MUSIC140

Diane Warren (1956-) Songwriter

• Most successful in Western pop .

North American Pop

1945 (End of WWII 1939-1945)

End of the “Big Band” era which dominated since the mid 1930s (trumpets, saxophone, trombone)

• Primarily intended for dancing.
• Lack of focus on vocal

Example of Big Band Music: 1944 “Sentimental Journey” (Brown / Homer / Green)

• Performed by Les Brown and his Band of Renown, ft. Doris Day
  • Doris Day will become a film / music star in the 1950s.
• Song title evokes sentiments from WWI
• Singers were just a part of the band.
• Since 1950s, there is an emphasis on vocals but this was not always the case.
• Smooth and vocalized voice, you can hear the words clearly; control and calm
• Band leaders are “the stars”. Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey.
• Music industry divided into 3 categories:
  1. Pop: White, middle class, urban / northern US (where the money is).
  2. Race (Blues): Black, regardless of class or location.
  3. Hillbilly (Country): Lower / working class, primarily white / southern US.
     • Origins in poor, rural part of southern US but is migrating to urban areas (particularly in the south).

Example of Race Music: “Good Rockin’ Tonight” (Roy Brown 1947)

• Performed by Wynonie Harris in 1948.
• Specifically Jump Blues.
• A lot of the same instruments seem as the big bands but smaller (trumpets, saxophone, bass).
• Rougher / grunge / aggressive voice, harder to understand, chest sound; due to different intended audience.

Example of Hillbilly Music: “Blue Moon of Kentucky” (Bill Monroe 1946, recorded/released in 1947)

• Specifically Blue Grass.
• Different instruments: guitar, fiddle, mandelin.
• Controlled but forward nasal sound.

The products of the music industry at this time are sheet music and recordings. Sheet music dominates recordings until the late 1920s. By the end of WWII, recording industry has come to dominate.

Why a Music Industry? Development of American Music Industry

• 1600s, you could steal pamphlets and make copies yourself to sell because there was no intellectual property.
• People complained to the Queen so you can now get sole rights to make copies and distribute to make money from an idea (copyright).
• You would get payments from the stationers company (Queen) when people used your work (royalties).

We need copyright law - intellectual property.

• 1790s-1830s, Amendments to the copyright laws to cover sheet music.
• The Victorian Ballad: (Queen Victoria).
  • appearance and social mobility is everything

Industrial Revolution made it so that there was now a middle class. The new middle class wanted to show off their money. Ways to do this are to buy luxury items (piano) and have daughters pursue “leisure” activities and women in the family does not have to work.

• The rise of middle class to have Parlour Songs written specifically for middle class

Parlour Songs

Example of Parlour Song: “Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms” (Thomas Moore, early 1800s)

Themes: Loyalty, honesty, control, restraint (idealized romance).

• AABA
• Piano accompaniment, showcase vocal control.
• Target young women about idealized love
• Daughters would move up the social ladder by marrying.
• Control / restraint style originates from Victorian age.

Demand for newly composed songs led to an increased organization of the music industry. Music writers did not make a lot of money at this point.

Tin Pan Alley

Parlour song: “After the Ball” (Charles K Harris 1892)

• Typical song but became very popular, first sheet music sold over 5 mil copies (usually less than 100k).
• Music industry’s first “hit song”.

Why 1892?

Rural to urban shift.

There cannot be a hit song if everyone lives in rural areas because it is too hard to spread the song. In the US, many people are migrating to the urban areas at this point in time (by the 1890s, over \frac{1}{3} lives in cities).

Now everyone knows you can get rich from the music industry, most of them go to New York City in a place known as Tin Pan Alley (Manhattan), the centre of professional music making.

One story is that everyone’s piano was overlapping each other and it sounded like people were banging on tin pans

• At it’s peak in the 1920s, 1930s, 21000 publishers, 36000 composers.
• Develops an efficient way of creating music, divisions of labour (composer, lyricist, publisher, publicity, performers). Allows for quality control and efficiency.
• Lyric style is still the same as before, idealized romance.
• Music is made to be easy to play / sing. AABA musical form (upper case for melody) - verse verse bridge verse.
  • Specifies the melody.
  • Easy to play, easy to sing with simple phrasing and range

Example: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (Arlen / Harburg 1939)

There was no focus on singer at this time, more on songs. Popular songs were not linked to an artist. There is also no distinction based on age (e.g. people of all ages would like big bands).

North American Slave Trade

(1619 - (1863) 1865) Music culture was brought over through slavery

Example: “Work Song - Old Alabama” 1947

• There were no recordings of slave work songs, this one is a prison work song.
• For efficiency and entertainment
• Used to pass time / set pace / coordinate work.
• Song Leader: “Floating pool of verses”; Worked with many small pieces of songs and put them together in real time.
  • Two lines, guess which one it will be. More interactive than just repeating the same song.

Folk Music

• Performed by amateurs.
• Self or community entertainment.
• Passed by oral tradition.
• More concern with tradition than innovation (lacking self-consciousness).

African Retentions

1. Interest in percussion and distorted timbres.
   • Shows emotion and dedication.
   • Uniqueness in sound
2. Values in the Ecstatic and the Cathartic.
   • So much energy that you are drained and spent after a performance
   • Values in the intensity of effort in African culture
3. Use of Riffs: Small self-contained musical gesture that repeats, becoming the basis for a longer composition.
4. Use of call and response.
   • Energy flow.

Post Slavery

(1865 -)

• Institutionalized racism.
• Acceleration of rural-to-urban shift.
• New form of music appears during the late 1800s.
• Ragtime and Jazz.
  • Urban styles, incorporated into popular music.
• Centers close to the Mississippi river.

Country (Rural) Blues

Blues is a broad term.

• Wandering musicians.
• Male vocalist, with acoustic guitar.
  • Too dangerous for women at the time.
• Plaintive vocal sound (lament).
• Themes include: travel, economics, love.

Musical Form

• 12 measure phrases. No other styles specified length.
• a-a-b lyric pattern.
• Call and response between guitar and voice.
• Early Blues performers made use of floating pool of verse (not formally writing out song).

Example: “Travellin’ Blues” (Blind Willie McTell 1929)

• First blues recording in the 1920s.
• Closer to folk music because lacks self-awareness.
  • Uneven bar counts.

Example: “Sweet Home Chicago” (Robert Johnson November 1936)

• Defined standards for blues guitar.
• Only made two sets of recordings (November 1936 / June 1937).
• Standardized performance, very different from Blind Willie McTell.
• First steps of African American Culture being a major influence.
• Self consciousness, thought out song.

Changes In Technology

Mechanical Reproduction

• 1877, Edison invents the phonograph (granophone).
  • Wax, not reusable, had business intentions / political but not music.
• 1895-1912, transition from wax cylinder to disks.
• 1925, industry standard set to 78 rpm, It was a balance between quality and playback time.
• One of the biggest hurdles was to convince people to buy records.
• In 1925, recording industry starts to rise to prominence.

What Was Recorded?

• Sheet music (TPA), still controlled by the same people.
• Black / Rural Southern White music was not recorded because TPA did not care.
  • They only cared about what they thought they could sell.
  • Harder to sell to rural areas due to distance and populations.

Commercial Radio

1920, recording industry almost dies.

• Jan 1922, 28 stations. Dec 1922, 570 stations.
• Controlled by only a few “Networks” (CBS, NBC, Mutual).
  • NBC was the first (1928).
  • Networks would buy up local networks and hook them up with telephone lines.

Commercial radio changed how a song would become popular and how fast a song would become popular. A song can become a hit over the nation at the same time.

Black music was not played on the radio, so it maintained regional differences.

Success of Radio

• One time purchase, unlimited content.
• Why buy records?
• Non-musical entertainment.

Rise of the Record Industry

• Ralph Peer: worked for Okeh Records (Artists & Repetoire).
  • Finds good musicians and songs for them to record.

Example: Mamie Smith “Crazy Blues” (1920)

• Black vocalist.
• Record sold relatively well, they did not expect African-Americans to own record players or for white middle class to be interested.

Ralph has an idea, radio has the exact same TPA music, there was a market to record African-American and rural white southern.

Introduction of “Hillbilly”

Example: Uncle Dave Macon and the Fruit Jar Drinkers “Carve that Possum” (1927)

• Banjo, acoustic guitar, mandelin, fiddle.

Introduction to “Race”

Example: Carr and Blackwell “How Long Blues” (1928)

• Piano was added because it was performed in the city as opposed to rural area
• Next step in the development of blues (city blues).
• Increased complexity due to multiple musicians.
• First “stars” around African-American audiences.
• Earlier style (country blues) was recorded after newer (city blues).

Sometime in the 1930s, the recording industry overtakes sheet music and mainly goes back to playing popular music (TPA).

Television

• First demonstrated in 1927.
• Experimental and low resolution broadcasts in 1930s.
• Network broadcasts begin in 1939.
• 1945, 6 stations. 1955, 411 stations.
• Major networks move to television and sell off radio, the radio networks are now mostly locally owned and have to come up with their own content, so they start to play records.
  • It was previously bad taste to play recordings over the radio.

WDIA Memphis was the first “Black Appeal” radio station in 1948. By 1954, there are over 200 on the air.

In the 1950s, Tin Pan Alley is in its dying days. The songs were very “safe”. Focus starts to fall of of the songs and towards the singers.

Examples: Nat King Cole “Too Young” (1951, Lippman / Dee), Patti Page “How Much Is That Doggie In The Window” (1952, Merril)

• World was emerging from WWII.

Baby Boomers

Baby boomers are experiencing extended adolescence. They invent the teenager. Teenagers get to stay in school, have part time jobs, and spend the money from their part time jobs. A generation gap appears between the culture of parents and their children.

• Transistor radio: portable and small.

Race Music

Jump Blues

We saw an example of Jump Blues before (“Good Rockin’ Tonight” 1948). This genre develops from a fusion of Big Band music (TPA / Jazz) with more the prominent blues / race music influence.

Gospel

Example: Ray Charles (1930-2004) “I’ve Got A Woman” (1954)

• Albany Georgia, blind at 7. Learns music at a school for the blind.
• 1952, Atlantic Records.
• Fusion of the energy of African American spiritual practice with secular lyrics.
• Success with white audiences.
• Could learn to play almost anything (photographic memory of music).
• Sacred music is called spirituals before the end of slavery and gospel afterwards.
• Based on a song called “It Must Be Jesus”.

Chicago Electric Blues

Example: Muddy Waters (1913 - 1983) “Hoochie Coochie Man” (1954, Wille Dixon)

• Born in Mississippi. Played guitar and harmonica. Emulated Robert Johnson.
• Moves to Chicago in the early 1940s, switches to electric guitar in 1945.
• 1944, records for Aristocrat Records (Chess Records).
• Verse Chorus structure (modified 12-bar blues).
  • Chorus: Same music, same words, may include title of song, may feature a higher level of intensity.
  • Verse: Same music, different words.
• Prominence of the electric guitar and harmonica.
• Used the amplifier to distort the sound of the guitar.
• Stop Time, sign of a practiced musician.

Mid 1950s, WWII has changed everything. USA was able to build massive industry and experiences economic prosperity.

• Extended adolescence (baby boomers).
• Rhythm and Blues become crossover hits (black appeal chart to pop chart).

Cover Versions: 1954 - 1956

“White” versions of “black” songs.

• Combats the “moral panic” among white parents because white teenagers are listening to African American music and paying attention to their culture.
• Several versions of the same song would end up on the charts at the same time.
• The cover versions would have higher recording quality.

Example: Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman)

• Born in 1932, Macon Georgia.
• First big hit was “Tutti Frutti”.
• Released late 1955 on Specialty Records (lyrics revised by Dorothy LaBostrie).
• “Crossover” hit: #2 R&B, #17 Pop.
• Verse-chorus structure but each section is based on 12-bar blues.
• Pat Boone cover song in early 1956: #10 Pop.
  • Just breaking as a pop star in 1955.
  • Echo sound, no distortion, band plays more restrained.

Example: “Sh-Boom” (The Chords / The Crew Cuts)

• Do-wop (singers take the place of instruments). Nonsense syllables.
• Originally released by The Chords in 1954 on an independent label Cat Records.
  • #3 R&B, #5 Pop.
• Covered by a Canadian group The Crew Cuts in 1954 by a major record Mercury Records.
  • Different musical structure (repeats the AABA twice).
  • Voice sounds a lot further, similar to the cover of “Tutti Frutti”. Echo and breathing.
  • No distortion in voice, no use of lower octave in the B part.
  • Timpani funny sound instead of sexy sax solo.
  • #1 Pop for 9 weeks, #1 song of the year.

The exact same type of covers were happening with country and western music.

Is this racist? Or a continuation of TPA traditions?

By 1956, race covers lessen because a new type of pop emerges which does not fit into any old genre. A mixture of pop, C&W, R&B, target at teenagers: Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Bill Haley and the Comets.

• Born in 1925.
• Originally “Bill Haley and the Saddlemen”, (part of C&W: Western Swing).
• Changes to “Bill Haley and the Comets” in 1952.
• Early hits with “Crazy Man, Crazy”, and “Shake, Rattle and Roll”.

Example: “Rock Around the Clock” (1954)

• Popular in 1955 movie “Blackboard Jungle” about R&B causing juveniles delinquents.
• 12-bar blues.

Baby Boomers liked to listen to music performed by similar age group. Bill Haley was in his 30s.

Elvis Presley (1935-1977)

• Tupelo, Mississippi.
• Exposed to all different types of music.
• 1953, 18 years old, Sam Phillips / Sun Records.
• Spring 1954, starts recording with Scotty Moore (Guitar), Bill Black (Bass).
• Dewey Phillips plays the song over 20 times in a row.
• The next day, Elvis goes down to the radio station to be interviewed. “Which highschool did you go to?”, can tell everyone that he is white.

July 1954 “That’s Alright Mamma” / “Blue Moon of Kentucky”

• “That’s a pop song now, little guy”, changes basic subdivision of “Blue Moon of Kentucky” from 3 to 4.
• Percussive timbre.
• 1954 - 1955: Elvis with Sun slowly becomes a regional star, with some national success on Country Charts.
• Before Rock ‘n’ Roll, they call his song Rockabilly, he had a nickname “The Hillbilly Cat”.
• 12 songs, all covers. He does not write songs.

Sam Phillips sells Elvis’s record contract to RCA in 1956 for $35,000 (high for the standards of the time). He uses this money to promote more new artists, most notably, Johnny Cash.

11 appearances on national television (there are 3 channels in 1956). Tens of millions people watching. Everyone knows who he is.

Example: “Heartbreak Hotel” (April-May 1956)

• #1 Pop, #1 Country, #5 R&B.

August to December 1956, Elvis has #1 on pop charts. “Hound Dog”, “Don’t Be Cruel”, “Love Me Tender”. “Hound Dog” and “Don’t be Cruel” chart on #1 on Pop, Country, and R&B.

• “Leave the guitar off stage”. Teenage girls going crazy.

Recall that one of the main characteristics of parlour music is control.

