1950s in music
The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and Europe and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (December 2013) |
Popular music |
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Timeline of musical events |
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List of popular music genres |
This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1950s.
In North America and Europe the 1950s were revolutionary in regards to popular music, as it started a dramatic shift from traditional pop music to modern pop music, largely in part due to the rise of Rock and roll.
Rock & Roll began to dominate popular music starting in the mid-1950s with origins in a variety of genres including blues, rhythm & blues, country, and pop. Major rock artists of the 1950s include Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins, Bill Haley, and Larry Williams. Rock & Roll helped the electric guitar become the dominating instrument in popular music starting in the 1950s, and the decade saw the release of the Fender Stratocaster[1] and Gibson Les Paul.[2] In the ensuing decades rock & roll would branch out to a variety of genres and sub-genres all under the umbrella of rock music, with rock becoming the dominant musical genre throughout the 20th century.[3]
Traditional pop music experienced a decline in popularity starting in the mid-1950s, however artists such as Perry Como and Patti Page dominated the pop charts during the first half of the decade, and artists such as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin remained popular throughout the 1950s and the ensuing decades.[5]
The 1950s were one of country music's most influential decades, with artists such as Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and Patsy Cline being some of the decade's most notable. The honky-tonk style of country music remained heavily popular during the decade, and the late 1950s gave rise to the Nashville sound.[6]
Blues music was highly influential to popular music in the 1950s, having directly influenced rock & roll, and many blues and rhythm & blues artists found commercial success throughout the 1950s, such as Ray Charles.[7]
The birth of soul music occurred during the 1950s, and the genre would come to dominate the US R&B charts by the early 1960s. Soul artists of the 1950s include Sam Cooke and James Brown.[8]
Jazz music was revolutionized during the 1950s with the rise of bebop, hard bop, modal jazz, and cool jazz. Notable jazz artists of the time include Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, and Chet Baker.[9]
In Europe, the European Broadcasting Union started the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. In France, the Chanson Française genre dominated the music scene.
Popular Latin styles of the 1950s includes the mambo, salsa, and merengue.
The bossa nova genre came to prominence in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil during the 1950s, and would grow to become a genre popular worldwide.
Genres
Various genre in the
United States
Rock and roll
Rock and roll dominated popular music in the mid and late 1950s, and quickly spread to much of the rest of the world. Its immediate origins lay in a mixing together of various black musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music, with country and western and pop.[10] In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience, and is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the music.[11]
The 1950s saw the growth in popularity of the big boom electric guitar (developed and popularized by Les Paul). Paul's hit records like "How High the Moon", and "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise", helped lead to the development of a specifically rock and roll style of playing of such complicated exponents as Chuck Berry, Link Wray, and Scotty Moore.[12] Chuck Berry, who is considered to be one of the pioneers of Rock and roll music, refined and developed the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, focusing on teen life and introducing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.[13] A decade earlier, Sister Rosetta Tharpe fused gospel and blues, inventing rock 'n roll electric guitar by developing sophisticated phrasing and licks that served as the basis for the iconic rock guitar style of the 1950s and beyond.
Artists such as
Elvis Presley, who began his career in the mid-1950s, was the most successful artist of the popular sound of the Rock and Roll Era, with a series of network television appearances, motion pictures, and chart-topping records. Elvis also brought rock and roll widely into the mainstream of popular culture. Elvis popularized the four-man group and also brought the guitar to become the lead instrument in rock music. Presley popularized rockabilly, a genre that combined country with rhythm and blues which some claimed it was a new sound. Some claimed that Presley invented the genre by combining country with rhythm and blues. Elvis became the biggest pop craze since Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra. His energized interpretations of songs, many from African American sources, and his uninhibited performance style made him enormously popular—and controversial—during that period. Presley's massive success brought rock and roll widely into the mainstream and made it easier for African-American musicians to achieve mainstream success on the pop charts. Boone and Presley's styles and images represented opposite ends of the burgeoning musical form—Boone was known as being safe while Presley was known as being dangerous, which competed with one another throughout the remainder of the decade.
