5/4

DOO WOP
*Which of these recordings you prefer, aesthetically, and why?
LISTEN:
ShBoom by Chords (1954)
-nice warmth in vocal harmony; voices like instrumental
accompaniment
-more fluid, less breaks and changes
-blend of lead voice w/backup
-sax solo
-vocal timbremore active, engaging, less sappy
-more relaxed rhythmic feel, reggae-ish
ShBoom by Crew Cuts (1954)
-lead voice stands
-more intricate instrument
-break with tympany
-very bright vocal blend
[DANCELinda Townsend]

5/5
Doo Wop very mixed race
Relation to African American gospel quartets
LISTEN: The Sun Didnt Shine Golden Gate Quartet

Demise of 50s Stars:

Elvis into army
Little Richard to seminary
Chuck Berry to jail
Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens killed in plane crash
New Business models for pop:
1. Marketing
-Youth marketing and creation of teen stars
-Challenges to racialization of genre categories (rockabilly)
-cross marketing with TV and movies (precedent in earlier era of
movie musicals)
2. Singer/songwriter model
-Ideas of authenticity and innovation, opposed to TPA
3. Importance of producers
Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, esp. w/Atlantic fr. ca. 1950
Sam Phillips, Sun Studios in Memphis
Cosimo Matassa New Orleans
Chess Brothers, Chicago
George Martin of Beatles (fr. 1962?)
Barry Gordy of Motown (fr. 1960)
Brian Wilson of Beach Boys
Phil Spectors girl groups e.g. Ronettes
Beach Boys

Brian Wilson (writer/producer/performer)

Surf music as genre:
Instrumental focus, conducive to virtuosity
Attention to instrumental sounds (e.g. surf guitar)
Inventive song writing and studio work of Beach Boys in particular
[if time--LISTEN: Wipe out, the Surfaris 1963]
LISTEN: Good Vibrations the Beach Boys (1966)
*Instrumentation? Theramin, tambourine, organ, cello (fast pulse)
*Form?
URBAN FOLK
(one of the streams that mixed with Rock and Roll)
1. music and politics
Woody Guthrie
-working class folk musician fr. Oklahoma, politicized
-1930s radio show in LA
>Association w/1950s civil rights and union movements
Guthrie: This land is Your Land (lyrics)
Pete Seeger:
-college educated urban revivalist fr. NYC
-1940s collaborations w/ Guthrie, 1950s Weavers, college
residencies;
-If I had a Hammer, Where Have all the Flowers Gone,
popularized We Shall Overcome

2. anti-commercial folk authenticity

>Tension betw. folk/mass pop--Guthrie, Seeger, et al. are encouraging
a national movement that builds around a folk repertoire that
has mass dissemination
Coffee houses (CBGBs) and college campuses
Folk scene another 1950s alternative, along w/R&B, jazz
Commercial folk music briefly popular in 1950s
e.g. Kingston Trio fr. SF.
*What were the criteria for folk authenticity?
-explicitly political lyrics
-acoustic instruments
-vocal harmony
-song forms like ballad, fiddle tunes

LISTEN: Peter Paul and Mary The Answer is Blowing in the Wind
(1963)
-Dylans anti-war song
-guitar, vocal harmonies
Bob Dylan
-born in Minnesota
-learned fr. Woodie Guthrie, on scene in Greenwich village NYC
-influential song writer, brought sophisticated poetry and social
commentary into lyrics in early Columbia recordings 1962-64.
-infused the counter culture with new seriousness and conscience
LISTEN: The Times are a-changing 1963
Strophic ballad

Folk version of youth rebellion: more political, not just aesthetic

and sexual
1965-Dylan goes electric at Newport Folk festival, scandalizes purists.
-Beginning of Folk Rock
LISTEN: The Byrds, Turn, Turn, Turn (1966)
Roger McGuinns electric 12-string guitar
Harmonies
Stronger back beat, more slick mainstream sound generally, e.g.
sweet sound of Beatles
Community Culture and the Music Industry
*As a cultural phenomenon, what did rock and roll and the folk
music movement have in common?
-anti-establishment attitude, rebellion
*What are some important differences?
-instrumentation
-folk music more political
-commercial entanglements of rock and roll
MOTOWN
Label that practically became a genre
Founded by Berry Gordy in 1960 (originally Tamla records). A
black-owned record label that aimed to cross over to white audiences

successes: e.g. Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Michael

Jackson, and many others
Hit-making:
-in-house writing and arrangement (a bit like Tin Pan Alley?)
-also cultivated careers(a concept not often found in whitecontrolled indies)
-uncontroversial lyrics (sentimental love songs), smooth and danceable
-elegant image
LISTEN: Youve Really Got a Hold on Me, Smokey Robinson
VIDEO: Maxine Powell on training for elegance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpJRv3OFx7c&list=PL2IjzH2iw
reOxJXRRjBC63wQV6831CIhq ca.12:35
Motown sound (another example of producers importance)
-lush instrumental background
-back beat guitar strum
-lead vocalist prominent over back-up

LISTEN: My Girl Temptations (1965)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IUG-9jZD-g
LISTEN: Stop in the Name of Love, The Supremes (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDPjYZxi0n8

Jackson Five
VIDEO: Michael dancing, singing ABC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho7796-au8U

SOUL
*What is soul music?
-soul in spiritual sense, gospel music influence
-deep essence or feeling
-soul food, soul brother (racial meaning)
Ray Charles began recording w/Atlantic in 1952 (lived in Seattle
before that, born in GA)
Aretha Franklin
-started as professional gospel singer
-produced by Jerry Wexler as pop star
LISTEN: Respect 1967 Aretha Franklin (c.Otis Redding)
*What influences of African American church music can you
hear?
-call and response between lead singer and backup singers
-gospel vocal ornament, timbre

James Brown, Godfather of Soul

-Papas Got a Brand New Bag was a crossover hit in 1965
-Before that Brown performed for black audiences on a circuit of
theaters, including the Apollo Theater in NYC.
VIDEO: James Brown, and commentary on him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF_rZrH4yBY fr.1:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJgkuyJ8NLo (Papas Bag)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRfXlomW6NU w/Sammy Davis
JR
LISTEN: The Big Payback James Brown
*FORM? Cyclical, vamp
*Texture? polyrhythm
*What precedents can you think of for this approach to
arranging/structuring music?
-mambo, riffs, church music
1960s chronology (industry changes, counter-culture, strife and
disillusionment);
1959 Death of Buddy Holly
1960 Motown, other industry changes: producers, FM radio
Free speech movement UC Berkeley
1963 Kennedy assassinated
1964 Beatles arrive in U.S.
1965 Dylan electric, James Brown crosses over
1967 Summer of Love in SF, Sgt. Pepper

1968 Tet Offfensive, MLK assassination

1969 Woodstock
S.F. Scene, Psychedelic rock
1967 Summer of Love culmination of 60s developments in HaightAshbury district
-communal living
-be-ins, w/music, etc.
-acid tests
-Fillmore West theater, Bill Graham
Grateful Dead epitomized communal spiritfolksy, improvisational
jam band
Jefferson Airplane, more hard-edged
LISTEN: Somebody to Love Jefferson Airplane (1967)
Grace Slick
Janis Joplin
Texas-born white blues singer; blues comes to mean emotional
sincerity and intensity
If time [LISTEN: Summertime (1968) Janis Joplin]
Pop Music festivals galvanize cultural and political movements
-1967 Monterrey pop festival
-1969 Woodstock Guitar heroes
VIDEO: Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock, national anthem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjzZh6-h9fM

-techniques of distortion and feedback