pop music - History of pop music, Sound and themes

1890s through 1920s

The dance music element of pop music can be traced back to Ragtime, which was initially popular in African American communities, and mainly disseminated through sheet music and player pianos. The crossing of race-based social boundaries around race, for ragtime, swing, and later Rock’n’Roll, was the source of many moral panics inspired by pop music.

1930s and 1940s

Styles influencing the later development of pop include the Blues, also originating in African-American communities, (for example, electric guitar Blues in Chicago), and Country coming also from "hillbilly music" of poor folk, white and black (Sun Records in Tennessee), which blended to become early Rock and Roll.

=== 1700 Early Pop music artists include Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, Bobbejaan Schoepen, and Peggy Lee, but other artists like Bill Haley and his Comets, Fats Domino and Elvis Presley became popular with the younger generation.

1960s

Pop music teen idols of the 1960s included Cliff Richard, Sandy Shaw, Lulu, The Rolling Stones, The Small Faces, Gene Pitney, and The Shadows.

1970s

A proliferation of new sounds from the disco era included the BeeGees and ABBA, the piano-based pop of Billy Joel and Elton John, the country stylings of the Eagles, and the rock-influenced pop of Rod Stewart, Steely Dan, and Fleetwood Mac. Other important pop musicians include Cat Stevens, The Carpenters, Jackson Five, The Miracles, Roberta Flack, Carly Simon, Cher, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind and Fire, KC and the Sunshine Band and Donna Summer.

1980s

Notable highlights for pop music in the 1980s are Michael Jackson's second Epic label release, Thriller, which went on to become the best-selling album of all time. Michael Jackson was sometimes referred to as "The King of Pop" and Madonna was considered "The Queen of Pop".

1990s

Among the most successful pop acts of the 1990s were R&B-influenced pop acts such as Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, Celine Dion, Michael Bolton, En Vogue, Salt N Pepa, Brandy, and TLC.

2000s

In the 2000s, hip-hop blended in with lemar, paving the way for the multi-platinum successes of artists like Nelly, Eminem, 50 Cent, Ludacris, Ciara, Beyoncé Knowles, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, the Pussycat Dolls, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani and especially Britney Spears are thought to be pop artists, but lack a key element, and therefore fall under the hip hop genre. Other trends included Teen pop acts such as Disney Channel star Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan, dance/pop/rock group Jump 5 being featured in various Disney and non-disney movie soundtracks (eg. Reggaeton style music such as Pitbull, and "pop punk" music, such as Avril Lavigne and Good Charlotte.

In the Arab world, familiar pop stars include Cheb Khaled, Cheb Mami and Samira Said (famous for her 2003 album Youm Wara Youm).

Sound and themes

Pop music generally uses a simple, memorable melody and may use stripped-down rhythms.

Music videos and live performances are often used for exposure in the media, and artists may have extravagant stage shows and use choreographed dancing.Pop followed by dancing

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The History of Rock 'N' Roll, Vol. 1

Episode 1: Rock 'n' Roll Explodes, 21 October 2005

Interestingly, in 1995, two 10 hour mini series about the history of Rock & Roll aired on television. One was this (produced by Time-Warner), and the other was PBS' "Rock & Roll". It is important to know that this is not the documentary that was aired on PBS. This is a lighter take on the history of rock & roll, focusing more on the entertainment aspect as opposed to the more "documentary" orientation of the series that aired on PBS.

This is the first of 10 part series on history of Rock n Roll. Each of the parts are arranged in chronological order and this episode deals with the very beginning of Rock n Roll from early '50s to mid '50s. All time early Rock n Roll greats like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Louis appears to show the formative years of Rock n Roll.

Rock music in the beginning was not widely accepted due to all of its players being of black ethnicity. Sam Phillips of Sun Records were recording black rock n roll musicians but couldn't break the barrier, until Elvis Presley walked in the door. Sam Phillips immediately knew that this was his ticket, and attached a band to Elvis to promote him as his star.

The first episode is based on these developments, as rock music gradually finds its way into mainstream America.

A brief summary of Jamaican music

Jamaica: the mento

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(See Background: The 20th Century)

The first Jamaican recording studio opened in 1951 and recorded "mento" music, a fusion of European and African folk dance music. The island was awash in rhythm'n'blues records imported by the so called "sound systems", eccentric traveling dance-halls run by no less eccentric disc-jockeys such as Clement Dodd (the "Downbeat") and Duke Reid (the "Trojan"). The poor people of the Jamaican ghettos, who could not afford to hire a band for their parties, had to content themselves with these "sound systems". The "selectors", the Jamaican disc-jockeys who operated those sound systems, became the real entertainers. The selector would spin the records and would "toast" over them. The art of "toasting", that usually consisted in rhyming vocal patterns and soon evolved in social commentary, became as important as the music that was being played.

In 1954 Ken Khouri started Jamaica's first record label, "Federal Records". He inspired Reid and Dodd, who began to record local artists for their sound system. Towards the end of the 1950s, amateurs began to form bands that played Caribbean music and New Orleans' rhythm'n'blues, besides the local mento. This led to the "bluebeat" groups, which basically were Jamaica's version of the New Orleans sound. They usually featured saxophone, trumpet, trombone, piano, drums and bass.

Soon the bass became the dominant instrument, and the sound evolved into the "ska". The "ska" beat had actually been invented by Roscoe Gordon, a Memphis pianist, with No More Doggin' (1951). Ska songs boasted an upbeat tempo, a horn section, Afro-American vocal harmonies, jazzy riffs and staccato guitar notes.

Ska

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(See The Age of Revivals)

Theophilus Beckford cut the first "ska" record, Easy Snapping, in 1959, but Prince Buster (Cecil Campbell), owner of the sound system "Voice of the People", was the one who, around 1961, defined ska's somatic traits once and forever (he and his guitarist Jah Jerry).

