POP & ROCK-HISTORY SUMMARY 2007 BY RINDERT MEVJER ©. This summary of the pop- and rock-history-lessons in semester two, year three of the jazz-department of the Conservatory of Amsteidam should be perceived as part of a bigger program, that includes jazz-history in year one and classical history in year three. It is part of the overall framework of the theoretical courses. A lot of literature is available on the subject and some of it may be recommended for further reading 1. POP-MUSIC IS A BUSINESS. Like jazz, the history of pop-music is documented on recordings. But where jazz and classical music represent each around 2 peicent of the total tuout of record-sales, pop- music is responsible for around 95 percent of it, Therefore a basic understanding of the functioning of the record-business is highly recommendable. A record-company has a PRODUCTION-department, a SALES-department and a so- called MARKETING-department, that will have to find new markets for its products: the record, the CD, the DVD and music on the intemet. A marketing-manager in this business is called an A & R-MANAGER (A&R is: Artist and Repertoire), Due to a number of technical inventions from around 1950 on, a purely recorded documentation of an orchestra is gradually being replaced by a production of a world of “musical experience”, that is a goal in itself, independent from a live-performance. Pure instrumentalists are now in the service of the production and completely expandable. The PRODUCER becomes more important. But in every generation, musicians and bands with interesting music and lyrics will - in the end — always be welcomed by the business, since they may be a potential product on the market. ‘Many musicians found there way in the business by becoming studio-musicians, composers, arrangers, producers or A&R managers. MITCH MILLER, a classical oboe-player who, as such, worked with George Gershwin and Charlie Parker, became in the fifties a master with the ECHO-CHAMBER. PHIL SPECTOR dominated production in the sixties with his WALL-OF-SOUND. He taught BRIAN WILSON, who became the first rock-artist to be solely responsible for the production of the (now called) CONCEPT-ALBUM “Pet Sounds” in 1966, A concept-album is a long-play record with a thematic unity, rather than a string of separate individual songs. Partly because of this, British producer GEORGE MARTIN gave the Beatles more-and- ‘more influence in the production of their recordings, which resulted in their concept- album “Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” — The Beatles suggesting that it was not a documentation of Beatles-songs! QUINCY JONES, a jazz-trumpeter and arranger, became the producer of Michael Jackson's best-selling “Thriller” album in 1981. In Holland, jazz-saxophonist TONY VOS and jazz-pianist CEES SCHRAMA became best-selling pop-producers.2. SOME TECHNICAL INVENTIONS SINCE AROUND THE 1950'S. 1948: television, the tape-recorder, 1950's: plastic (vinyl) long-play and single-records; 1960's: FM- and transistor (portable) radio, multi-track-recording, stereo, the cassette; 1970's: (polyphonic, digital) synthesizers; 1980°s: drum-machines, samplers, the personal computer, satellite-TV, video-clip; CD 1990°s:_ the intemet, the DVD. JOOS: FILE SHARING, HOR PAVERS iPod) » Strammcng MOVIES. 3, AN OVER-ALL CULTURAL VIEW OF THE SUBJECT MATTER. It is my believe, that — because of the development of media and recording technique — through a mega-ACCULTURATION- process, aspects of non-westem culture have entered the mainstream of Westem popular music, the main aspect still being the heritage of the AFRICAN-AMERICAN-tradition. Therefore an essence of that heritage should always be kept in mind in order to appreciate the development of pop-music: In Africa music-making is a community effort in order to achieve a common purpose. ‘Music-making in a concert-setting is not really a goal in itself, but is combined with dancing and dressing-up (clothing). A beautiful, academic tone is not the ideal, musical instruments should rather reflect the human speech, sound of animals, nature, and sounds of the environment. ‘Avrendering of a musical performance is not just an intellectual affair, that performance is only credible - within that perspective - if it is delivered body and soul. ‘That’s why the CALL and RESPONSE technique is almost indispensable in African- derived pop-music, cause artist-and-audience are one social group - or subculture. The tradition is passed on ORALLY. Any tool can be a musical instrument. Because