In this essay I will describe and discuss the development of pop music over and throughout decades, from the 50’s up to 21th century. I am going to talk about the different music styles, important artist and what effect they had on the music. I am going to discuss the influence that society has, like different movements, festivals and how the politics affects the society. How the music and the society are linked to each other. I will also talk about the development of technology and the impact it had on the music and how important it is. I will go from decade to decade, discuss these subjects throughout a timeline.
Starting with the 50-60’s, during 1950 Jazz, blues, gospel and Rock and roll were popular styles of music and lot of great artist come from the 50’s. Like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard, they are just a few names from the long list and they all have a huge impact on the popular music.
America had just recovered from Second World War; there were new possibilities and opportunities for jobs because of the expanding economy. There was a new set of generation because of the baby boom that happened after the great depression. Desperate teenagers that wanted a revolution and they wanted to be more independent. They did not want to listen to the ‘white music’ like swing for example that their parents listened to. The teenagers wanted to listen to something different, Rock and roll also called the ‘devils music’.
Elvis is known for being ‘the king of rock and roll’, he is one of the biggest names in Rock and roll through history. Elvis got discovered in 1953 by Sam Phillips, the owner of the record label Sun records in Memphis. Elvis were inspired by gospel, country and R&B, and all of this together created a whole new sound, ‘it was music from another planet if you compared it to how pop music sounded before’, that is what the music journalist Alan Light says in a biography about Elvis. Elvis was something completely different from what the world had seen so far, it was not just his music, it was everything from his sexual moves and performance on stage to his great looks. There is no doubt or any questions that Elvis was the first one to ‘plant the flag for rock and roll, for this kind of music and for this new generation’. Says Alan Right.
I think that radio was really important for Elvis career and for Rock and Roll. The radio developed a lot in the 50’s. It became smaller and portable and they also became less expensive and this is why it became popular because people could afford to buy one. You could find a radio in almost every house and it became more common to find a radio installed in the new cars. The major audience for radio were especially the teenagers, I think this was important for the development of the rock music, because the teenagers wanted to listen to rock and roll and the radio stations gave the audience what they wanted.
60-70’s The revolution from the conservative 50’s continued and there was a lot happening in the society during the 60’s, the hippie era were starting, women were fighting for their rights, people were more open with their sexuality. But I think that the most important thing that happened during the 60’s was the civil right movement that were making changes in the society. People were fighting for the African Americans, for their human rights and equality in the society. They were for example denied treatment in hospitals and they were not allowed to sit and wait in the same waiting rooms, eat in the same restaurants or attend the same schools as the white people. This also came to reflect on the music, as Berry Gordy formed a record label called Motown for the African Americans during the civil right movement and the song ‘respect’ performed by Aretha Franklin became the anthem for the movement. Motown brought a whole new sound to the world, called ‘the motown sound’ and it was a blend of pop, soul, jazz and R&B. Motown had a huge influence on the popular music and a lot of famous artists and groups came from Motown, like ‘the queen of soul’ Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Jackson 5 and Marvin Gaye.
At the same time in the UK a band called The Beatles got formed. They were heavily influenced by big artist from the 50’s like Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly, and they are one of the most important bands throughout times. One of The Beatles songs called ‘Please Please me’ topped the British charts in 1963 and they became famous all over the world. They went to America to perform in live television on the Ed Sullivan show and after this, British music became really popular. It was called the British invasion because they were dominating the American charts, with groups like The Beatles, The Who and The Rolling Stones.
The 1960 was also known by the hippie era, it was decade filled with revolution. It was a time to focus and celebrate music, peace, love, drugs and freedom and this gave birth to the music festivals. 1967 was the summer of love and a big event that captured the movement and spirit during this time was the Monterey international pop music festival. Two years later 1969 the Woodstock music and art fair festival was held, it is one of the biggest festivals throughout times and became an icon for the the hippie movement. I think that these two events were really important for what was happening in the society during this time and came to reflect on the music. The artist was singing about freedom, peace and love. Like for example the song ‘San Francisco’written by John Phillips and in the lyrics they sing: ‘If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear someflowers in your hair’If you’re going to San Francisco,You’re gonna meet some gentle people there.’ I think that it is a happy text, that symbolize the hippie era, it symbolize the love and the celebration to life.
Jimi Hendrix was the headline for the Woodstock festival and was a really important artist during this time and for this era. He was a great guitar player and he brought a whole new sound for the electric guitar, with his use of effects and distortion. More became electronic, Bob Dylan for example was performing acoustic folksongs, he was really popular for this. He performed at Newport festival and performed his songs with an electronic guitar instead of his accoustic guitar, but his fans did not like it.
I think that the most important for the 60’s were the recording technology that developed, The Beatles for example, were one of the first band that developed the multitrack recording. In their studio in Abbey road they used a four-track tape machine and it was also the birth of the stereo mixing.
70-80’s there were a lot of different music styles during the 70’s, like soul, funk, R&B, disco, hard rock, pop and funk. In the beginning of the 70’s funk and disco were the biggest styles of music, with artist and groups like Parliament Funkadelic and James brown ‘the godfather of funk’ in the front. Also glam rock was very popular in the 70’s with artists like David Bowie. But in the middle of the 70’s punk developed and became to be really popular, with punk bands like the clash and the sex pistols.
