This document provides a timeline and overview of popular music genres and trends in the United States and United Kingdom from the 1940s to the 2010s. In the 1940s, blues and jazz were popular in the US while skiffle bands gained popularity in the UK. Rock and roll emerged as a dominant genre in the 1950s, particularly Elvis Presley in the US. The 1960s saw the rise of British beat groups like the Beatles and the growth of psychedelic rock. Hard rock bands like Led Zeppelin rose to prominence in the 1970s. New wave, hip hop, and new romanticism emerged in the 1980s. Grunge and Brit pop dominated the 1990s. Hip hop and teen pop were

1. Timeline
Music through the years

2. The 1940’s
USA:
In the 1940’s, blues became the basis for Rock
and Roll. Jazz music also evolved more into
the experimental bebop scene. Country and
Folk music also gained popularity and
became more ‘hard-edge’.
Teenagers also started to identify themselves
with music and dressed in accordance to their
music preference. Teen stars such as Frank
Sinatra rose to fame, which opened up a
whole new audience to popular music.
UK:
In this decade, The UK faced WWII. It brought
along fast, frantic and often American music.
Dances such as the Jitterbug were very
popular. Because of the war, many popular
songs were related to the troops and so
songs such as Vera Lynn’s ‘We’ll Meet Again’
were played a lot.
After the war, ‘Skiffle’ bands became popular.
These bands used household items to
produce music. Tommy Steele was a very
famous Skiffle player.

3. The 1950’s
USA:
Rock and Roll dominated the American charts
in the 1950’s. It’s origin came from rhythm
and blues, typically the African-American style
of music. The electric guitar also became very
popular and helped to develop the Rock and
Roll genre that we think of today.
Elvis Presley, known as ‘The King Of Rock and
Roll’ was one of the most popular American
singers of the 20th century. He was a subject
of discrimination as many thought that a
white person should not be singing the genre
of Rock and Roll.
UK:
The 1950’s saw a great develpoment for
music, development that we still see today.
Popular British music like folk and dnace were
already heavily influenced by America. The
significant change came about when Rock
and Roll was introduced into British culture,
which provided of new opportunities for
youth’s interaction with music. The early
stages saw American artists dominating the
Rock and Roll scene, but as Britain became
more familiar with the genre, they attempted
to produce British Rock and Roll.

4. The 1960’s
USA:
The first few years of the 1960’s saw a rise in
popularity in Girl groups; this included an
African-American group called The Shirelles.
Their most famous song is called ‘Will You
Love Me Tomorrow’ which became #1 in the
American charts.
Other genres of music that were popular
were;
-Surf- The Beach Boys
-Nashville Sound - Skeeter Davis
UK:
By the 1960’s, Britain had began to produce
many ‘beat groups’ one of these being The
Beatles. They took their influence from the
soul genre, the rhythm and blues genre and
the surf genre that were formed in America.
British Rock broke through to mainstream
popularity through songs such as ‘I Want To
Hold Your Hand’ by The Beatles.
Psychedelic Rock also began to gain
popularity in both the us and UK. This is also
when counter-culture between the two
countries began. Youths turned their back to
the mainstream cultural standards, especially
views on racial segregation.

5. The 1970’s
USA:
Popular music in the 1970’s was built upon
the developed genre of rock. Through rock,
many different sub-genres within the main
body became very popular in American
culture. Hard-Rock is probably the most
notable sub-genre of rock in the 1970’s. With
bands such as AC/DC and Led Zeppelin
becoming very popular throughout this time
period.
UK:
Britain also created their own sub-genres of
rock called Folk Rock and Glam Rock. It was a
lot less heavy than the US rock genres. Glam
Rock is a style of Rock and Pop, where
performers wear very outrageous clothing,
makeup and hair. The performers were often
perceived as camp. A famous Glam Rock
performer would be David Bowie.

6. The 1980’s
USA:
New wave, a sub-genre of rock music found
its way into the American charts. This was one
of the first genres of music that used
electronic instruments frequently, to produce
music. Bands such as Blondie dominated the
charts in the early 1980’s. As the 1980’s
progressed a new genre hit the mainstream
charts, Hip-Hop. The genre was already very
popular in the East-Coast with known artists
such as LL Cool j and Kurtis Blow. Hip-Hop did
not break enough to mainstream until the
group Public Enemy released their album ‘It
Takes Millions To Hold Us Back’.
UK:
New Romanticism emerged after the
popularity of New Wave. It developed in
London night clubs. Like New Wave, it’s heavy
use of synthesisers was an important role in
the music. Adam and the Ants were very
popular throughout this time in music.
The genre of Pop was also very popular in the
UK in the 1980’s, the duo group Wham! Were
one of the most successful artists of the pop
culture in the 1980’s.

7. The 1990’s
USA:
The 1990’s saw quite a variety in popular
music. In the USA; grunge music became very
popular for the first few years of the 90.s with
bands such as Red Hot Chilli Peppers
becoming mainstream. RnB was taken over
by Pop and acts such as Britney Spears and
Christina Aguilera had huge success with their
singles such as ‘Baby One More Time’ and
‘Genie In A Bottle’.
UK:
British popular music took a different path,
focusing more on Pop rather than Rock. Brit
Pop was very popular with artists such as
Blur, Supergrass, Oasis and Manic Street
Preachers dominating the charts. Oasis were
the most popular and the only ones to break
the USA music charts. Pop was still very
popular towards the end of the 90’s. The
Spice Girls were one of the most famous
groups with singles such as ‘Wannabe’
charting number 1 in both the UK and the
USA.

8. The 2000’s
USA:
Hip-Hop dominated the US charts in the
2000’s. Acts such as Eminem, Outcast, , The
Black Eyed Peas and 50 Cent were among
many mainstream Hip-Hop artists that broke
through to USA popular music.
Teen Pop continued to thrive in the music
industry; many female artists used thier
sexuality to gain fandom, these included
Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Despite
this, the biggest breakthrough solo artist was
Avril Lavigne selling 30 million albums
worldwide, to date.
UK:
The UK’s mainstream music went back to rock
and new artists such as Coldplay broke
through. Other artists such as Biffy Clyro and
Muse also began their journey in mainstream
music.
Soul music also began to receive recognition,
solo artists such as Amy Winehouse and Joss
Stone became very successful in the mid
2000’s.

9. The 2010’s
USA:
In this decade The USA has reverted back to
ElectroPop which was somewhat popular in
the 80’s. Singers have become increasingly
younger and many Disney stars such as Miley
Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato have
made an impact on the charts, with their
music relating to Pop and electropop.
Justin Bieber is very famous for combining the
two genres of Pop and RnB together. RnB is
probably the most popular music genre of
this decade so far, Beyonce is a world famous
singer who always enters highly on the charts.
UK:
Pop music is still very popular in this decade
and like the USA the UK have used the Pop
genre and merged it with other genres. An
example of this would be Soul. The artist
Adele used the two genres to produce her
own music.
Electronic music in the form of Dubstep has
broken through to the mainstream music,
along with Grime. There has been an increase
in Grime artists since entering 2010’s as
underground is being made more popular.
Stormzy would be an example of the grime
genre and Nero would be an example of
Dubstep.