The Wailers, featuring the young Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston, slowed down the beat in Simmer Down (1963). Millie Small's My Boy Lollipop (1964) was the first worldwide ska hit. The charismatic leaders of the ska movement were the Skatalites, a group of veteran ex-jazzmen led by saxophonist Tommy McCook and featuring virtuoso trombonist Don Drummond and tenor saxophonist Rolando Alphonso, that formally existed only between 1964 and 1965 (Ball O' Fire, 1965; Phoenix City, 1966; the instrumental Guns Of Navarone, 1967), but ska's star was Desmond Dekker (Dacres), whose Israelites (1968) launched the even faster "poppa-top", and whose 007 Shanty Town (1967) and Rude Boy Train fueled the mythology of the "rude boy". Ska music was relatively serene and optimist, a natural soundtrack to that age of peace and wealth, somewhat akin to the music of the "swinging London".

Jamaica had become an independent country in 1962, but social problems had multiplied. During the mid Sixties, ska music evolved into "rock steady", a languid style, named after Alton Ellis' hit Rock Steady (1966), that emphasized sociopolitical themes, adopted electric instruments, replaced the horns with the guitars, and promoted the bass to lead instrument (virtually obliterating the drums). In other words, ska mutated under the influence of soul music. Rock steady was identified with the crowd of young delinquents (the "rude boys") who mimicked the British "mods" and the American "punks". Its generational anthems were Judge Dread (1967) by Prince Buster, John Holt's The Tide Is High (1966) by the Paragons, Rivers Of Babylon (1969) by the Melodians. The music took the back seat to the vocal harmonies. This helped bring about the supremacy of vocal groups: Wailers, Paragons, Maytals (the new name of the Vikings of the ska hit Halleluja, 1963), Pioneers, Melodians, Heptones, etc.

Reggae

TM, ®, Copyright © 2003 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.

(See Re-alignment)

The word "reggae" was coined around 1960 in Jamaica to identify a "ragged" style of dance music, that still had its roots in New Orleans rhythm'n'blues. However, reggae soon acquired the lament-like style of chanting and emphasized the syncopated beat. It also made explicit the relationship with the underworld of the "Rastafarians" (adepts of a millenary African faith, revived Marcus Garvey who advocated a mass emigration back to Africa), both in the lyrics and in the appropriation of the African nyah-bingi drumming style (a style that mimicks the heartbeat with its pattern of "thump-thump, pause, thump-thump"). Compared with rock music, reggae music basically inverted the role of bass and guitar: the former was the lead, the latter beat the typical hiccupping pattern. The paradox of reggae, of course, is that this music "unique to Jamaica" is actually not Jamaican at all, having its foundations in the USA and Africa.

An independent label, Island, distributed Jamaican records in the UK throughout the 1960s, but reggae became popular in the UK only when Prince Buster's Al Capone (1967) started a brief "dance craze". Jamaican music was very much a ghetto phenomenon, associated with gang-style violence, but Jimmy Cliff's Wonderful World Beautiful People (1969) wed reggae with the "peace and love" philosophy of the hippies, an association that would not die away. In the USA, Neil Diamond's Red Red Wine (1967) was the first reggae hit by a pop musician. Shortly afterwards, Johnny Nash's Hold Me Tight (1968) propelled reggae onto the charts. Do The Reggay (1968) by Toots (Hibbert) And The Maytals was the record that gave the music its name. Fredrick Toots Hibbert's vocal style was actually closer to gospel, as proved by their other hits (54-46, 1967; Monkey Man, 1969; Pressure Drop, 1970).

A little noticed event would have far-reaching consequences: in 1967, the Jamaican disc-jockey Rudolph "Ruddy" Redwood had begun recording instrumental versions of reggae hits. The success of his dance club was entirely due to that idea. Duke Reid, who was now the owner of the Trojan label, was the first one to capitalize on the idea: he began releasing singles with two sides: the original song and, on the back, the instrumental remix. This phenomenon elevated the status of dozens of recording engineers.

Reggae music was mainly popularized by Bob Marley (1), first as the co-leader of the Wailers, the band that promoted the image of the urban guerrilla with Rude Boy (1966) and that cut the first album of reggae music, Best Of The Wailers (1970); and later as the political and religious (rasta) guru of the movement, a stance that would transform him into a star, particularly after his conversion to pop-soul melody with ballads such as Stir It Up (1972), I Shot The Sheriff (1973) and No Woman No Cry (1974).

Among the reggae vocal groups, the Abyssinians' Satta Massa Gana (1971) is representative of the mood of the era.

In 1972 reggae became a staple of western radio stations thanks to the film The Harder They Come.

Dub

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More and more studio engineers were re-mixing B-sides of reggae 45 RPM singles, dropping out the vocals and emphasizing the instrumental texture of the song. The purpose was to allow disc-jockeys to "toast" over the record. Engineers became more and more skilled at refining the instrumental textures, especially when they began to employ sophisticated studio devices. Eventually, "dub" became an art on its own. The first dub singles appeared in 1971, but the man generally credited with "inventing" the genre is Osbourne Ruddock, better known as King Tubby (2), a recording engineer who in 1970 had accidentally discovered the appeal of stripping a song of its vocal track, and who engineered the first dub record, Carl Patterson's Psalm Of Dub (1971). When he got together with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, Blackboard Jungle (1973) was born: the first stereo "dub" album. It was a Copernican revolution: the engineer and the producer had become more important than the composer. It also marked the terminal point of the "slowing down" of Jamaican music, a process that had led from ska to reggae to rock steady. Compared with the original, dub was like a slow-motion version. a collaboration with melodica player Augustus Pablo led to another seminal work, King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown (1976).

