Pop Music

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Pop Music
Tony Bennett

at the time, Bennett was the "epitome of cool"
- singing waiter in his teens
- WWII—US Army entertainment corps
- 1995—won two recent Grammys

Because of You

#1 in 1951, with the Percy Faith Orchestra

Tin Pan Alley

area of NYC that became the centre of popular-music publishing from the late 1800s to the late 1950s

influenced by 30s & 40s swing, Hollywood music, & Broadway show tunes

Musical characteristics:

composers were white professional songwriters
lyrics were non-offensive, non-controversial (boy-girl love)
straight, uncomplicated rhythms (quadruple [usually] or triple meter)
tempos typically slow or moderate
melodies were important (tunes - easy to remember)
trained singers & professional musicians
accompanied by full orchestra & small chorus
tightly arranged; virtually no improvisation

Tin Pan Alley Composers & Performers
Paul Anka	Don Kirshner, Carole King & Gerry Goffin

Don Kirshner, Neil Sedaka, & Dick Clark	Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, & Carole King

Mike Stoller & Jerry Leiber	The Drifters with Ben E. King (2nd from left)

Review musical characteristics on the "Converging Styles" handout
Pop - C&W - R&B

Eddie Fisher - Oh, My Papa

Perry Como - Dream Along With Me

most Pop songs followed a similar pattern:

4 weeks - rising popularity
2 months - peak popularity
4 weeks - declining popularity

Pop singers as "Teen Idols"

Frank Sinatra
Rudy Vallee
Bing Crosby (see photo)

Frank Sinatra

That Ol' Black Magic

Sinatra's beginnings (1939-43) along w/Rudey Vallee & Bing Crosby set the stage for the teen idol image of the rock & roll stars ... the first real teen pop idol
Columbus Day, 1944--30,000 fans showed up at the Paramount Theater in NY to see Sinatra perform (3600 seats per show, six shows per day, interspersed w/a movie) only a few people left after the first show causing a riot--FIRST VIOLENT POP MUSIC CONFRONTATION!
Sinatra's early career included stints with Harry James Orchestra, Tom Dorsey, and solo with Nelson Riddle (later with Quincy Jones)
1957—denounced rock as "degenerate," though his freely interpretive style paved the way for rock singers
- in Western World magazine (1958), Sinatra is quoted as saying "Rock 'n Roll smells phony and false. It is sung, played, and written for the most part by cretinous goons and by means of its almost imbecilic reiteration, and sly, lewd, in plain fact, dirty lyrics it manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth. It is the most brutal, ugly, desperate, vicious form of expression it has been my misfortune to hear."
- Elvis Presley (ever the gentleman) had this reply: "I admire the man. He has a right to say what he wants to say. He is a great success and a fine actor, but I think he shoudn't have said it. He's mistaken about this. This is a trend, just the same as he faced when he started years ago. I consider it the greatest in music. It is very noteworthy - and namely because it is the only thing I can do. You can't knock success."
1965—Grammy for "Lifetime Achievement"
1971—retired
1973--unretired
1998 - passed away

Nat "King" Cole

fine jazz pianist/vocalist, as well
racial tensions were high ... Frank Sinatra & Nat "King" Cole as proponents of tolerance

Fascination

Johnny Ray

Listen to vocal style:

Cry

1^st pop singer to break with the cool, professional style of pop crooners
- listen especially to "Cry" around 2:02 (or check out the "excerpt" from a different recording)
Johnny Ray's musical career
- started to go deaf as a youngster (!!)
- produced by Mitch Miller, backed by the Four Lads
- mentioned in "Come On, Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners

Dawson & Propes on "Cry"

Two final characteristics of Pop Music:

adult-oriented; teens simply listened to & accepted their parents' music (!!)
almost exclusively white; performers, record company personnel, etc. were predominantly white—had most expendable income

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Pop Music

Tin Pan Alley

Musical characteristics:

Tin Pan Alley Composers & Performers

most Pop songs followed a similar pattern:

Pop singers as "Teen Idols"

Nat "King" Cole

Johnny Ray

Two final characteristics of Pop Music: