MAY 7TH

What is Popular Music?

Represents a whole series of meanings now
(Post World War II)
- a fusion of Rhythm n Blues (Black Culture), Country and Western
(Southern Rural White Culture), and Tin Pan Alley (Northern
Urban White Culture)
- Dependant on the development of:
o The Industrial Evolution
o The Middle Class
o Large Urban Population
o Copyright Law
o Technologies of Mass Production and Broadcasting
By 1945:
- Music industry divided into 3 distinct categories:
1. Popular (or pop): white/ middle class/ urban
2. Race: black, regardless of class or location
3. Hillbilly: origins in poor, white, rural- is now migrating to urban
areas (particularly in the southern US)
- Products of the music industry are sheet music and recordings
- Sheet music dominates recordings until the late 1920s
- While sheet music is still important, by the end of WWOO the
Recording Industry has come to dominate
Development of American Music Industry:
- What creates conditions for Popular Music to become a consumer
product?
1831- Amendments to the copyright law to cover sheet music
The Victorian Ballad: Minstrel Show and Parlour Music
Minstrel Show:
-variety show that depicted African-Americans in a racist and
stereotypical light
not created blacks and the performers and song writers. Wore black
face paint stuff. Not representative of black culture
Most important composer was Steven Foster:
Example: Massas in de cold, cold ground (Steven Foster, 1852)
Characteristics:
- Guitar Accompaniment & fiddle
- Vocal Control
Foster wrote a lot for Minstrel show. Show depicted slavery as not being
bad, b/c theyre outside in the country they get fresh air, they take

care of them. Didnt mention the bad stuff. The slaves were portrayed
by speaking very phonetically was reinforcing stereotypes.
Think about what the singer would look like- man standing still,
restrained physical performance, formal dress, controlled
Black singers usually move around
Lyrics are disturbing, say the slaves would mourn the death of their
masters
Enforced the ideas that they liked/cared for the slave owners
Violin and Fiddle are the same the difference is the way you play them.
Parlor Music:
Industrial Revolution
Rise of Middle Class
Luxury items- Piano- a symbol of wealth
Daughters pursue leisure activities
How show youre middle class, you buy things, conspicuous
consumption. Big house, new car often, etc. . Victorian Era get a piano,
its big, loud, expensive and no one uses it to make money since youre
middle class. It is used to demonstrate a useless women, show
successful b/c the women in your family dont need to work, u can
make them extra useless, let them have long painted fingernail, outfits
they cant move around in well. Pay to teach women how to play them.
Used for social skills, like dinners and things. Daughters quiet, and
dressed in ridiculous things, younger plays, the older sings. Used to
entertain. Invite boss and son to dinner. Daughters dont write music,
teach music, etc. Song writers wrote stuff for the middle class Victorian
women
Example: Believe Me, if All those Endearing Young Charms- Thomas
Moore (early 1800s)
Parlour Song- AABA form (pic on phone) has piano accompiment

Vrs 1:
A) Believe me, if all those endearing young charms, which I gaze on so
fondly to-day
A) Were to change to by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms, Like fairygifts fading away
B) Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art, Let they
loveliness fade as it will
A) And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart would entwine itself
verdantly still
Characteristics:

- Piano Accompaniment
- Vocal control
- Themes: loyalty, honesty, control, restraint
Demand for newly composed songs leads to the increased organization
of the music industry
1830- try and make living in music, rise of middle class b/c they want it
to play.
Have parlour music writers, performance a play the minstrel show
White middle class urban ppl, target to middle class ppl
At this point, not have modern music industry just yet
Most musicians died moderately wealthy or poor, none really got rich
Tin Pan Alley:
- Charles K Harris, After the Ball 1892
Message is the idea of being dedicated, trusting, honesty
Could have been any of the parlour songs, something happened
with this particular song. Sells a few copies, keeps selling and
over a short period of time sells 5 million copies in a place of less
than 100 million ppl
Made him wealthy
Introduced an idea, if you write the one song that catches on
youre set for life. Start pursuit of hit song
From 1890 to 1990 see the rural to urban shift.
Success of After the Ball gives birth to Tin Pan Alley (TPA)
Both a musical style and a place:
- Manhattan in New York City
- Becomes the center of professional music making
- During 20s 30s , 21,000 publishers and 36,000 composers
- Division of labour: composer, lyricists, publisher, publicity,
performers
- Sheet music dominates- transaction to recordings begins during
the 1920s
Divide labour- ppl are good at different things so have ppl good at
things do those and combine to sell a better final product assembly
line
Ppl get good at job and know how much will produce in a day
Quality and predictability
Know whos responsible for what
How got the name