• Parker directs Elvis’ career towards more “Pop-friendly” material.
• Elvis not charting on R&B after 1957.
• Elvis enters the army from March 1958 to March 1960. Develops an addition to perscription drugs. March 1961, last public performance for 7 years and just does movies.
• the ’68 “Comeback Special”.
• 1970-77 Las Vegas.
• Elivs dies August 16, 1977, age 42. 10 different types of perscription drugs in his bloodstream.

Chuck Berry

In many ways, he is the complete opposite of Elvis.

• Born in St. Louis (midwest), middle class.
• Father was a carpenter.
  • Chuck look at records to see which African American artists were popular with middle class white (e.g. Nat King Cole). Notices that Nat King Cole has a very clear voice and tells stories.
• Very deliberate in what he wanted to do.
  • Decided that he wanted to be rich at a young age. Money guided many of his decisions.

Talent competitions were very popular in African American culture. Chuck enters them and is looking for a way to stand out. He deliberately changes the tone of his guitar to be more similar to country / western and sings with more of a nasal sound.

• 1955, ends up at Chess Records after visiting many other recording companies. Chuck plays around with Ida Red during spare time in the same way that Elvis played around with blues.
• Chess Records tells him to rewrite it again so that they do not have to pay the songwriter. He writes a story about an unfaithful woman but recasts it as a car chase to be more family friendly.

Example: “Maybellene” (July 1955)

Chuck recognizes early on that he is targetting a brand new demographic of youth. He starts to write songs that he knows will appeal to teenagers (young white audience). Themes include cars (represents freedom and privacy), girls, no school, Rock ‘n’ Roll (celebrating the music itself).

• Very few “cover versions” of Berry’s songs because his songs aren’t perceived as threatening. There is nothing that they can do to his songs.
  • The centrality of the electric guitar made it hard to remove.

Example: “Johnny B. Goode” (1958)

• #2 R&B, #8 Pop.
• 12-bar blues with a “text heavy” narrative.
• White Elements.
  • “Down Louisiana across to New Orleans”
  • “Text heavy” narrative.
  • Clear enunciation.
  • Country guitar sound.
• Black Elements.
  • Blues chord structure.
  • Added 6th (boogie woogie).
    • Piano would play busy bass line with left and and solo with right hand.
    • Guitar players would simplify the bass line.
  • Call and response between voice and guitar.
  • Guitar solo is structured on timbre, rhythm, articulation.
    • You can play the same note on different strings to change timbre.
    • You can change articulation by pressing the string differently or sliding to a note.

Elvis was a guitar owner, Chuck was a guitar player.

A whole generation of bands will model themselves after Chuck Berry. He played the electric guitar and wrote his own songs.

“If you wanted to give rock and roll a different name, you would call it Chuck Berry” - John Lennon.

This period is referred to historically as the Golden Age of Rock and Roll (1954 - 1959).

Elvis worked in the major recording companies because he did not write his own songs and therefore fit the division of labour.

Corruption - Payola

• Major recording companies linked race with the “quality” of the music.
• They spread rumors that the DJs were getting bribed in order to play them.
• Rock ‘n’ Roll is attacked on the grounds that it is inferior music.
• Payola Hearings (bribery). Turns out that everyone in the music industry was taking bribes.
• Alan Freed (the man who coins the term Rock ‘n’ Roll).
  • Fired from his job, gets hounded to death.
• Bribery and corruption were nothing new.

The major records had a good reason to be scared of Rock n Roll. In 1954, the music industry is estimated at $200m. By the end of 1959, it is estimated $600m.

The Pop top 10 was 15% Rock n Roll in 1955, 42% in 1959. The independent record companies accounted for about 21%, 66% in 1959.

Racism: Reaction against the perceived integration of youth. Birth of Rock and Roll coincides with emergence of Civil Rights Movement.

• Court Case: May 1954. Brown vs. The Board of Education. The Supreme Court ordered the educational systems to end segregation.
• Rosa Parks, Montgomery Alabama. Was illegal for African Americans to sit at the front of the bus. Montgomery Bus Boycott.
  • Story attracted international attention. Town was so embarassed, by the end of 1956, they take down the signs that divide the bus.
• Freedom Riders. Was illegal for people of opposite race to sit beside each other as they crossed the state lines.
• Lunch Counter Sit-ins. Would go to lunch counters that do not serve African Americans and just sit there.
• Leader was Rosa Park’s church leader, Marin Luther King Jr.
• Non-violent protest.

The Great Extinction

Many rock ‘n’ roll stars are taken out of the scene.

• Elvis, March 1958, Army.
• Chuck Berry, December 1959, Arrested under the “Mann Act”.
  • Serves over 2 years in jail.
  • “My Dingaling” is written once he gets out of jail, makes him the most money.
  • Is not a revolutionary figure afterward.
• Jerry Lee Lewis, May 1958, Marriage to 13 year old cousin becomes public.
• Little Richard, October 1957, announces retirement from music and becomes a church minister.
• Buddy Holly, February 1959, Dies in plane crash along with Ritchie Valens and “The Big Bopper” (JP Richardson).
  • Part of the second generation (listened to early Elvis).
  • Symbolically seen as the end of the golden age of rock ‘n’ roll.

The “In-Between” Years (1959 - 1963)

The end of the “Golden Age” of Rock and Roll, to the arrival of the Beatles (February 1964).

Major labels recognize that Rock and Roll is not a fad and begin to produce music similar to Rock and Roll, aimed at teenagers of the late 1950s / early 1960s. The only difference was that they were produced with the divsion of labour system.

Dance Craze

Starts by a song that came out of rythm and blues. “The Twist”.

The idea that a song that describes a dance becomes popular. Large music industries start to pump out songs about dances.

Example: “The Locomotion” Little Eva (1962, Goffin, King)

• Little Eva was the babysitter for Goffin’s and King’s children.

• Teel idols. Clean-cut, idealized boyfriend. No “bad boy” image from the Golden Age.
  • Singing was almost secondary to looks.

Example: “Blue Velvet” Bobby Vinton (1963)

• Composed in 1950, was a major hit for Tony Bennett in 1951.
• Smoother sounding, but there are instruments you would have not heard 10 years older.
  • Electric guitar.
• Older TPA songs could be reworked in the new style.
• Newer songs are written specifically for the new teen demographic. Romantic (non-sexualized) love, and dancing.
• Most of the newer singers did not write songs. These songs were coming from professional songwriters (not technically called TPA, but still in NYC).
  • The Brill Building.
  • Don Kirshaner / Alvin Nevins, Aldon Music. They employed some of the most successful songwriters of the time.
  • Worked largely in pairs, lyricists and composers.
  • Song could go from not written to a major hit in less than 3 weeks. Looking at the charts, you will see many different artists, but the same songwriters (most of them were the Brill Building songwriters).

To summarize the “In-Between Years”, division of labour figures out how to create songs that teenagers will buy and parent will not be scared of.

Rise of the Producer

• The Magnetophon.
  • Sgt. Jack Mullin.
• The Nazis invented reel-to-reel tape.
  • More reliable than records which could scratch or skip.
• Bing Crosby becomes the first celebrity to pre-record a weekly broadcast.
• 1948, Bing gives one of the first commercially produced reel-to-reel tape recorders to Les Paul.

Les Paul (1915 - 2009)

• Popularizes the solid-body electric guitar.
• Wishes to create recordings by layering performances.
• Assists in the development of the “multitrack” tape recording.

Example: “Sitting On Top Of The World” (Les Paul with Mary Ford, 1953)

Multitrack recording redefines the process of recording. Reproduction to Production. Creating a moment that never actually happened. During the In-Between Years, the recording industry begins the transition from recording complete songs in a single “take” to the use of multitrack recording.

Phil Spector

Was not a performer, but became incredibly famous.

• the “Wall of Sound”.