Rainford Hugh Perry, better known as Lee "Scratch" Perry (3), who had nursed the Wailers, pretty much set the reference standard for generations to come with Double Seven (1974), the first reggae album that overdubbed synthesizers, Revolution Dub (1975) and Super Ape (1976), one of the genre's masterpieces.

Melodica virtuoso Augustus Pablo (2), aka Horace Swaby, penned the instrumental albums This Is Augustus Pablo (1973) and East of the River Nile (1977), two of the most atmospheric works of the genre.

Talk-over

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"Rapping" originated from the complementary tradition of the "talk-over". The disc-jockeys of the sound systems used to accompany the dance tracks with impromptu melodic and spoken-word vocals, often simply to add enthusiasm to the dance. This eventually became an art in itself. U-Roy (Edwart Beckford) was possibly the first great talk-over artist, the man who turned dub into a highly-effective vehicle for agit-prop messages (Dynamic Fashion Way, 1969; Runaway Girl, 1976; Wake the Town, Wear You to the Ball). Other pioneers of rapping were Dennis "Alcapone" Smith, with Forever Version (1971), Prince Jazzbo and I Roy. Big Youth (Manley Buchanan) upped the ante with his wild sociopolitical raps (S-90 Skank, 1972; The Killer, 1973; House Of Dread Locks, 1975; Every Nigger Is A Star, 1976), most effectively on Dreadlocks Dread (1975). Originally, the technique of these "toaster" consisted in remixing other people's songs, removing the original vocals, emphasizing the rhythmic base, and overdubbing their own rhyming stories on the resulting track.

The golden age of Reggae

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As reggae became a world attraction, styles multiplied and inbred with the American genres.

Burning Spear (1), the project of Rastafarian visionary Winston Rodney, unleashed the supercharged Marcus Garvey (1976), perhaps the highest artistic achievements of reggae music.

Joseph Hill's vocal trio Culture were equally passionate, and the title-track from Two Sevens Clash (1977) became the anthem of the rasta-punks and coined "rockers reggae".

Ijahman Levi (Trevor Sutherland) was perhaps the most spiritual vocalist of his generation. His songs were religious hymns (Jah Heavy Lord, 1975; I'm A Levi, 1978; Are We A Warrior, 1978).

Ex-Wailers Peter Tosh, or Winston Hubert McIntosh, crossed over into rock territory with Legalize It (1976).

Other popular classics include Junior Marvin's Police And Thieves (1976) and Gregory Isaacs' Love Is Overdue (1974).

Jamaican revival in Britain

(See British Graffiti)

Reggae and ska enjoyed a major revival in Britain during the punk age. Starting in the mid-1970s, ensembles such as Aswad, Steel Pulse, Matumbi and UB40 offered a westernized version of Jamaican music that was rather uninspired, but were lucky enough that the audience found affinities with the implicit protest themes of the political punks. At the same time, British sensations of the ska revival included Specials and Madness. British dub music was a more serious affair, and took longer to emerge. But, over the long term, it was dub music, and not ska or reggae music, that stuck around, thanks to the quality productions of Adrian Sherwood (the brain behind African Headcharge, Dub Syndicate and New Age Steppers), Jah Shaka and prolific Guyana-born Neil Fraser, better known as Mad Professor, who penned Beyond the Realms Of Dub (1982), and even Aswad's own New Chapter of Dub (1982). Artistic peaks were reached by dub pioneer and experimentalist Keith Hudson, with Pick A Dub (1976), and instrumental soundpainter Dennis Bovell (a former member of Matumbi, an engineer who coined the soul-reggae fusion called "Lovers Rock"), with Strictly Dubwise (1978), I Wah Dub (1980), probably his most intense release, and Brain Damage (1981), a cosmopolitan work that also mixed calypso, rock and funk. Linton Kwesi Johnson, a Jamaican poet living in England, transposed reggae's mood into dub-based sermons, arranged by Dennis Bovell, on the contemporary issues of the lumperproletariat. Ditto for the other poet of dub, Mutabaruka. These dub poets were as musical as their producers managed to be. Kwesi owed a lot to Bovell.

Jamaican music in the 1980s

(See The New Age and World-music)

Vocal trio Black Uhuru, supported by the rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, wrapped reggae and Rastafarianism into a slick production of drum-machines and synthesizers, especially on Red (1981).

Third World offered a commercial fusion of reggae, funk and soul.

Innovators of the next generation included toaster and turntablist Yellowman (Winston Foster), a pioneer of "dancehall" (reggae music with rock drums) who established his reputation with Mister Yellowman (1982), crossover artists such as Eddy Grant, with the electronic Afro-rock-reggae-funk fusion of Walking on Sunshine (1979), Eek-a-Mouse (Ripton Joseph Hylton), who invented a unique vocal technique that harked back to the early days of toasting, as displayed on Wa Do Dem (1982), and Mikey Dread (Michael Campbell), who crafted African Anthem/ At The Control Dubwise (1979), with help from Scientist, King Tubby, Augustus Pablo and Sly & Robbie, and World War III (1981), with help from Scientist, after collaborating with the punk-rock band Clash.

As far as dub goes, King Tubby raised an entire generation of recording engineers, who went on to become innovators of Jamaican music, such as Prince Jammy (Lloyd James), who concocted the all-digital reggae Under Me Sleng Teng (1985), credited with inventing "ragga" (a fusion of reggae, rap and electronic dance music), and Scientist (Overton Brown).

