Sidebar: Populuxe
Pop historian Thomas Hine has coined the term populuxe to describe the period between 1955 to 1964. Also called the Atomic Age and the Push-button age, it was not only important that products were convenient; they also had to be modern and automatic. Cars had push-button transmissions and the atom logo was ubiquitous. Everything had to be new and disposable.
Googie architecture style with its boomerang and tail fins motives are typical of the period.
It has been pointed out that Disneyland is a good example of the aesthetics of the period. The division into four kingdoms; Frontierland, Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrow-land, approximated the attitudes of the period. For instance, the neo-pioneer spirit translated to fads such as coon-skin caps, and interest in Daniel Boone and increased sales of early American furniture. Each of the kingdoms represented an aspect of the 1950's American dream; prosperity and affluence, hope for a better future, and Camelot.
The effect on teenagers was that they treasured everything that was new; new records, new transistor radios, new dances, new and disposable music.
The populuxe vision begins to fade in the early 1960's. The assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 was a sure sign that the optimism of populuxe had vanished.
1 Billboard US Chart August 1960
Title Performer Style It's Now or Never Elvis Presley Pop Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini Brian Hyland (16) Teen Idol I'm Sorry Brenda Lee (15) Pop Only The Lonely Roy Orbison Pop Ballad Walk-Don't Run Ventures Proto-Surf The Twist re-charts 1962 Chubby Checker (19) Dance Walkin' To New Orleans Fats Domino R &B cross-over Tell Laura I Love Her Ray Peterson Pop Volare Bobby Rydell Pop Alley-Oop Hollywood Argyles Pop novelty Everybody's Somebody's Fool Connie Francis Pop
Billboard US Chart September 1963
Title Performer Style Blue Velvet Bobby Vinton Teen Idol My Boyfriend's Back Angels Girl Group Brill If I Had a Hammer Trini Lopez Folk Heat Wave Martha and the Vandellas Girl Group Motown Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh Allan Sherman Pop novelty Then He Kissed Me Crystals Girl Group Spector Sally, Go 'Round the Roses Jayettes Girl Group Surfer Girl Beach Boys Surf-Rock Be My Baby Ronettes Girl Group Spector Candy Girl Four Seasons Pop Brill Blowin' In The Wind Peter, Paul and Mary Folk
2 The 1960’s Dance Craze
In 1944, the U.S, levied a 30% federal excise tax on "dancing" night clubs. The Jitterbug was a popular dance with early rock and rollers and prominent on American Bandstand.
The Jitterbug (1944) The Loco-Motion (1962) The Madison (1959) The Frug 1963) The Twist (1960) The Hitchhike (1963) The Peppermint Twist (1961) The Monkey (1963) The Hully Gully (1960) The Swim (1964) The Pony (1961) The Jerk (1966) The Watusi (1962) Mashed Potato (1962)
Early 1960’s Rock Centers
n
h ec r s ar r n a an an c ec r s
a e s r c sc e h a s a a a
3 The Chantels, “Maybe”, 1958 The hi elles “Dedicated to the One I Love” 1959
The ill ildin 1958 through 1970’s)
e r ll l n s locate at 1619 roa ay n e ork n t e 1940’s it had housed composers from what was then known as Tin Pan lley n an lley co osers rote or l roa ay s cals an t e o e s eet s c tra e e r r t n style eca e o t ate n the mid 1950’s. The changing music market brought difficult times for these songsmiths. Brill became more irrelevant as the 1950’s came to an en
cross t e street ro t e r ll l n at 16 0 roa ay as l on s c l s ers o ne y l e ns an on rs ner ey ere eter ne t at t ey co l ret rn r ll to a center or r t n an ro c n ne o s c t t e r ance r ll e an collect n son r ters arran ers an art sts an e an ro c n s c or t e e er n rock an roll arket t as t e s r t o co et t on an t n alls t at el e r ll co osers an art sts ro ce l terally thousands of hits during this period. In the early 1960’s there were over 160 s c s nesses locate n t e r ll l n r ters l s ers s c r nters an ro oters
4 The “Brill Building Sound” is an extension of the Tin an lle Song riting tradition
Brill Building Song riters