Example: “Be My Baby” The Ronettes, (1963, Barry, Greenwich, Spector)

Spector and the Brill Building.

• Texture was so thick that it would be very hard to isolate specific instrument sounds.

Surf Music

• Middle Class.
• West Coast Prosperity.
• Importance of Electric Guitar, Instrumental Tracks.

“Surfin’ USA” The Pendletones (The Beach Boys) (May 1963, Chuck Berry)

• Amazing musicians, unrivaled background vocal complexity.
• Brian Wilson was the creative force (brains).
  • Songwriter, arrangement, recording engineer, producer. Was allowed to produce the Beach Boy’s records himself.
  • The one person in the world who scared the Beatles.
  • Suspected to be schizophrenia, tried to combat with drugs and alcohol.

Beach Boys decline in popularity through the late 1960s because of Brian Wilson’s mental illness and changes in approaching popular music that they cannot keep up with.

Folk Revival

• Many of the teen fans during the golden age of Rock ‘n’ Roll are now in their early 20s.
• Now in University, many are looking for music that is more “serious”.
  • Folk music tells stories about issues.
• Sounds similar to Folk music that we studied before, except that these are professional musicians.
• Authentic because it is not surrounded by money (at least on the surface).
  • Attention was not called to the music industry.
• Heavily involved in politics (left).

Woody Guthrie: “This machine kills fascists”.

Example: “This Land Is Your Land” (Woody Guthrie, 1940)

• Performed by The Weavers: Pete Seeger.
• Very good musicians, not flashy.
• Try hard to not seem self-concious.
• Lyric content about the political left.

After WWII, Weavers are blacklisted on suspicion of communism. Communist witch hunt Paul McCarthy (MyCarthyism). Folk music almost disappears until the baby boomers.

The music industry creates a style of folk music, which is simlar to early music but more produced, smoother sounding, more arranged. Targetted to the leading age of baby boomers.

Example: “Tom Dooley” (The Kingston Trio, 1959)

Bob Dylan (1961 - 1965): Traditional folk singer / songwriter. Leader in new generation of folk musicians.

Example: “A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall” (Bob Dylan, 1963)

• Started in 1962, finished in 1963.
• Timelessness, many allegories.
• Numeric references.
• Cuban missile crisis, October 1962. US Navy surrounds Cuba.

Pop music is about to grow up as its audience is growing up.

At the end of the In-Between Years, the music industry is worth the exact same as when it started.

The British Invasion

• US early 1960s.
• Optimism with Kennedy (Camelot) / ML King, Civil Rights.
  • Kennedy was Catholic, an outsider. Young, understood the concerns of youth.
• Kennedy put forward an idea of what the United States could become, “The New Frontier”.
  • “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
• August 1963, Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream”.
• November 1963, Kennedy assassinated.
• Beatles arrive, very funny, very talented, not American.

Post War Britain

Return to DIY culture.

Rebuilding the country goes on for years after the war. Young people get hit the hardest in terms of employment and opportunities.

• Skiffle: Acoustic guitars, would variations of Rythmn & Blues / Rock ‘n’ Roll.
• The Quarrymen: 1957 John Lennon / Paul McCartney (Vocals and Guitar). They both wrote songs very frequently.
  • Paul had a friend who could play the guitar solos, George Harrison (Lead Guitar).
  • Got very good at writing songs from intense practice.
  • August 1960, Pete Best (Drums).
  • Finalized on name The Beatles.
• Temporarily have a bass player, Paul McCartney switches to bass.
• Spend a lot of time playing in Hamburg, Germany, and Liverpool - The Cavern Club.
  • At this time, Germany was split up, American soldiers were stationed in West Germany.
  • The Beatles have a “Rocker” image.
• Brian Epstein: Manager. December, 1961.
  • Never managed a band, so he did things different.
  • Change of image, from grease to puffy hair, teen idol look.
  • Does not attempt to control them in interviews.
  • Spends 6 months trying to get them a record contract. Every record company in Britain turned them down. They did not think there was any future in guitar-based popular music.
• June, 1962. Parlophone, Comedy Division of EMI.
  • Producer, George Martin. Master at recording and producing, sound effects in comedy.
  • New drummer, Ringo Starr.

Example: “Love Me Do” (September, 1962)

• Does not feature Ringo.
• Sells well enough to get them a second song.

Example: “Please Please Me” (January, 1963)

• AABA form.
• Numerous rehearsed details.
• Changes in rythmic density in vocal in A / B section.
• Highest note at the end of the B section.
• TPA-style attention to arrangement.

No British bands have been popular in America recently. Mythology: Brian Epstein says he will not bring the Beatles to America until they have a hit record. “I Want To Hold Your Hand”. February 1964, The Beatles are coming, branded as the new British Invasion.

February 9th, 1964. Ed Sullivan Show, 70 million viewers. Tour lasts for two weeks, 2 million albums, $2.5 million merchandising.

• Hysteria known as “Beatlemania”.
• April 1964, 12 songs on Billboard Top 100 simultaneously, including positions 1 to 5.
• End of 4th US Tour in 1965, $65 million.

The modern stadium concert happens because of the Beatles.

The Beatles

• Going to stadium sand concerts.
• Brought back the core idea of the golden age of rock ‘n’ roll. To produce and write their own songs.

Mersey Beat: Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Searchers, The Swinging Blue Jeans. Named after a river close to their hometown.

July 1965. Their second film Help. Played as themselves.

End of 1964. The Beatles meet Bob Dylan.

“You music is great but your lyrics don’t say anything”.

Example: “Yesterday” (album Help)

• AABA form.
• More complex harmonic and lyric structure.
• String Quartet, have ideas and record down random thoughts.

• One Beatle performing. McCartney.

  1. The Beatles are experimenting with new things in song writing. Evolving and moving away from writing pop songs.
  2. This is the point where they stop writing songs together and each develop their own style of music.

August 1965 “Help”, December 1965 “Rubber Soul”, August 1966 “Revolver”.

Example: “Tomorrow Never Knows” (album Revolves, composed by John Lennon).

• No chord changes, based on a dance from Indian Tamboura.
• Lyrics are based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
• Vocal is “double-tracked” and is run through a “Leslie” speaker cabinet.
  • Gives shimmer to the sound designed for organ.
  • Try to use the second track to match the first to give a thicker and fuller sound.
• Makes use of take “loops” (avant-garde) and backwards recording.
• The growing influence of non-western culture, and the technology of the recording studio on the work of the Beatles.
• This song would have been unplayable in concert in the 1960s.

Too tired of being the Beatles, too loud and can’t hear song clearly. Lose interest in 1966.

Religion in popular music. Teenagers are moving away from religion.

• John is an athiest. Jokes about Jesus and religion.
• “Beatles are bigger than Jesus now”. Organizational religions have been moving to big business.
• August, the United States protests against statement.
• August 29th, Candlestick park in San Francisco.
  • Retiring from public performance.
• June 1967, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”.
  • Most important album in history.
  • Changes the perception of album, album includes lyrics to the songs.

Example: “A Day In The Life”

• Actually assembled out of sections separately composed. Used transitions between the parts that John & Paul composed separately. Weird intense transition. Avant-garde classical music.
• Post-modern approach to creating forms.
• Avant-garde techniques with orchestra and piano.
• Does not follow the rules.
• Went beyond having a bunch of songs in an album, they were linked by a theme. Storied from their childhood.
• The first “concept” album? Only about half of their songs were about the concept.
• They wanted people to listen to the entire thing in order because the songs are seen as a part of a larger whole.

Shift to “Hippie Aesthetic”.

• Marks the shift form Rock ‘n’ Roll to Rock.
• Moving from singles to albums, dancing to listening, entertainers to serious musicians. We start to hear the word artist used to describe musicians.
• FM radio, AOR (Album Oriented Rock). FM could broadcast radio in stereo.

