30.1 & 30.2 The Development of Pop Music From 1950 to the Current Day

Since the 1950s, music has evolved and developed at an astonishing rate. To me, it can be likened to the evolution of life on earth. Imagine that genres are like species that have evolved from common ancestors. Some genres have died and others have survived and adapted. Not only has the music itself changed, but also the way it’s played, recorded, produced and formatted. Along with this essay I am going to make a Spotify playlist and hopefully include any specific songs I mention as well as any songs that are representative of any artists I mention. I am going to explore the origins of modern music starting with some of the most important genres from the 1950s.

The blues of the 1950s has its roots in the blues of the 1920s which itself developed from African-American communities in the “Deep South” of the United States in the late 1800s. The blues was hugely influenced by African music and started life as work songs sung by slaves. Blues is most typically characterised by call-and-response and the 12-bar blues chord progression that uses chords I, IV & V of a particular key. In the 50s, blues became increasingly electrified, using electric guitars and moving away from the double bass to electric basses like the Fender Precision Bass which began production in 1951. Famous blues musicians of the time include B.B. King, John Lee Hooker and Chuck Berry. To illustrate the changes, compare ‘Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning’ by Blind Willie Johnson, a traditional blues song recorded in 1928 to ‘Johnny B. Goode’ by Chuck Berry, a 1958 rock and roll song heavily influenced by blues. As an interesting side note, ‘Johnny B. Goode’ is so influential that it is on the Voyager Golden Record which is essentially a time capsule of human culture launched into space on the Voyager 1 space probe. Voyager 1 is currently 12 billion miles away from Earth and has actually left the solar system. Very important revolutions in sound recording and reproduction took place in the late 1940s and 1950s. The vinyl record, available in LP or single, offered improved performance in playback and was much longer lasting than previous 78 rpm shellac records which were ultimately replaced by the end of the 50s.  One of the most important inventions of the time was the tape recorder and magnetic tape. Sound could be recorded, erased and rerecorded on the same tape over and over again, and it enabled easier duplication and editing by physically cutting and re-joining tape. Les Paul, the man most famous for the Gibson Les Paul guitar, invented the first multitrack tape recorder allowing for layering of sounds which led to bands like The Beatles and The Beach Boys experimenting with this new technology in the 1960s. Magnetic tape recording was the basis for most recordings from the 1950s up to the 1980s.

The 1960s was arguably the most revolutionary decade in popular music. The rock and roll of the 50s had evolved into the rock music of the 60s. In the UK, The Beatles created a cultural revolution which led to lots of bands emerging from major cities. Notable bands from this era that benefited from this are The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and The Kinks. The rising popularity of the British Rock scene in America was dubbed ‘The British Invasion’, one of the most important events being The Beatles’ ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ reaching number 1 on the American Billboard Hot 100 chart. The Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 was considered a milestone and 73 million people watched it live (record viewing figures at the time). The Beatles, as we all know, went on to become the best-selling musical act of all time.  At the same time, Britain experienced a blues boom which saw the rise of bands like The Yardbirds and The Rolling Stones (as previously mentioned) as well as artists like Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin. British blues and blues-rock formed the foundations for different genres that then developed such as psychedelic rock and heavy metal. British psychedelic rock was based on hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD and featured studio effects enabled by music technology of the 60s, long instrumental sections and surreal lyrics. One album that immediately comes to mind when thinking about British psychedelia is Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. British bands like The Who, Cream and Pink Floyd produced a number of psychedelic songs in the 60s. In America, the psychedelic scene had its roots in folk music. Artists representative of this sound include The Doors, the Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix. The peak of psychedelic rock was the legendary 1969 Woodstock Festival.

Rock music developed further in the 1970s. Many subgenres became prominent such as punk, glam, hard rock, progressive rock, and heavy metal. Progressive or prog rock music developed out of the late 60s psychedelia and blues. Acts like Genesis and Pink Floyd had enormous success. Pink Floyd’s 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon (which I personally believe to be the best album of all time) was a hugely ambitious concept album that was in the charts for 741 weeks between 1973 to 1988, and as of January 2015, has spent 892 weeks total on the billboard 200. Prog was experimental in all areas of music like structure, instrumentation, harmony and lyrics. It made use of electronic effects, synthesisers and tape loops, being at the forefront of technology at the time. Songs were often very long and live shows were very elaborate and eccentric. Album artwork became art in itself and not necessarily just a photograph of the band. Glam Rock also developed from the hippie scene. Glam was very visual and artists such as David Bowie and T.Rex wore outrageous clothes and makeup, platform shoes, and glitter. Glam rock reached its peak in the mid-1970s but disappeared due to new trends like punk rock. Punk Rock was seen as a rebellion against mainstream culture (like prog and glam) and was very anti-establishment and political. Punk songs tend to be short, fast and aggressive and the associated subculture and fashion are hugely iconic, instantly recognisable and have had a lasting impact on society. The Sex Pistols were the figurehead of the UK punk movement and the scene basically ended with their breakup in 1978. Traditional heavy metal emerged in the 1970s, with Black Sabbath usually credited as the creators of this new genre. Even heavy metal was disliked by the punks of the late 70s and metal record sales sharply declined only to re-emerge in the 1980s and receive mainstream success.

