American Vernacular Music: Music Listening Journal, Chapters 7&8

Music Listening Journal, Chapters 7&8

This week’s focus was on Chapters seven and eight. The music industry would grow after World War II and for the first time record companies targeted younger listeners. Much of the music that was produced from the late 1940’s to the early 1950’s were produced by crooners that used the microphone to create an intimate environment. The economic of the music industry also played a major role in this trend. In the 1940’s Top 40 radio program also had a control of the uncertainty of the marketplace for music. Todd Stroz would develop this the top 40 radio program in the 1950’s in Omaha, Nebraska.

The ability to control the play what the public exposed payola where Disk Jockeys would get paid to play some records more than others. This was also due to the powerful executives that had to decide what music would be recorded and broadcast. The recorder companies saturated music stores with an excess of records with a guarantee that that they could return any recorders that they did not sell. Decca, RCA Victor, Columbia, and Capitol Records experienced considerable growth. The market also supported other independent labels that were outside of Tin Pan Alley’s mainstream.

New recording processes changed they way records would be made. With magnetic tape recording offered many advantages over the established recording technology. This made overdubbing much easier and by the late 1940’s recording studios were using audiotape rather than a master disc. In 1948, Les Paul produced an album for Bing Crosby. This became the first album to use audiotape. In 1948, there would also be great strides in the long-playing records. This allowed records to play for 23 minutes each side in comparison to the three or four minutes of the 78 r.p.m. records. This caused a battle of speeds between record speeds, but the record player manufacturers soon changed the players to accept all record speeds.

In the early 1950’s the singer or the crooner became popular. Frank Sinatra would be the first big band singer that would take advantage of the changes in the music business. He would begin his celebrity in 1942 with the Benny Goodman Orchestra at the paramount theater in New York. His voice set him apart from the other singers. He combined the smoothness of Bing Crosby with the Italian bel canto style. He would gain several nicknames “swoonatra”, “The Sultan of Swoon”, and the voice.

Nat King Cole became the first black artist to be successful after the postwar era. He recorded 10 pop hit during 1946 through 1954. Nat had a remarkable professional success and was the first black musician to have his own radio show and also to have a network television show. Unlike many singers of the time Nat considered himself a musician who sang because the public wanted him to sing.

Urban Folk music was a new popular genre of the 1950’s that was influenced by folk music. The record industry didn’t really know what to do with urban folk music. The first group to achieve success in urban folk was the group the Weavers, a group that contained the political activists, Pete Seeger. Urban Folk music went on to influence Peter, Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio, and Bob Dylan. The mambo craze became popular in years before rock and roll. The music was up-tempo, high energized, and a polyrhythmic variant of big band music.

In 1949, the billboard began using the terms rhythm & blues and country and western instead of race music and hillbilly music. The radio played a major role in the popularization of these types of music. The jukebox would also bring the listener to the new genres of music. Another main factor in the success of R&B and country and western was the independent record labels that were created after the war. This also led to the trend of covering a song or making a cover version. This led to the success of black music but not always the success of the black musicians that created the music.

Vocal harmony groups gained popularity they became known as “doo-wop” groups. Clyde MacPhatter gained popularity with his R&B group “ The Dominos”. He would later create a new group called the Drifters. His rendition of “Have Mercy Baby” influenced the soul movement of the 1960’s along with Ray Charles, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin. Country and western gain popularity through radio shows. Although there were radio shows for country music before the war there more after the war that spanned the entire country. Patty Page sold more recorders than any other female singers in the early 1950’s. Eddie Arnold a country crooner was dominant on the country charts from 1947 to 1954. He would also have eleven Top 40 Hits on the pop charts.

The rise of Rock and Roll was very significant in cultural terms. Rock and Roll wasn’t a new style of music and wasn’t any single style of music. Alan Freed first used the term for commercial and generational purposes. The audiences for Rock and Roll were racially mixed. Alan Freed would embrace the term Rock and Roll. In the early days of Rock and Roll, Chuck Berry, Pat Boone, Fats Domino, Ricky Nelson, The Everly Brothers, and Elvis Presley were all lumped together. In the 1950’s kids bought Rock and Roll albums as a form of rebellion against adult standards and restriction of musical style and taste. Rock and Roll became everyone’s music no matter where you lived.

Cover versions were popular some artist would change the song slightly or recreate exactly. A Little Bird Told Me by Paula Watson was produced on an independent label. Evelyn Knight covered the song exactly which lead to a lawsuit. The courts sided with the larger company and changed the how covers could be produced fro better for worse.

The record business would have a major boost from 191 million in 1951 to 514 million in 1959. Rock and Roll helped with this success of the music business. RCA found success with the Rock and Roll Waltz and it also found a major success with rockabilly artist, Elvis Presley. Rock and Roll would have an R&B side this was helped with Chuck Berry’s Maybellene and other number one hits. Johnny B. Goode was a number eight on the pop and number two on the R&B charts. This song was an autobiographical look at Chuck Berry’s own life. He also pioneered the used of the electric guitar and the used of Rock ‘N’ Roll styled vocals. Little Richard found success with his nonsense lyrics and songs based on twelve bar blues. Little Richard would also be one of the most flamboyant artists of early Rock ‘N’ Roll. Fats Domino’s hit “Ain’t It A Shame” became a number 10 hit on the pop charts and number one on the R&B charts. Fats Domino would also be a skilled singer, pianist, and songwriter.

One of the biggest stars that would come from the country music side would be Elvis Presley. RCA bought out his contract from Sun record. They would strengthen his appeal to teenagers by bringing the hillbilly cat to the mainstream. Chet Akins made sure that Elvis albums were pop friendly. Many People thought Elvis’ performances were vulgar due to his hip movements. He maintained a steady popularity till his death in 1977.

Buddy Holly offered the opposite effect of Elvis Presley. Buddy Holly offered a clean cut Rock ‘N’ Roll to the audience. His music combined country, R&B and mainstream pop music this can be seen in his hit That’ll Be the Day. Holly also used double tracking on his records that where two voices are recorded on top of one another.
Wanda Jackson was a pioneer in Women in Rock ‘N’ Roll with the song I Gotta Know. She also toured with interracial band would often face harsh treatment. Janis Martin would be known as the female Elvis Presley. She produced teen-friendly albums with songs like My Boy Elvis and Drugstore Rock ’N’ Roll.

The Latin side of Rock ‘N’ Roll biggest star in the 1950’s was Ritchie Valens. His music helped to create the Los Angles Rock ‘N’ Roll sound. Donna and La Bamba would be hits for Valens, but his life would be cut short in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Songwriters became very important in early Rock ‘N’ Roll. Even the most popular singers of the 1950’s did not write their own music. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote songs that would be popular with teenagers when sung by the popular artist.

Around the time when Elvis Presley became popular so did Johnny Mathis with his smooth style singing voice. His crooning style was more like pop ballads than the older crooners. The Kingston trio would also find success while Rock ‘N’ Roll era. They were a popular folk trio that had major hits with The Legend of Tom Dooley. The Kingston trio was cheerful and upbeat, they also offered optimism and enthusiasm.