Brian Epstein dies of a drug overdose just after Sgt. Peppers comes out. Beatles begin to fragment (John / Paul). Spring of 1970, Paul McCartney announces that he is leaving the band, Beatles break up. 6 years and 2 months from Ed Sullivan to the end of the band.

The British Blues Revival

Interest in blues in London. Chess Tour, Muddy Waters had a huge following in London.

Rolling Stones

• Fleetwood Mac, Cream, Eric Clapton, Led Zepplin, The Rolling Stones.
• Leader of Rolling Stones is Brian Jones. Put the band together, organizer. Loved African-American blues, band was named after a Muddy Waters song.
  • Debut at the Marquee Club in July 1962.
• Andrew Long Oldham becomes the manager in Spring (April) 1963. Had worked for Brian Epstein before, tried to do the same for the Rolling Stones.

1. “Dont try to out-beatle the Beatles”.
   • Change of image in 1963. Mick Jagger gets his dangerous style. Anti-Beatles.
   • In 1963-1964, all of their singles are covers.
   • 1964, “England’s Newest Hitmakers”. Mostly blues covers.

Example: “King Bee” (April 1964)

• Blues form.
• Cover of song by Slim Harpo (1957).

Kieth Richards and Mick Jagger trying to write songs, John and Paul are helping them out.

Example: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (Jagger / Richard)

• First US #1 pop for the Rolling Stones.

Compared to the Beatles, they have a very different image (working class), almost like they traded places. The way they made music is the difference between process versus product.

The Beatles were about the destination, had a clear goal in mind, even give up live performances because they can’t reproduce the same sound. The Rolling Stones are about the journey, they never play a song in the exact same way.

Soul To Funk

• Development connected to the Civil Rights movement and development of African-American industry.
• Late 1950s, growing anticipation of civil rights.
• Rejection of blues as the sound of the past, rural south, slavery.
• New sound of the urban, Soul Music.
• Shift to idealized romance. Sounding more sophisticated.

1. Vocal style from Gospel. Not as important in Motown.
2. Rythmn and back beat of R&B.
3. Arrangement and lyric style from TPA.

Important Locations

1. Motown, Detroit.

   • Hitsville, USA.

2. Stax, Memphis.

   • Soulsville, USA.

Motown

• Motown was center of automotive world.
• Founded by Berry Gordy.
• First important label owned by an African American.
• Starts in 1959, based on Gordy’s experience in automotive plants.
• Bands were not promoted, mainly vocal groups.

Assembly Line, everything under one roof.

• Song Writers: Holland / Dozier / Holland, Smokey Robinson.
• Maxine Powell: Finishing School. How to carry interviews, carry themselves in public.
• Cholly Atkins: Choreographer.
• The Funk Brothers: House band.

Only thing that changed between records was the vocal group. The result is absolute consistency of product.

Example: “You’d Better Shop Around” (Smokey and the Miracles, 1960)

• Polished, restrained presentation, “sophistication”.

Example: “Stop in the Name of Love” (The Supremes, 1965)

• Diana Ross leader singer, far from strongest singer. Made the lead singer because she would have the strongest appeal to middle-class white listener.
• Idealized romance lyrics. Would be at home in a TPA style song.
• Heavy beat.
• Elaborate arrangement.
• Not rare to hear both a piano and an electric organ.
• Vibraphone (xylophone family). Commonly seen in Jazz. Jazz is seen as an artform, seen on par with Classical musicians.

Sound and Production Practice

• Focus on arrangement.
• Clarity of sound.
• Accuracy of performance.
• “Quality Control”, comparison to other hit records.

Stax

• Formed in 1959, Satelitte Records (Stax, 1961).
• Jim Steward and Estelle Axton.
• House Band: Booker T and the M.G.s.
  • Mixed band, there were clubs in Memphis that they could not play.
• Different approach to recording.
  • No multi-track recording, recorded in mono.
  • Collective decision making.
  • Less emphasis on arrangements.
  • Focus on energy of performance over accuracy.

Example: “Try A Little Tenderness” (Otis Redding, 1966)

• AABA, TPA song written in the 1920s.
• Hit for Bing Crosby in 1933.
• Way more distortion, not as carefully restrained choreography.
• Far simpler arrangement.

Example: “Soul Man” (1967, Sam and Dave)

• Still the optimistic sound.
• “Soul” has become a term for black culture.

1966, Atlantic begins working at FAME.

Example: “Respect” (Aretha Franklin, 1967)

• 1965, written by Odis Redding, had a minor hit with it.
• Beginning of a more militant sound.
• Anthem for the frustration of civil rights movement.
• FAME studios.

James Brown

Soul Brother #1.

• First hit in 1956, “Please Please Please”.
• Live at the Apollo (1963) one of the first African-American records to sell over 1 million.
• First crossover hit in 1965, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”.
• No real relationship with any of the famous soul labels.

Example “I Feel Good” (Recorded in 1964)

• 1965, Brown’s big pop hit (#3) after “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”.
• Follows AABA with the As as 12-bar blues, and the B as 4 bar break and 8 bar bridge.
  • Made the song more popular to potential pop audience.

Summer of 1965-1967. Inner city riots.

Martin Luther King, assassinated April 4, 1968. The Black Panthers.

Re-Africanization of culture, separating from White culture. James Brown decided to follow this musically. Funk.

• “Cold Sweat” (1967), introduces a new style.

Example “Get Up (I feel like a) Sex Machine” (1970).

• Deprivilage of melody and harmony.
• Privilage of rhythm, articulation.
• Interlock groove, based on African Drum Groups.
  • James fulfills the role of the master drummer. “Improvises” after establishing the interlock groove.
• Open-ended forms, cyclical vs. linear.

Folk Revival Revisited

• Bob Dylan and the Beatles had profound impacts on them.
• Dylan admired the reach of the Beatles’ audience.

Newport Folk Festival (1965), “Dylan Goes Electric”. Creation of Folk Rock.

The Counter Culture

• Influence of The Beats (Jack Kerouac, Allan Ginsberg).
• Jazz Beat / Beaten down / Beatitude.
• Two main “centers” in USA.
  • Greenwich Villace (New York).
  • Haight-Ashbury (San Fransisco).
• Symbolic idea of a higher order of conciousness.
• Homology of Sensory Stimulation (Psychedelic).
  • Poster Art.
  • Clothing.
  • Drugs.
• Music.
  • Loud.
  • Lighting Shows.
  • Longer or unusual song forms.
  • Jamming (collective improvisation).

Example: “Truckin’” The Grateful Dead (1970).

• Influenced by Folk Rock.

More aggressive sound develops. Less obvious fold image. Acid Rock.

Example: “White Rabbit” Jefferson Airplane (1967).

• Long crescendo.
• References to drugs and questions parent culture.

After 1967, youth culture becomes more politically active.

• Focus on Civil Rights and the Draft / Vietnam.
• Youth International Party (Yippies). Leaders Jerry Rubin / Abbie Hoffman.
• Music becomes louder, more aggresive.
• Return to Blues influence, Psychedelic Blues.

Jimi Hendrix

• Technical virtuoso.
• Control of high levels of distortion.
• American, gets discovered in England.

Example: “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” (1967)

• Blues influence.

Woodstock

August 1969.

• Woodstock concert (not held in Woodstock).
• Free, open concert. Held on a farm so it could be easily expanded.
• Expected ~30k attendees, actual 350k~500k.

Altamont California

December 1969.

• Ended terribly.
• Held on a racetrack, not as easily expanded.
• Hired biker gangs, paid with beer. Assaulted the crowd with lead filled pool cues and knives.
• Used as an example against counter culture.

