med332 black popular music (1920-1970)
DESCRIPTION
Sweeping overview of the blues legacy in rock music and some notable black musical performersTRANSCRIPT
#med332 Black popular music (1920-‐1970)
The Great Depression 1930-‐1940s
Johnnie Ray – ‘Cry’ (1957)
Black popular culture: -‐ Jazz -‐ Gospel -‐ Rhythm and blues
Just as blacks were segregated from white society, so R & B music existed separately from the pop music market. R & B had its own performers, record companies, and consumers. R & B recorders, oSen referred to as “race” records, sold within their own disVnct market. An R & B performer or record rarely crossed over into the naVonal pop market. -‐ Stuessy and Lispcomb, 2003: 7-‐8
Country & Western Poor whites, South, rural -‐ ‘hillbilly’ -‐ Bluegrass -‐ swing
The basic centre of R&B’s development was the South; however, as the black
populaVon spread throughout the Southwest, the Midwest, and into major metropolitan centres, R&B went along. Thus, although most R&B singers traced
their roots back to New Orleans, the Mississippi Delta, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida, by the 1930s
and 1940s many has relocated to other parts of the country.
-‐ Stuessy and Lipscomb, 2003: 26-‐27
Robert Johnson – ‘Me and Devil Blues’ (circa 1938)
12 bar blues
12 bar blues Bars (aka measures)
12 bar blues
Phrases
12 bar blues
One blues chorus = 12 bars (48 beats)
Noteworthy R&B performers: • Big Bill Broonzy • Bessie Smith • Howling Wolf (Chester Burneg) • Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) • Lightnin’ Hopkins • Ma Rainey • Joe Turner • Memphis Slim • T-‐Bone Walker • Elmore James • OVs Spann • B.B. King
As a kid in the fiSies … I was taught to be ashamed of the blues. We thought of it as plantaVon darkie stuff. And that was miles from where we wanted to be -‐ Tennessean Isaac Hayes cited in Ward, 1998: 40
Good Golly Miss Molly (1958) Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Roll ‘em Pete (1938)
1954-‐55 crossover hits
• Lloyd Price – Lawdy Miss Clawdy • The Crows – Gee • The Penguins – Earth Angel • The Orioles – Crying in the Chapel
Song R&B Chart pos
Pop cover Chart pos
Earth Angel The Penguins 8 Crew Cuts 3
Goodnight Sweetheart Spaniels 24 McGuire Sisters 7
Heart of Stone Charms 15 Fontaine Sisters 1
Shake, Rattle and Roll Joe Turner - Bill Haley 7
Sh-Boom Chords 5 Crew Cuts 1
Sincerely Moonglows 20 McGuire Sisters 1
Ain’t That a Shame Fats Domino 1 Pat Boone 1
Tweedle Dee La Vern Baker 14 Gerogia Gibbs 2
The Chords – ‘Sh-‐boom’ (1954)
By the end of 1954, income from r&b records and tours consVtuted a $25 million branch of the industry. A growing, if sVll relaVvely small, conVngent of young white fans had combined with the black audience to double the market share claimed by r&b from 5 per cent to 10 per cent of the total industry gross -‐ Ward, 1998: 20
In 1957, the independent record companies responsible for
recording much of this material accounted for an astonishing 76
per cent of the year’s hit singles. In 1958 more than 90 per cent of the
155 records appearing on the naVonal Rhythm and Blues charts during the year also appeared on
the pop charts -‐ Ward, 1998: 20
Bill Haley
Sam Phillips on Elvis: ‘I noVced a certain quality in Elvis’ voice, and I guessed he had a feeling for black music. I thought his voice was unique, but I didn’t
know whether it was commercial’ -‐ Cited in Palmer, 1976: 205
‘sexual seducVon of whites into blackness’ ‘new and acceptable aptudes about sexuality’ -‐ Spencer cited in Chadwick, 1997: 114
Milton Bearle Show
Steve Allen Show (1956)
Ed Sullivan Show
Milton Bearle Show
Tup Frup (1956) in Don't Knock The Rock
‘hypnoVc, like an evangelical meeVng where, for want of a beger phrase, Richard is the disciple and the audience the flock that follows. I couldn’t believe the power of Ligle Richard on stage. He was amazing’ -‐ Mick Jagger cited in White, 1984: 119
Chuck Berry – ‘Maybellene’ (1955)
Summary
• Development of rock and roll and other off-‐shoots of rock more generally owes much to the legacy of black popular musical forms.
• The success of white musicians appropriaVng black popular music acted to draw more agenVon to black musical performers
Cultural appropriaVon? “The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I’m doin’ now, man for more years than I know. They played it like that in the shanVes and in their jukee joints, and nobody paid it no mind ’Vl I goosed it up. I got it from them. Down in Tupelo, Mississippi, I used to hear old Arthur Crudup bang his box the way I do now, and I said if I ever got to the place where I could feel like old Arthur felt, I’d be a music man like nobody ever saw.” -‐ Elvis Presley (1956) Interview in The CharloDe Observer
Task
IdenVfy some contemporary examples of black musical culture being appropriated Add them to the above playlist and explain your selecVon (briefly) over on the module website
CriVque?
Black musicologist PorVa Maultsby has described the cover syndrome, together with the success of white singers like Bill Haley and Elvis Presley in obviously black-‐influenced styles, as “the most wide-‐spread, systemaVc rape and uncompensated cultural exploitaVon the entertainment industry has ever seen” -‐ cited in Ward, 1998: 44
Tony Fischer (2008) The Causes of The Great Depression / FDR Memorial Site Kennedy AssassinaVon Research (2007) Is This Tomorrow James Vaughan (2010) 1953 … Stalin dies! Paolo (2011) album figurine – revolucion cubana Adam Kuban (2007) Tin Pan Alley CommemoraVve Plaque Metro Library and Archive (1938) Broadway at 6th 1930s Laura Loverday (2009) The original "Hollywoodland" sign, 1923-‐1949 Thomas ♫ (2010) Learning The Blues bunky's pickle (2009) Ligle Richard & band, back cover of Specialty 2103 David Smith (2012) Jagger Missouri History Museum (2011) Chuck Berry