In the summer NY is really hot, when you walk down the street, you
see a bunch of ppl with old out of tune pianos singing different sounds
windows open etc.
What were they looking for a hit, money, Very few would make it, the
gold rush was happening so they called it tin pan alley. Cause they
used them to find gold. Were looking for that hit song to strike it rich

big things comes down to race and economy. Music played a big part is
US history. Canada isnt a bad place to live when it comes to race, not
the best but still better than other places like the US. Its still a big
factor in the state (Boston Riots). Some ppl still weird about Obama as
president. Since they can get away with saying they have a Kenyan
Muslim as president. If paid attention would notice same problem with
all presidents.
Say popular music is a fusion of 3 elements
- a fusion of Rhythm n Blues (Black Culture), Country and Western
(Southern Rural White Culture), and Tin Pan Alley (Northern
Urban White Culture)
Blues (mostly by black ppl), Country (hill billy music), Tin Pan Alley (by
whites in Northern Urban Centres)
Song- something about drinking by big bill brunsey
Will the circle by unbroken- by the carter family
Differences- dancing
Has always been an important part of black culture, however country
and western much more auspicious of dancing so harder to dance to.
More interested in telling stories and narratives
Tin Pan song- The Andrew Sisters- the booey woogey buggle boy
Clip was from a movie
Wouldnt see the other 2 in movies b/c blues related to black, and
country seen as lower economic status
Look at how these 3 combined
Industrial Evolution- bunch of things happened based on simple idea,
why does everyone have to make their things their self. If you cant do
it yourself you trade them what you have for what theyre good at.
Barter instead, no one gets rich b/c you trade what you have for what
you need. Someone created money and can now accumulate wealth.
Money around for a while, the revolution brought factories and jobs
where they get paid. Allows ppl to begin to build up wealth. Go back
prior to it and you had pesants and the church and stuff who were well
off. Now pessants sane money and it accumulates over generation and
you get a middle class

Before only rich rich ppl could afford musicians and so few musicians.
Now instead a lot of middle class ppl chip in to hire a musician and you
get public concerts and now more musicians jobs. Ppl like music at
home, but cant create music so now you have song writters. Now you
have a lot of jobs for musicians.
Economies of Scale, cant get wealthy in small rural areas, you need
thousands of ppl in on spot. Need a city a place with lots of middle
class ppl. Need copywright law, b/c music Is an idea. Pay for the idea
not the CD or the file. The years spent learning to create or play.
Establish laws to protect the right to the idea so they alone have the
right to sell it and copies of it.
Need to be able to get it to lots of ppl, need a way to let thousand
access what you do. Mass produce, way to share etc.
What are you selling in the music industry sheet music till 1920s
recording catch up then but still big. Mostly for pop music
Blues and Hillbilly more records barely any sheet music
Copyright law
started by queen in britian. Pamphleteers are ppl that have an issue
with the laws, they write a essay/ objection and print out a bunch of
copies. You stand on a box and start talking and if you were
interested you could buy a copy of the pamphlet. If its popular,
what ppl were doing is theyd print the same paper out and use it to
make more and could sell them at the same place for cheaper
So royals created the stationers and they let you register your work,
and so it they steal your idea they needed to pay the one they took
it from. It went through a royal company and so known as royalties.
It developed over several years. When states created and stuff the
amendment made in 1831 a bunch of musicians probably kept
asking about it. So the gvt paid attention. In 1831 there were a lot
of ppl trying to write songs for a living.