April 1970, Paul McCartney leaves The Beatles.

Kent State, Ohio. May 1970.

• National Guard opens fire at students.

September 1970, Jimi Hendrix dies. October 1970, Janice Joplin dies of drug overdose. July 1971, Jim Morrison (The Doors) dies.

1970s

• Faliure of counter culture begins a shift to a more cynical view of the world.

Energy Crisis (1973-1974)

• Yom Kippur War (October 1973).
  • USA offends oil supplying countries and gets cut off.
• The Energy Crisis marks the beginning of the first economic recession since the end of WWII.

Watergate.

• Facing criminal charges and impeachment, President Richard Nixon resigns (August 1974).

Vietnam.

• The fall of Siagon (April 30, 1975). North Vietnam attacks.
• Live television.

Hard Rock / Heavy Metal

Shift to the “Hippie Aesthetic”.

• Started by The Beatles’ Sgt. Peppers.
• Marks the shift from “Rock ‘n’ Roll” to “Rock”.
• Moving from …
  • Singles to albums.
  • Dancing to listening.
  • Entertainers to “serious” musicians.
  • FM radio, AOR (Album Oriented Rock).
• Sonic development from Psychedelic Blues.
• To a great extent, it is a response to the faliure of counter culture.

Distinctions between Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.

• Hard Rock lyric content similar to Chuck Berry.
• Heavy Metal focuses on losing control.

Example: AC/DC (Hard Rock)

• Australian, formed in 1973.
• Album “Back In Black” (1980) has sold over 50 million copies, 2nd highest in history.
• Strong blues influence, steady tempos, rock ‘n’ roll lyrics.

Example: Metallica (Heavy Metal)

• Los Angeles, formed in 1981.
• Musically highly technical, frequent tempo chages, instrumental sections, classical influences, virtuostic soloing, heavy distortion, lyrics that express alienation and loss of control.

Founding Bands.

• Black Sabbath.
• Deep Purple.
• Led Zeppelin.

Black Sabbath

• British.
• “Doomy music”.
• Madness, futility of war.

Example: “War Pigs” (1970, album Heavy Metal)

Leans on the Heavy Metal side.

• Tempo changes.
• Instrumental sections.
• Lyrics that focus on alientation, futility.
• But lower level of distortion in vocals.

Deep Purple

• British.
• Highly trained classical musician playing the electric organ.

Example: “Highway Star” (1972, album Machine Head)

• Virtuostic vocal performance during the introduction.
• Use of electric organ.
• Classical influences in musicianship approach to solos.

Led Zeppelin

• Grew out of The Yardbirds (British Blues Revival).
• Jimmy Page, virtuosic musicianship, master of recording studio.
• Significant blues influence.
• Strong acoustic, Celic influence.
• Hippie aesthetic, did not do radio edits for Stairway to Heaven.

Example: “Whole Lotta Love” (1969, album Led Zeppelin II)

• Blues-riff based.
• Sued by Willie Dixon of Chess Records (“You Need Love” 1962, performed by Muddy Waters).
• Importance of control in studio.

Center of experience is the Stadium concert.

• No radio air play.
• No video / music television.
• Critical rejection in music press.

Concert is the only place to “connect” with the band.

• Form of worship.
• Rejection of the collective.
• Adulation of technical mastery of an individual.
• Presentation is similar to that of a corporation.
  • Logos for brand recognition, image of the band.

Hip Hop

• Folk culture.
• South Bronx, New York City, 1970s.
• Rap / Break Dancing / Graffiti Art.

Signifying / The Dozens

• Oral word game.
• Ritualized insulting.
• African origin.

Jamacian Toasting

• Yard dances, sound system men.
• SSM become 1st Jamacian recording producers.
• Producing for Yard Dances.
• Same song on both sides, one without vocals.
• SSM would vocally improvise over the “B” side.
• Toasting.
• Many move to England, United States (NYC, Bronx).

Kool Herc

• Two turntables to recompose.
• Extends exciting moments of a song, “breaks”.
• “Cutting and mixing”.
• Toasting.

Grand Master Flash

• Develops Kool Herc’s techniques.
• “Quick mix”.

Grand Master Meli Mel

• Toaster / rapper for Grand Master Flash.
• Coins the phrase MC.
• “Full length” raps.
• Writes them down.

Grand Wizard Theodore

• Scratching.
• Redefining technology of the turntable.
  • Turns turntable from a technology of consumption to production.

Example: “Rapper’s Delight” (Sugar Hill Gang)

• 1st recorded hit song.
• Released 10/79, #4 RnB, #36 Pop.
• Based on the song “Good Times” by Chic (6/79 #1 Pop and RnB).

Example: “Walk This Way” (Run DMC / Aerosmith 1985)

• Rap excluded from MTV until this song.

Textbook Readings I

Chart Positions

• Keep fan mentality at bay because we need to study history and development by looking at all influential / popular songs. Charts help to avoid fan mentality and keep us honest.
• Charts are not the best because of faking but they are the best thing we have.
• 500k, gold record. 1m, platinum record.

Rise of Radio Networks 1920s

One could broadcast to larger ranges by using a high power transmitter or by linking regional stations.

• NBC used AT&T telephone lines to link 69 stations for the first coast-coast in 1928.
• It was unethical to use records on air. The musician unions tried to keep live performaces on radio through bylaws (1940s).
• Offered soap operas, adventure shows, comedies. The Guiding Light (1937), Lone Ranger, Superman (1930s-1940s).
• Clear-channeled stations can play on a specific frequency.
  • X-Stations played on those frequencies below the border. Reach all the way to Chicago.

Frank Sinatra

• Bing Crosby was popular big band singer, but before 1945, it was rare for the singers to be stars.
  • By 1945, Big Bands were too expensive.
• Sinatra came up with Harry James and Tom Dorsey bands.
• Broke solo in 1943 with #2 hit “All Or Nothing At All” with a track recorded with Harry James in 1939.
• Good looks and rebellious, became a teen idol.
• One of the most successful post-WWII era singers, all the way to the 1980s.

Regional Styles: Country & Western

Country and western music were regional unti lafter 1945.

• Some of the first recordings by Ralph Peer.

Country Music: Southeast and Appalacian. Folk traditions, ties to the British Isles.

Western Music: Southwest and California. Cowboy, western swing, made popular by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies.

“New San Antonio Rose” (1940) was redone by Bing Crosby in 1941 and got western swing more popular.

• Holywood protrayal.

Superstar Radio

• Mainstream pop in 1930s and 1940s played to national, country and western were limited to regional.
• 1932 WSM (Nashville - Grand Ole Opry) became clear-channel station. Reached most of southeast.
• National BarnDance (WLS Chicago) did the same for the midwest.

Nashville

• After WWII, Nashville became the center of professional western and country music.
• Castle recording company.
• Catalyst was a publishing firm in 1942 by Ray Acuff and Fred Rose, they did not use sheet music but instead targeted recording and performance.
  • Patty Paige “The Tenessee Waltz” became a hit in 1950, and gave them enough financial success to expand.

Gospel, Chess, Chicago

• Similar to western music, many youth singing R&B learned to sing in church.
• Doo-wop influenced by gospel harmony singing, call and response.
• Talent scouts in Sun Records, Memphis would look to churches and bars for musicians.
• Chess Records founded by two white fans of black music (1947).
  • Featured rough-edge emotional style.
  • Simple equipment, raw compared to major labels (aura of honesty).

