History of American Pop Music Study Guide

A set of vocabulary flashcards for reviewing key terms and concepts from the History of American Pop Music.

45s

A record format released in 1949 by RCA Victor Corporation that allowed a listener to load a stack of singles.

FM

Type of radio that had the best sound.

Nat King Cole

The first Black musician to host his own weekly radio series and the first to have a network television show.

Frank Sinatra

The artist who was the focus of the first documented example of modern pop hysteria in 1944.

Pete Seagar

The leader of the urban folk group the Weavers.

D Perez Parado

The pianist, organist, and bandleader who recorded 'Mambo No. 5' and popularized the mambo.

Muddy Waters

An artist known for recording Chicago electric blues.

Hank Thompson

The honky-tonk artist who recorded 'The Wild Side of Life.'

Alan Freed

The disc jockey who was probably the first to use the term rock ’n’ roll for commercial and generational purposes.

Big Joe Turner

The artist who recorded the original version of 'Shake, Rattle, and Roll.'

A Little Bird Told Me

The song involved in a copyright case that established that sheet music had copyright privileges but arrangements did not.

The Crew Cuts

The vocal ensemble that recorded a cover version of 'Sh-Boom' featuring two false endings and a humorous kettledrum stroke.

Rock Around the Clock

The first rock ‘n’ roll song to become a number 1 pop hit.

Maybellene

A song by Chuck Berry describing a lovers’ quarrel in the form of a car chase.

Little Richard

A rock ’n’ roll performer originally named Richard Wayne Penniman famous for 'Tutti-Frutti.'

Fats Domino

The rock ’n’ roll pianist known for a style rooted in musical traditions from New Orleans.

Elvis Presley

The artist known for his hit song 'Don’t Be Cruel.'

Ramon Mango Santamaria

The New York City-based recording artist who released the Latin Soul hit 'Watermelon Man.'

Stan Getts

The California-based jazz saxophonist who recorded 'The Girl from Ipanema,' the biggest bossa nova hit.

Herb Alpert

Los Angeles-born trumpeter and songwriter who founded A&M Records.

Beatle Mania

The term referring to the mass adulation surrounding the Beatles.

The Beatles

A band composed of members Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison.

Dick Dale

The surf guitarist known for his characteristic 'wet' sound and songs like 'Pipeline'.

Wrecking Crew

The name of the studio musicians who regularly worked with Phil Spector.

The Twist

An individual non-contact dance without any steps generally done by a girl-boy couple.

Philles

The record label founded by Phil Spector.

A Hard Day’s Night

The Beatles’ Number 1 hit featuring flamingo guitar castanets and other exotic elements.

Motown records

A recording label that included artists like the Supremes and the Temptations.

The young audience

The audience that record companies began to target for the first time following World War II.

Les Paul

A great innovator in the field of overdubbing.

Mambo

The most popular form of Latin dance music in the United States just before the rise of rock ‘n’ roll.

Western and race

The single category under which Billboard listed 'race music' and 'hillbilly music' in 1942.

R&B began as a loose cluster of styles rooted in Southern folk traditions and was shaped by the experience of returning military personnel and hundreds of thousands of Black Americans who had migrated to urban centers.

True.

false

Was Big Mama Thornton was affectionately known as “Miss Rhythm” for her prowess on the drums

Columbia records

The first major company to set up its country music operation in Nashville.

Rhythm and blues and race music

The style of music that the term rock ’n’ roll first referred to.

1931

The year when the electric guitar was invented and became a major contributor to rock ‘n’ roll.

the practice of recording a song that has previously been recorded by another artist or group

What does the phrase cover version simply refers?

Rhythm & blues and country and western

In the 1950s, most “indie” record companies specialized in what genre of music that had begun to attract a national mass audience.

Chuck Berry

The African American songwriter/performer who addressed his songs to teenage America in the 1950s.

Elvis Presley

The biggest star of rock ’n’ roll to come out of the country tradition.

Wanda Jackson

A rockabilly singer whose career was personally encouraged by Elvis Presley.

Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller

The most innovative songwriting/producing team of the early rock ’n’ roll years.

Frank Sinatra or Johnny Mathis

Artists whose recordings created the most remarkable manifestation of Tin Pan Alley endurance in the 1950s.

Phil Spector

The successful recording artist and founder of Philles Records.

Brill building

The famous New York City building where aspiring songwriters created songs for large numbers of artists.