Popular Music Styles 50s-70s Music Appreciation Test 4

Country Music 50s

southerners migrated to major cities during WWII

became mass audience for country music (detroit, LA, NYC)

650 radio stations specializing

Grand Ole Opry - Nashville, TN, weekly stage concert

Verse

Chorus Form

Strophic - different stanzas set to the same music

Chorus - “hook line”

Rhythm and Blues 50s

black american dance music that fused blues, jazz, and gospel

emphasized strong beat, use of saxophones, and electric guitars

BB King, Ray Charles, Little Richard

sexually explicit lyrics

Rock and Roll 50s

specifically targeted teens

teens saw as expression of rebellion

vocal music with hard driving beat, featuring electric guitars heavily amplified

1960s

social unrest

opposition to military in Vietnam

counter culture movement: woodstock music festival 1969 - 400,000 attendees

Soul Music 60s

light rock

emphasized emotionality

Motown

• Detroit, “Motor Town” - made cars

• soul music and pop, targeted the youth of America → The Supremes, Jackson 5, Four Tops

Barry Gordy Producer - carefully controlling public image

British Invasion 1964

influenced by the Beatles

ed sullivan - 73 million views

wider range of sources for sounds and musical ideas; electronic effects, classical and non western instruments, unconventional chord progressions