When I think of the 1980s, I think of hair… lots and lots of hair. Bands like Motley Crue, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard combined the visual elements of glam rock with 1980s rock and metal. I’ll try and include some pictures but just google “hair metal” and you’ll know exactly what I’m on about. In addition, thrash metal became the breakout metal genre of the 80s, led by “The Big Four”: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. Thrash metal has a fast tempo and shredding-style lead guitar work. Virtuosic guitar itself was very characteristic of 1980s rock and metal and you can recognise the distinctive pinch harmonics and whammy bar abuse pretty easily in the music. Moving away from rock and metal music now, pop music was absolutely massive. It was the decade of the music video due to the introduction of MTV and superstars like Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince were some of the most successful musicians of the era. Centring more on the UK now, new romanticism was a pop genre that arose in the early 80s that was based on new wave music and flamboyant fashion. Some artists that best exemplify the genre are Spandau Ballet and Boy George (of Culture Club) that both had chart success. The 80s also saw huge changes to the way we listen to music. Cassette became the most popular music format instead of vinyl and CD was also introduced.

The 1990s saw a lot of new rock subgenres, the golden age of hip hop, electronic music became highly popular, and of course there was the success of the boy band/girl group. By the start of the 90s CD had overtaken cassette to become the most popular music format which basically marked the end of people listening to analogue music and the beginning of the digital age (see this gif). Nowadays, although there is a big vinyl resurgence, CD’s, music on the internet, TV, streaming services and digital downloads (from iTunes etc.) is all digital rather than analogue (vinyl, cassette, 8 track). For me personally, the punk/pop-punk bands of the 1990s were some of the first bands I kind of found on my own outside of my parents’ music. As soon as I had my first iPod I had Green Day’s “International Superhits!” and then a little later, “American Idiot” on it. Green Day were the first punk rock band to be signed by a major label in the 90s and became hugely popular. After this, other bands like Weezer, The Offspring and Blink-182 followed suit and had huge commercial and chart success. As far as new genres are concerned, grunge picked up popularity in the early 90s and bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam were extremely popular. Grunge itself is a subgenre of alternative rock inspired by punk and metal and often characterised by lots of guitar distortion and angsty lyrics. Alternative rock itself is quite a broad category and many 90s bands were labelled as alternative rock for making rock music that was very different from the 1980s sound. Rage Against The Machine were unique for combining rap with metal to create a very aggressive sound that they topped with very left wing political lyrics. Red Hot Chilli Peppers combined funk with rock and have become one of the best-selling bands of all time. Other fusion genres like Ska Punk were also prominent in the 90s. Returning to pop music, some European managers created their own boy bands, the first major examples being Take That, Westlife and Boyzone. The Spice Girls’ debut single ‘Wannabe’ turned the male saturated market on its head, becoming number 1 in 35 countries. They became the most successful girl group in the world.

No new genres really emerged in the 2000s as popular music fragmented and divided into new subgenres and fusions. Rather than breakthroughs in the music itself, there have been huge changes in music technology as well as the way music is bought, shared and listened to. Auto-Tune, the pitch correction software, became commonly used in pop music. Music software for computers became more widespread and easily accessible. It’s much easier now for people to make high quality music recordings at home without the need for a real studio. The do-it-yourself approach is definitely viable and has allowed for more music creation than ever before. The internet has been a total revolution and has shaped the modern day music industry entirely. The percentage of music sold through internet downloads increased throughout the 00s and in 2012, 55.9% of all music sales in the USA were downloads. One commonly heard success story is the Arctic Monkeys’ debut album which, thanks to several tracks being released for free by the band beforehand on the internet, sold 360,000 copies in its first week and remains the fastest selling debut album by any band. The internet also served as a huge platform for sharing (legal or not). Napster, the file sharing site, reached its peak in 2001 and I don’t think that mentality went away at all. The rise of p2p file-sharing in the form of torrents has definitely impacted the industry for better or for worse depending on your point of view. YouTube was launched in 2005 which is a platform for music and music videos. Famously, Justin Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun after he accidentally clicked on one of his YouTube videos. Spotify, the music streaming service was also launched in 2008 which has since become an incredibly popular way to listen to music by paying a monthly subscription fee for unlimited use or listening for free with adverts.

In conclusion the musical landscape has changed dramatically and I don’t think many people could have predicted the way it’s turned out (except maybe Jim Morrison in 1969). As well as the music itself changing and evolving, the way we listen to and share music, be that through lending a friend a vinyl record or telling a friend using Facebook to stream a song onto their iPhone via Spotify, has changed too. After looking back, it’s fun to imagine what the future of music has in store. Perhaps we’ll be able to stream music directly to our brains or something, who knows. I can only imagine a future music student having to do a similar essay in 2075, looking back at the music from 2010s onwards.