Unit 2

Stephen Wolff

Progression of Culture and Popular Music from the 1920s to the 1960s

No literature reflects the culture of a time as intrinsically as popular music. As long as music

has been notated, historians and scholars have been able to identify its progression as cohesive to the

progression of culture itself. From Baroque to Renaissance, from Ragtime to Rock, music is a true

remnant of society. It is apparent that music has represented literature, architecture, religion, morals,

taboos, and even economies. Even more so than in any other time period, popular music is the

soundtrack to the history of the 20th century; indeed, the 1900s showed the birth of popular music as we

know it today. More specifically, the evolution of popular music in the first half of the 20th century

mirrored the evolution of our nation’s morals, ideals, and most importantly, the individual’s relationship

to society. The introduction of mass media in the United States created a diffusion of culture that no

society could have ever experienced before. With the rapid technological advancements that occurred

in the beginning of the 20th century, a new level of mass communication was achieved. The radio and

mass produced phonograph aided in the creation of a consumer culture that identified more than ever

with the music it listened to. These advancements made popular music possible as we know it today: a

nationwide phenomenon. The first forms of popular music, which arrived in the 1920s and 30s,

represented a racist, mainly white, mainstream culture which glamorized wealth and highlife; a

remnant of 19th century Victorian values. While not sacrificing its rebellious nature, the popular music

of these decades was as subtle in its message as it was biting to traditional values. However, by the

1940s—an era of quiet transition—the American middle class culture embodied itself in the music it

loved. Post WWII popular music resembled a nation too prosperous to care for references to the

Russian drama, to Penthouse serenades, to Park Avenue Fantasies, Stairways to the Stars or to the

Parthenon. With the middle class culture of the 1950s being forced upon them, music became
rebellious in a way far more blatant than its parent’s generations. If the 1920’s and 30’s were tastefully

unobtrusive, and the 40s were slick, than the 50s and 60s were outright shocking. By the 1960s the

unobtrusive, culturally correct style of 1930’s singers could hardly compete with the “lacerated,

gorgeously, uninhibited wailing of Ray Charles—blind, drug addicted, thoroughly disreputable—with

his 'Get your Buddy, and Go Get Stoned.'”

The 1920s and 30s saw a vast and profound cultural rebellion in the United States.

Urbanization characterized the masses, even those living outside of cities. The far reaching voice of

radio made it possible for even the most rural areas to adopt the infectious culture of the times which

emanated only from the epicenters of society. The people of these times where rebellious sexually and

artistically; the 30’s saw an accompanying economic rebellion. What created such a widespread and

uniform revolution was the introduction of mass media. Booming phonograph and radio sales in the

1920s helped standardize the music that people listened to. At this time period, it is apparent exactly

how affective music can be on a culture. The demographic who could easily afford to collect and

entertain music was the one that was influenced the most. And thus, the great songwriters of the time

catered to the demand of the mostly upper middle class. Popular music of the time was aimed at an

audience of maturity and some wealth—only those who had the means to pay for music could. “The

highest compliment the public could pay to popular music between the 20s and the 50s was that it was

‘symphonic’ or ‘advanced’. While it was still Jazz, most people did not want to hear it in its true

“negro” form. The mainstream stuck to lush WASP, (White Anglo Saxton Protestant) arrangements.

As well, radio networks, scared to upset their sponsors or stir negative reactions from the public, would

not play such ‘immoral music’. And while the culture of the 20s and 30s was rebellious in nature, the

message within their music was extremely subtle and understated. The music was no more than biting,

small messages of defiance such as promiscuous sexuality were only understood if interpreted; these

messages were not seen outside of their euphemistic form. The cultural critic H.F. Mooney would

describe the popular tastemakers of the time as “somewhat cautious, compromising, middle-class
‘highbrow’ innovations or just sweetly pretty styling.” The anthem of the of the time period, “Love,

your melody is everywhere” epitomizes the cautious sound Mooney talked of. Its message is as well

compromising. The song shows independent feminine sentiments. It removes monogamy from the idea

of love in the sense that love now can be found in more than one place. The voice that whispers wait is

that of the women who is in control of her lust’s destiny. She now has a choice in who her lover may

be, and she is searching for love, rather than waiting for it to find her. Women of the 1920s felt a desire

to find love not which was unexplained—or even unfelt—by the women of the 1800s. Marriage

became more about romance than political family arrangements. Romance was revived; an

enlightenment of libidinous culture was stirring.