In 1957, a popular television show featuring rock and roll performers, American Bandstand, went national. Hosted by Dick Clark, the program helped to popularize the more clean-cut, All-American brand of rock and roll. By the end of the decade, teen idols like Bobby Darin, Ricky Nelson, Frankie Avalon, Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka, Bobby Rydell, Connie Francis, and Fabian Forte were topping the charts. Some commentators have perceived this as the decline of rock and roll; citing the deaths of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a tragic plane crash in 1959 and the departure of Elvis for the army as causes.
On the other side of the spectrum, R&B-influenced acts like The Crows, The Penguins, The El Dorados, and The Turbans all scored major hits, and groups like The Platters, with songs including "The Great Pretender" (1955), and The Coasters with humorous songs like "Yakety Yak" (1958), ranked among the most successful rock and roll acts of the period.[14]
Rock and roll has also been seen as leading to a number of distinct subgenres, including rockabilly (see below) in the 1950s, combining rock and roll with "hillbilly" country music, which was usually played and recorded in the mid-1950s by white singers such as Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and with the greatest commercial success, Elvis Presley.[15] Another subgenre, doo-wop, entered the pop charts in the 1950s. Its popularity would spawn the parody "Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)".
Classic pop
(Mitch) Miller and the producers who followed his model was creating a new sort of pop record. Instead of capturing the sound of live groups, they were making three-minute musicals, matching singers to songs in the same way that movie producers matched stars to film roles. As Miller told "Time" magazine in 1951, "Every singer has certain sounds he makes better than others. Frankie Laine is sweat and hard words—he's a guy beating the pillow, a purveyor of basic emotions. Guy Mitchell is better with happy-go-lucky songs; he's a virile young singer, gives people a vicarious lift. Rosemary Clooney is a barrelhouse dame, a hillbilly at heart." It was a way of thinking perfectly suited to the new market in which vocalists were creating unique identities and hit songs were performed as television skits.[17]
Whereas big band/swing music placed the primary emphasis on the orchestration, post-war/early 1950s era Pop focused on the song’s story and/or the emotion being expressed. By the early 1950s, emotional delivery had reached its apex in the miniature psycho-drama songs of writer-singer
Although often ignored by musical historians, Pop music played a significant role in the development of rock 'n' roll as well:
[Mitch] Miller also conceived of the idea of the pop record "sound" per se: not so much an arrangement or a tune, but an aural texture (usually replete with extramusical gimmicks) that could be created in the studio and then replicated in live performance, instead of the other way around. Miller was hardly a rock 'n' roller, yet without these ideas, there could never have been rock 'n' roll. "Mule Train", Miller's first major hit (for Frankie Laine) and the foundation of his career, set the pattern for virtually the entire first decade of rock. The similarities between it and, say, "Leader of the Pack," need hardly be outlined here.[20]
Other major stars in the early 1950s included
R&B
In 1951, Little Richard Penniman began recording for RCA Records in the late-1940s jump blues style of Joe Brown and Billy Wright. However, it wasn't until he prepared a demo in 1954, that caught the attention of Specialty Records, that the world would start to hear his new, uptempo, funky rhythm and blues that would catapult him to fame in 1955 and help define the sound of rock and roll. A rapid succession of rhythm-and-blues hits followed, beginning with "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally",[23] which would influence performers such as James Brown,[24] Elvis Presley,[25] and Otis Redding.[26]
At the urging of Leonard Chess at Chess Records, Chuck Berry had reworked a country fiddle tune with a long history, entitled "Ida Red". The resulting "Maybellene" was not only a #3 hit on the R&B charts in 1955, but also reached into the top 30 on the pop charts.[27]
Stax Records was founded in 1957 as Satellite Records. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul styles.
In 1959, two black-owned record labels, one of which would become hugely successful, made their debut:
Blues
Blues had a huge influence on mainstream American popular music in the 1950s with the enthusiastic playing styles of popular musicians like Bo Diddley[30] and Chuck Berry,[31] departed from the melancholy aspects of blues and influenced Rock and roll music.
Ray Charles and Fats Domino help bring blues into the popular music scene. Domino provides a boogie-woogie style that heavily influences rock 'n' roll.
