POP MUSICCHAPTER 16

Fifties Pop and Folk Rock

American Bandstand

American Bandstand  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E5xy6gjnt4

1948 Billboard

Rhythm and Blues and Country Music earned their own listing when the “race” record category was eliminated.

1954 Billboard

Three stylistic categories for their ratings – Pop, Rhythm and Blues, and Country Music

As the youngest generation gained influence, the boundaries between these categories began to blur – youthful white performers occupied spots on the pop and rhythm and blues charts, young white performers were on the pop and country charts and black artists were on the pop and R&B charts

The Music Business

Dominated by musical theater and similar music, until the emergence of rock

Up to this point commercial music was aimed at white, middle-aged, middle-class urbanites – the music and its artists, like its target audience, became predictable, polite and stuck to reliable formulas

The Business

The few black artists that were accepted into the mainstream were only successful because they conformed to the existing standards

Country Music

Country music fared better, with Hollywood cowboys helping its image

Country music in the 1950s however was just as conservative and inoffensive as pop

Emergence of Rock

With the emergence of rock, the industry saw an unprecedented infiltration of black and young white artists performing black material

At first industry leaders fought against it, but eventually accepted the new trend – they then attempted to make it fit with their existing practices

One such attempt was to take neat, wholesome white artists and have them cover early rock songs in a watered-down manner

This actually had the opposite effect by increasing public awareness of the original versions 

Pat Boone

Built a career on performing polite renditions of music by Fats Domino, Little Richard and Nat King Cole

Ain’t That a Shame http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8dx0oE--

VI People have typically looked down on such

practices in the past, but because rock music was still in its infancy, it wasn’t as big of a deal

Pat Boone, cont.

In 1997 he recorded an album of metal covers in big band style 

Smoke On The Water  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFDIrwOUdrw

Paradise City  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeKjmB2DaAs

Chapter 16 – Fifties Pop and Folk Rock

Rock and Radio

Radio

After World War II, television became a viable medium

Networks essentially abandoned radio Radio returned to broadcasting mainly music,

typically of local interest (country or rhythm and blues)

Radio became an effective way to promote rock and roll, first locally, then nationally

Disc Jockeys

Up to this point disc jockeys mainly played music and made a few announcements

With radio’s new role in the 1950s DJs became stars in their own right

They began linking themselves more closely to the music they played, playing music and broadcasting live from events

Very soon the top 40 format was created This format involves the constant rotation of only the

40 top-rated songs according to Billboard magazine This ensured that whenever listeners tuned in, they

would hear something they liked

Disc Jockeys, cont.

This practice made radio exposure very competitive for record labels and made radio DJs extremely powerful in influencing the next big hit

This eventually leads to record labels bribing disc jockeys to play and give special attention to their music – known as payola

Payola – the covert buying of airplay privileges FCC investigates in 1960 and it becomes something

of a scandal

PAYOLA

in the American music industry, is the illegal practice of payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. Under U.S. law, 47 U.S.C. § 317, a radio station can play a specific song in exchange for money, but this must be disclosed on the air as being sponsored airtime, and that play of the song should not be counted as a "regular airplay".

The term has come to refer to any secret payment made to cast a product in a favorable light (such as obtaining positive reviews).

Chapter 16 – Fifties Pop and Folk Rock

The Beach Boys

Phil Spector - producer

One of his innovations was the girl group Female vocal groups had been around for a

while but not in the area of rock and roll Basically a female version of the doo-wop

group for the 1960’s They would eventually serve as models for

Motown groups such as the Marvelettes and the Supremes

Also created the “Wall of Sound” concept

The Wall of Sound

He was notorious for wanting control over every aspect of his music

Sought to create a signature ‘sound’ The “Wall of Sound” involves a large amount

of musicians, most playing the same parts as one another – also used a generous amount of overdubbing and reverb

The Wall of Sound

The Wall of Sound is a music production technique for pop and rock music recordings developed by record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, California, during the early 1960s. Working with such audio engineers as Larry Levine and the session musicians who became known as The Wrecking Crew, Spector created a dense, layered, reverberant sound that came across well on AM radio and jukeboxes popular in the era. He created this sound by having a number of electric and acoustic guitarists perform the same parts in unison, adding musical arrangements for large groups of musicians up to the size of orchestras, then recording the sound using an echo chamber.