MAY 14TH
Why 1954, what was in place to make him the King of Rock and Roll.
Left off on Tin Pan Alley, thousands of ppl gravitated to this part of New
York. How it worked, was division of labour. So music industry based on
the separation of tasks.
Assembly line, not one person does it all. Now when say tin pan alley,
can be talking about the place itself of the style itself. The songs tend
to have simple lyrics, b/c you want them to be understood. Very easy
to grasp.
Style: Lyrics
- base rhyme scheme
- syllabic
- idealized romance- beginning and ending
Sign not too much has changed, still love songs about relationships
Style: Music
- easy to play
- easy to sing- phrasing and range
- AABA musical form
Sheet music still one of the main forms, so written for amateurs
Short, and narrow in range. Breath control cant sing in big range.
Targeted home musicians. Playing piano more important then, since
not have records so more relevant to entertainment
Tend to follow AABA structure,
Song- Somewhere Over the Rainbow- Wizard of Oz
It was mainstream pop music at the time.
These songs were new and popular and revolutionary at the time.
Now popular music has big connection with Hollywood.
The popular music industry and Hollywood were essentially created/
took shape at the same time and have always had a strong connection.
AABA- use capital letters to indicate musical structures, which are
distinguished from song lyrics and normal words it indicates the
melody
Lyrics have nothing to do with the melody.
The more familiar you get with it the more you like it
What does this accomplish:
The first section introduces you to the idea,
The 2nd repeats the idea so you are now familiar

The 3rd get something new they can give you contrast in Rainbow
double up the time, so its faster. Big idea is the end of the B section is
supposed to be the point of the greatest tension
The 4th the 3rd makes you want to hear the 4th, resolve the tension and
hear A
Typically the A sections wont vary too much, but will be very similar,
the A sections keep the same length and B will be the same length. But
besides that song writers can do whatever they want
AABA was vast majority of music in this period.
Standard form is 32 bars AABA
That was how the business side of music took place before WW2
Music after WW2 and now sounds very different. Need to take a look at
other forms
North American Slave Trade 1619-1863
Could say rock and roll started then
1619 was when African Americans sold to farms/into slavery
for 250 years, millions were treated very poorly like machines only
good for work
In the midst in this awful thing elements of culture survive, and they
were going the be a huge part of American culture
They kept the importance of music
Those who were enslaved engaged in singing, they had songs for
everything.
Work
-

song:
pass time/set pace, coordinate work
song leader
floating pool of verse

Played a song, a recording of a work song but technology created after.

Listened to a recording of African American convicts.
Old Alabama 1947 they were chopping a tree
African influence
Africa huge country, with tons of different culture
Sahara dessert, have north African culture similar to middle east and
sub-Saharan culture.

We are generally referring to ppl that are from West Africa

What was the point of singing?
Slavery, most likely mind numbingly boring, singing probably made it a
little more liveable. Lets them know theyre not alone. Practical use,
co-ordinated work, not want to be out of synch and a safety factor.
How did it work, there was a figure called the song leader, they had a
talent.
They could carry in their mind thousands of little bits of songs, little 2
liners and have hundreds of little melodies.
The song leader would make it up on the spot. Each time the song
leader starts and then they join in if they know it. Hed either going to
sing the same line or a new contrasting line. So they listen to the first
word then join in when they can tell what hes doing. Not a worked out
song, being made up on the spot by the leader. What he might do is
make a song about a person there, or someone who died, or joke about
the slave owner. A good song leader could help keep you alive, if he
knows someone is sick and he watches the sick one and subtly slows
the pace so they can maybe keep up and hopefully be better tomorrow
Floating pool of verse- pool of lyrics and melodies that no one owns
Harmonizing done on the spot, sing all of their lives. Everyone sings all
the time, no self-consciousness. Singing today is still valued more
today in black communities than white ones. To see the difference all
you have to do is go to different churches.
What you get is this rich sound, each one is individual but they work
together.
Folk
-

Music:
performed by amateurs
for self rcommunity entertainment
oral tradition
more concern with tradition than innovation (lacking selfconsciousness)

amateur- not bad just dont do it for a living

Dont learn from sheet music, generally just learn by watching ppl that
are good at it
More concerned with preserving culture than creating new things
Here self consciousness means in terms of as a musician
Everyone is looking for something to make them stand out
Folk tradition tends to change very slow since they want to preserve
cultures

