Music of the United Kingdom (1950s)

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This article is about British popular music of the 1950s. For Classical music, see Classical music of the United Kingdom.

1950s in music in the UK
Events
←1949

Music of the United Kingdom began to develop in the 1950s; from largely insular and derivative forms to become one of the leading centres of popular music in the modern world. By 1950 indigenous forms of British popular music, including folk music, brass and silver bands, music hall and dance bands, were already giving 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

folk revival that came to place an emphasis on national traditions and then in early attempts to produce British rock and roll such as Cliff Richard & the Shadows' Move It, often cited at the first British rock and roll
record.

Jazz

Main article: British jazz
John Dankworth performing on stage in 2002

dance bands. From the late 1950s British "modern jazz", highly influenced by American bebop, began to emerge, led by figures such as John Dankworth and Ronnie Scott, while Ken Colyer, George Webb and Humphrey Lyttelton emphasised New Orleans, trad jazz.[1] Scott's Soho club became a focal point of British jazz, seeing the best of British and international acts.[1] From the 1960s British Jazz began to develop more individual characteristics, absorbing a variety of influences, including free jazz, British blues, as well as European and world music.[1]

Traditional pop

Main article: Traditional pop

In the early 1950s sales of American records dominated British popular music. In the first full year of the charts in 1953 major artists were

Three Coins in the Fountain, underlining the dominance of American culture in both film and music at this time, and arguably providing a mechanism for the transference of rock and roll.[2]

Skiffle

Main article: Skiffle

Skiffle is a type of

gold in Britain, selling over a million copies worldwide.[3] The resulting short-lived skiffle craze led to a profusion of British performers and played a major part in beginning the careers of later eminent jazz, pop, blues, folk and rock musicians, including early British rock performers Tommy Steele, the Shadows and the Beatles.[4]

Folk music and roots revival

Main article: British folk revival

The second British folk revival followed a similar

Sidmouth
from 1955.

British rock and roll

Main article: British rock and roll

The emergence of American rock and roll as a major international force in popular music in the mid-1950s led to its emulation in Britain, which shared a common language and many cultural connections.[8] The British product has generally been considered inferior to the American version of the genre, and made very little international or lasting impact.[8] However, it was important in establishing British youth and popular music culture and was a key factor in subsequent developments that led to the 'British Invasion' of the mid-1960s. Since the 1960s some stars of the genre, most notably Cliff Richard, have managed to sustain very successful careers and there have been periodic revivals of this form of music.[8]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c W. Kaufman, H. Slettedahl Macpherson, Britain and the Americas: culture, politics and history (ABC-CLIO, 2005), pp. 504–5.
  2. ^ a b c P. Gambaccini, T. Rice and J. Rice, British Hit Singles (6th edn., 1985), pp. 331–2.
  3. ^ M. Brocken, The British Folk Revival, 1944–2002 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003), pp. 69–80.
  4. ^ J. Roberts, The Beatles (Lerner Publications, 2001), p. 13.
  5. ^ M. Brocken, The British Folk Revival, 1944–2002 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003), pp. 103, 112–4 and 132.
  6. ^ C. MacDougall, Scots: The Language of the People (Black & White, 2006), p. 246.
  7. ^ S. Hill, Blerwytirhwng?: the Place of Welsh Pop Music (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), pp. 59–60.
  8. ^ a b c R. Unterberger, "British Rock & Roll Before the Beatles", All Music Guides, https://www.allmusic.com/explore/essay/ Retrieved 24 June 2009.
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