Big Mama Thornton records the original version of "Hound Dog".[32]
Country music
Country music stars in the early 1950s included Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Bill Monroe, Eddy Arnold, Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, Jim Reeves, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Chet Atkins and Kitty Wells.
Wells' 1952 hit "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" became the first single by a solo female artist to top the U.S. country charts. "It Wasn't God ... " was a landmark single in several ways; it began a trend of "answer" songs, or songs written and recorded in response to (or to counterpoint) a previously popular song – in this case, "The Wild Side of Life" by Hank Thompson – and for Wells, began a trend of female singers who defied the typical stereotype of being submissive to men and putting up with their oft-infidel ways, both in their personal lives and in their songs.
Early in the decade, the honky-tonk style dominated country music, with songs of heartbreak, loneliness, alcoholism and despair the overriding themes. Long regarded the master of these themes was
Jones, just 23 when he had his first national hit – "Why Baby Why" – would go on to become one of country music's most iconic figures for the next 55-plus years. Although some of his early songs included rockabilly (usually recorded under the pseudonym Thumper Jones), he stayed true to the honky-tonk style for most of his career. In addition to "Why Baby Why," his biggest 1950s hits included "What Am I Worth", "Treasure of Love", "Just One More" and his first No. 1 hit, "White Lightning", and by the end of the 1990s, that number would increase to more than 100 hit songs.
Besides Williams and Jones, the most popular honky tonk-styled singers included
In 1955, Ozark Jubilee began a nearly six-year run on ABC-TV, the first national TV show to feature country's biggest stars.
By the late 1950s, the
The late 1950s saw the emergence of the
Rockabilly emerged in the early 1950s as a fusion of
During this period Elvis Presley converted over to country music. He played a huge role in the music industry during this time. The number two, three and four songs on Billboard's charts for that year were Elvis Presley, "Heartbreak Hotel;" Johnny Cash, "I Walk the Line;" and Carl Perkins, "Blue Suede Shoes".[33] Cash and Presley placed songs in the top 5 in 1958 with No. 3 "Guess Things Happen That Way/Come In, Stranger" by Cash, and No. 5 by Presley "Don't/I Beg of You".[34] Presley acknowledged the influence of rhythm and blues artists and his style, saying "The coloured folk been singin' and playin' it just the way I'm doin' it now, man for more years than I know."[35] By 1958, many rockabilly musicians returned to a more mainstream style or had defined their own unique style and rockabilly had largely disappeared from popular music, although its influences would remain into the future.
Jazz
Bebop, Hard bop, Cool jazz and the Blues gained popularity during the 1950s while prominent Jazz musicians who came into prominence in these genres included Lester Young, Ben Webster, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Art Tatum, Bill Evans, Ahmad Jamal, Oscar Peterson, Gil Evans, Gerry Mulligan, Cannonball Adderley, Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Dave Brubeck, Art Blakey, Max Roach, the Miles Davis Quintet, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, and Billie Holiday.
Other trends
In 1956 the American musician of Jamaican descent
Folk music
The Weavers, Pete Seeger,[16] Woody Guthrie, The Kingston Trio,[36] Odetta,[37] and several other performers were instrumental in launching the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s.
Europe
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During the 1950s European popular music give way to the influence of American forms of music including jazz, swing and traditional pop, mediated through film and records. The significant change of the mid-1950s was the impact of American rock and roll, which provided a new model for performance and recording, based on a youth market. Initially this was dominated by American acts, or re-creations of American forms of music, but soon distinctly European Bands and individual artists began in early attempts to produce local Rock and roll music.
The
France
During this decade, the Chanson Française genre dominated the French music market. Songs with lyrics, based on a classical structure (verses, choruses), still relatively uninfluenced by rock, but above all by musette, and already largely influenced by jazz. The French song of the 1950s gave a large place to the voice and the text, sometimes committed, the instruments being only secondary. Among the best-selling artists of the time were Edith Piaf, Georges Brassens, Charles Trenet, Léo Ferret and Yves Montand, Dalida and Barbara.
Latin America
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- Andy Russell in 1954, relocated to Mexico where he became a star of radio, television, motion pictures, records and nightclubs.