Scotland- hear old music go to Cape Britian b/c they worked hard to
maintain the tradition
African Retentions:
1/ Interest in percussive and distorted timbres
2/ Value in the Ecstatic and the Cathartic
3/ Rhythmic complexity- syncopation
4/ Use of riffs
5/ Use of call and response
Parts of African culture that stayed and added and combined to create
what we hear today
Clich is African music is based on drums, small kernel of truth but
blown out of proportion
Cultures of west Africa interested in percussive and timbre- the quality
of a sound
What makes it unique and describe it
Percussive- things that are struck, drums, piano hit string with a
mallet. Not just drums it is when sound is produced through striking
Distorted timbreThe term distortion carries a value, defined as a alteration of a signal.
Not want message distorted it is a negative, loss of control outside of
ability to reign in
In west African culture distortion is encouraged and has a different
definition, it means being t and engaged and singing its a overflow of
emotion. Very different definition.
Melody, Harmony- cords play with is, Rhythm- how play music in time
Western music good with harmony
The least developed was rhythm, common in European music
African music plays around with rhythm, when you break it down so
much you cant tell the like main beat its syncopation
Riffs- is a small self contained musical fragment that is repeated as the
basis for a larger composition.
Motif- ex/ 4 notes Beethoven not a riff
A motif has alterations, he plays it different like higher lower etc.
A riff stays the same and the song is created over the top of that riff
Call and response- in west African music shows that communication is
2 way.
When kiss plays expect communication back, fans energetic
As opposed to a piano/ classical concert it flows one way, just the
musician

It brought the culture of west Africa into north America, NA become an

experiment, where massive number of ppl from west Africa and ppl
from Europe. When you put the 2 groups next to each other they will
influence each other
American Civil War (1861-1865)
Slavery end 1865
Thought the war was to free ppl, but not really.
The realistic reason was they were planning on creating new states and
were debating if pink or blue. North and South was tied. Political issues
too different parties favoured different parts. South wanted to leave
and form new country north said nope and broke out in war.
Post
-

Slavery: (1865- )
Institutional Racism
Acceleration of Rural-to-Urban shift
New forms of music appear during late 1800s
o I/Ragtime
o 2/ Jazz
o 3/ Blues
These new forms of music take shape in 1890s or around then
Dont see the new culture because they need a new generation, they
werent free in their minds and most didnt shake it. So get the new
generation that had grown up as free people. They are able to see
differently and create new culture
Rid of slavery in name, but could still have laws that say they cant
vote, own certain things, go certain places. They were heavily
enforced.
Common that if black person was accused of a crime, a mob of white
ppl would go and demand the prisoner and hang them
Cluclucks clan, would go around and burn houses and murder ppl.
Would target black, jews, catholic.
So being black in the south was dangerous, so many moved North to
the city centres
Country(Rural) Blues:
- Wandering musician
- Male vocalist, with Acoustic Guitar
- Plaintive vocal sound- lament
- Themes include: Travel, Economics, and Love
Typically an individual that would travel between a few rural areas to
make a little money and usually have a acoustic guitar. Were relatively
inexpensive.

Sound of a blues musicians was plaintive, sounds sad etc.

Themes that are new to a generation that previously didnt have the
options. Also still have institutional slavery. Before didnt need to worry
about money.
Musical form characteristics:
- 12 measure phrases
- a-a-b lyric pattern
- call and response between guitar and voice
- floating pool of verse
hear measure in classical, hear bar in jazz and pop, but are same
things.
They are subsets of musical time.
In order to keep track of where they are in a song they number the
pulses
But if you just numbered them all youd have really big numbers.
So group the beats together in subsets. Most common is a set or 4
called a bar or measure.
Blues usually come in sets of 12. This is unusual.
Tin pan alley usually were 4,8,16,32 etc. iterations of 2s
a-a-b lyrics lower case b/c refer to words
still not dealing with worked out songs, still use floating pool of verse
Most songs not follow the pattern exactly usually have a twist or
something different.
One of the most signigficant forms that influenced music
No record till 1920s and 30s
Robert Johnson(1911-1938)
- Defined standards for blues guitar
- November 1936/ June 1937
- Mythic character
Sweet Home Chicago Robert Johnson (November, 1936)
One of the most important country blues musicians helped define the
sound, the guitar techniques are still very highly regarded.
Helped that he had an extraordinary life, only recorded enough songs
to fill 2 compact discs with 12-13 songs.
He did early in his life, at the age of 27.
27 club, considered the founding member.
He tried to play with people and was awful, for 18 months he
disappeared and when he shows up again he is the best blues guitar

player and soon after he dies on the verge of greatness. Speculate he

was poisoned. Not know the real cause of his death.
Story developed, he went to the crossroads at midnight and say he
asked to be the best blues guitar player.
Immortalized in a song called crossroads.
Might have been in Memphis studying.
Fact is he becomes the most influential country blues musician of his
time.
Rural and country blues the same at this point
Robert Johnson one of the first blues musicians ever recorded.
Blues musicians werent really recorded till the 1920s
Blind William Tell contrast with Johnson