Popular reggae musicians of the 1980s included Judy Mowatt, who, as a backup vocalist for Marley, was one of reggae's first female performers, and, as a soloist, crossed over into pop-soul balladry, Ivory Coast's sociopolitical bard Alpha Blondy (Kone Seydou), and David "Ziggy" Marley, son of the prophet, who sold out his father's myth to the international disco-pop crowds. Dancehall toaster Shabba Ranks (Rexton Gordon) and Shinehead (Carl Aiken) were the stars of ragga hip-hop.

The star of the 1990s was Buju Banton (Mark Anthony Myrie), revealed by Til Shiloh (1995).

Jazz Music

Introduction

Jazz is the art of expression set to music! Jazz is said to be the fundamental rhythms of human life and man’s contemporary reassessment of his traditional values. Volumes have been written on the origins of jazz based on black American life-styles. The early influences of tribal drums and the development of gospel, blues and field hollers seems to point out that jazz has to do with human survival and the expression of life.

The origin of the word "jazz" is most often traced back to a vulgar term used for sexual acts. Some of the early sounds of jazz where associated with whore houses and "ladies of ill repute." However, the meaning of jazz soon became a musical art form, whether under composition guidelines or improvisation, jazz reflected spontaneous melodic phrasing.

Those who play jazz have often expressed the feelings that jazz should remain undefined, jazz should be felt. "If you gotta ask, you’ll never know" ---Louis Armstrong.

The standard legend about jazz is that it was conceived in New Orleans and moved up the Mississippi River to Memphis, St. Louis and finally Chicago. Of course that seems to be the history of what we now refer to as jazz, however, the influences of what led to those early New Orleans sounds goes back to tribal African drum beats and European musical structures.

"Jazz, like any artistic phenomenon, represents the sum of an addition. The factors of this addition are, to my mind, African music, French and American music and folklore." ---Robert Goffin, 1934.

In reviewing the background of jazz one can not overlook the evaluation over the decades and the fact that jazz spanned many musical forms such as spirituals, cakewalks, ragtime and the blues. Around 1891 a New Orleans barber named Buddy Bolden reputedly pitcked up his cornet and blew the first stammering notes of jazz, thereby unconsciously breaking with several centuries of musical tradition. A half-century later, jazz, America’s great contribution to music, crossed the threshold of the universities and became seriously, even religiously considered.

Jazz functions as popular art and has enjoyed periods of fairly widespread public response, in the "jazz age" of the 1920s, in the swing era of the late 1930s and in the peak popularity of modern jazz in the late 1950s. Beginning in the 20s and continuing well into the 30s, it was common to apply the word "jazz" rather indiscriminately, melodically or tonally. Thus George Gershwin was called a jazz composer. For Gershwin’s concert work he was acclaimed to have made a respectable art form out of jazz. Somewhat similarly, Paul Whiteman, playing jazz-influenced dance music, was billed as the King of Jazz. Perhaps the broader definition of jazz, such as the one that would include the blues influence as well as those who shared our understanding of the art form, even if they did not perform it, would be the most useful historical approach.

"It has always intrigued me, that people like Ma Rainey, Al Jolson and Guy Lombardo are considered a part of jazz history, but they are!" ---Les Paul, 1994.

The influence and development of the blues can not be over looked when discussing the early years of jazz.

"The blues as such are synonymous with low spirits. Blues music is not. With all its so called blue notes and overtones of sadness, blues music of its very nature and function is nothing if not a form of diversion." ---Albert Murray.

Those feelings as expression of blues music fits very comfortably with the strains and phrases of jazz. Today, Bessie Smith is considered primarily a blues singers, however in the 1920s, she was most often referred to as a jazz singer. An ability to play the blues has been a requisite of all jazz musicians, who on first meeting one another or when taking part in a jam session, will often use the blues framework for improving. Blues, stemming from rural areas of the deep South, has a history largely independent of jazz. Exponents of blues usually accompanied themselves on guitar, piano or harmonica or were supported by small groups who often played unconventional or homemade instruments.

A number of the early jazz performers relied on the blues for more than the chord exchanged. Many of these jazz musicians used the blues for the driving force of their musical emotions, such as the work of Don Redman, Stuff Smith, Ma Rainey and the early works of Louis Armstrong and Benny Carter.
Jazz History

History of Rock and Dance Music

Preface There is not one single history of rock music. There are several.

There is the history of the hits. Most books on rock music are histories of the hits. The charts decide, i.e. the masses decide. Marx would have loved it, except there is a catch: the masses tend to buy what is publicized by the media, which is what corporations pay money to publicize. Marketing decides the charts. Invest a few million dollars on me and even I, regardless of my musical talent, will break into the charts, i.e. will become part of "that" history of rock music. Most books on the subject are, in fact, books about the music industry. Very often, the profile of a musician is simply a list of her/his successes in the Billboard charts ("that album broke into the charts", "that album hit #5", "that album sold one million copies"). In other words, books on rock music tend to treat musicians like corporations or start-ups, judging them by their revenues, profits and marketing strategy.

Then there are national versions of the history of rock music. Italians have been more exposed to British music than USA music. The Eagles and Creedence Clearwater Revival are hardly known, whereas the Moody Blues and David Bowie are almost household names. The history of rock music viewed from Italy is sharply different from the history of rock music viewed from, say, Boston.

Finally, there are the individual histories of rock music. Each person grew up with a different set of idols, and tends to center the history of rock music around those idols, whether Led Zeppelin or Doobie Brothers.

My history of rock music is not a history of the charts (which i consider an aberration), it is not a national version (i have lived in three continents and have traveled to some 120 countries), and it is not an individual version (i grew up with classical music, literature and science, not with rock music).

I simply listened to a lot of music, researched the origins of the various styles, and drew my conclusions. Very often, i was unaware of how many records an artist sold (I learned it later, when thousands of fans sent me nasty complaints). Very often, i am unaware of what was popular in Italy or Boston.