- In 1958 the American musician Spanish language rock music throughout Latin America.
- In 1958 Tequila".
- *Golden Age of Mexican cinema, he is considered an idol in Mexico and Latin American countries.
Other famous mariachi performers include José Alfredo Jiménez, Javier Solís, Miguel Aceves Mejía, Lola Beltrán, Antonio Aguilar, Flor Silvestre, Lucha Villa
- Argentinian band Los Cinco Latinos released their first album Maravilloso Maravilloso, which was met with success in Latin America and the United States.[38]
Hispanics, young and old, could find comfort in the popular rhythmic sounds of Latin music that reminded them of home;
In Brazil,
Oceania
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By the end of the decade, as the rock and roll style had spread throughout the world, it soon caught on with Australian teens. Johnny O'Keefe became perhaps the first modern rock star of the country, and began the field of rock music in Australia.
New Zealand was introduced to Rock and roll by Johnny Cooper's cover of "Rock Around the Clock".
After Rock and roll had been introduced, the most famous of New Zealand's cover artists were: Johnny Devlin, Max Merit and the Meteors, Ray Columbus and the Invaders and Dinah Lee.[39]
See also
- 1940s in music
- 1960s in music
- 1970s in music
- 1980s in music
- 1990s in music
- List of musicians of the 1950s
References
- ^ "The History of the Fender Stratocaster: The 1950s".
- ^ "The evolution of the les Paul: How Gibson's single-cut design developed from 1952 to 1978". 19 December 2022.
- ^ "Decade Overview: The 1950's in rock music history".
- ^ "The Origin and Influence of Doo-wop music". 24 April 2020.
- ^ "When pre-rock ruled the world | Pop and rock | the Guardian".
- ^ "Country by the Decade: 1950s | Opry".
- ^ "Top 10 R&B Acts of the 1950s". 3 April 2023.
- ^ "Soul Music Guide: History and Sounds of Soul Music". MasterClass. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- ^ Steinberger, Peter J. "Culture and Freedom In the Fifties: the Case of Jazz". VQR Online. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- ^ "The Roots of Rock" (Archived 18 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, retrieved 4 May 2010.
- ^ "Rock (music)", Encyclopædia Britannica, retrieved 24 June 2008.
- ISBN 0-87972-369-6, p. 73.
- ^ M. Campbell, ed., Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes On (Cengage Learning, 3rd ed., 2008), pp. 168-9.
- ISBN 0-87930-653-X, pp. 1306–7.
- ^ "Rockabilly", Allmusic, retrieved 6 August 2009.
- ^ a b c Gilliland, John (1969). "Play A Simple Melody: American pop music in the early fifties" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries. Show 1.
- ^ How The Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll, Elijah Wald, Oxford University Press, 2009, p162.
- ^ a b Gilliland 1969, show 2.
- ^ Cry The Johnnie Ray Story, Jonny Whiteside, Barricade Books, October 1994.
- ^ Sinatra: The Song Is You, Will Friedwald, Da Capo Press, 1997, p. 174.
- ^ R. S. Denisoff, W. L. Schurk, Tarnished gold: the record industry revisited (Transaction Publishers, 3rd edn., 1986), p. 13.
- ^ Gilliland 1969, show 13.
- ^ Gilliland 1969, show 6.
- ^ White, Charles (2003). The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Authorised Biography. Omnibus Press. p. 231.
- ^ White (2003), p. 227.
- ^ White (2003), p. 231.
- ^ Gilliland 1969, show 5.
- ISBN 978-0-517-70050-1.
- ^ Gilliland 1969, show 25.
- ^ Herzhaft, pg. 53
- ^ Herzhaft, pg. 11
- ^ "Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions". Answers. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- ^ Charts 1956 Billboard.com Archived 2006-10-20 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Charts 1958 Billboard.com Archived 2006-10-20 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 0-520-21800-0.
- ^ a b Gilliland 1969, show 18.
- ^ Gilliland 1969, show 19.
- ^ "Website Disabled". estelaraval.homestead.com. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- ^ "Give It A Whirl" A video on the history of New Zealand Rock