MAY 21ST
Sweet Home Chicago- Robert Johnson (November, 1936)
12 bars in blues usually with black culture influence
AABA associated with tin pan alley
Music that follows the end of slavery
Folk can encompass blues, rock etc. many types just folk stylized
Robert Johnson appears to be a blues musician that is self-conscious
as in he is trying to do something new. He creates an introduction (the
piano thing)
He bases what he does in the introduction on what he does in the song.
He thinks through his song.
Other cultures largely being ignored, African American and hillbilly.
Cultural Chauvinism, if you were middle class and white you dont
thing the Black and Hillbilly culture wasnt worth paying attention to.
Racism and economic status.
This is a leftover of the civil war. The north won the war.
The defeat of the south has tainted the norths view of the south. They
think they are lower class, country bumkinness, its all leftover from
the civil war.
So when these new cultures are appearing they put more focus on
their own and ignore the others
Another thing the music industry was based on sheet music, and
blues/black music or folk music didnt have sheet music really. They
learned orally generation to generation. Since they dont have sheet
music they werent a big part of the industry.
To get black and folk music into the industry need to shift from sheet to
recordings
Changes in Technology:
Mechanical Reproduction- audio recording
1877- Edison invents the phonograph (gramophone)
Designed as a business machine, have a cylinder that wears out.
Was designed for a person to record a letter or something and send it
to the other person.
Wasnt very good
1892-1912- transition from cylinder to disks
1925- industry standard speed set to 78rpm
Took so long to standardize b/c companies would be releasing different
machines that you could only play a certain kind of disc on and it had
its own speed
What was recorded?

sheet music/TPA
black music/ rural southern white msic not recorded because:
o cultural chauvinism
o rural areas- sales?
Just recorded what was in front of them, so they had the discs in store
and theyd play it to help them decide.
It took them a while to accept that they could listen to the music from
a box.
Now had something to sell to the rural market but didnt bother b/c it
wasnt profitable
Focus on TPA
Commercial Radio: 1920
- Jan. 1922-28 Stations/ December 1922-570 Stations
- Controlled by only a few Networks (CBS, NBC, Mutual)
- First radio network, NBC in 1928
- Very few independent radio station exist
- Network radio begins to change patterns of consumption from
regional to national
When discovered had no clue what use itd be
In 1920 it was the first time someone set it up and started
broadcasting entertainment and was paid for by advertisting.
Took a year or 2 to take off 1922 went from 28 to 570.
Doesnt mean that you can get all the stations in the same place, youll
get the few that are local and broadcast there
Very quickly big business gets involved see the emergence of networks
Business buys all the stations.
Mutual becomes ABC
Network radio systems changed the way people listened to music.
Itd play in one place then catch on in other places, it would take a long
time to get around.
Not because of the networks shift from regional to national, stuff
played everywhere at once.
Success of Radio:
- expensive one-time purchase, unlimited content
- why buy records?
In the 1920s radio was like television, radio theatre, music and more
Get the box and you have everything
Why buy records, need the player and a record, it only has 2 songs
max.
They were fragile and could get scratched.
Didnt have to keep buying things for radio or anything.