of these acculturation-processes, a pop-song is gradually only perceived correctly by the market — according to the makers of the “Walk On By” history-series - when the artist “sells” the song on “stage” — physically, not just as a “cardboard cut-out”. So, invariably, since ages, there is always protest by educators and other authorities, against too much physicality or (lack of) clothing in, say, video-clips, notably when it involves an African-American artist. ‘The community aspect however also has made pop-music a great tool to comment on, or to contribute to certain social or political aspects of life in Western society. Itis no surprise, that the variety of subjects in pop-lyrics has increased in the last 50 or so years, although the subject of love is still a favorite among writers. ‘The increasing influence of the African-American component does not necessarily decrease the European component in the music. Especially some aspects of four-part harmony, as inherited from modem jazz, found - and still find - great applications in some wonderful song-productions. The British pop-sociologist SIMON FRITH believes, that “POPULAR MUSIC IS THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR EXISTENCE”.4, AFRICAN-AMERICAN POP-MUSIC HISTORY SINCE 1940, 1943, JUMP. LOUIS JORDAN launches a small-combo-version of bluesy big-band swing called SUMP. 1945 — 1955. RHYTHM AND BLUES In the ghetto’s young people dance to RHYTHM-AND-BLUES. This term is invented in 1947 by JERRY WEXLER in otder to replace the term RACE-MUSIC. It is music with suggestive lyrics. The biggest star in this genre is BIG JOE TURNER, who in his younger years worked in Kansas City with Charlie Parker and Pete Johnson. ‘Also FATS DOMINO from New Orleans is a pioneer. SCREAMING SAX- solo’s are a spectacular part of the music. R&B vocal groups DRIFTERS and COASTERS develop a close-harmony variant, The ATLANTIC-label specializes in this style, next to African- American jazz, 1955 — 1960. CHICAGO BLUES. In Chicago an electrified form of city-blues is being developed by notably MUDDY WATERS, Although B.B.KING is from Memphis, Tennessee, he is also pigeonholed in this category. Chicago-blues stars like HOWLIN’ WOLF, KOKO TAYLOR, WILLIE DIXON, LITTLE WALTER, BUDDY GUY, JUNIOR WELLS and CHUCK BERRY ‘were the idols of some British fifties blues-bands, like the ones of ALEXIS KORNER and JOHN MAYALL, The basic instrumental line-up of VOCALS, GUITARS and DRUMS has become very influential through the early work of the ROLLING STONES. They are responsible for the prolongation of the careers of many Chicago artists. CHUCK BERRY is also the originator of the SCREAMING ELECTRIC GUITAR-solo. Many of the Chicago blues-artists have been recorded in the fifties on the CHESS-label. 1960 — 1968, SOUL. A number of GOSPEL-trained vocalists like RAY CHARLES, SAM COOKE and OTIS REDDING start singing secular lyrics, creating a new style called SOUL. The Detroit- based MOTOWN-label of BERRY GORDY reaches both white and black markets with artists like MARVIN GAYE, SMOKEY ROBINSON, THE FOUR TOPS, THE ‘SUPREMES and little STEVIE WONDER. When producer Jerry Wexler in 1967 re- Iaunches the career of MAHALIA JACKSON: student and former jazz-singer ARETHA. FRANKLIN — now marketed as a soul-artist ~Atlantic Records finally has an answer to Berry Gordy.1968-1977, FUNK. Political radicalism causes soul-music to become also a vehicle for expressing the needs of people in the ghetto’s. JAMES BROWN is an all-time hero with the Aftican- Americans in this respect. The groove is restructured to FUNK through the work of Brown, SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE, BOOTSEY COLLINS and GEORGE CLINTON. 1977 — 1982. DISCO, Disco becomes very popular in the U.S.A. through the film “Saturday Night Fever”. Large-scale groups like EARTH, WIND & FIRE, THE COMMODORES and KOOL AND THE GANG score enormous hits and tour the world. The Eighties. RAP. ‘Economic decline in America and England leads to a cut-down in educational budgets, that heavily affect music-lessons and history-lessons in the ghettos. Started at block- parties where folks like GRANDMASTER FLASH invited people from the block to boost the parties with break-dance and storytelling, rhyming “toasts”, RAP/HIP-HOP became a new vehicle for oral history-telling and the voicing of social injustice, N.W.A., PUBLIC ENEMY and KRS-ONE are considered pioneers in this respect. The Nineties. HIP-HOP, R&B. Rap, now called HIP-HOP, turns into a second stage with so-called GANGSTA-RAP, R&B