Also, i feel no particular sympathy for any rock musician. My "idols" are Ernst, Shostakovic, Pessoa, Coltrane... not rock musicians.

This is the most subjective history of rock music that one could possibly write. But also the most impartial, independent, and balanced.

It ends up being mostly a history of "alternative" rock music. While this is a gross approximation, it has become customary to separate "mainstream" music and "alternative" music. If you do what i did (listen to the music without letting marketing & sales influence you), it is very unlikely that you will end up selecting the musicians who topped the charts, and very likely that you will be impressed by countless obscure recordings that were twenty years ahead of their time even though nobody heard them.

Fans of mainstream music will claim that it all boils down to personal taste. I beg to disagree. There is an absolute factor that bestows a form of primacy on alternative music. Tell anyone (alternative or mainstream musician) that s/he is playing mainstream music and s/he will get upset. Tell anyone (alternative or mainstream musician) that s/he is playing alternative music and s/he will be flattered. Fans may buy according to the media and to marketing campaigns, but they, too, implicitly recognize the primacy of alternative music. If you tell a Beatles fan that the Beatles were mainstream, you risk your life. The evidence is just overwhelming: even the most mainstream musicians tacitly agree that alternative music is more important, and even the masses that buy mainstream music tacitly agree that alternative music is more important.

In everyday life, people tend to talk about what people tend to talk about. In a sense, people think they are talking, but, in reality, they are only quoting (other people). Alternative music is an attempt to break this endless loop, to talk about something not because everybody is talking about it but because we actually have something to say.

At the same time, rediscovering alternative rock and giving it its dues is also a way to restore the reputation of rock music among the more sophisticated audiences. Too many rock critics blindly follow the instructions from the major record companies and hail whichever "next big thing" happens to get a larger marketing budget. Rock critics who cannot break free from this commercial slavery have done a huge disservice to rock music. Anyone who is into Beethoven's symphonies or Wagner's operas and is told that the Beatles' catchy three-minute tunes are the masterpieces of rock music will simply smile and politely nod, but never listen to rock music again; and will thus never learn that rock music has also produced 20-minute avantgarde suites and hour-long electronic poems that are easily as complex and as futuristic as contemporary classical music. If the Beatles are at the top of the pyramid, who in heaven wants to listen to the rest of the pyramid? But if the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, etc. are at the "bottom" of the pyramid (and in my opinion they are closer to the bottom than to the top), then it makes a lot of sense for anyone into serious music to investigate the rest of the pyramid.

From this "alternative" point of view (one that puts creativity before sales) there were a number of watershed years in the history of rock music: 1955, when Chuck Berry "invented" rock'n'roll as we know it; 1966, when Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, the Doors, the Velvet Underground and others caused a massive revolution within a slumbering music scene; 1976, when the "new wave" and punk-rock caused a similar revolution in a similarly slumbering scene; the late 1980s, when alternative bands invented indie-pop; the mid 1990s, when the Internet and the World-Wide Web turned music into data; and 2001, when digital "instruments" became pervasive. Each of these creative ages was followed by an era of "re-alignment" in which creativity was replaced by sell-out, as the record industry (and commercial bands) capitalized on the innovations of the previous years.

Interestingly, these periods also correspond to major "crises" in the society of the USA. In 1955 the arrest of a black woman, Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to white folks on a bus in Alabama, sparked the civil-rights movement. In 1966 the hippies (opposed to war and in favor of hallucinogenic drugs) caused a second identity crisis, this one not racial but existential (about the "American way of life"). The defeat in Vietnam and the "Watergate" scandal of 1974 (following a terrible oil crisis) triggered another identity crisis, this time of confidence in the system. In 1988 the era of Ronald Reagan came to an end (and two years later the same happened to Margaret Thatcher in Britain) and in 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, ending the Cold War and sanctioning the triumph of capitalism, a sequence of events that caused a crisis of motivation and imagination. In the mid-1990s the boom of the Internet introduced dramatic social and economic changes in the everyday life of ordinary people. In 2001 a crisis of insecurity was created by the Islamic terrorists who attacked the USA on its own soil. Finally, the global economic boom of the 1990s ended in the huge financial crisis of 2008, that was ultimately a crisis of the capitalist system.

This book is divided into seven parts that roughly mirror those periods.

I generally used the date of the debut to classify chronologically a musician. The dates that you will often find next to the title of a paragraph are the dates in which the musicians debuted. For example, a paragraph marked 1982-85 talks about musicians who debuted between those two years.

Traditionally, books on the history of rock music begin by defining rock music as the meeting of country music and rhythm'n'blues, which is roughly correct (personally i feel that the rhythm'n'blues component was much stronger than the country component but, of course, it all depends on whether you consider Chuck Berry or Elvis Presley as the founding father of rock'n'roll). However, this definition is out of touch with today's rock music. Today's rock music is a genre that employs sampling techniques, electronic instruments, digital/computer technology, cacophony, and ethnic sources (beyond African-American and Anglo-Irish). The roots of today's rock music lie in the technical and stylistic innovations brought about in the first half of the 20th century. Rock music is also part of a stream of "popular music", whose beginnings can be dated even further back, to the end of the 19th century. In fact, it would be more accurate to define today's rock music as the meeting of avantgarde music, dance music and pop music. Therefore, my "alternative" history of rock music begins much earlier than most books on the origins of rock'n'roll.

For this second edition i added "and dance music" in the title because the chapters on funk, disco, hip-hop, techno, house, drum'n'bass and so forth all the way to grime and dubstep represent more than just detours. They are an integral part of the story. (I was very tempted to title the book "A History of Young People's Music" because that's, ultimately, what it is).