Problem b/c the record industry was just starting to emerge with good
enough quality and where ppl are starting to think yeah I could use a
record player its a thing. Radio comes along and threatens it

The Rise of the Record Industry:

Record Industry concerned- needs to find new markets
- Mamie Smith: Crazy Blues (1920)
- Ralph Peer- Okeh Records
- Market Research in popular music
- Introduction of Hillbilly Carve that Possum 1927
- Uncle Dave Mason and the Fruit Jar drinkers
- Introduction of Race How Long Blues: 1928
- Carr and Blackwell
Standardized b/c they were being threatened
If youre listening to radio what kind of style of music are you hearing?
Probably tin pan alley, white northern city music
Record industry has an idea to expand their markets
Ralph was a R&R man job was to find artist to record and a song
1920 hes going to record Crazy Blues and the singer calls in sick
A musician says he knows a girl that could come and sing it really well.
Ralph is a very openmined person and so say what the hell why not
Actually not a blues song and has very little to do with blues.
The first blues song wont be recorded for 7 years.
Blues was starting to permeate Tin Pan Alley but they are not
technically blues
Represent the first significant hit record by an African American
Were prior recording but most were a joke.
Ralph files this away and as radio rises he thinks well what is radio
playing TPA, theyre not going to beat radio with the same things
Crazy blues sold to white but also to lots of black people.
Radio is ignoring certain kinds of music, its in some cities and it isnt
on the radio.
Need to go record black artists to keep the industry going
By the time you get to the mid-late 1920s get Hillbilly
Hillbilly have banjo, fiddle, guitar, etc. instruments of rural folk music,
used them in the minstrel show. Simple, low cost, easy to fix
Race music which was black musician and black audience. Have a
collection of distinct styles, meant to identify by race. Now not right to

say, but this was 100 years ago. Cant completely escape the cultural
inertia
How long blues- race it was city blues
When first generation of country blues musicians move to the city
What identifies it is the vocal style
Robert John and Carr and Blackwell similar sound to the way they sing
developed from country blues. The addition of the piano, lots of sense,
cities are noisy, lots of people and you have to carry over the noise so
need to get louder the piano is louder.
Variety of tambre, variety of sound.
How Long Blues- he does a solo in the song with the guitar, while the
other plays the piano, becomes more promininet when the amplifier
comes around
Dont control the audience and the middle class white start to but
hillbilly and race and they start to influence white music.
John Gomm- cool guitar guy clip
Television:
First demonstration 1927
Experimental and low-resolution broadcasts through the 1930s
Network broadcasts begin in 1939
By 1945- 6 stations
By 1955- 411 stations
Major Networks move to television
First Black Appeal radio station- WDIA Memphis, 1948
By 1954-200 BA radio stations are on the air
Who is listening?
Extended Adolescence
Rock and roll and television
Person who invented it thought of it as the worlds greatest educational
tool
1920s and 30s tv was a novelty.
By the end of the 1930s it was starting to take off, but WW2 started
and everything not related to the war was put off
In 1945 it picks up again, had 6 stations
Not national, only available in some places and only a channel or 2.
Not what we know it to be today its black and white, on air for maybe
3-4 hours a day not want to interrupt dinner. All shows are broadcast
live no recording of shows
It quickly catches on and becomes the new must have device of the
middle class.
In 1955 lots of stations, and most places get one or 2 stations. And so
the networks start buying up the stations. How do they make money?
By advertising, they sell the peoples attention and add views.

Radio makes its money by selling ears and ppl listening.

Now have a new media where they can show the product, how much
better looking, how better off youll be if you buy this product. TV is
much more attractive for advertisement. The major networks find
themselves with lots of radio networks.
Company provides a product or service thats how you make money.
They keep a few stations but sell a lot to ppl that live localy. One had
the letters WDIA. WDIA was located in Memphis.
2 pharmacists bought it because they thought itd be fun.
Used to make money from advertisement, they wanted to sell local
advertisement but no one came. So decided to do something crazy, to
find out which people got the best reception, turned out it was black
people. In 1948 changed their way and became the first black appeal
radio station.
Then had tons of ppl wanting to advertise. And so other people started
doing the same thing.
Similar thing happened by hillbilly, realized that was their audience and
catered to it. One station had the Saturday Night Barn Dance, it was so
big and influential to hillbilly music that those that wanted to make it
were starting to move to Nashville where the show was. The theatre
where it was broadcast was Grand OlRock theatre.
Not too far from Memphis was the city where Elvis is from and he loves
WDIA.
And so the white culture is being influenced by the new sounds theyd
never heard before.
Most of the people tunning in were younger a new demographic that
were drawn to this music.
Created teenagers, used to be considered a child till 12-13 then were
pretty much considered an adult
WW2 mostly fought in Europe, and the US became the industrial
machine powering the war. US has transformed into the biggest
industrial country theyve ever seen.
Mastered supply management, manufacturing etc.
Easy to change the factory to produce consumer products instead
There are so many factories and were set up so that the people that
came back had a job, with a good wage and so more people could buy
the things.
Not when the kids reach 10-13 life was so good that they didnt need
to go work then, so they get to stay in school.
High school was for the wealthy, university was for the super wealthy.
They became known as the baby boomers.
They can get a part time job and can spend on what they want.
They become a new leisure class, they can spend It on leisure goods
its disposable.
Most of the goods produced are aimed at the teen generation