Textbook Readings II

Rockabilly in the Wake of Presley

Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis at Sun

• After Presley left Sun Records, Sam Phillips focused on other artists who would help develop rockabilly.
• “Honey, Don’t”, “Blue Suede Shoes” December 1955, Carl Perkins. “Blue Suede Shoes” rose to #2 on pop charts, crossover hit, first million-selling single for Sun.
  • Serious auto accident.
  • Songs were later covered by the Beatles.
• “Folsom Prison Blues”, “I Walk The Line” 1956, Johnny Cash. Regular on the Lousiana Hayride broadcasts.
  • “I Walk The Line” country charts, crossover #17 pop.
• 1957 Carl and Perkins sign with new contracts.
• Jerry Lee Lewis, The Steve Allen Show, crazy performance. Three hits before it breaks that he was marrying his cousin.

Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran

• Artists from other records who had stylist resemblance to Elvis.
• Virginian Gene Vencent, three top 40 hits for Capitol.
• Oklahoman guitarist-vocalist Eddia Cochran, three top 40 hits.
• Both artists appeared in 1956 The Girl Can’t help It, Cochran’s performace made an impression on teenage Paul McCartney.
• Auto accident while on tour in UK.

Rockabilly Ladies

• “Bigelow 6-200” Brenda Lee (1956). Only twelve when song was recorded in Nashville.
• Janis Margin, “Female Elvis”, signed to RCA just weeks after Elvis.

Buddy Holly

• Plane crash early 1959.
• One of the first major figures influenced by rock and rollers in 1955-1956. Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry.
• 7 top 40 hits, biggest hits also popular in rythmn and blues market.
• Songwriter, similar to Chuck Berry, more adventurous in formal design.

The Payole Investigations

• Record labels and distributors often paid DJs to play records on the radio.
  • Practice goes back to 19th century American pop music business.
• Two organizations that collected public performance royalties for songwriters.
  • ASCAP represented traditional pop song composers, would not allow rythmn and blues or country and western songs.
  • BMI was a new organization who would take the rejected songwriters.
• Rock ‘n’ roll had little respect in the minds of seasoned musical professionals, and listeners over 30.
• Testimonies were used to manipulate stereotypes that rythm and blues workers are more likely to be dishonest.
• Highest profile subjects were Alan Freed and Dick Clark.
  • Clark was cooperative and emerged with reputation intact. Forced to divest from financial holdings that might have conflict of interest with broadcast activities.
  • Freed lost both his radio job and television show. Driven out of the music industry.

Brill Building and Aldon Publishing

• An actual place, but refers to a set of business practices.
• Aldon Music, run by Al Nevins and Don Kirschner, offices consisted of small rooms with pianos, songwriter / songwriter teams would work all day to pump out new pop songs.
• Actual recording artist was not at the center of the process, but the public focused on these performers.

The Dance Craze

• Early 1960s, American teenagers would head home and watch television show American Bandstand..
  • Teenagers would dance in the studio to current hit records.
  • Made famous by Dick Clark, first host was Bob Horn.
  • Appearances were almost always lip-synched.
• Cover of “The Twist” 1960, Ernest Evans (Chubby Checker). Quickly rose to #1 on pop, initiated a craze for named dances.
• Solidified youth culture.

Rise of the Producer

• Many pop songs in the period created by well-known producers such as Leiber and Stroller and Phil Spector.
• A&R was an early version of record producer.
• Role of A&R / producer was shifting, role of record producer began to develop.
• First important team was Jerry Leiber and Mike Stroller.
• Increased focuson recording studio and possible sounds would resonate in rock music.

Producers in the Brill Building

• By early 1960s, many producers were directing many female vocal groups, referred to as “girl groups”.
  • Chantels, Shirelles, Crystals, Chiffons, Cookies, Dixie Cups, Ronettes.
  • Mostly comprised of black teenagers.
  • Unlike teen idols, most vocalists were strong singers.
• Dominated by the industry’s drive to control the music.
  • Performers could not have control because so little depended on them.

Phil Spector and the Wall of Sound

• Phil Spetor was the most ambitious producer of the 1960s.
• Most important producer of girl-group pop.
• Signature sound was the Wall of Sound.
  • Enormous number of instruments in a small space.
• “Be My Baby” Ronettes’ (1963) was one of the important hits (“Da Doo Ron Ron” Crystals, and "Then He Kissed Me Darlene Love).
• Made songs almost impossible to cover and added mysteriousness.

Sweet Soul on the Rise

Sam Cooke Turns to Pop

• Late 1950s, new and softer approach to black pop emerged, tremendous crossover potential.
• Leiber and Stoller produced series of hits in a style known as sweet soul.
• Sam Cooke had light pop with elements of black music. Gospel influenced.

The Drifters and Ben E. King

• One of the most successful groups on Atlantic roster.
• In 1958, floundering, Atlantic decided to let them be taken over by the Crowns.
• Brought in Leiber and Stoller and followed a string of hits.
• Influence of Cooke’s singing found throughout Ben E. King’s performance on “There Goes My Baby”.
• Ben E. King fired from Drifters in May 1960, Leiber and Stoller offered to produce King as a solo act for Atlantic.

Teenage Romanticization of Death

Found online, not from 4th edition textbook.

• Number of songs dealt with teenage death, products under Brill Building control.
  • “Tell Laura I Love Her” 1960, Ray Peterson
  • “Ebony Eyes” 1961, Everly Brothers
  • “Last Kiss” 1964, J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers
  • “Leader of the Pack” 1964, Shangri-Las
  • “Dead Man’s Curve” 1966, Jan and Dean. Predated Jan Berry’s automobile accident.
  • “Tell Laura I Love Her” 1960, Ray Peterson
• Songs about death coincided with the end of the Brill Building control of popular mainstream music.
• Many of the songwriter-producer teams went off to form their own labels.

Textbook Readings III

James Brown, On The Way To Funk

• James Brown started career as stand-in for Little Richard.
• Born in South Carolina, raised in Southern Georgia.
• Early hits were doo-wop, but began to develop the soul style.
• Brown’s aggressive singing and rythmic groove created to support were focal points of music, in contrast to the lyrical, harmony focused pop music.
• By early 1960s, well known in R&B, athletic dancing, famous closing routine.
• Wrote, produced most of his hits, and managed business after the death of King Records’ Syd Nathan and his manager Ben Bart in 1968.

Black Pride and Birth of Funk

• After assassination of MLK, James Brown and his music were more valued in black community for his racial pride.
• Not like the Motown and Atlantic artists who appealed to white audiences.

Drugs and the Quest for Higher Conciousness

• Psychedelic movement was concerned with exploring new ways of experiencing the world.
• Youn adults felt the cultural values were too focused on being “normal”.
• Influenced by civil rights movement and public resistance to Vietnam War.
  • Suspicious of institutions such as government, school, churchest, business.
• Led by author Ken Kesey and ex-Harvard professor Timothy Leary.

Leary’s advice, Turn on, tune in, and drop out.

Journey to the East

• Until summer of 1967, counterculture mainly in large cities such as NYC, SF, and college campuses.
  • Grew out of folk revival.
• Hit song 1966, “Eight Miles High”.
• Drug use advocated by Timothy Learly 1964 The Psychedelic Experience.
  • Guide to acid based on ancient Tibetan Book of the Dead.
• Beatles became students of transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Psychedelic Approaches to Music

1. Music to enhance drug trip.

   • Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd.

2. Music is the trip.

   • Takes listener on an aural journey. The Doors and the Beatles.

It Takes a Village to Raise a Ruckus

Concerts, News, Psychedelic Shop, FM Radio.

• Psychedelic shop opened in Haight-Ashbury district to meet countercultural needs.
• FM dial had been available for some years, mostly used for public-service programming.
  • Univeristy lectures, classical music concerts, foreign-language shows.
• Tom Donahue found struggling FM station to play counterculture music.
• More FM rock stations popped up across the country after summer 1967.