In case you are wondering, the subtitle of the book implies that the music covered in this book is no longer a monopoly of the capitals of the Anglosaxon world but has spread everywhere, and the last chapters are as international as it gets.

This second edition includes a Part 7 that deals with the 2000s. As the proof-editors know, i originally sent them a Part 7 that i considered a decent summary of the decade as it was presented to you (the listener) by the most influential labels, magazines and webzines. When i started reading it myself, though, i had the "what the heck" crisis: just when the book was ready to be printed, i rewrote all the chapters of Part 7 adding dozens of obscure musicians that i had initially left out. Just like for the previous decades, what is "relevant" for me is not always what is relevant for the marketing departments of music labels and for the editors of the most popular magazines/webzines. And perhaps this is the main value of my books.

Having embarked in such a monumental effort, it was inevitable that i would feel the urge to rate the music, and to guide the readers towards an essential discography. The number in parentheses after the name of a group or musician is a way to rate their/her/his career. It is a three digit number that summarizes how many albums i have rated 9/10, 8/10 and 7/10 (only albums, not EPs or minis or compilations). So, for example, Captain Beefheart is a 214, the highest rating in the book (2 of his albums are worth 9/10, one is an 8/10, and 4 are 7/10). When the number is only two digits, it means that the musician has no album worth 9/10; when it is only one digit, there is no album worth 8/10. (Needless to say, this system of rating is unfair to musicians who lived before the age of the album: sorry, i couldn't come up with a better system). In rating the albums, i was totally indifferent to whether the album had sold ten million copies or only two copies (neither piece of information says much about the quality of the music). There are many many more fans of famous stars than of obscure musicians, so i imagine that my ratings for famous albums will shock many more readers than my ratings for obscure albums. That, too, does not say much about the quality of the music.

It is obvious that my ratings have been decreasing throughout the first decade of the new century. Many readers ask me if there is a reason why the quality of music has worsened. I think that the question is not framed correctly. The quality that we are referring to, when we rate an album, is about... albums. The album of the Sixties, even when it was not a career anthology, collected the best material of the artist (sometimes the best over many years). During the early 2000s the cost of making a disc became so cheap that sometimes musicians didn't even rehearse before recording their music. I feel that it is unfair to compare two media that are actually very different: the album of the 1960s that went through a painful selection process because it cost a lot of money to make, and the album of the 2000s that goes through virtually no selection process because it is so cheap to make. Needless to say, the former tends to be of higher quality than the latter. The era of the download has further diluted the concept of "album". We are living the transition to a new medium. We will have to change the way we rate music. Sometimes i think i should have done so a long time ago, instead of contributing to the economy of the album, which became one of the biggest swindles of all times.

For each album i indicate in parenthesis the year of release. Unlike classical music (in which what counts is the date of composition) and jazz music (that cares about the date of the recording), rock music uses release dates (and thus, sometimes, a song is credited to a date when the composer was already dead). I feel that the year of composition/recording is more important, but i didn't have the time to research the year of composition/recording for all albums.

My bias is towards the music, not the lyrics: it is called "rock music", not "rock literature". And there's a reason: as literature, it is worth very little. Even the greatest rock lyricists are, at best, mediocre poets. No surprise, therefore, that i rarely mention the lyrics of a song. The overall feeling is, in general, much more important than the literal message.

Quick notes about the formatting: a musician's or band's name is underlined in the place where the musician's or band's work is analyzed (and that's the page used for the alphabetical index); titles of collections (albums, mini-albums or EPs) are in bold, whereas titles of individual compositions are in italic.

I apologize for taking quite a few liberties with the English language. To start with, i consider all band names as plural names (e.g., Kiss were a group, The Velvet Underground were great). I don't like the repetition of comma followed by an "and" so i tend to omit the comma (e.g., "blood, sweat and tears" instead of "blood, sweat, and tears"). I tend to capitalize all articles and prepositions in song titles, album titles, bands, etc (this is mainly to clarify what constitutes the title or name). I never capitalize months (i have no idea why). Ditto for titles such as "president", "prime minister", etc. And, as you can see, i don't like to capitalize the first-person singular pronoun. I minimize punctuation (e.g., i rarely put "particularly" or "especially" or "notably" within commas). By the same token, i do not like to put commas behind temporal ("After 1963...") or spatial ("In Europe...") expressions. I avoid the term "American" to refer to the USA (the USA is one of the many countries of America, just like France is one of the many countries of Europe, and "American" is anyone who lives in that continent, stretching from Canada to Argentina). I use "USA" as the correct adjective ("a USA band" instead of "an American band").

I have routinely changed the spelling of foreign words whenever they use a character that is not part of the English keyboard. We have been doing this for centuries to the Chinese, Arabic and Indian languages, so i don't see why we shouldn't do it for to French, Spanish, German, etc. For example, accented vowels are rendered in my book with the closest English vowel.

I have to thank at least the volunteers who proof-edited the text, mainly Bob Assante, Neil Bhakta, Nick Campsall, Brian Coney, Anthony Decicco, Thomas Geist, Ken Gilbert, Carlos Guzman-Verdugo, Tamas Kremer, Justin Nierenhausen, Corrado Nizza, Teun Romme, Sjoerd van Wijk, Aron Vallinder. Nick and Teun made a huge difference. Also the people who have worked on foreign translations of my book and who sent valuable comments: Tao Zhu (Chinese), Max Osini (Italian), David Medina (Spanish) and Tomek Kaminski (Polish). And Nicola Mecca helped create the alphabetical index. Rocco Stilo worked on the discography. Above all, i thank countless readers for their criticism.

Two of my books are complementary to this one: "A History of Pop Music" and "A History of Jazz Music". The first one covers the events leading up to the birth of rock'n'roll (blues, country, gospel, soul, world-music). The second one is a separate book only because we are still cursed with the bizarre habit of dividing rock and jazz music. "A History of Avantgarde Music" is not published yet (as of 2009) but you can read the text on my website.