Transistor Radio
Some of the white teenagers dont like the new/other kinds of music
But some do, but not seen as acceptable
Have transistor radio a little one and so can listen secretly and stuff.
Changed the way ppl were addressed, used to be a group activity so
talk to everyone.
So now change act like talking to just one person, bc of the transistor
radio.
Not all kids liked it but some did
Gospel:
Ray Charles (Robinson) 1930-2004
- born, Albany Georgia
- blind at age 7
- learns music in a school for the blind
- 1952 Atlantic Records
- Success with white audiences- heightened level of intensity
Music can be broken up into 2 division to sacred and secular.
Sacred in the curch
Secular- the work song etc.
The sacred music of black culture before the civil war was referred to
as spiritual
Swing lo
After the civil war referred to as Gospel
Not talking about that kind of Gospel were talking about another one
Ray Charles- born in Georgia grew up poor and was blind.
In 1930s someone like him wouldnt have much of a future. The school
lacked supplies but had teachers that cared.
He could play back a song he heard once, and he could teach himself
an instrument over a weekend. He learned electronics by taking them
apart and putting them back together.
He realized he had the ability to make a living with music.
He 1950s signs on with Atlantic Records
Major record companies had little interest in black artists. Minor ones
did. Atlantic records did take an interest, he starts performing a new
kind of black music he called it Gospel
I Got a Woman Ray Charles
When a film about ray Charles came out, with Jamie foxx. Kayne song
using some
Why did he call it Gospel?

Blues has a slower pace and it was popular with black and known by
some white
White people were not experiencing the music of the Black church.
Was faster paced and exciting, would really go for notes
Didnt get the intensity in blues but in church
What ray did was take the church songs and change the lyrics keep the
intensity and things and make it secular.
Was controversy, some thought it was sacrilegious to play those songs
Gained many white fans b/c they liked it
Chicago/Electric Blues:
Muddy Waters 1913-1983
- born in Misissippi
- played guitar and harmonica
- emulated Robert Johnson
- moves to Chicago, early 1940s
- switches to electric guitar 1945
- 1946, records for Aristocrat Records (would later become Chess
Records)
Evolution of city blues, start using the electric guitar, have an entire
band
Only a couple years younger than Robert Johnson was, he died early.
Muddy Waters emulated him.
Moved to Chicago during the war, many black people moved to the
cities, since the men were away there were better paying jobs for
African americans and women
He starts hanging around the players there and is influenced to use the
electric guitar
Aristocrat would become one of the most important independent blues
labels
Hoochie Coochie Man (1954, Willie Dixon)
- verse chorus (modified 12-bar blues)
- Stop Time
Song not written by muddy waters, written by Willie Dixon, played the
stand up bass, and was very important as a song writer at Chess
Later in life he becomes prominent for a law suit with Led Zeppelin
3rd kind of song structure, is verse chorus
Verse: same music different words
Song based entirely on verses like Christmas carols
Same melody different set of words
In pop song usually alternate with a chorus
Chorus: same music same words, may include the song title, may
feature a higher level of intensity
Ex/ Living on a prayer- Bon Jovi

Another sign of self-consciousness, called stop time, where the

instruments emphasize something so kind of feels like a stop.
Changes the texture
Rural blues- 1 guy
City blues- 2 guys guitar and piano
Chicago blues- more guys more instruments
Theory more sounds and more interesting, see a lot of instruments that
will become an important part of the rock band
Started where sheet music and TPA ruled
The threat of radio posed to the record industy they had to look for
something else and they looked at black and hillbilly.
Then ww2 changes things the new demographic, teenages and tv.
Now radio outdated so sold and get black and hillbilly on those
Not just target market were listening white middleclass were listening
and this scares the parents.
Have 50 minutes, MC, may find some challenging
Never make you choose between a good answer and a better answer
Will have a right answer and everything else wrong

