Comprehensive Study Notes on the History, Business, and Lineage of Popular Music

Historical Roots of Popular Music and Commodity

• Popular Music Prior to 1950:

  • Popular music existed long before the post-World War II era, extending back hundreds of years into the Renaissance and beyond.

  • During the Renaissance period, music was heavily dominated by vocal compositions, with the mass representing the most prestigious vocal music form through the Baroque and Classical eras.

  • Masses were text-driven, requiring distinct musical settings for each section. Composers sought engaging, familiar melodies to keep church audiences interested during weekly services.

  • A famous secular pop tune dating back to the $1400\text{s}$ was l'amme armet (French for "the armed man"), which referenced a soldier fully equipped with chainmail armor, a sword, and weapons of war.

  • l'amme armet was widely known, sung, hummed, and whistled in the streets. Renaissance composers adopted this popular street tune and transformed it into sacred mass settings.

  • Incorporating street music into sacred environments created varied reactions: some churchgoers were offended by hearing secular street music in holy places, while others were drawn to its cultural relevance.

  • Human musical preferences have remained consistent over $500$ to $1000$ years, favoring relevance and familiarity across both secular and sacred contexts.

• Subgenres and Regional Styles:

  • Subgenres within popular music are frequently regionally driven.

  • Bluegrass style is explicitly associated with the state of Kentucky.

  • Country music (historically referred to as Country and Western) stands as the most commercially successful popular music format in the United States based on the total number of formatted radio stations.

• Factors Behind the 1950s Popular Music Explosion:

  • The expansion of popular music in the $1950\text{s}$ was driven by technological innovation, specifically smaller, cheaper, portable, battery-powered radios using integrated circuits and transistors.

  • This technological shift coincided directly with post-war economic prosperity and the emergence of modern teen culture, creating a unique historical moment that birthed global icons such as Elvis Presley.

  • Pop music maintains market predominance because it caters directly to natural human vocal and melodic preferences, capturing listener interest regardless of whether their primary preference is jazz or classical music.

• Evolution of Domestic Musical Technology and Industrial Commodity:

  • In the $19\text{th}$ century, domestic evening entertainment centered around the acoustic piano, whereas modern social interaction centers around the smartphone.

  • Jenny Lynn (the "Swedish Nightingale", referenced in The Greatest Showman) achieved immense commercial success and cultural fame during the $19\text{th}$ century, acquiring significant personal agency despite systemic societal restrictions on women's rights.

  • During the Industrial Revolution, music became an accessible national pastime and an explicit economic commodity driven by the growth of the music products industry.

  • Unlike crops or clean water, music lacks physical survival utility, yet its consumption transformed it into a major sector of the United States economy.

  • Yamaha stands as the global leader in music product sales volume (producing pianos and speakers), while also manufacturing non-musical items such as motorcycles and boats, generating billions of dollars in revenue.

Radio Broadcasting, Mass Media, and Niche Formats

• Ragtime and Early Mass Media:

  • Ragtime served as a critical precursor and influence on the development of jazz, operating as an overwhelming craze and national fad.

  • Due to the limited number of media niches in early mass media history, popular musical styles swept across the entire population simultaneously rather than remaining isolated to small demographic segments.

• The Jazz Age and Big Band Era:

  • During the Jazz Age of the $1920\text{s}$, American music established itself as a dominant world force globally for the first time.

  • The initial popularity of jazz transitioned into the widespread growth of big bands throughout the subsequent two decades.

• Early Radio Broadcasting Mechanics:

  • Radio broadcasts in early decades were strictly live events; technology and concepts for broadcasting prerecorded music on the radio did not exist.

  • Listening to early radio was a synchronous experience where entire households gathered around a single, large, heavy, and expensive radio set.

  • Because the entire family listened simultaneously to a single device, all broadcast programming was required to be strictly family-friendly.

  • Marconi developed radio technology to create this initial synchronous broadcast connection, which functioned as a one-way signal coming into homes.

  • Local radio stations, such as the broadcasting tower located at the Ryan Library Building serving UNK and Central Nebraska, operated at low power while carrying on traditional classic radio formats.

  • Early radio programming featured fully scripted content, including Agatha Christie style mysteries such as murder on the Orient Express, relying entirely on vocal acting talent.

• The Birth of the Disc Jockey and Niche Formatting:

  • The concept of the DJ (disc jockey) did not exist until the technical ability and idea to play records through a broadcasting console were established.

  • The program Make believe ballroom, which debuted in $1935$ in the United States, marked the very first radio broadcast of prerecorded music.

  • The advent of smaller, cheaper, individual radio receivers created distinct niches within the radio industry (e.g., country and western, classic rock, classical).

  • Gordon McClendon of Dallas, Texas, was a radio broadcasting visionary whose net worth exceeded $200,000,000$ in $1980\text{s}$ currency (equivalent to billions today).