err ei er and i hael Stoller Hound Dog Jailhouse Rock Yakety Yak, Love Potion #9 Kansas City Stand By Me
err offin and arole ing Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow Take Good Care Of My Baby Up On The Roof
Barr ann and nthia eil You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, On Broadway
ore Brill Building o osers
llie reen i h and eff Barr e a ha el Love o ah i i , Lea e o the a
eil Seda a alen a i l ea ing s a To o
Burt Ba hara h and al a id These agic oments ishin and opin’, Blue on Blue
5 Song or B
tional introdu tion
erse usuall ars so eti es ars erse sa e usi al idea different l ri s B Bridge horus efrain iddle ontrasting usi al idea erse first usi al idea different l ri s
nding fade endings o on
T i al St le eatures
• Song for erse erse horus erse rather than the lues • an ea le • Short songs inutes se onds • ell rodu ed olished studio sound • iolins and other or hestral instru ents • Si le rh ing l ri s • Ba u o als
• nsignifi ant a eat • o lues or rh th and lues influen e • o t ang guitar sla ass or hon ing horns • o strong regional a ents
6 hil S e tor 1939
The “Tycoon of Teen,” Phil Spector is something of an enigma. At nineteen, e e B ll Bu l n o u e , e e e e e lu e n e een o e e e no n one o e o e e, nno e o u e n e o o o u e e ol u o n o n ele e e e o e, n e , n o u e o u ou e l , e Blo o , Bo o n e Blue e n , lene o e, n e one e e l o o u e u o e eou B o e , ene ne , e n n u ne , n onn e n
Phil Spector is best known for his “Wall of Sound” concept: doubling and l n n u en o e en e, o e e oun e e uen l e on l n u en u n e l o e e u e o e o n o e o u on e n ue
The 1970’s found him working with the Beatles on the Let t e l u l o, Spector worked on George Harrison’s ll Things ust ass, John Lennon’s agine, n e one n o the entu l u
The Wrecking Crew ir a ota le e ers in luded arole a e ass To Tedes o guitar al Blaine dru s eon ussell iano and len a ell guitar
7 Phil Spector: “Wall of Sound” oublin , and triplin instru ents for a hea y, saturated sound rchestrated, ritten out arran e ents
Beatles release Rubber Soul lbu ec he albu is ore introspecti e and uses non roc instru ents
Brian Wilson, influenced by Spector’s production style, co poses Pet Sounds t ar s the be innin of lbu riented oc
he Beatles: Sgt Pepper’s onely earts lub Band
n eclectic concept albu t redefined the boundaries of Pop usic
he Beatles: Let It Be he Beatles “swan song” produced by Phil Spector
8 Motown (1961 through Late ‘60’s)
After establishing himself as a prominent etroit songwriter in the late 1950’s, Berry Gordy, Jr. borrowed eight hundred dollars from his sister to start his own recording studio in etroit which he named Hits ille .S.A. Gordy capitali ed on the fact that etroit had a huge untapped black music market without a iable black recording label or record production facility. Aided by a great studio band, the unk Brothers, the studio released its recordings under the otown, Tamla, Soul, and Gordy record labels.
otown songs were mass produced and designed to be hits. otown groups de eloped highly polished stage routines and elaborate ocal harmony. Professional, in house songwriting teams and choreographers produced groups in a start to finish product. By 19 7, otown was the largest black owned business in America.
err or r orrowe 00 ro h s s ster to start a re or ng stu o na e ts e By the late 1960’s it was the argest a owne us ness n er a he stu o was o en hours a a
etro t ha the ourth argest a o u at on n er a w thout a a e a e to ga an e the ar et Motown was the ra a ntegrat on o o us n the 1960’s
9 Holland Dozier Holland’s Greatest Hits e e ee s e e ee r I Can’t Help Myself Reach Out, I’ll Be There e e s e r e ere r e e e ee e p e e e s r s e r p You Can’t Hurry Love eep e ’ On
ta e ords em his, 1959 19
ta e ords, also alled ouls ille, . . ., was the birth la e of soul music in the 1960’s. Founded by brother and sister Jim ewart and arge ton, ta a tured the southern soul mar et.
nli e Motown’s written down arrangements, the ta house band, Boo er T and the MG’s used head arrangements s eletal outlines with only hords and melody . ea y use of the delayed ba beat and hon ing horns be ame a signature.
