Ok so, popular music really started back in the 1800s with
the slave trade. They brought their native African beats over, and that started
to shake things up a little. Musicians in America started to hear these funky
rhythms, and jazz was developed. The inventor of jazz was supposedly Ferdinand “Jelly
Roll” Morton, a pianist with the Red Hot Peppers (what a nickname!), but really
everyone played a part in it. Society was also racist as hell, so jazz
musicians (often black) were segregated, paid less, and had to play in less
respectable venues (as in nightclubs and brothels).
Jump to the roaring 20s, these tunes started to get played
in dance halls with swing big bands! What a party! Think Gershwin music! The
racism had led many black musician to the Great Migration north, where things
weren’t much better, but also contributed to the Harlem Renaissance.
Until the Great Depression shut it down. Not as much as you
would think though. But this mood change did bring in the blues, and started
the use of electric instruments. Thanks to FDR’s Works Progress Administration,
musicians were paid to play, so the big bands managed to continue through this
period. This was the era that Cole Porter really got going in!
What really killed the swing parade was WWII. During then,
several things happened to contribute to this. Shellac started to be rationed, unfortunately
it was an important material in making records. Also, the swing big bands
became too expensive, there were too many players, it wasn’t affordable anymore.
And the national mood plummeted. Big bands only played slow music, like whole
notes with too much vibrato. Ugh.
So what appeared was bebop. Thanks to Charlie Parker and
Dizzy Gillespie, small combos started playing really fast! This saved money,
and transformed into something new and original! Of course the fast pace meant
that dancers couldn’t keep up, so jazz became a musicians-only gig for the most
part. This never became popular enough to replace swing, so R&B really got
going out of the blues genre.
Around that time, Louis Armstrong (according to legend) came
across another innovation. Supposedly, his band was recording, and the lyrics
blew off of Louis’ stand. So he kept singing, and scatting was born!
Then something really big came across the puddle. BRITISH
INVASION! Cue the Beatles. For the first time, everyone across the nation was
listening to the same music (Elvis also contributed to this). This was the
start of pop (hold the Bieber for a moment). More people began joining the pop
scene, but as everyone was still racist, black musicians were delegated to
R&B instead of pop. This was the era of Motown.
Should probably mention Woodstock. That was the 60s, peace,
love, and music. Everyone getting all anti-war up in here. This rebellion
started as a response to the conformity of the 50s, where Congress was
restricting musicians and dance moves and generally being an uptight pain in
the ass.
Dance music became popular again, as discos started. Yup, so
dancing beats and stuff.
Not much has really changed since then, it’s mostly the same
general area of popular music.
Of course, this isn’t extensive, it’s just the main music
that everyone was listening to at the time. So Bieber was really caused by the
slave trade, thanks people. But we wouldn’t have gotten many other great kinds
of music if it wasn’t for that, so I guess I can live with it.
(In case you are wondering about sources, I mostly know all
of this stuff from a research paper on music reflecting society and the economy
that I did a while ago. I can provide more specific stuff on request. But I got
a 99 on the paper, so it’s all legit. J)
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