Changes in music
- Many American people had a lot more leisure time and more money to spend on entertaining themselves after the end of World War Two.
- Popular musical styles changed considerably during this period.
- Musical styles reflected the changing values of the American people, particularly the changing attitudes of young people who spent a lot of their leisure time listening to music.
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Rock’n’roll
An upbeat style of music based on black American rhythm and blues that became popular in the 1950s. was an upbeat style of music based on rhythm and blues, which was played by black American artists. Once artists such as Elvis Presley began to produce it in the 1950s, rock’n’roll was widely played on radio stations. It became more and more popular across America.
Teenagers enjoyed listening and dancing to it, but some parents hated it because they thought it was too sexual for young people, due to some of the dance moves involved. Racists also disliked its association with the black community. Some artists, such as Buddy Holly, played rock’n’roll using guitars. Others, such as Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, played the piano.
Rock music
In the 1960s, rock’n’roll developed into a much broader musical genre and is now more commonly known as A version of rock’n’roll that developed in the 1960s with a more driving rhythm, characterised by electric guitar sounds and heavy percussion. Folk artists such as Bob Dylan and the Byrds adopted the electric guitars of rock’n’roll. British bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones added a backbeat to rock’n’roll and created an adapted musical style that was easier to dance to.
However, many parents were convinced that rock music was encouraging young people to challenge traditional American values. In the 1970s, rock music continued to develop further with the rise of artists such as Bruce Springsteen, who put the experiences of ordinary people into their songs.
Heavy metal
A style of rock music that is much louder and heavier, often played with overdriven or distorted electric guitars. was seen as an aggressive and overtly masculine style of music, both in terms of its lyrics and the people who listened to it. Started by British bands such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin in the late 1960s, heavy metal was popularised further in the 1970s and 1980s in America by artists such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper and KISS.
Disco
Dance music that developed from the black American soul music of the 1970s; the name is taken from the French word for night club - discotheque. was a style of dance music that developed during the 1970s in the nightclubs of America, such as Studio 54 in New York City. Bands such as Chic and the Jackson 5 popularised it. It became very popular in the late 1970s, especially among people who liked dancing to it on nights out with their friends. It was also popular in the gay scene in New York and some other cities.
Disco’s popularity in clubs would also lead to it being a huge influence on modern dance music and hip hop. The film Saturday Night Fever was released in 1977. Its soundtrack, by the Bee Gees, was a very influential representation of the disco scene.
Rap and hip hop
By the 1980s, the disco scene had become increasingly influenced by The rhythmic and rhyming delivery of lyrics. and Electronic dance music sometimes using electronic samples from the recordings of other artists and often incorporating rap. These styles of music had developed in black American communities. Lyrics often focused on social issues, giving African Americans a platform to have their voices heard.
Rapping is a rhythmic and rhyming style of delivering lyrics associated with artists such as Grandmaster Flash and the Sugarhill Gang. Hip hop mixed rap with electronic dance music, sometimes using samples of music by other artists. It was popularised by artists such as Run-DMC.
As a music genre, hip hop became so popular that by the mid-1990s, 75 per cent of people who bought hip hop records were white Americans.