For further reading, my website "www.scaruffi.com" has thousands of pages on the musicians mentioned in this book. It also contains a much more detailed bibliography and a list of music magazines.

Piero Scaruffi

The Blues and the Development of Personalized Song

Because of its personalized form, the popularity of blues music among blacks marked a unique period in the history of secular African American song. Prior to the emergence of the blues sometime in the 1890s, solo music was atypical. Such individualized song had never been the main ingredient of black music. Prior songs consisted of field hollers, which served as a means of communication among plantation workers, and work songs, which were used by slaves to keep time with a task. While field hollers and work songs had elements of personalized song, they had never truly developed as solo songs.

Despite the blues uniqueness from hollers and songs, it was forged from the same musical repertory and traditions. The call and response form of expression remained, but instead of incorporating a response from another participant, the blues singer responded to himself or herself. Thus, it was not created from a new type of music, but from a new perception about oneself.

Blues music reflected the new status of blacks. Slaves newly acquired freedom, Booker T. Washington’s teachings, and the Horatio Alger model, which asserted that the individual molds his own destiny, influenced this form of personalized music. According to historian Lawrence Levine, "there was a direct relationship between the national ideological emphasis upon the individual, the popularity of Booker T. Washington's teachings, and the rise of the blues. Psychologically, socially, and economically, Negroes were being acculturated in a way that would have been impossible during slavery, and it is hardly surprising that their secular music reflected this as much as their religious music did." (Levine, Lawrence W., Black Culture and Black Consciousness) As a consequence, it was the emphasis on the individual that influenced the blues personalized form of song.

The Emergence of the Blues

The blues was first sung by men at leisure and was called the folk blues. W.C. Handy, a composer, musician, and bandleader of the Mahara Minstrels, came across the blues in a Tutwiler, Mississippi train station in 1903. According to Handy, while he was waiting for the train he heard the unforgettable sound of a man running a knife against the strings of his guitar while he sang, “Goin’ where the Southern cross the Dog.” Handy was struck by the music, and never forgot it. Not long after, in 1912 Handy published “Memphis Blues,” making him the third person in a few months to publish a song with the name “blues.”

The first recording of the blues was in 1895. George W. Johnson's "Laughing Song" was the first blues song recorded. Thereafter, blues songs began to appear in music rolls. The 1906 series of Music for the Aedian Grand, listed one blues title among the forty-nine music rolls.

The Rising Popularity of the Blues

As folk singers migrated north in the early 20th century, they brought the blues with them. Joining them from New Orleans were “black-butt” pianists who played in honky-tonks; Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas gave way to the “Fast Western” pianists who sang as they played, imitating the sounds of southern guitarists. Country singers joined the New Orleans and “Fast Western” pianists’ migration, and brought their style to Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and New York, where the classic blues singers united with these musicians and introduced their blues style in clubs, theaters, and dance halls. Classic blues singers brought a professional quality to it, and constructed the foundation for the classic blues.

The Classic Blues Era

The classic blues style, the style that was popularized by female singers, was popular among newly arrived blacks in the cities. The migration of many blacks to the cities gave them a new freedom from the church and community that had not been experienced in rural areas. Blacks demanded entertainment, and black theaters, dance halls, and clubs were opened. Women stopped singing in their churches and schools, and began to perform in theaters, clubs, dance halls, and vaudeville shows.

The blues entered the forefront in 1920, when Mamie Smith's recording of "Crazy Blues" became popular and opened the doors to other classic blues singers. The record was priced at one dollar and sold 75,000 copies the first month of release.

The market for the recorded blues was almost entirely black during the 1920s and 1930s, and the records became known as "race records." Record companies advertised exclusively to blacks and only black stores sold the records. As a result of Smith's success, record companies seized the opportunity to make a profit in the new market. Companies searched for talented blues artists; classic blues singers such as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Alberta Hunter, and Ethel Waters became popular blues artists.

The Rise of the Country Blues

The popularity of the classic blues, however, began to decline. At the same time, male blues singers were on the rise. Record companies, such as Columbia, Paramount, and Okeh, made field trips into the South in search of talented blues singers. Record representatives recorded artists either with their mobile recording unit or arranged for them to travel north to Chicago or New York to record.

The rise of the country blues was marked by the recordings of Blind Lemon Jefferson in early 1926. It was his May release of “Long Lonesome Blues” that set the stage for a new era of the blues. This time it was marked by male singers, including Blind Willie McTell, Barbecue Bob, and Charley Patton.

The Blues Hiatus & Its Revival

When the Depression hit the U.S. in 1929, many blues singers found it difficult to make a living. Record sales slumped and record companies tapered back on recording the blues. Nevertheless, the early blues was instrumental in influencing later blues singers like Muddy Waters. During the 1960s, white musicians from the U.S. and England discovered the old recordings of the early bluesmen and this lead the way to a blues revival. Today, the blues is recognized for its influence on other genres of music, such as rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and rap.This article was written on November 6, 2000, and revised on May 13, 2008