seems to fill the gap between mainstream soul and rap with streetwise vocalists like MARY J. BLIGE, MISSY ELLIOTT and DESTINY’S CHILD. ‘In England some artists like INCOGNITO, BRAND NEW HEAVIES and JAMIROQUAI — who were inspired among others by dance-classics, rap and the British (Jamaican) reggac-heritage of BOB MARLEY, PETER TOSH and JIMMY CLIFF ~ impress the world in the early nineties with their fresh approach to soul and funk. ‘This century ‘African-Americans finally seem to dominate relevant parts of the music-business in such a way that they can boost their produets on a higher profile. The impact of HIP-HOP, ghetto-clothes and -culture on city-life with all kinds of youths is pervasive, Celebrating the life of a hip-hopper itself (“Get Rich!") seems to herald a third stage of the style, Mainstream soul has seen a great reviving through the multi-talented singer/songwriter JOHN LEGEND and the beautiful ALICIA KEYS,5, WESTERN MAINSTREAM POP-MUSIC SINCE 1945, 1945~— 1954, BALLADS, COUNTRY, NOVELTY-SONGS. The BILLBOARD hit-parade ~ measuring hits in terms of record-sales since 1940 — shows in this period a lot of singers with orchestra’s, who are scoring hits with ballads, ‘These former big-band-singers, like DORIS DAY, PEGGY LEE and TONY BENNETT are sometimes referred to as CROONERS, but FRANK SINATRA rejected the term, claiming his craft is real singing — and it is, of course. The use of echo boosts singers that sing loudly, they are known as BELTERS (MARIO LANZA, JOHNNY RAY, FRANKIE LAINE) Since the songs, that are associated with the world of the Broadway- and Hollywood musicals (from the so-called Great American Songbook) do not sell the way they used to do, the business tries to carry on with cute NOVELTY SONGS (Doggy in the Window f e.) and of polished versions of A frican-American- and COUNTRY- songs. The legendary, charismatic HANK WILLIAMS composed a great number of classic country-songs in this period. Recently Norah Jones re-recorded his "Cold, cold heart”. Disc-jockey ALAN FREED discovers, that YOUNG, WHITE LABOURERS CHILDREN FROM THE CITY listen in great numbers to R&B songs played on black radio-stations and starts a program on white radio named CRAZY MOONDOG’S ROCK’N ROLL PARTY, aiming at precisely these youngsters. The record-business now becomes aware of this new market. 1954~ 1957, ROCK-A-BILLY ‘Memphis SUN-records producer SAM PHILLIPS discovers ELVIS PRESLEY, who launches a great pioneering rock ‘n roll career until he becomes a Hollywood movie-star in 1957, Other artists from this period are CARL PERKINS, JOHNNY CASH and JERRY LEE LEWIS. The early line-up of a rock ’n roll band, before the Chicago Blues line-up became fashionable, was WIDE BODY GUITAR, UPRIGHT BASS and DRUMS. It proves to be great party-music for youngsters in America, that shocks their parents. The United States does economically very well in the fifties, and becomes & ‘model for Western Europe, that achieves economic prosperity in the sixties. 1957 -1959. HIGH-SCHOOL ROCK. In 1957 CHUCK BERRY discovers the high-school-kids as a market and the white ‘business is jumping on it with antsts like FRANKIE AVALON, DEL SHANNON, THE EVERLY BROTHERS and NEIL SEDAKA. 1960 — 1961 TWIST. At the tum of the sixties the dance-craze the TWIST sets the whole world to dancing- separated-from-your-partner. “Let's do the twist” was written and originally recorded for the black King-iabel by HANK BALLARD, but CHUBBY CHECKER made it a hit.1962-1968 BRITISH INVASION/ATLANTIC CROSSING. In the nineteen-sixties the effect of the “baby-boom” created a “generation-gap”. The new domination of youth culture created a new youth market — also for records. This was made possible because of economic prosperity, more leisure-time, welfare- legislation and scientific progress. Both in space and on earth: the invention of the pill created a sexual revolution with which the rock‘n roll life-style was associated ~ up until the mid-cighties, when AIDS forced the rock-business to re-see attitudes in this respect. In this period pop-music is dominated by British bands, hence the period-name BRITISH INVASION (from the American viewpoint) or ATLANTIC CROSSING (from the British viewpoint. Important were THE BEATLES, THE ROLLING STONES and THE ANIMALS. In America only soul and folk-rock succeeded in reaching the hit-parades during this period. Folk-rock was created by (“‘protest-singer”) BOB DYLAN, who — ‘coming from the ranks of politically-committed folk-singers like WOODY GUTHRIE, PETE SEEGER and SIMON AND