The 1940s and 50s saw a change in the classical wasp style of previous decades. Indeed, the

music of these years saw many modulations, the first wave streaming from the death of the

monopolized ASCAP. Nationally recognized music was no longer centralized in Tin Pan Alley. The

small start up labels which prospered after the legal dissolving of the American Society of Composers,

Authors, and Publishers catered to a wider public. While the demographic that songwriters wrote for

was still of the middle to upper middle class, these classes were now much larger and diverse than

before. As African Americans began to comprise a large part of the demographic that supported

popular music, the smaller shop-labels that arose from the dissolution of the ASCAP catered directly to

them. The times marked the end of sweetly white urban styling. Concurrently, the wartime periods

during this decade tended to diminish the large label’s influence. During war, the values of the middle

class had been weakened. There was no respect for subtle messages in music when the messages

coming from overseas were anything but quiet. The 1940s were indeed the decade of most transition in

the culture of the United States. Concurrently, African American’s call for gospel shots and rough

edged blues, for music which aggressively emphasized their roots, changed the tone of urban popular

music. The difference between Earl Bostic’s and Herb Alepert’s “Flamingo” is grand evidence of these
changes. Bostic’s rendition, recorded post-pinnacle-of-transition, in 1951, features a whiney,

screaming saxophone, with purposefully instable intonation. We can hear how at the time of the

recording, Bostic himself is a few years ahead of the rest of the musicians in his band. The vibraphone

quietly and elegantly dictates the changes over the drummer, who never deviates too far in his

syncopations. The growl of Bostic’s tenor saxophone screaming a melody over his traditional band

sounds like Hendrix and his full stack of Marshall Amps serenading a Victorian dinner party. By 1965,

we can hear how “Flamingo” is almost an entirely new tune. Alpert’s band plows through changes—

each chord sounds like a truck revving its engine. The percussion section does not hide behind the

leads. They play an ostinato beat so far removed from the smooth syncopation of earlier Jazz that it

almost seems tribal. The tambourine cuts through the recording and emphasizes the strong progression.

It is almost as if now, each member of Alpert’s band is Bostic himself. Then, every musician felt the

angst. In their future, that angst will only be exploited.

Into the 60s, music began to push the limits of what traditional society expected. Whatever

qualms the recording industry once had with taboos, by the 1960s, these were virtually nonexistent.

The messages artists communicated within their music was now blatant and outright. Popular music

became a “happening, an numbing bombardment of the auditory nerves.” It was no longer in to be

average middle class. Society no longer craved for the stability it finally expressed in the 1950s, by the

60s, anything mainstream was out of the picture. And thus, the mainstream became the alternative

culture. Liner notes talked of the bitterness of the artist’s emotions, and his disconnection from the

world. No one wanted to seem successful; no one wanted success in the older sense of the word.

Besides the free love and psychedelic movement, which are, frankly, passé indicators of 1960s society,

the African American aspects and influence of music is what really demonstrates a society craving what

was truly non conventional. By the 1960s, “white” was bland. Both the vocal and orchestration

became truly “negro”, without any mainstream racist inhibitions. The typical group of these times
included loud guitars, percussion, and the saxophone, once an instrument designed for tone color, now

incorporated rhythmic variation and prominent improvisation. The 1960s saw hard bop and free Jazz, a

regression of technique and symphonious orchestration; become the prominent style with both Whites

and Blacks. Funk was contempt for white standards. James Brown, with his, “Say it Loud, I’m Black

and I’m Proud”, of 1968, signified the completion of the pop turnaround since its arrival to society in

the 1920s. The call and response chorus of the song is sung by young children. A significant aspect of

the piece, it reflects the new youth aspect to popular music. As the economy prospered, and technology

continued to advance, popular music was available to more than the WASP demographic. The most

avid music listeners of the time were between 9 and 18 years old. Had such messages of the time not

hit so hard with the youth specifically, the progression of civil attitude in our country may not have

taken the same course.

Through an analysis of music alone, a zeitgeist is revealed. The messages that music held have

become more and more outright over the years. What once was a society that was afraid to step on the

toes of the mainstream, that was afraid to upset the taboos of the conservative, became a society that

made it its goal to arouse conventional authority. Did the invention of mass media itself have an

impact on our ideas of what should be normal within culture and society? For what reason exactly

have we felt the constant need to rebel, whether covertly or not? Even during those times of

uncertainty when we held on to conservative viewpoints why did we feel the need for change? In a

country where we have the freedom to express ourselves in any way we want, one can still find tension

in our artistic expression. Our society may one day reach a level of freedom where music is

celebratory rather than rebellious, but that might very well imply anarchy. Thus, music represents our

fetish desires. Music embodies the primal nature of our species which we keep subdued at the expense

of our true sanity. This suppression of our true instinct is a sacrifice we make for the sublimatory

society we created to give us a sense of security and civility. The period between the 1920s and 60s

represents the full range of modulation we can possibly experience. Thus, between the most
conservative and the most liberal times, our message of rebellion stays the same. What changes is only

the way it is sung.