Brief History of Baroque Music

Brief History of Baroque Music

Music History

Written by Tel Asiado

The word 'baroque' is used to describe a particular musical style, a term originally borrowed from the style of architecture popular between 1600 and 1750. The buildings were ornate or elaborately decorated, and often flamboyant. The music of the time can be seen in this way too, that is, elaborate and heavily ornamented. Famous examples of this Baroque music are compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Henry Purcell, among others. The 17th century music is usually divided into two: the early Baroque period, from 1600 to 1680, and the late Baroque period, 1680 to 1750. Early Baroque Period (1600-1680) The early 17th century saw the rise of Baroque 'monody' as differentiated from 'polyphony' of the Renaissance. In monody, the melody is given to one instrument or voice, while the basso continuo (or continuing bass), usually consisting of a keyboard and bass melody instrument, acts as the accompaniment. Late Baroque Period (1680-1750) The key instrumental form of the late Baroque period was the concerto grosso. It reflected the contrast between two groups of instruments. The two groups either alternated with one another or play together. Famous for this music were JS Bach and Arcangelo Corelli. Baroque Period Employers - Royalty or Church Most of the music was written by composers as ordered by their employers, almost always, by the Church dignitaries or by royalty. Henry Purcell was composer to the King's Band and George Frederic Handel was appointed composer to the Chapel Royal. This meant that composers were expected to write music for various official occasions and not just to composer when they felt like it. Major Composers The major composers of this period were Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel in Germany (later, England); Antonio Vivaldi in Venice, Italy; and Henry Purcell in England. Operas and Oratorios The greatest legacy by the late Baroque period was the creation of operas and oratorios, considered greatest and most magnificent is Handel's Messiah, and J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion. The first operas were heard in this period and later became a popular form of public entertainment. Operas are dramas sung and acted to orchestral accompaniment, produced with scenery and lighting on stage, and the costumes of the characters. Recommended Baroque Instrumental Music: Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata in D minor for pipe organGeorge Frideric Handel's Music for the Royal FireworksAntonio Vivaldi's Four SeasonsJohann Pachelbel's Canon in D majorGeorg Philipp Telemann's passions Henry Purcell's Sonata No.9 in F

Best Indie Music 2009 - A Review

by: Bill Jerone

I have been, to paraphrase Brian Epstein, 'shouting Martin's name from the rooftops' for several years in an effort to bring his songs to the public attention.

It is immediately obvious from the first bars of 'Be That Man', the opening song from Martin's first solo album, 'Where Have I Been All Your Life?', that here is a talent that has just waiting to burst forth. It fairly bristles with enthusiam and rushes the listener along at a brisk rate, through a tale of everyday longing and wishes unfulfilled. Further songs on this and his subsequent albums only confirm Martin's gift as a composer. From the mighty 'My Clown Career', with it's dark, 'Kashmir' - like power and sense of foreboding, to the tongue-in-cheek jangle of 'Hemel Hempstead Boy', it is clear that here is a songwriter of great ability. My first exposure to Martin's songs left me exhilarated and wanting to hear more.

Martin Brown, UK songwriter and singer / musician, has released three solo albums on independant labels during the last three years. On each of these albums, Martin plays all instruments and handles all vocal duties. Those who have heard Martin's songs have been full of praise for them and have expressed astonishment that he has not yet made a bigger impression on the listening public. Jeff Giles, in a review of Martin's first two solo albums that appeared in the site 'Popdose', highly praised Martin's abilities as a songwriter and musician and said that, in his opinion, Martin was writing songs that were the equal of anything Neil Finn (Crowded House) and Andy Partridge (XTC) had produced.

The aforementioned albums,'Where Have I Been All Your Life?' and 'Butterflies', released in 2006 and 2007 respectively were followed in 2008 by a third album, 'Diamonds'. Jeff also reviewed this album, citing it as 'possibly Martin's most complete and satisfying collection of songs so far'.

A brief history of Martin's career:-

Martin, the only child of musician parents, was born and raised in Hemel Hempstead near London and showed early promise as a guitarist and began his professional musical life during his teens. He spent several years during the early 70's, touring with 'The Stroll Band' in Germany and Holland, later joining 'Born Free' back in the UK. Following this, Martin joined forces with drummer Keith Chapman, forming the band 'Spoils', who supported Paul Young and were a very popular band on the club and university circuit and later, Keith and Martin formed 'The Sugar Glyders' along with bassist Paul Thomson. The Sugar Glyders were signed to the 'Lost Moment Records' label, releasing their first single, 'Revenge' in 1984 one of Martin's tunes and a record that is now considered a collectable classic. The band also contributed further tracks to a Lost Moment Records sampler album, 'Colours of The Bastard Art'.

Martin continued to record with Keith Chapman, overdubbing instruments and vocals and this led to his current working methods. In addition, Martin co-wrote 'Never Going to Take No For An Answer', with Ed Poole, a song later covered by Bonnie Tyler. He also wrote and recorded material with Russ Ballard, million-selling songwriter.

In 2008, he released his ode to the town, 'Hemel Hempstead Boy', included on his second album 'Butterflies'. This led to interviews on BBC radio as well as live sessions. Martin also won the BBC 3 Counties' 'Independant Musician' competition, leading to further radio work.

Martin is an ace guitarist, thankfully he shows admirable taste, purely using his guitar work as an embellishment to his songs rather than somothering them in solos! The songs vary from Beatles / Crowded House acoustic songs, to far rockier edgy-sounding material. In more recent work, Martin has even tried his hand at some dance-oriented material. All of this is all the more bewildering when it is appreciated that he plays everything that is heard on all of his songs!

Martin is currently recording material for his fourth album, which I am looking forward to with great anticipation.

In the meantime, it is possible to download a free track 'Shine' from Martin's most recent album from his web site:

http://www.martinbrownmusic.com.

Bill Jerone is a UK-based writer and lifelong Beatle Fan. Bill is also a massive fan of Martin Brown, a fellow Brit and songwriter / singer/ musician. Bill has championed Martin's cause for several years and hopes to alert the public to this great talent.

Please download a free track 'Shine' from Martin's most recent album from his web site:- http://www.martinbrownmusic.com

Martin's songs can be heard here:- http://www.myspace.com/bingobrown and his albums are available for purchase here:- http://cdbaby.com/all/bingobrown