Punk is reflecting back to the late 60’s during the hippie era and the flower power movement in the US and it works in the same concept as protest songs and the songs contains anti-establishment lyrics. But I would say that the key word in Punk rock is provocation. The band most known for their provocation is The Sex pistols, for example with their song ‘God save the queen’ they were against the royal monarchy and they used the queen as a symbol for the English conservative. They were making fun with the queen and the government, as you can see in the lyrics of the song ‘God save the queen we mean it man we love our queen god saves god save the queen ’cause tourists are money and our figurehead is not what she seems’ as you can hear in the lyrics they were really upset and had a lot of anger towards the government and the royalty. Because the society in UK during this time was an economic downfall and it was a depressed time. I think this made them famous, because they were singing what they felt about the society and about the royalty and especially a lot of younger people felt the same way as they did and could connect with their music. There song ‘God save the queen’ became the anthem for The English punk movement.
It was not only their music that was provocation also the way that they performed on stage and how they dressed. We can talk about punk as a fashion statement, Malcolm McLaren the manager and the former of The Sex Pistols owned a clothes shop called SEX. From that shop I thint that the concept of ‘the way to dress as a punk rocker’ started and it was a big part of the provocation.
Reggae was also popular during the 70’s and The clash, another punk band was the first band to mix punk and reggae together as you can hear in their later albums especially in their song ‘Revolution rock’. Punk and reggae was really similar to each other because they were both ways to express opinions and emotions trough lyrics and the music.
In the late 70’s they released an effect pedal called OD-1 and it was the first distortion pedal in a compact form and this was really important for the music technology development. This was also really important for the sound for punk, because the sound of punk was rough and loud and the sound of distortion was perfect for this style of music. The mini moog was also released in the 70’s and was important for the beginning of the synth based music and the more electronic music that became more popular in the 80’s.
It was a big change for the technology development during the 80’s- 90’s, vinyl turned into cd it became very popular, it was more convenient because it was smaller and more affordable than the vinyl. Mp3 was invented and the first walkman was realeased. 1 august 1981 MTV was aired and launched for the first time and music videos got really popular. A song that symbolize this change is ‘video killed the radio star’ by Buggles and it was also the frist video that was aired on MTV. Another famous video is Thriller by Michael Jackson, the full version of the video is almost 14 minutes long and it costed about 500,000 dollar to make, it became really important for the artists to make good videos and to get aired on MTV.
Madonna is also a big artist that is famous for her music videos and her image during the 80’s. Madonna for example was growing up in a catholic family and her family was really conservative and prayed daily. I think this is what made her to push the limits and brake the traditional rules. Like she is showing in her music video ‘like a prayer’ which created a lot of controversy. Michael Jackson for example was called ‘the king of pop’, he was already famous in the 60’s with Jackson 5. But it was in the 80’s his solo career really began, when he released the best selling album in the world, Thriller. I think that Michael and Madonna were the first ‘superstars’ and they were not only famous for their music and their videos. They were also big icons because of their dance, their way to perform on stage and for their fashion. Other big artist in same genre during the 80’s were Prince, Whitney Houston, wham and Cyndi Lauper.
Pop, Hip Hop and Rap and Hair Metal were big music styles during the 80’s but I think that the genre New Wave got really popular during the 80’s with big artist and groups like Blondie, Elvis Costello, The Police and Duran Duran. They were also really famous for their fashion. The 80’s was important for the synth pop, the electronic music and also for the reverb on the snare drum which was typical for the 80’s music. Effects in general developed a lot in the 80’s.
I think that the 80’s pop music for example were more ‘happy’ if you compared it to the how some music was during the 70’s like the punk rock. In America during the 80’s the economy was growing, it was because of Ronald Reagan the president of the United States and his theory to cut down the taxes. People could now keep more money of what they were earning and save it, production increased and it also opened up for more job oppertunities. I think this led to a happier spirit in the country and I think this also came to reflect on the music. I think that a lot of the song became less political and became more commercial.
90’s-21th century Popular music still developed and the decade had a huge blend of different music styles filled with pop, rap, alternative rock, country, ‘one hit wonders’and grunge. Boy and girl bands became popular with bands like, Back street boys, Spice girls and N’sync. It went well for the female popular solo artist during the 90’s like Britney spears, Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey. Grunge was a big genre with bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam in the front and the Pop punk band Green Day became popular in 90’s.
The technology developed a lot in the 90’s and you could see a big difference just from the 80’s. Internet was invented and microsoft was introduced, this got really popular and I think it is one of the biggest invention trough times and now we can not imagine our life without it. The digital world were expanding, mobile phones became more affordable, games and graphics were developed. The economy in America during the 90’s was really strong and I think that just like the 80’s it was a lot of focus on the development of music videos and the commercial things. I think that people were thinking more about producing singles and the selling of music and this is maybe why the concept of ‘one hit wonders’ became big in the 90’s. I think that the electronic and the technology development during the 90’s was the thing that really reflected on the music and all of the different genres.
To make a conclusion for this timeline from the 50’s- the 21th century, I think that all these subjects that I have talked about have a huge impact on each other and I think this is why the popular music developed so much trough the decades. For example I do not think that the the punk rock would have exsisted if the society in the 70’s did not look like it did. I do not think that Motown would exsist if it was not for The civil right movement that was changing the society. Music is a way to express feeling, opinion and emotions. This is why they are so connected and are so much linked together. The decades also sounded different because of all the technology that was developing trough times, it would not have been the same today without The Beatles way of recording songs with the multi-track recorder and the sterero mixing, or without the syntheizeser that was developed. The music today would defenitely not have sound the same without all the effects that was developing through times. The big artists that I have talked about were so important for the development of popular music, I do not think that the Rock and Roll would have got the same success as it did without ‘the king of Rock and Roll’ Elvis Presley. All these things is still developing, technology and society are still changing so much today and I think that music will just continue the journey of change.