MUS 505 Exam Verified 100%

MUS 505 Exam Verified 100% 1950s & 1960s Culture - - Baby boom period- children born between 1947 and 1957 - possess incredible purchasing power : - As they were able to purchase music and associated products - have own disposable income (from parents or par-time jobs) - sense of extended youth meant more free time to invest in pleasurable activities - sense of collective identity American Identity - - was a sense of self that is perceived as a superpower - culture industries (adopting this identity) used to create new music, new movies, television expands rapidly as a medium - capitalism was a driving force of promoting American Identity - Gives a sense of the good life, always enjoying one's spare time and extra income - can be identifies within the "Nuclear family" Cold War - - developed of technologies and nuclear arms increases sense of power and sense of fear - politcal conservatism - fear of communism (Blacklists/ McCarthy hearings) Girl Groups (early 1960s) - 1960-64 - dominated by girl groups, doo-wop groups and countrypolitan - New York music publisher Don Kirshner hired numerous songwriters to work in the Brill Building around the clock to produce a TPA- like bombardment of songs - such as Carole King and Neil Sedaka Early girl Groups - - many were African American Such as the Ronettes and the Crystals but also White-American - some were racially segregated - had little control over their career - shift from rags to riches stories of poor young women who happened to sing well together The producer - - becomes a major force in 1960s music - known as an artist, many have own signiture sound Producer: Phil Spector - - owned Phillies Records and recorded the Crystals and Ronnettes (and othrs) - created the "Wall sound": - incorporated two of everything - created bombastic sound sound rarely was subtle, carried through the duration of the song - used orchestral instruments, large sets of backing vocals, plus a full rock band - considered the "wagner" of pop music Motown - -centred in Detroit - Owned, Berry Gordy Jr. - successful black-owned operated label was a collection of labels with different functions or artists - produced some of the most popular artists known today such as Supremes, Temptations, Smokey Robinson Critical of Motown - the ability to create and maintain its own sound, similar across all of its recordings - these sounds are attributed to its house band, "The funk brothers" who backed most of the recording artist Countrypolitan - - country music sales dropped drastically in the 1950s - started a cycle of soft-shell and hard-core country music - by the 1960s, Nashville had become the centre of country music production "Music Row" - - genre countrypolitan - 1960s Nashville - a collection of studios and labels produced the majority of country recordings 1960s Nashville - centre of country music production - - all studios and record labels there - endless session musicians available, playing on "broadway" - music publishing houses - Music row - producer assumes the same role as in pop industry- of the ability to create complex recordings with new technology in the studio - session musicians like Floyd Cramer on piano playing on all recordings (slip-note piano) Countrypolitan: Emergence of country "stars" - ex. Patsy Cline - tuxedos and evening gowns - sang about personal relationships and pain - distanced from the audience - crooning voices - backed by complex arrangements: piano, rhythm section, full orchestra & backing vocals - slick production, highly stylized performances - contrasts the hillbilly music heard earlier, with smaller groups, rough vocal timbre, acoustic instruments, improvisation, limited production The Beatles - - Britain secondary to American pop culture in the 1950s & early 1960s - one of few crossover of British artists - result from British forces brining American cultural products during WWII - American culture (rock 'n' roll in partocular) was attractive to British teenagers - lack of support from media and the music industry - all lived in liverpool and met in high school - played extended periods in Keiserkeller in Hamburg - formed in 1957 - end of 1962, they were the first LIverpool band to go to London, sign a record contract, and place a single on the UK charts - given greater exposure by working in port city The Beatles: musical roots - - influenced by early rock 'n' roll by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry Buddy Holl. Bill Haley - maintained a connection to black forms of music (R&B), evident in "Twist and shout" released in 1963 - recognized their country roots, presence of country music in liverpool The beatles: record label - -signed to EMI 1962 - 'please please me' released in 1963 - ran requests for beatles airplay late in the year increased popularity - early 1964 "I want to hold your hands" was #1 - appeared on Ed Sullivan in 1964- Beatlemania had begun this period Music that emerged from northern england - - liverpool, Machester, Birmingham - Gerry and Pacemakers- Managed by Brian Epstein - rivalled the Beatles on the British charts four major labels in Britain - Decca EMI Pye Philips Two radio station (Britain) - BBC - only featured rock and roll once a week on Saturdays Radio Luxembourg Britain Radio stations - - EMI & Decca the most active labels- licensed American music for release in the UK - No independent radio - very few independent record labels Information about American pop music (to britain) - came through magazines and movies - melody maker, new musical express (NME) Rock and roll singers like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Chuck Berry were popular in England Skiffle - - popular genre - combines big band jazz with folk music - often centered on one chord (limited progressions) - homemade instruments - Lonnie Donegan and his Skiffle group Beatles: First recording from 1958 - A cover of Holly's "that'll be the day" Groups of idle working-class teens formed rival gangs - Rockers and Mods - both groups created a sense of belonging, unity among disheartened youth in England Rockers - took from images of 1950s"leather jackets, tight pants, greased pompadour hair, motorcycles Mods - expensive clothes, changed styles frequently, styled and dyed hair much like the mop cuts of the beatles Height of Rock 'n' Roll - - achieved by 1959 - early 60s often considered a period of inactivity in music industry - audience were ready for something new - Assassination of Kennedy (1963) and somber mood of America made them more receptive to the Beatles arrival in 1964 - England in1960s suffer from result of baby boom-many teens dropped out of school or could not work Electric Blues - things that changed the music - - Mass migration to northern US during 1930s and 1940s - Electric guitar changes the shape of music - new techniques develop - band become larger and louder to support the sound of the guitar - development of venues also concurrent with developments in technology - Muddy Waters: slide bar/ bottleneck technique on the guitar moved the development of down home blues forward Blues: Musical characteristics - -rhythm section now possible: Piano, drums, bass - power in voice and melodic guitar, amplified voice, and sometimes amplified harmonica - used of distortion on guitar - use of bottleneck sliding - buzzing timbres - voice is rough, uses growls and moans - lyrics centre on the depression and isolation from living alone in giant, unfriendly urban areas - lyrics - sex and masculinity R&B - - Rhythm & Blues comes from term applied by Billboard to its "race" or American folk records chart first successful genre of R&B - jump blues R&B: musical characteristics - instrument: drums, piano, bass, guitar, horns - quick-moving dance music - small combos -catchy lyrics short songs