Progression Of Music From The 1940s To The Present Essay -- essays res

Progression of Music From the 1940's To the Present The progression of music from the 1940's to the present has seen extremes, it has been controversial at times, traditional at times and inspirational at times, but never have the American people turned away music in its entirety. There have been times when parents did not approve of the music that their children chose to listen to, but the parents had never turned away music. Music has been criticized and promoted. Since the 40's music has progressed from Ballads (which were still lingering around from the 30's) to blues (popular among Blacks) to rock and roll, to pop, and back again. In the 1940's ballads were popular. Ballads were dancable music performed by big bands. They were composed of stringed instruments, wind insteruments, and a singer or two. This was the time period when music started to be broadcasted live over television and record albums were entering the home. (Hays) The 50's marked a beginning for a new era of music to be known as Rock & Roll. Many of the artists took advantage of the Electric guitar, developed for popular music in the 1930's but never really became popular until the 50's. Rock & Roll was a combination of many music styles in an upbeat sort of fashion. One example of when country had an impact on Rock & Roll was with Bill Haley and Jerry Lee Lewis. Jerry's career was huge, with his hits like "Whole Lotta Shakin' goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire". That is, his career was huge, until the it was made public that he fell in love with a married his 13 year old cousin. In 1957 Rock & Roll had been turned upsidedown when Buddy Holly hit the airwaves with "That'll be the Day." Buddy Holly rolled out hit after hit after hit. That is, until his plane went down in Iowa. He died at the young age of 22. That night his music was playing non-stop and has not stopped playing to this day. The blues and gospel of James Brown and Jackie Wilson was popular with the black community. "Someday, maybe someone will discover the reason that Chuck Berry, Do Diddley, Fats Domino, and Little Richard never connected with black audiences" (25 years,p15). This may be because they might have almost been embarrassed from their blues roots. In the 60's such st... ...n the 90's or present day, the synthesizer is still being used in dance and techno music. Also introduced into the 90's was the computer. The computer has been around a while, but not been used in the music industry. Today just about anyone can produce their music using this tool. Also metal has become more aggressive, popular and contains political lyrics. Lite rock has also developed and has captured the ears of many listeners. Music has progressed from fun to an industry in itself. People can now earn a living off of music, often luxurious life. Along with the music progressing the American people have progressed. The world of music continues to change and may never stop progressing until the world stops progressing. Footnotes 25 Years of Rock & Roll (USA:Lorelei Publishing Co. Inc.,1979) William Hay, Twentieth-Century Views of Music History (USA:Berne Convention.,1972) Bibliography 25 Years of Rock & Roll. USA:Lorelei Publishing Co. Inc.,1979 Ewen, David. American Popular Songs. New York:Random House, 1966 Hay, William. Twentieth-Century Views of Music History. USA:Berne Convention, 1972 Wilder, Alec. American Popular Song New York:Oxford University Press, 1972