Good Trip, Bad Trip

Woodstock. Farmland in Bethel, New York. August 15-17, 1969.

• Drew at least 400,000 hippies.

Altamont. Livermore, California. December 6, 1969.

• Employed Hells Angels to provide security.
• Waited until nightfall for Rolling Stones to begin their portion, concertgoers had nothing to do.
• Alamont viewed as the event that marked the end of the hippie era.

The Fracturing of the American Radio Audience

AM versus FM.

• Distinction between single-oriented AM pop and album-oriented FM rock.
  • Young listeners tended towards AM, older siblings listened to FM.

The Hippie Aesthetic

Psychedelic Legacies.

• After Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, many artists were fixated on creating albums.
• Expanded rock’s stylistic range by incorporating elements of classical, electronic, and jazz.
• “Hippie aesthetic”, aesthetic of ambition.

Black Pop, Reggae, Rise of Disco

Black Pop 1970s

Sly and the Family Stone**

• Inspired a generation of funk and pop.
  • Temptations, Jackson 5.
• “Dance to the Music”. #8 Pop.
• Sly Stone born in Texas, moves to SF.
  • Disk jockey and recording producer.

Tower of Power

• Oakland-based band. Multicultural.
• Hard-driving funk, high caliber of horn section. Often performed on other artists’ records.

Motown in 1970s

• Music recorded as direct response to Family Stone’s style.
• Mostly run from LA, Berry Gordy left Detroit to southern California.
• Jackson 5. Series of #1 hits on Pop and R&B.

Stevie and Marvin

• Two artists who were given freedom to work outside of traditional system.
• Marvin Gaye produced one of the first concept albums.
  • Confronted problems of black urban life, environmentalism, military.
• Stevie Wonder given complte artistic control and produced series of albums that cohered similar to AOR.
  • Wrote, produced, and played many of the instruments on his albums.
  • Leading force of dance music and balladry.
  • Synthesizer, studio techniques indebted to rock.

Gamble and Huff

Philadelphia Sound.

• Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, indepdenent producers.
• CBS saw market potential from Atlantic, Motown, Stax, provided money for Gamble and Huff to establish their own label but disribute through CBS network.
• Blended lyric vocals, rythmn, with string arrangements.

Blaxploitation

• Major studios find money to be made in movies that cast strong main characters in tough urban situations.

Reggae

• New Orleans and New York.
• 1970s, Jamacian music reggae enters USA and Britain.
• Roots in American rock and R&B.
• 1960s, Ska, replaced by Rock Steady in 1966-1968.
  • Reggae developed out of this second style.
• Bob Marley.
• Influenced UK musicians who would later end up in punk and new wave bands.

Disco

New Dance Craze.

• Late 1970s, popularity began 1977.
• Blend direct dance beat with catchy pop hook.
• Emerged out of 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta.
• Popularity of disco allowed for a return of authority of producers.
  • Made according to Brill Building / Motown models.
• Origins in the gay community.

Disco hatred among rock fans. Direct confrontation to the hippie aesthetic.

• Not about listening to the music, but dancing to it.
• Not about the specific artists, but the beat in general.
• Early instance of “rockism”. Belief that some forms of popular music are less important because of a perceived lack of authenticity.

Punk

• Spearheaded by the Sex Pistols. Fall 1977.
  • Followed by Buzzcocks, the Clash.
• American record labels toned down aggressive style, created “New Wave”.

American Punk Roots

• Between 1967-1975, most of rock was psychedelic or mainstream.
• Velvet Underground. Associated with Andy Warhol.
  • Lou Reed, creative writing, professional songwriter. John Cale, avant-garde composition, performance ensemble.

New York Punk

• November 1973, poet Patti Smith and guitarist Lenny Kaye.
• Covered “Hey Joe” (made famous by Jimi Hendrix).
• CBGB became home of NY punk scene.
• The Ramones. Stripped-down, high-energy style of rock. Focused on short, simple songs played fast.
• Aesthetic conneced to DIY mantra.
  • Punks took on all aspects, production, recording, distribution, album art, concert promotion.

UK Punk Roots

1974-1977.

• Unlike USA, rise of punk in UK linked to specific socioeconomic circumstances.
• Britain mid-1970s recession.
• Youth struggled to find jobs, no opportunity for advancement.
• Despair to anger, punk became music to represent angry spirit.
• Sex Pistols, related to New York Dolls.
• Surrounded by scandals, dropped by many different labels (but still paid).

Based on the widespread popularity of the Sex Pistols, punk bands sprin up all over England.

• The Clash uses the same strategy as Rolling Stones, become opposites of Sex Pistols. Incorporatae American R&B, reggae, and ska.
• The Buzzcocks adopt a pop-influenced approach.
• Groups were successful in British market during the last 1970s, but none had American success except for the Clash in 1980.

Emergence of Rap

• Graffiti artists widepread mid 1970s, city building and subway lines.
• First break dancers were black and Hispanic teens.
• Innovative response to urban decay and probelms of the present.
• Adapting a practice from Jamaican DJs, hip-hop DJs would carry their own sound systems and employ an MC
• Kool Herc (First to use an MC: Coke La Rock) and Grandmaster Flash were early MCs. Develop into rapper.
• Early hip-hop DJs claim credit for techinical innovations, develops modern rap.
• Use a pair of turntables to transit from songs seamlessly, along with a mixing board or cross-faders to control volumes.
• “Break spinning”, repeats a short phrase by spinning one record backwards while the other is playing.
• “Punch phrasing”, feature short bursts from one record while the other is holding down the beat.
• The instrumental accompaniment of rap music began to feature “breaks” from disco or Latin-music, incite greater excitement and began a technique of creating new music out of recorded “samples”.
• “Scratching”, rotated back and forwards really fast and repetitively to create a distinctive rhythm.
• Afrika Bambaataa founded Zulu Nation in early 1970s, gang-like organization incorporated obscure / unlikely tracks such as the Mohawks’ “Champ” and Kraftwerk’s “Trans-FEurope Express” into his mixes.
• In 1979, Sugar Hill Records releases “Rapper’s Delight”, first hip-hop single , #4 on R&B .
  • Sugar Hill label owns Joe and Sylvia Robinson originally has another label All Platinum with hits “Love is Strange” 1957 and “Pillow Talk” 1973. Developed into the most important rap label of the early 1980s. Signed Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message.
• Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin, Def Jam Records in 1980s. Released music by the decade’s leading rappers (LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, and Public Enemy).
  • Simmons’ management company handles many famous and top acts in rap (Run DMC, Kurtis Blow, and DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince).
  • Basic texture of beats of an electronic drum machine + highlights scratching + occasional sample / punch phrase, defined a new style of mainstream hip hop in mid-1980s.
  • LL Cool J: “I cant live without My Radio” 1985. Made reference to the growing practice of youth broadcasting music in large portable “Boomboxes”; “I Need Love” 1987, first rap ballad.
  • The Beastie Boys: A popular group of white rappers, originally in the hardcore punk scene, transitioned into hip-hop scene. first mainstream single “Fight for your Right” #7 Pop.
• Passage were recorded digitally and looped with far more precision than turntables, end of 1980s, digital sampling was widespread.
• Ice-T (born in New Jersey and moved to Los Angeles as a child), NWA, Boogie Down Production, Public Enemy, one of the most important representative of West Coast rap, urban life addressed by black musicians in a more graphic and angry manner. “Gangsta rap”, begin engaging in social and political criticism, black power movement.
• Queen Latifah, an important female voice in hip-hop with her 1989 debut “All Hail the Queen” .
• Rap drew a lot of social and legal criticism, not “music”, vulgar and violent lyrics.
  • In 1980s, tension led to conflict between rock and rap.
  • Both still develops commercially, have devoted followings in MTV.