  • Gordon McClendon invented the Top 40 radio format—also known as Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR)—along with dedicated news and country radio formats.

Post-War Popular Music, Elvis Presley, and Early Influences

• Post-WWII Jazz Subgenres:

  • Following World War II disruption, jazz fragmented into specialized niches due to expanded broadcast airtime and technology, giving rise to bebop, cool jazz, and fusion (pioneered by Miles Davis).

• Elvis Presley's Background and Career:

  • Born in Tupelo, Mississippi (near Memphis, Tennessee), Elvis Presley lived a short life while becoming one of the most successful commercial artists in history, selling over $500,000,000$ records (with cumulative sales exceeding $1,000,000,000$).

  • Elvis began his recording career in Memphis under the direction of Sam Phillips, the founder of Sun Records.

  • Sam Phillips was an entrepreneurial pioneer who constructed his own studio and established his own record label from scratch specifically out of a passion for music.

  • Though white, Sam Phillips aimed to bring Black popular music to broader audiences by creating an intentionally racially integrated studio and label model.

  • Elvis Presley's musical style was heavily immersed in Rhythm and Blues (R&B)—a stylistic fusion of blues, jazz, and gospel music.

  • Elvis explicitly drew from and credited primary Black artists of the era who influenced his style, including Chuck Berry and Little Richard.

  • The $1968\text{ comeback special}$ highlighted Elvis's shifting demographic appeal: the teenagers of the $1950\text{s}$ returned as $30\text{-year-old}$ adults alongside children, demonstrating broad multigenerational pop appeal.

Ray Charles, Atlantic Records, and the Business of Soul

• Ray Charles's Life and Industry Impact:

  • Ray Charles, recognized as the "Genius of Soul Music," overcame severe personal hardships and blindness to shape mid-twentieth-century popular music.

  • The $2004$ biographical film Ray featured Jamie Foxx, a conservatory-trained pianist who took direct piano lessons with Ray Charles to prepare for the role.

  • Early in his career, Ray Charles faced exploitation in performance venues and insisted on being paid for live shows in single $1$ dollar bills (e.g., $1,000$ in one-dollar notes) so he could personally count and verify his payment.

  • Ray Charles established his own backing band and secured complete ownership of his master recordings—a business concession previously unprecedented for Black artists and rarely granted outside of stars like Frank Sinatra.

  • Ray Charles worked closely with executive Ahmed Prectagon, the key force behind Atlantic Records who drove the development of popular soul music throughout the $1960\text{s}$ and $1970\text{s}$.

Perspectives on Elvis Presley and Musical Integration

• Ray Charles on Elvis Presley:

  • In an interview with Bob Costas, Ray Charles offered a nuanced view regarding Elvis Presley's artistic standing.

  • Charles acknowledged that Elvis provided a distinct service to Black musicians by breaking through mainstream barriers and expanding public interest in Black popular music.

  • However, Charles expressed underlying bitterness regarding the designation of Elvis as "The King," questioning Elvis's ultimate artistic substance relative to the Black innovators whose styles he emulated.

• Little Richard on Elvis Presley:

  • Little Richard offered a diplomatic and positive assessment of Elvis's cultural impact, stating: "He was an integrator. Elvis was a blessing. They wouldn't let black music through. He opened the door for black music."

Modern Lineage of Musical Influence and Artist Case Studies

• Historical versus Modern Musical Lineage:

  • Historical composers possessed minimal knowledge of distant musical eras; for example, J.S. Bach in the $1700\text{s}$ knew only immediate predecessors dating back to approximately $1650$, knowing almost nothing of true Renaissance style.

  • Modern popular musicians trace their influences back one or two generations to discover musical lineages and construct creative identities.

• Alex Warren:

  • Cites Justin Bieber as a primary musical influence, drawing parallels between their reflective life stories and transitions into mature sound profiles.

  • Tracing Justin Bieber's influences further backward reveals UK R&B artist Craig David, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, and earlier soul figures.

• Billie Eilish:

  • Relies heavily on artistic persona and utilizes string quartet arrangements, establishing a musical connection to structural techniques pioneered in popular music by The Beatles.

• Amy Winehouse:

  • Blended an iconic vintage persona with $1960\text{s}$ soul and R&B stylings derived from girl groups such as The Supremes, alongside Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, and Billie Holiday.

  • Produced her album Back to Black with producer Mark Bronson (also referenced as Mark Barons), who later produced the soundtrack for the film Barbie.

• Bozier:

  • An Irish singer-songwriter who formally studied music education in college before his commercial career expanded.

  • Cites Nina Simone—a vocalist, pianist, composer, arranger, and civil rights activist—as a primary musical hero.

  • Nina Simone is widely recognized for I Put a Spell on You and her performance of Billy Taylor's I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free.

  • Bossier also cites modern rap influences, acknowledging artists like Kendrick and Drake.

• Riley Green:

  • Modern country artist positioned within the traditional stylistic lineage of artists like Alan Jackson.