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The 60s

... beginning of the nostalgia craze!! The class of 1955 had graduated from college; looked back to those "simpler times" before taking on their current responsibilities

Introduction of the "Oldies but Goodies"album

• no recording costs--already recorded
• probably no royalties (usually waived)
• no promotion--already hit songs

advantages:

• helped retain adult listeners
• sometimes these "classics" would reenter the charts

 

• 1/60--Warner Bros. signed the Everly Bros, guaranteeing $750,000 over ten years (large sum for the time); remember Elvis' $40,000?)
• 3/5/60--Elvis comes home from the service to a changed musical world:
• singles were being pulled off of albums, rather than vice versa
• singles sales accounted for only about 20% of the market; shift to albums

Musical trend toward sophistication (recall "Walkin' to New Orleans" by Fats Domino and "It Doesn't Matter Any More" by Buddy Holly):

• more care taken with arrangements
• turning away from blues structures in R&B
• Philadelphia-machine output (Fabian, Bobby Vee, etc.) and crossover of pop, rock & country

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