10 tis eddin a and Da e
e ta Ho se and as Booker T and the MG’s e re orded an instr entals Here’s one that we’ve all heard:
reen On ons
ta on w ite s
11 How s the Motown rod t on st le d erent ro ta
Motown ses wr tten s ored arran e ents
Motown akes se o or hestral nstr ents str n s l tes et
The Motown beat pattern often uses “straight four” rh th
Motown ses horeo ra hed and h hl ol shed sta e a ts
ow is the Motown pro u tion st e ifferent fro ta
ta uses “head arrangements” or lead sheets
There is er itt e use of or hestra instru ents
The songs ha e an i pro ise fee
The rh th se tion e phasi es the e a e ba beat soun
ig horn se tions
12 It doesn’t look like much, but some of the biggest soul hits of the e c me out of this studio tists included ilson ickett, eth nklin, tis edding, nd he llm n othe s nd me ele sed much of its o k unde the tl ntic bel
ame tud os n us le hoals la ama
ur Rock (Early ‘60’s)
o ul i ed b the ilm idget, the lifo ni su fing c e in the e l 1960’s produced its own subculture: more surfing films, California surfboard manufacturers, “woodies,”(wood paneled cars) Pendleton shirts, and its own music u f rock became the first “life style” rock. Two distinct styles of su f ock eme ged indust d i en oc l su f ock b nds like n nd e n nd the e ch o s, nd hund eds of g ge b nd t es l ing inst ument l su f ock
oc l u f ock
oc l u f ock h d comme ci l, s eet sound nds often used oc l h mon n of the songs used f lsetto singing st le ics e e bout the be ch, gi ls, hot ods, nd the e fect e he su f rock “sound” was b ought into the m inst e m of o b the e ch o s b including b o de subject matter with songs such as “In My Room” and “God Only Knows”.
13 s r al r Rock
The self proclaimed father of instrumental surf rock is ick ale. Influenced by “twangy” guitarists such as Duane Eddy and Link Wray, ale claims to ha e started playing surf rock in 19 . ick ale was soon followed by legions of similar instrumental surf rock bands. The style became popular as far away as ondon. (Keith Moon, drummer for The ho had pre iously been in a ondon urf rock band)
Mostly dance music, the instrumental surf rock has a hypnotic uality with an aloof, cool sound. The style has se eral trademark riffs “ patty” reverb bass, descending chromatic bass tremolo, obligatory drum solos, thin, clean guitar solos.
ater, the style came to include the raunchier aspects of ritish in asion rock acts such as the Rolling tones. round 196 , as thousands of would be guitarists start bands, the style becomes crude and amateurish and is referred to as fraternity rock or garage band.
ck al ( 2019) lays ar l a a s o cla s o a s r rock
s ak s ass lo s or o o s a as r o lay
M serlou s a a l o s ra ark r olo ck s yl r a o s
M s rlou 6
pel ne 6 y a ays
14 Dick Dale and he Deltones
The acknowledged “king of the surf guitar”, Dick Dale started playing surf guitar in the late 1950’s. His laying style is influenced by his u side do n back ards left handed guitar techni ue
is musical influenced ere the drumming style of ene ru a and flamenco guitar laying is biggest hit as iserlou used in any number of movies, television sho s and commercials
ca c o s r al r Rock
o o l s a s
k ray s Ray ck al r 1960’s Surf Rock Bands s or o
15 ro urf ock to arage and • assi e i portation of cheap, afforda le electric guitars in the early 19 0s • a y oo ers, ostly oys, ought guitars • Teenagers started surf rock an s in dro es • urf rock was easy to play and re uired little usical instruction • uitar a plifiers were under powered and not loud enough • nder powered a plifiers were pushed to the li its creating distortion. They ought igger a plifiers.
• ands usually only had one a plifier. The guitars were
always louder than the singers.
• ingers, in co petition with guitars, starting screa ing
or getting too close to the icrophone.
• It’s easier to sound “bad” than “good”
• “We’re trying to sound this way”
16 1966 s c d c ara ands
196 196 r can ara 196 ro Bands ro o unk ands
ork r Rock Surf unks
ork unk 17 B ac Bo s 1961
sing the 1950’s vocal group the Four Freshman as their o a ode the ea h oys rian ennis and ar Wi son i e o e and ardine began their areer at the it hie a ens e oria on ert in ong ea h in e e ber ter o ounding o a sur ro with an and ean they went on to e and the ro genre with their et oun s a bu a high y in uentia on e t a bu un ortunate y u staged by the eat es soon to be gt e e bu
hey used e aborate o a har ony and une e ted ingenious instru entation in any o their songs heir hits include “I Get Around”, “Help Me Rhonda”, “Barbara Ann”, “God Only Knows”, and “Good Vibrations”.
B ac Bo s n r ar ars r oca s s as d on our r s n
18 Sounds a u a rs
a u con a ns no surf rock as d r cs
It is not designed around the “45 single” hit
son s ar no r ar danc us c
son s ar orc s ra d an non rock ns ru n s
son s f a ur or n r ca ar on and coun r o n
son s ar on r and or s r ous
a u an c a s us c for s n n s danc n ra
a u s a son c c or conc a u a ou ro n u
19