GARFUNKEL ~ started using a rock band. THE BYRDS and BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD provided an answer to the BRITISH INVASION by recording songs that showed a greater social commitment. THE BEACH BOYS were highly influential too, but distanced themselves from the political aspeets. As BRIAN WILSON put it: “The Beach Boys were never about politics, the Beach Boys are about the joy of being alive!” ‘That joy culminated in the year of the hippies, 1967, later labeled by the business as “THE SUMMER OF LOVE”. The hippies were all about an alternative life-style, questioning every rule, that was implemented by parents, educators and other authorities. “All you need is love” proved to be to far-fetched because of a number of political tragedies in the year 1968, toning down much of the early optimism, But artist ANDY WARHOL launched a whole new way of viewing art ~ the so-called CONCEPTUAL ART — that, just like youth-culture, questioned every rule in art so far. He took ordinary consumer-products and tumed them into pieces of art. Because of his, desire to exhibit his art in unexpected rooms subways, cellars — his art was called UNDERGROUND. He exhibited an “ordinary” pop-band, THE VEL VET UNDERGROUND, as a piece of art, stimulating the idea of pop-music as an art-form.1969 - 1976, MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD (M.OR.), HARD-ROCK, SYMPHONIC ROCK, JAZZROCK, GLAMROCK, COUNTRY-ROCK & SINGER/SONGWRITER The idea, that popular music now was an art form became widespread, although not all new directions - representing different sub-cultures - seemed to be equally ambitious in this respect. MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD just aimed at great record-sales for a mainstream audience, whereby some acts like ABBA and THE CARPENTERS unjustifiably were stamped into the ground by “progressive” critics. HARD-ROCK has not been discussed in the lessons due to a lack of time. But artists like JIMMY PAGE and ROBERT PLANT of LED ZEPPELIN are still performing, as is OZZY OSBOURNE. SYMPHONIC ROCK was brought up during the Classical history lessons, so that makes us only mention the names of PINK FLOYD, GENESIS and YES, JAZZ-ROCK and FUSION were brought up in the jazz-history classes, GLAMROCK is the direction that lived the conceptual ideas of Warhol the strongest. ‘What all artists have in common here is a love for drama and theatre. (IM MORRISON AND) THE DOORS, IGGY POP (AND THE STOOGES) and DAVID BOWIE all loved Warhol’s Velvet Underground. LOU REED, coming from that band, started a career of his own in the seventies. ALICE COOPER and KISS are all-time favorites in this style too. QUEEN was originally labeled as a symphonic band, but seemed to develop more and more as the glam-band of the eighties. COUNTRY-ROCK. was the result of moving away from cities that became too violent. ‘The example was given by artists, who made enough money to establish themselves in notably the Laurel Canyon-area in Southem California. Great bands in this style are THE BAND, CROSBY, STILLS & NASH and THE EAGLES. The SINGER- SONGWRITERS mirrored the individuality, that emerged after the unified moods of the happening sixties. Many reflected on that theme, as well as loneliness and love in the perspective of the universe. NEIL YOUNG, JACKSON BROWNE, DON MCLEAN and JONI MITCHELL belong to the greatest of them. 1976 ~ 1982 PUNK AND NEW WAVE, PUNK and NEW WAVE originated in New York in a bar called CBGB, it was developed by a close circle of avant-garde artists and poets, who liked glam-rockers. For a while BLONDIE, PATTI SMITH, THE RAMONES and the TALKING HEADS played for each other, but British fashion-shop-owner MALCOLM McLAREN took the idea to England, where he helped launch the careers of THE SEX PISTOLS and THE CLASH. They were radically against anything that had to do with the sixties, anti- happening and pessimistic. It is “non-sung, non-played” music, with NO FUTURE as a main theme,1982 ~ 1988, NEW POSITIVES, NEW ROMANTICS AND CHARITY. In the early eighties economic decline ~ starting in England, making punk possible - and fear for an atomic war dominated doom-thinking in Europe and the United States. ‘The record-business faced dramatic drops in sales, had fear for experiments (backdoor- labels!) and relied on the successes of existing successful artists by recycling them as OLD WAVE (ERIC CLAPTON, DIRE STRAITS, CHRIS REA, PHIL COLLINS) or combining them in safe DUO-PROJECTS (MICHAEL JACKSON AND PAUL MCCARTNEY, PAUL MCCARTNEY AND STEVIE