presley (1935-’77)
l Raised
in
poor
family
from
Mississippi
– Elvis
absorbed
a
variety
of
musical
influences
l R&B,
gospel,
C&W,
bluegrass,
pop
l Discovered
while
making
a
recording
for
his
mom
– Memphis
Recording
Service
and
Sun
Records
l Right
voice
at
the
right
Cme
l White
singer
with
a
black
sound
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3
Sun Records
• Memphis, Tennessee
• Sam Phillips, founder
– Appreciated talents of R&B musicians
– Began recording them even before he started
his own label
• Brings the music to a wider audience
• Sun Records credited with discovering
Elvis
– “Hound Dog” (1957)
Importance of Elvis
l Flexible,
invenCve
vocal
style
– Always
sounds
like
himself
l Wide
popular
appeal,
crossover
success
– Records
on
country,
pop,
and
R&B
charts
l Huge
commercial
success
– Sold
over
500
Million
records
by
the
Cme
of
his
death
Mainstream Rock ‘n’ Roll
l (DJ Alan Freed, coined the term “Rock ‘n’ Roll”)
• Heavily influenced by R&B
– Little Ric ...
33115 1 Post World War II Musical Modernism .docxtamicawaysmith
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Post World War II
Musical Modernism
The Media Revolution
• Record companies seek out niche markets
• Columbia, Paramount
• Many marketed and sold to a black audience
• “Race records” – became popular with white
audiences also
• “Hillbilly music” marketed to rural white
southerners
• continuation of pre-1920s fiddle tradition
• fiddle contests and medicine shows
• Unregulated Mexican radio stations
• could reach Canada and China
The Media Revolution
• 1946: Television industry begins
• By 1950s, TV common in most households
• Soap operas, sit coms, variety shows, mysteries
• Radio stations begin to play more pre-
recorded music
• Disc Jockeys (DJs) become important
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Record Formats
• 78 rpm records: 3-4 minutes of music
• Major record companies begin issuing
Long-Playing (LP) 33 rpm records
• Up to 26 min. per side (12”)
• Targeted at adults
• Often classical music, musical theater,
easy-listening
• 45 rpm Singles (7”)
• Marketed to teens
Pop Music
• Strong connection to Swing
• Continued innovations of popular
1930s vocalists
• Armstrong, Holiday, Bing Crosby
• Song Interpreters
• Each singer recognizable by their style
• Personality becomes part of the song
Pop Music
• Nat “King” Cole (1917-1965)
• Formed a popular jazz trio
• First black artist to host a TV show
• Several pop hits:
• “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” “Unforgettable”
• Frank Sinatra (1915-1998)
• Got his start singing with Big Bands
• Became a teen idol in early 1940s
• Formed his own record company
• “You Do Something to Me” (1950)
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Woody Guthrie (1912-’67)
• Lived a wandering life
• Hobo lifestyle, inspired his poetry
• Experiences during the Depression
• Dust bowl drought, New Deal politics, unions
• Political radical
• Lyrics about social justice, inequalities
• 1940: “This Land is Your Land” written in response to
Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America”
Woody Guthrie
• “So Long, It’s Been Good to Know You” 1940
• Story about west Texas during the Dust Bowl
• Ironic jabs at religion and society
• influences folk-revivalists, singer-songwriters, and rock
musicians for years to come
Urban Folk Revival
• Guthrie, Pete Seeger form Almanac Singers
• Starts the urban folk revival
• Younger Americans seeking authenticity and
directness in music
• Qualities that were missing in pop music
• Folk songs let performers comment on current events
• Join political movements, play for rallies
• Songs of protest against social ills
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Country & Western
• Folk becomes Country
• Radio broadcasts
• Nashville becomes epicenter
• 1927: The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN
• Other barn-dance radio shows pop up
• Promotes “down home” image
• as opposed to European opera
• overalls, straw hats, etc.
Post-War Country Music
• Hank Williams and Kitty Wells
...
9. The Roaring
20’s
Education And Pop Culture
By Michael McNulty, Niki Carriero, Sameer Kurien, Gaby
Pereira, and Robert Gnandt (Gnandt right? Because I don’t
really know I just need to take up more space. Shoot not
quite enough. maybe I can sing to distract you so you won’t
notice the gap, oh wait its gone).
10. Entertainment
In 1929 4.5 billion dollars was spent on entertainment. Some forms
were:
• Sports, such as Baseball, Boxing, Golf, and College Football
• Cartoons, such as Steamboat Willie
• Radio
• Magazines
• Movies
• Plays and Musicals
• Jazz Clubs, such as The Cotton Club
11. Fun Fact!
• Ernest Hemingway, who participated in the First World War, became the best-known expatriate author. He wrote
The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms.
12. Sports
• A major event was the Jack Dempsey Heavyweight Boxing match in 1927, said to be so suspenseful that people
listening over the radio died of heart failure.
• Also in 1927, George Herman, or ‘Babe’, Ruth, hit a record of 60 homeruns in a single season.
• Bobby Jones champion golfer, won four tournaments (English+American) in one year
• College football popular
• sports successes represented American aspirations
13. Fun Fact part 2!!
• Eugene O’Neill was the first American playwright to win a Nobel Prize in literature. He wrote The Hairy Ape !!!
(1922)
14. Communication
& Media
• radio September 22, 1927 expands American horizons, news from around the world traveling faster and reaching
more people
• Newspapers and Magazines Flourish, news covers a wider range of topics
• Movies- Hollywood silent films with Charlie chaplin
• 1927 first sound film The Jazz Singer doubles movie attendance, followed by first animated sound film Steamboat
Willie starring mickey mouse
• plays begin to focus on more modern, psychological themes, Art and music begins to break away from European
styles
15. Fun Fact 3!!!
• George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F were very popular. They were some of the first classical
works to combine American Jazz with traditional music.
16. Education
• 1914 -> 1926 number of high school students in America quadruples
• more courses available along with more job opportunities
• more immigrants in public schools and non-english courses
• US Spends apx $2.7 billion
• sculps trials concerning evolution vs creation