Overdubbing

Overdubbing – technique where musicians are recorded a number of times on different tracks of the tape to be played back simultaneously 

There Goes My Baby- Drifters  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHjZpEbjvos

The Beach Boys

Formed in 1961 in Hawthorne California Consisted of Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, Mike

Love and Al Jardine Brian Wilson was the main songwriter; eventually

took over production They released “Surfin’” in 1961; it soon rose to

national success Originally their music drew upon West Coast

imagery; surfing, girls, and the endless teenage summer

They weren’t the first or only group to incorporate this into their music – Dick Dale, and the Surfaris

The Beach Boys, cont.

Brian Wilson, inspired by Phil Spector began incorporating large amounts of overdubs into his music

After hearing “Rubber Soul” by the Beatles, Brian Wilson is inspired to write an album full of good songs (their previous albums contained filler songs, covers and comedic skits)

The Beach Boys released “Pet Sounds” in 1966 – although it didn’t meet with as much success as “Rubber Soul,” it did help them compete with the Beatles for popularity

The Beach Boys

Surfin   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s4slliAtQU

California Girls (from page 200)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fviwc3YeG8

 David Lee Roth version   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmbhfI8f_Ek

Characteristics of the Beach Boys’ Music Lush, often complex vocal arrangements Polite, cheerful sound Early music has beach and summertime

themes

Fifties Folk and Pop Rock

FOLK ROCK

Urban Folk Revival

As teens graduated from high school, their focus shifted away from cars and proms

In college, some young people turned their attention toward social issues, intellectualism and the arts

Rather than screaming at rock concerts, these fans preferred more intimate venues, such as coffee shops featuring cool jazz, poetry and acoustic American folk music

Urban Folk Revival

The urban folk revival is related to rock music mainly because it occurred at the same time as the rise of rock and roll

It is considered a revival because it brought national popularity to American folk songs when the only people listening to it previously were folk music enthusiasts

Woody Guthrie

Born in Oklahoma in 1912 Songs dealt with social reform, particularly

the plight of the Oklahoma victims of the Depression and the dust bowl of the 1930s

This Land Is your land http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s

Pete Seeger

Influenced by Guthrie’s music Makes folk music fashionable among

the middle class college crowd

Pete Seeger

“Goodnight Irene” was a number one hit for 13 weeks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcHLCv6sFFU

This brought folk music into a phase of popularity, but the left-wing politics it promoted caused it to be forced underground by the communist paranoia of the day

If I Had A Hammer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSUsyzUFcKs

Crosby, Stills, and Nash

Teach your children (page 203) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztVaqZajq-I

BOB DYLAN

Became a passionate devotee of folk music

In 1961 he moved from Indiana to Greenwich Village and tutored with Woody Guthrie

Known for his scratchy, mumbling voice

Bob Dylan

His protest songs were relevant to 1960s concerns such as civil rights

He eventually rebelled against his own stardom first by moving from sociopolitical topics to his own inner strife and then by moving to an electric sound

When he first made the change from acoustic to electric, many of his traditional-minded fans were caught by surprise and unhappy

Bob Dylan

This however led to other bands using this approach such as the Byrds - 1965 Turn Turn Turn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaL75qLJyUc

The Tmes They Are A Changin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiHWbTr48I0

Bob Dylan

Blowin In The Wind http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWwgrjjIMXA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUX9IcSzHX0 song and lyrics

Lyrics http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bob+dylan/blowin+in+the+wind_20021159.html

Reminds us of Tom Petty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUTXb-ga1fo

Wallflowers 6th Avenue Heartache http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXDiGtgPL6E

Van Morrison Brown Eyed Girl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqXSBe-qMGo

John Lennon Working Class Hero http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njG7p6CSbCU

Beatles, You've Got To Hide your Love Away http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAlrFJbGdgw

John was trying to sing like Bob Dylan Simon And Garfunkel Wounds of Silence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YSh1-XuUKE