WONDER, DIONNE WARWICK AND THE BEE GEES, PATRICK DUFFY AND MIREILLE MATHIEU, JULIO IGLESIAS AND WILLIE NELSON). But new developments like satellite TV - with the arrival of MTV - created new chances ‘on global exposure. After the NO NUKES festival in 1979, that generated a three-record album with famous seventies-artists, a new challenge for rock to contribute to charity was created with BAND AID and LIVE AID. It created global success and re-established the careers of musicians, that originally came up in the punk-period, like THE POLICE with STING and BONO with U2. A whole new generation of neo-positive artists contrasted dramatically with the negative attitude of the gone punk days: GEORGE MICHAEL and MICK HUCKNALL (SIMPLY RED) developed as great fund-raisers for charity. In ‘America the ROOTS-ROCK of BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN voiced the needs of middle- class America. ‘The video-clip created a new opportunity for multi-talented artists like MICHAEL JACKSON, PRINCE and MADONNA. In England a new direction of so-called NEW ROMANTICS came up with artists like DURAN, DURAN, SPANDAU BALLET and CULTURE CLUB. Some artists like MATT BIANCO, EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL and SADE flirted with jazz and bossa-nova. This dance-craze from Rio originally had drawn attention in 1962 between the twist and the Beatles. Also in England, some former punk-bands like NEW ORDER, HUMAN LEAGUE and DEPECHE MODE flirted with synthy-pop, partly inspired by the TECHNO of German KRAFTWERK. In Chicago disc-jockey Frankie Knuckles experimented with samplers, and drum-computers to continue grooves between songs in discotheque THE WAREHOUSE. In 1988 (in the second “Summer of Love”) this American HOUSE and European TECHNO merged in London, creating European DANCE, that boosted the stardom of disc-jockeys. The CD created the REPLACEMENT-MARKET in this year At the end of the eighties the dramatic end of the Cold War was symbolized by the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1989. After this a whole new cultural movement was established: POST-MODERNISM. Its still dominating the scene, much to the bore of former avant-garde artists who lost their vanguard position in due time. It proclaims among others three things: 1. Not every progress is improvement; 2. Hist denied; and 3. There is no distinction between HIGH ART and LOW ART.The nineties. ‘As a result of post-modernism the retro-artist came on the scene. Somebody like LENNY KRAVITZ seemed to represent something of the image of JIMI HENDRIX, that great American guitar- and production innovator who became famous via England in the sixties. His songs breathed the sixties without sounding old-fashioned. JAMIROQUAL at first seemed a revival of Stevie Wonder and hippies. In England a whole “revival” of so-called BRITPOP mirrored the retro-idea with bands like OASIS, BLUR, BLUETONES, VERVE and RADIOHEAD, but they were also influenced by the urge of the belated punk-movement from Seattle called GRUNGE, with bands like PEARL JAM, SOUNDGARDEN and NIRVANA. ‘That also influenced so-called NEW-punk-bands like KORN and LAGWAGON, notably ‘on the aspect of the short song. On the other side of the spectrum, the innovative, pervasive practice of the DJ's in the European dance-scene challenged bands like THE PRODIGY and THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS to come to terms with dance-elements in their bands, ‘The HOUSE or DANCE fashion has on-and-off frightened the old-fashioned song- producers, but some folks like the PET SHOP BOYS and STOCK, AITKIN and WATERMAN in England bravely took up mass-mainstream production after the eighties ‘New Romantic movement. In the mid-nineties a whole wave of boy- and girl-bands started to flock the hit-parade again. The challenge of the intemet-revolution has (as usual) met by the record-business in the predictable to-little-to-late approach, so that it lost a possible dominance of the intemet-sales. Internet-sales also can, so it appears, be regulated by others — not just anymore by the old companies alone, This century. A most striking new development in the last five is a boost of new singer/song-writers, that seem not to be worried how they are being labeled. Thus KATIE MALUA, NORAH JONES and JAMIE CULLUM sell great, but can also be seen as jazz-artists. The guitar is, back in video-clips and a whole new generation of singet/song-writers blasts off the screen, like JAMES BLUNT, JAMES MORRISON and JACK JOHNSON. Rindert Meijer, April 15, 2007