MAY 28TH
End of 1940s billboard say the music is getting popular. Realize the
names are a little offensive. After WW2 name hillbilly as country and
western, black as rhythm and blues.
Music on radio, middle class white teens are tuning in to BA radio and
country and western
2 charts,
the pop chart, TPA
country and western
rhythm and blues
So song on rhythm and blues chart, so popular with black audiences
They called the record stores that sell to certain kinds of ppl and use
what they say for the charts
What started happening is that they call the white store and the blues
song is popular.
Cross over hit, one song is popular on one chart and it got popular on
another.
When one crossed over to pop chart ppl stated getting scared.
What happens is white teenagers listen to other music and leads to
moral panic
Moral panic significant change in culture but the change is so big and
profound you cant comprehend it, so you target a small part of it and
say if you stop this it will go away
Teens were listening to black music and it brought out racist tendencies
in parents
Black culture is becoming more prevalent in white culture, and teens
are listening to it and they worry that it will result in mixing
Popularity with white teens leads to moral panic.
So what would happened is that when a song would cross over a
second version of the same song would appear but by a white artist.
The songs would be on the charts simultaneously
It was legal if you followed 3 rules:
Give credit to the original song writers and singers.
If you make money on it have to pay a certain amount goes to whoever
holds the copywright on the song
You cant change the song in a way that demeans the copywright
So have 2 songs competing at the same time

Weird Al has to get permission from whoever he does a parody of most

ppl say yes.
Only Prince and Eminem turned him down
Cover versions: 1954-1956
- white versions of black records
One of the most famous of the Cover Versions was:
Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman)
- born 1932, Macon Georgia
- first big hit was Tutti Frutti
- released late 1955 on Speciality Records (lyrics revised by
Dorothy LaBostrie)
- Crossover hit: #2 R&B, #17
Original lyrics were very rude, so they changed the lyrics
Song structure, influenced by blues, but is verse chorus
Huge hit, and so crosses over and within a well another version
Born in bone crushing poverty, and very incredibly religious and so
thought singing out of church was wrong.
He was also bisexual, tremendous self loathing because of it
Pat Boone:
- born 1934
- was just breaking as a pop star in 1955
- early 1956 releases a cover of Tutti Frutti
- No R&B, #10 Pop
By 1950s TPA term is going out of date
What was changed? Some of the lyrics cleaner
Cover Versions: Sh-Boom
Is AABA song essentially
Group of African americans the style is so dominant that it is all over
the place
Cover by The Crew Cuts: July 1954/ Mercury Records
The white one cover was released by a major label , the original
released by a smaller less known label
This one is a very obvious AABA not break it and repeats twice
Done on purpose, by the time get to 1950s record and radio , have
heard so many songs in these structures. This is more reassuring to
typical AABA listeners the white middle class

First versions had different of not clean arrangements, bc were by

untrained ppl. The structures in the cover versions were arranged
properly and formally
The tambre of the voices, the voices in the original have an edgier
sound and distortion.
Clean and distorted voices, crew cut further from mike cant hear the
breathing and the little things. Miss the sense of intimacy
People make records the way they have seen them before.
Hip hop started with bad mikes, difference was high frequency
reproduction. So base and stuff is good, but the treble not used b/c
cant without better mike
The low voice and tone, has a different feel and possible sensuality.
Change from that to high and more friendly sounding one
First version, very simple instrumentation, drum guitar and sax.
The sax solo seems like it could be improvised, its a moment that
threatens to overflow with its level of intensity, whoevers playing in on
the edge
Even if worked out should sound improvised.
Think of division of labour, does anyone get to step up and have that
transcendent moment, no, you play what you get
The crew one, have lots of instruments, and have everything written
out
Timpani in kids cartoons
Did it work,
The Chords: #3 on R&B, #5 on Pop
The Crew Cuts: no R&B/ #1 Pop
#1 for 9 weeks - #1 song of the year
So yeah it worked, the pop chart is where the money is
1956 new generation of artists, both white and black
influenced by black has white influence too
This was named Rock and Roll